Summer

 

© Robin Edmundson, 'Morning Wildflowers', watercolor, 9 x 12 inches. Framed, $300.  

It’s summer. It’s hot. It’s noisy. I love it.

I’m not going lie, all these cicadas have been enormously entertaining, but I won’t be sorry to see them go. Every 17 years is plenty often enough. [This is my 4th time experiencing Brood X. It’s never dull.]

To beat the heat and the noise, I’ve been walking early in the morning, when things are cooler, a bit quieter and the morning mist is blue in the shade and orange in the rising sun. Even the neighbor’s cows are orange on those mornings.

So many wonderful things to see on my walks this time of year. The abundance of food has made the turkeys brave and I’ve actually met one on the road a couple of times. There are a few rabbits that venture out onto the road in the mornings and I’ve figured out how to behave so that they’ll let me walk right by them. I’ve chatted with turtles and salamanders and a few snakes.

I also happened to be standing in the right place one morning to see where a pileated woodpecker’s nest was and it’s been exciting waiting for the chicks to be big enough to venture out. There is a squirrel that lives in the next tree over and I was surprised and delighted to find out that grumpy neighbors are not just a human experience. I’m glad I don’t live next to that squirrel.

The gardens are looking lovely. My asparagus is almost finished, my peas are producing like crazy, I have baby tomatoes on some of my plants and my beans are getting taller by the minute. I love this time of year.

Wishing you lovely neighbors and an abundance of magical moments.

Ironweed

©Robin Edmundson, 'Ironweed', watercolor, 8 x 10 inches.  

Framed to 11 x 14 inches.  $280.

I love ironweed.   I could [and do] stand at the side of the road and just look at it swaying with all that pink gorgeousness in the breeze. 

Lucky for me, the cows hate it and will eat around it, and fertilize it, thus ensuring that it proliferates with abandon.   

Queen Anne's Lace - Variations on a Theme

© Robin Edmundson, 'Queen Anne's Lace -791', watercolor, 8x10 inches.  

$280, framed.

I have a strong propensity for tweaking.   The more I tweak the darker things get.  In this first piece, I tried to reign in that tendency and put in as little background as possible. 

© Robin Edmundson, 'Queen Anne's Lace -792', watercolor, 8x10 inches.  

$280, framed.

In this second version, I let myself get as dark as I wanted.   I figure this is the best way to figure out what I like best.  Do the two and then put them side by side and think about it. 

The truth is that I like both.  I like the stronger edges of the second one, but I like the delicacy of the first one.    Which means I'll continue to work in a series where I can practice both approaches.   

Double the fun!

Which do you prefer?

Queen Anne's Lace

©Robin Edmundson, 'Queen Anne's Lace', watercolor, 10 x 8 inches.  

[Available framed, $250]

It's flowers all day every day lately.   I've pulled out my favorite catalogs and books and am having a great time playing in the paint.   I was especially happy with these Queen Anne's Lace. 


Here's another one:

Did you know that when the weather is just right, a field full of these smells sooooo good in the afternoon.  It's one of my favorite things about a deep summer walk.  Breathing in that sweet air.

Another little posy of violets

©Robin Edmundson, 'Violets 715', watercolor, 5 x 6 inches.  

[Available framed, $125]

Have another little posy of violets to brighten your day!

'Such a starved bank of moss...'

©Robin Edmundson, 'Violets 714', watercolor, 5 x 7 inches. 

[Available framed, $125]

When I was about 12 years old I came across the Robert Browning poem: 'Such a starved bank of moss till that May morn.  Blue ran the flash across - violets were born!'.

Violets have always been a big favorite of mine and every year when the first violet blooms, I recite that poem to myself.  They usually start blooming in late March or April, but I feel the same delight that Browning did when he wrote that poem. 

Happy Spring!

A Record of the Artist Playing

©Robin Edmundson, 'Echinacea Bouquet #4', watercolor, 14 x 10 inches.
Framed to 20 x 16 inches.  $375

"An artist is trying to puzzle something out - to solve a complex problem of perception. A piece of art is the record of the artist playing."  

Jordan Peterson, podcast

Eric texted me that quote the other day as I was on my 4th version of this composition.  I love that quote because it describes my relationship with my artwork exactly.  

I wrestle a lot with my work - working out color, playing with light, coming up with a strategy for composition.  I experiment with this and that.  The relationships between color, light, line, shape and mood are complicated and a small adjustment here or there can have a large effect on the final piece.  I ruin one and then start again. Try something new.  Or not - and realize after the third version with the same yuck results just exactly where I should try something new and break out of a pattern that just isn't working.   

Yes.  Sometimes it takes me more than three versions to get that through my head.

The middle stages are the worst.   I've ruined a lot of paintings and then, with some, felt the urge to keep going through the miserable middle until I realized that it wasn't really ruined - it just hadn't been quite finished.   There's an art to recognizing when something needs more work and when something needs to be let go of.  I'm still figuring that out.  

As an artist, I play with many solutions to the problem of communicating a scene in a way that you can decipher the message I'm sending.   I perceive something in the three dimensional world and then encode it into a two dimensional space in a way that allows you to look at it and decode it to understand what I'm seeing and saying.  

It sounds crazy, right?   Artists often walk the line between brilliance and insanity.  In the meantime, an artist plays and each piece of art is a record of that play.

Florals

© Robin Edmundson, 'Black-eyed Susans', watercolor, 14 x 10 inches.
Framed to 22 x 18 inches.  $375

A while back I did a painting of a large floral bouquet in teals and pinks.  I hadn't set out to do a floral.  I thought I sucked at florals.  In fact, I knew I sucked at florals. 

I couldn't do florals.   I paint barns.  I don't paint flowers.

And yet there I was painting a floral - a really big one at that.  And you know what?  People love that painting.

It's hanging at my current show in Marshall, Illinois and it's one of the first pieces that people walk over to see and comment on.

So. 

Clearly I can do florals.  But I still feel like I can't do florals.   So I tried another floral.  That's it up there.

It actually looks like flowers.  And I actually feel pretty pleased looking at it.  So I'm taking this as a sign that I need to practice more florals.  Figure some things out.  Let myself play with colors and shapes and refine what I already know about composition and shadows.  [And flowers, because I'm an avid gardener and actually know quite a lot about flowers]

These paintings force me to relax.  To do things slowly.  Very very slowly.   To stop and step back and consider.  To take 3 or 4 days to work through a dozen layers, adding a bit at a time.  To take my time.  To trust my eye. 

That feels really good. 

Blue Bells

©Robin Edmundson, 'Bluebells-545', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches.  $375
[Matted and framed to 16 x 20 inches]

Bluebells don't last long enough and this year was no exception.  That gorgeous blue stays with me and as I drive along our creeks, I watch for that signature blue every spring.

Holding on to Summer

© Robin Edmundson, watercolor wildflower collection.

Each is 5 x 7 inches, framed to 8 x 10 inches.  $95 each.

I've been working on a few small pieces to bring the Unitarian Holiday Art Fair this weekend and found my mind back in late summer, walking the roadsides, appreciating the wildflowers around here.

I painted more chicory [L], echinacea [C] SOLD, and goldenrod [R].  I've got some daisies on the easel to finish later and can already feel the pull to do more of these.

Doing these small florals is teaching me to practice, to listen to the paint, to play, to try again, to work in short bursts where I can come and go without bullying the piece.   It feels nice.

If you're around the Unitarian Church [Fee Lane at the 46 Bypass] tomorrow or Saturday,  please stop in and say hello.

Golden

© Robin Edmundson, 'Goldenrod', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches. 

The light was golden as I finished this piece today.  I've been working on it off and on for a couple of weeks now, wondering exactly when to stop.  I smiled when I realized that's constant theme once the holiday season kicks off. 

This year, I've decided to stop at 'Grateful'.  For so many things.  Thanks for stopping by to share a bit of your day with me.   Here's to many more conversations about art and life.

Ironweed & Friends

© Robin Edmundson, 'Ironweed, Black-eyed Susans and Lobelia', watercolor, 11 x 14 inches.
Unframed, $250.

When it comes to roadside flowers, I think my favorite time of the year is August and September.  Ironweed is spectacular.  Add to it the oranges of black-eyed Susans and jewelweed, and the blues of the blue mist flower and swamp lobelia and you have gorgeous views in every ditch and field.   I love living here.

It's a good opportunity to practice florals and I have taken advantage.   Don't be surprised to see more of these.

Cynoglossum virginiana - Hound's Tongue

I have spent a lot of time in my life searching the woods and fields for plants, trees, etc. and learning how to identify them.   It's my way of getting to know the neighbors.

I thought I knew all the wildflowers along the road and then this week, I saw this little gem in the woods 15 feet inside the treeline.   Turns out there was a nice little colony of them.   I don't know if they're new to the neighborhood, or just new to me.

At any rate, meet Cynoglossum virginiana, also called Wild Comfrey and Hound's Tongue.

Here's the thing though.  It's definitely not a comfrey, which is Symphytum officinale.

Cynoglossum has fuzzy leaves like comfrey, but flowers more like a forget-me-not or borage.

The flowers have five petals and here they are a mix of blue and purple.

I saw references to them as medicinal plants and others as poisonous plants.   Before you ingest any, make sure you do your research.

I look forward to getting to know this plant better and to seeing if I find it in other places, now that I know what I'm looking at.

White Violets

This was a good year for violets.   They bloom at slightly different times.  The weather was perfect for the white ones in the woods down the way this year.

Toad Trillium Bud

The weather has been so slow to warm up that we've seen the toad trillium buds this year.  

Slow is good.

Spring at Last

My favorite view of Richland Creek is during April.  

The bluebells are a week or so late this year, but spring has been gentle and slow.   

We harvested the first of the asparagus last week and the lettuce is getting big.   Peas are up now, too. The onions were so slow coming up that I forgot about them and planted the peas right next to them.   Rumor has it that onions and peas don't get along, so I'll leave some peas there and move some to see which ones do better [though the transplanted ones may be just as unhappy as the ones next to the onions.]   

Maybe I ought to move the onions?    We'll see.

Rosehips

Rosehips are one of my favorite things about winter.   I love the shape, the color - even the thorns.  They make beautiful wreathes and one of these days  I'll make another one and post some pics.  In the meantime, I found this site with 25+ things to do with rosehips [including wreathes!]  Everything from face masks to soup to jam.   Check it out.

Late Summer Sonnet

It's late summer, the time when a gardener's heart turns to sonnets.

Yes, this is a poetry blog, too, and as you know, I am freakishly fond of sonnets. See the others here.

I can't help it. I love them.

It's ok if you don't like them though - I am no rural Shakespeare. That's for sure.



Rural Sonnet #4

Late summer bursts with color near my gates,
On roadside, hill and woods. The yellow blaze
Of daisies short and tall illuminates
The quiet edges of the woods when days
Grow hotter still and August sears. The grass
Blooms by the ironweed’s bright fuchsia knots
And bluing pools of mistflower as they mass
In lower spots beside orange touch-me-nots.
The golden rods of goldenrods sway high
Above lobelia’s lovely violet spires –
And asters’ paling pinks intensify
the almost hidden arum’s burning fires
‘Til jealous trees in autumn’s chilly nights
transform their own limbs into fiery brights.

Wild Ginger

This is the wild ginger of north America.   Asarum canadense.   Notice the brown flower at the base of the stems.   Weird, but cool.

According to wiki [link above]:  Native Americans used the plant as a medicinal herb to treat a number of ailments including dysentery, digestive problems, swollen breasts, coughs and colds, typhus, scarlet fever, nerves, sore throats, cramps, heaves, earaches, headaches, convulsions, asthma, tuberculosis, urinary disorders and venereal disease. In addition, they also used it as a stimulant, an appetite enhancer and a charm. It was also used as an admixture to strengthen other herbal preparations

HOWEVER!  It has similar aromatic properties to true ginger (Zingiber officinale), but should not be used as a substitute because it contains an unknown concentration of the carcinogen aristolochic acid and asarone.The distillate from the ground root is known as Canadian snakeroot oil.

Around here, wild ginger grows in colonies on well drained, loamy slopes and rocky outcroppings.  It's a beautiful garden plant.

Common Pink/Purple Woodland Flowers

We have an abundance of pink-purple spring flowers.  It's easy to get them confused.  Hopefully, this post will help you identify some. You may need to click these pics to blow them up enough to get a really good look at these spring flowers.   

This is Jacob's ladder - Polemonium reptans.  Also called Abscess Root, Creeping or Spreading Jacob's Ladder, False Jacob's Ladder, American Greek Valerian, Blue bells, Stairway to Heaven, and Sweatroot.  

The flowers are more purple than pink.  Notice the leaves - they're pretty distinctive.

Polemoniums make beautiful perennial garden plants and many have been bred for showy flowers. 

Wild Geranium - Geranium maculatum. Also called old-maid's nightcap and wood geranium.

It's a beautiful pink flower with 5 rounded petals.  The leaves have 5 lobes and remind me of hands.   If you are a gardener, then you will recognize these as being closely related to the perennial geraniums that you find at good nurseries and garden centers [not the pelargoniums sold as 'geraniums', but which are not perennial anywhere but the warmest of places.  Ridiculously confusing, but there it is.]

Here's a better pic.    These bloom at the same time as the Jacob's ladder above.  

Finally, we have the wild blue phlox that loves the roadsides around here in April and May.    This is Phlox divaricata.   It is pink-purple [not blue here] and has five petals like the geranium, but the petals are less round and more pin-wheel like.  

The flowers bloom in a loose cluster about a foot tall, like the taller garden phlox.  

The range is all over central and eastern U.S. and Canada, south through Texas and Florida.