flowers moving on a page

Martin's and Ardean's paintings

Watercolor can be like a splash of color-and-light.  Not often, students can newly try it out with seemingly carefree brushstrokes and arrangement.  Martin and Ardean have done so.  Their colors waft in space, as do flowers in a field, don't they!

A wonderful book, The Wild Braid, has in its last poem, "The Round,"  these final lines:

the still-wet words I scribbled

on the blotted page:

"Light splashed . . ."

I can scarcely wait til tomorrow

when a new life begins for me,

as it does each day;

as it does each day.

(The first line of the poem is  Light splashed this morning  .)

Do find the book, find the poem; these lines are only slight enticement for much, in this poem and in the other poems to enjoy!  The book is a collection of poems and reflections about poetry and gardening by Stanley Kunitz, a small, lovely book made at the end of his very long life.

The students who painted flowers in watercolor class with me are not very old; still, they are living in retirement:  and from the long view they have reached because of age, gosh, they were able to see the splashes and so "scribble" and "blot" toward some small, lovely work.  Ageless sparkles.

away

I've sought out returning geese from my March 10, 2010 entry.  As you can see, away is much the same image as returning geese.  (The haiku by Miura Chora in the same March 10th entry is good for me to read again too.)

away

four leaves of bamboo like a wild goose

for my friend

Away:  a friend has gone.  He will not be returning except when I think of him.  Seeing the four leaves of bamboo as returning or as going away imbues, a bit, this still memorial brushpainting with movement, memory that will move, come and go.

trillium

trillium

Everyone who has come by the studio and seen this small painting on the easel--Eric, Sandi, and Deb come to mind--have immediately recognized and exclaimed "trillium!" as if they are heralding a fond, found friend. The trillium are wonderful in our woods.  In the early spring the woods are dark with leaf mulch and with the dampness of the winter melt, so that when these bright white big blooms on bold green leaves appear, they almost shine.  Welcome indeed, these friends.

While I was sketching up north some weeks ago now, driving around I saw hundreds of trillium covering the woods floor.  I brought sketches back of trillium and of the first northern orchard blooms.  Four small orchard paintings and some small sketches later:  only this week did I get to the trillium.

This trillium painting is gouache and pastel and some charcoal.  I hope it is lively, blooming here on the page/screen.  The three blooms with three broad petals nod slightly, I think, here at us.  And they nod to the time two weeks ago or more, when they were out there among us, out there among the trees.