New oil painting...

An Indigo Bunting on gessoed scrap book paper...

Not much personality... but I am getting better with my "painterly" effect... Maybe a bit of touch up later will help him out...

Magpie Tales and Friday Haiku...

(Image provided by Magpie)

Your inner child wants
to escape the locked door to
go play in the sun.
D 2010

Magpie Tales

haiku my heart

Tea Tuesday...Meet Ginsberg!

What's in this pretty little stone box?

Fish food... Fish food?

Yep... fish food... Meet Ginsberg, as in Allen (the poet). He lives in my office...

He has his own Zen Garden...

He's very zenful himself... quite soothing in a stressful world...

He keeps me company during my day...

during which I drink my black tea from my Tervis travel tea tumbler... (old photo, red or other decaf starts after 2pm)

Don't forget to visit Kimmie and the other Tea Tuesday ladies at:
Art in Red Wagons

A New Love?

I decided to try something new... So I took my weekly Michaels 40% off coupon and bought a set of water mixable oil paints!  I've painted wildlife with pastels... and used acrylics for backgrounds... But I've never used any kind of wet medium to actually "paint" things... animals, flowers, landscapes, still lifes...  Well... here is my first attempt...

I don't think my Goldfinch turned out too badly... and I really like painting with these paints!  I think I will enjoy learning to use them! Be honest... What do you think?

Getting Reaquainted with an Old Love...

I said in an earlier post that I got out my pastels.

I'm trying to trend more toward abstract.  My older paintings are more realistic... a lot of detail.  I'm not satisfied with this look yet.  With my older paintings, it seemed I was never satisfied until the subject looked real (with the exception of some impressionistic landscapes). I definitely need more practice... I might even need to try another medium to get the look I want.  I'll keep you posted.

Haiku Friday...

look far little boy
have courage to make your way
your future is grand
D 2010

for more haiku visit
haiku my heart

Magpie 24

She woke with the light of the morning, still in the dress she wore yesterday.  She stood and walked to the window and looked out at the sky.  Smoothing the dark, wrinkled silk over her thighs, her thoughts turned to her dreams.  She'd had a fitful sleep burdened with painful dreams.  Painful, because they reminded her of him, of their life together, of how full of life he had been and how that life had been cut so, so short. 

She turned around and surveyed the room... their room.  His flannel shirt still hung on the back of the closed door, his shoes, where he'd left them in front of the closet.  Her half-full wine glass remained on the dresser.  She'd left it there last night, or was it very early this morning?  The red liquid still.  It hadn't helped to still her mind... hadn't helped to still her grief.  She went to the door and buried her face in his shirt.  Breathing in his scent, his very essence... and she wondered how she would cope with her half-empty life.

http://magpietales.blogspot.com/

Tuesday Tea...

I've not been inspired to do any artwork lately... I did buy a piece of Birch plywood, a jar of black gesso and some pastel fixative... I'm not sure if I will use any of it in combination...  but it's a step forward... The next step will be to get my pastels and some paper out to get back into practice...  Baby steps...

In honor of my baby steps back toward pastel work...
A print of a mid-century oil painting...

La Nappe Jaune (The Yellow Table Cloth) c.1956
Georges Brague (1882 - 1963)

Georges Braque is considered one of the founders of  "Cubism" in collaboration with Pablo Picasso.  I love this type of painting... It's an effect that I'd like to get with my pastels...

Happy Tea Tuesday!  I'm having Hedleys Pomegranate Green Tea.  What are you having?

You can visit all the Tuesday Tea ladies at Kimmie's!  http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com

Monday Flowers...

Monday flowers for my blog friends... 

I sent these out this morning to friends by phone... Something I do every Monday to start their weeks out right...
The plants is Crossandra...  It's a bedding perennial, but the price was right ($1.30 for a 4" pot!) so I thought I'd try it out in my office...

Out of balance...

I'm out of balance lately... off center...

As happy as my life is lately, I'm somewhat melancholy inside.  Maybe that's why my visual art is non-existent and writing... blog posts, haiku and other poetry and prose have come to the forefront.  It's time to get back to my yoga practice, but my studio closed and I can't find another one that I can afford.  It's difficult to participate in large classes due to physical limitations resulting from a motorcycle accident a couple of years ago.  Speaking of which, my bike is not running and it's been so hot, riding my way back to center is not an option... at least for a while.

I'll figure it all out... This I know...

Haiku Friday...

enveloped by fog
lapping sea, misty air, grey
ethereal wrap
D 2010

Lemon Bay... mangroves and fog...

For more Haiku visit...
Haiku My Heart

Worth the Wait!

What a difference a couple days make...

This was my night blooming Epiphyllum yesterday when I got home from work...

When it got dark I started going out every half hour or so to monitor its progress...

I stayed up 'til after midnight to watch it open...

open lovely flower
and scent the night air sweetly
darkness falls on thee
D 2010

Tuesday T supplemental post...

(photo by D. Dianne Davies)

The comments I've gotten so far on my Tuesday T post have wondered about the String Lily, also called Spider Lilies.  These are lilies of the Crinum genera.

(photo from picasweb_google.com)

They grow from seeds that produce huge clumps of sword-like fronds of up to 3 or 4 feet in length.  They are similar in growth form and bloom stalk to an Amarilla Lily.  They tend to freeze back in the winter, but other than that they are perennials.

(photo from outdoors_webshots.com)

They come in white and a colored variety that has plum colored stripes running the length of each petal. These are cultivated, but there is a species that grows wild in Florida swamps.

(photo from wildflowers.org)

Crinum americana - Swamp Lily

ps-- I think my Epiphyllum bloom is going to open tonight!!!

Monday Flowers for Tuesday T...

A String Lily from the grounds at work...  This is what I sent out to my Monday Flower friend list yesterday...
Sorry about the photo quality... When I replace my phone, I'll get one with a better camera.

Notice the tea guide posted up behind it...

It's so hot out... It's definitely an iced tea or diet Dr. Pepper evening...

Please visit the other Tuesday T ladies at Kimmie's...
http//:artinredwagons.blogspot.com

More Progress...

Remember the picture of my Epiphyllum bud?  Well... it's a good thing I took a picture of the other one too. Because the first one shriveled and fell off!  So, here is the other one the day after the first post.

Here it is a about a week ago...

And here it is today... It is curving up to the light, so I'm hoping that any night now it will open...

Keep your fingers crossed!

Friday Haiku...

in the evening
or after a cooling rain
the porch dweller comes

For more Friday Haiku visit
Haiku My Heart
or click the button on my side bar.

Thanks...

Thanks for all the suggestions... I liked all of them, but I think I've settled on Luna. I have a thing for Luna moths (to the point that I have one tattooed on my back) and I want to get a front plate with a Luna moth airbrushed onto it. 

Carmelina... I love the suggestion of Olive... that was so cute... but alas, it doesn't  match her "carsonality"!

No more melting!

No more slugging around in a heavy SUV with the windows down and the heat on (to keep it from overheating)!  It's nimble... it's quick... it's sleek and black... and best of all... I can use its COLD AC!

2006 Kia Rio 5... Not your average grandma's car!

What shall I call her???
Midnight?
Luna?
Any other suggestions?

Yes I name my favorite vehicles... My motorcycle is Verna.  She's sleek, black, nimble and quick too...

Tuesday Tea...

It's Tuesday morning and I'm having my tea (black) waiting for 9am. So far this morning, I've been to the tax collector's office to get a duplicate title to my SUV and to the finance company to get a release of lien since they apparently didn't record it when I paid my SUV off. I kinda need that so I can trade it in for my new (used) car! So... when the finance company opens, I'll head there again... then to the tax collector... again... then maybe I can go pick my car up and go to work!

In the mean time...  MY EPIPHYLLUM IS BLOOMING AGAIN!!!!!

I'm so excited! I've had this plant since I was 18 or 19 (I'm 50 now...I'll let you do the math) and it has only begun blooming for me this summer... and... wouldn't you know it, I wasn't here to see it either time!  So... I WILL SEE THESE BLOOMS!  There are two.  I'll keep you posted on it's progress!

Be sure to visit the other ladies for tea over at Kimmie's...
http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com

Haiku My Heart Friday...

On shimmering wings...
hummingbirds, butterflies, bees...
flowers they visit...

The flowers are Coral Honeysuckle, a Florida native and a favorite of our Ruby Throated Hummingbirds.

Click here for more...
Haiku My Heart Friday