Mount Bennett

 Almost exactly two years ago I wrote a short paragraph about this painting that I had started in the fall before and then put away because I wasn't happy with it and didn't know how to proceed. By then I had found it again and realized that it looks like Mount Bennett that I can see from my bedroom window. It is also rather typical what many areas in Sonoma County look like. Mount Bennett sits at the heart of Annadel State Park where I often hike.

This is an image of Mount Bennett that I took in February 2023, seen from one of the streets in my neighborhood. It is very rare that we see snow on it.

So last year I finally worked on the painting again and was eventually able to finish it in a way that I actually liked it. I added a few things that represent the county I call home.

Here are a few details.

Sonoma County is home to about 75 mountain lions and I often see their scat when I hike in Annadel. Of course I had to include one in this painting. The quails in the lower right corner are on a wine bottle foil. California Quails are our state bird and of course Sonoma County is in Wine Country. The texture I achieved by glueing down tissue paper and then going over it with a copper oil pastel.

Another wine bottle foil and some lichen I found on one of my hikes. Almost all our older trees have some lichen on their branches. The white area is supposed to be our low morning coastal fog. The orange dots you can see represent California poppies.

This wine bottle foil represents our native oaks. California has several native oaks including the majestic Coast Live Oak which is evergreen, Blue Oak and Valley Oak. And of course I had to include birds. Maybe they're Turkey Vultures, our clean up crew.

After this I started a big canvas with a similar theme, representing Sonoma County, but this time I'm adding photos and more items from nature. I'm still working on that "elephant", but if I ever finish it, you will get to see it. Today it's only the smaller version.

I'm sharing with Nicole's Sunday in the Art Room.

A New Chair and Some Cattitude

 

Last week I bought a teal colored Adirondack chair. The Geek was so kind to assemble it for me. Kibeau is sitting in the back, pretending he isn't interested.

But look!

He ventures closer, still pretending he looks anywhere else but to the chair.

But finally he couldn't contain his curiosity. He decided to ... help.

However, just sitting on the back of the chair is not enough. Let's see whether we can get a bit more comfortable.

This helping business is so much fun! Let's just rest the eyes for a minute.

All this helping is really exhausting!

What? The chair is still not done? After all the help?

Finally...

Here I am enjoying my first cup of morning coffee - on the seventh day of March.

And the best thing about this chair? It comes with a wine glass holder!

Cat and human faces are for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

On the internet - I forgot where - I found another wonderful cattitude image that I don't want to keep from you. I can almost hear the cat "speak".

Walk with a Coyote

 

About a year ago I joined the Senior Saunters, a group that gets together once a month to walk (well, saunter) in one of our many regional parks. It's organized by Sonoma County Regional Parks and it's a free program. Our guide is Alexis, a young, energetic parks employee who clearly enjoys being with us "oldies" and who is a wonderful resource of knowledge about everything connected with our parks. The size of the group varies every time, but there is a core of people who always join in the saunters. We not only enjoy the environment where we walk, but we also have a lot of fun together.

Last week we met at the lake, but Alexis didn't want to walk around the lake but led us up the hill away from the lake. We stopped at the Discovery Center and enjoyed the view down to the lake. You almost can't see it!

We eventually arrived at this meadow with two vernal pools. This area is a bit of a "no man's land" since it's right on the border between the regional park and the adjacent state park. Employees of both parks take care of this area.

This morning Alexis spoke about newts. She did it with a lot of humour, which I like, and always has a matching story to tell. Then she took us to the vernal pools and told us to look for newt eggs and tiny newts. We were quite taken with this, discovered the eggs, saw some newts, until someone shouted "there's a coyote!".

No one was looking for newts anymore, everyone was mesmerized by this beautiful guy who wasn't afraid of us at all (we were a group of about 25). He - or she? - took his sweet time to cross the meadow to eventually disappear in the woods nearby.

What a wonderful encounter!

This certainly made my day.

We had a couple more great views of the lake. It looks so much bigger from up here.

We saw some beautiful mushrooms - I think these are Spring Fieldcap (Agrocybe praecox)

I was very excited to see the first wildflowers. Henderson's Shooting Star (Primula hendersonii) is enchanting.

I tried to figure out what kind of fungi had settled on this branch. I'm not sure, but to me some of them look like dried up Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor). 

A last view down to the lake before we entered the Discovery Center and finally said our goodbyes.

Imaginary Landscapes

 

Almost two years ago I took a "Mini Abstracts" class with Laly Mille. I'm not really "into" abstracts as an art form that I create, but I was looking for something new and thought, why not? One part of the class was called "Imaginary Landscapes". I worked in a series, using the same supplies in each of the four pieces. The landscapes are created on 5 x 5 inches watercolor paper. I used old book pages, paper I had created with the gelli plate, mulberry paper, pieces of corrugated cardboard, tissue paper and gauze plus watercolors and white gesso.

This is how far I got in June 2024:

To be honest, they didn't feel finished. Sure, they were abstract, so the goal of the class was achieved. However, for me a landscape, abstract or not, needs a bit more - maybe a couple trees, a sun or moon and definitely some birds. There need to be birds!

Almost another year went by until I pulled these pieces out again and finally added a sun to each landscape, different trees to three of them and birds in the sky. Now the pieces felt finished.

I wonder whether some of you like to create abstract art. 

I'm sharing with Nicole's Sunday in the Art Room. Come and visit to see what other artists are up to.

Les Magasins de Fleurs

 

March is the first month in spring, even though we still have to wait a little bit for the spring equinox which will be on Friday, March 20. However, here in my corner of the world it feels very much like spring at the moment. Many trees are in bloom and the birds are busy starting new families. The air has this fresh fragrance that you only find in spring. So I thought today I stick with flowers and show you the beautiful flower shops in France, even though all these displays are from the fall season. 

Flower shops can be found in almost every town in France and what is so appealing about them are the beautiful displays that spill out onto the sidewalk. It's artistic and a lot of love as well as talent is poured in the designs. After all, it shall inspire and motivate you and me to stop and hopefully buy some flowers.

If I lived here I would probably spend a lot of money in one of those shops.

Of course the colors are perfect together in this display. Country chic.

My daughter was seriously thinking of buying this pretzel vase. Good thing the store was closed! 

Isn't this pure eye candy? It never looks that good if I try to arrange some flowers.

Even muted colors look fabulous.

The following display wasn't at a French flower shop but at a small gift shop in Greetsiel in Germany's Ostfriesland. I did like the beautiful arrangement of fall plants and grasses in the wicker basket.

I hope you enjoyed this short tour of flower shops.