Recent Art and New Projects

Iris 'Afternoon Delight' watercolor, 21"h x 13.5"w.

 

Now that fall is winding down, with the approach of winter I tend to spend more time in my studio. There are still have a few garden chores to do--spring flowering bulbs to be replanted--which will have to wait for some warmer days to complete. But, more time in the studio gave me the opportunity to finish the iris 'Afternoon Delight' that I'd started earlier in the summer.

And, I have new pieces on the way. I found another heirloom pumpkin among the local fall displays that was just lovely! Its intricate shape, colors and the bloom on it cried out for this one to be rendered in colored pencils. I'm using a piece of left-over hot-pressed Saunders Waterford paper, perhaps not the best for this kind of drawing, but, why not?

I learned that this variety of pumpkin is called Musquee de Provence, and with two memorable trips to Provence in mind, I decided to "pose" my pumpkin with some dried lavender sprigs and a sheaf of wheat I had hanging around. Here's a photo of my set-up.

 

Musquee de Provence pumpkin photo.

The sun coming in through the window gives a dramatic lighting effect which I like. I started my drawing with a dark sepia pencil, and did some shading for a grisaille underdrawing, then started adding touches of color.

 

Musquee de Provence - Stage 1

Continuing to add more color, wheat sheaves, deepening the hues and shadows.

Musquee de Provence, colored pencil - Stage 2

Musquee de Provence, colored pencil - Stage 3

At this point I was looking for some advice on how to get the effect of the bloom on the surface of the pumpkin. It was a great subject to bring up at our regularly scheduled Zoom meeting with my colored pencil peeps--the Chickahominy Colored Pencil Artists. Judy had some excellent suggestions which I'll be trying out over the next week or so to bring this puppy to a conclusion.

 

Pages from Botanical Journal, Year 2

 

The first week of October was the one-year anniversary for the Botanical Journal I started last year, and I continue to have fun filling my sketchbook with the objects I find around my garden as well as those I collect on my wanderings on the home turf. The pages above had three sketches from last year, and now two more--the flowering stem of one of my new houseplants, Echevarria 'Lady Aquarius,' and a prickly seed pod I found right by the door of our polling place. I have no idea what plant that prickly seed pod develops from, but it's scary-looking!

 

Page from Botanical Journal, Year 2

Last weekend I went out with the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) to see some of the "big trees" in our neck of the woods. We met at Skyland, inside Shenandoah National Park and there saw several state champion trees: a fan-leaved hawthorn tree, a Colorado Blue Spruce and a Japanese Yew (non-native, these two were planted there). From Skyland, we drove down to a place on the Shenandoah River called Foster's Landing where there were: one enormous persimmon tree, and several Bladdernut trees, one of which is the State Champion. Bladdernuts are not exctly majestic, they're rather smallish trees that grow in wet sites such as riverbanks. The bladdernuts in the sketch above were collected from that site.

Our last stop was in Luray, to see the centenary Chinquapin oak there--now there' s one beautiful, majestic tree! It's estimated to be over 300 years old. I plan to stop again in the spring to sketch it, perhaps do a plein aire painting of it. I'm gong to need a big sheet of paper!

Luray's famous Chinquapin oak

My friend Kristin and I under the massive oak.

Late Summer Works

Iris 'Afternoon Delight' watercolor in progress

 

Summer is ending and it's just now that I'm getting around to painting the iris I fell in love with at Blandy Farm this past spring! Its colors are such a stunning combination, I couldn't resist painting it, even though I have to work from photos. When I visited Blandy last week I found that their iris garden is being re-designed and will be situated in a different location--there were only a few weeds and beat-up irises left where 'Afternoon Delight' and the others had grown. I wanted to buy this variety for my garden, and had intended to beg a rhizome or two from Blandy, but I've finally found a source for this variety, bred in the 1980's.

 I started digging up one of my iris beds earlier this week--time to separate the overcrowded rhizomes--but have been forced to take a break due to some dental surgery, after which I'm required to rest for a few days. Too bad, with the recent rainy spell the soil is perfect for being worked, but it will have to wait.

 

Autumn Joy Sedum in Herb's bed.

My garden needs a lot of work this fall: most of the irises and many of my spring-blooming bubs such as the daffodils and grape hyacinths need to be separated and re-planted. Ditto for the Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides) at the foot of the Zelkova tree. Many of my flower beds need to be re-edged and re-worked too.

The 'Longwood Blue' Caryopteris shrubs that I'd planted some five or six years ago died back a lot this past winter, and despite pruning and fertilizing, they haven't bloomed very well this summer. A few new plants sprouted from seeds have grown under these, and I'll probably dig and replant those, to see if I can restore that bed to its former glory.

 

Skimpy flowers on Caryopteris 'Longwood Blue' this year.

The back yard from the west side.

 

 I'm planning to consolidate the bed with the Caryopteris and the one around the Japanese maple 'Amber Ghost' into one bed, incorporating the new 'Texas White' redbud I put in this past spring. This expanded bed will need some new under plantings--perfect for some of those surplus spring bulbs!

 

Beautyberry 'Early Amethyst'

The 'Early Amethyst' Beautyberry bushes are displaying their lovely purple berries at the moment. The Seven Son Flower tree bloomed profusely this year, and continues to bloom well past its usual time. Normally, by the end of August its flowers are starting to fade, but it seems to have enjoyed the very wet summer, as has the honey locust tree (behind the Beautyberry).

 

The Seven Son Flower tree.

Ceanothus delileanus 'Gloire de Versailles'

The Ceanothus 'Gloire de Versailles' protected with a tomato cage has finally grown enough to produce some blooms. Other annuals I'd planted with great hopes haven't produced much--the zinnias this year were a great disappointment, a few puny plants and no flowers. The Clary sage has not developed any flower spikes either, neither has the one Canna and the Hedychiums, and I fear it may be getting to be too late in the year for them to develop. The front bed with the impatiens and coleus grew fairly well, but did not present the coverage I'd hoped for.

Now the dogwood leaves are starting to bronze and soon the Equinox and the fall-blooming sequence will begin.

Pages from my botanical journal: Hazelnut and Beautyberry branches.