The Scent of Roses at Giverny

Roses at Giverny, watercolor, 10" x 14" - $125

May is the month of flowers, when nature is profligate with her gifts, and there is nothing like the scent of roses in the air... except perhaps the delicate perfume of irises. Why has no one created an iris-scented perfume?

My climbing rose, an old-fashioned pink cabbage-type twining around the deck railing, is about to burst into bloom. This spring has been so rainy, my irises have flopped over, but the neighborhood azaleas and rhododendrons are loving the extra water.

Longing for sunny days, I remembered this small watercolor painted during a visit to Giverny, Monet's home in the French countryside. Two friends and I visited on a Monday, when Giverny is closed to tourists but artists are allowed in to paint, if you don't mind an army of gardeners bustling all around you. Monet was a great artist through and through: his house and garden as much a work of art as his paintings.

The big pink house with its green shutters was trellised with thousands of roses of many colors sparkling in the sun. My friend Marguerite (with hat) appears in the foreground, painting from a nearby bench. It was a day to treasure, as I hope someone will treasure my little painting. Send me an E-mail at elemaza@verizon.net if you are interested in buying it. I can accept PayPal, or a check if I know you or you are recommended by a friend.

Sky Meadows

Last weekend Linda and I visited a friend in Virginia, on the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Jane lives very close to the Thompson Wildlife Management area, where trilliums and other wild flowers are so spectacular in early May. Consulting my books, I'd learned that another state park, Sky Meadows, adjoins the Thompson tract, and though the drivable roads don't go through, one can walk from one to the other via the Appalachian Trail.

It was pouring on Friday as I drove west on I-66 through a slow rush-hour slog, but with increasing distance from the Beltway the traffic cleared, it stopped raining and the clouds began to lift. By the time I reached Sky Meadows, the clouds were opening and the sun was flitting through in patches. Linda and I took a short walk on a loop trail that led up to this grassy meadow. The pastoral beauty of this part of Virginia seems like a movie set, I feel blessed to be able to enjoy it in its spring-time splendor.

It rained heavily during the night, and was still raining next morning, but the weather predictions assured us it would clear up in the afternoon, so we prepared for the hike. We held off starting our until the rain had stopped, drove out to Sky Meadows to leave my car in the parking lot, then drive up to the Thompson area in Linda's.

We started out at one o'clock with the mountain mist still heavy, but within an hour the sun was out. There weren't as many trilliums on this part of the mountain as on the slopes below, just patches here and there. A small native orchid, Showy Orchis, was blooming all over the woods (in photo above); we saw one yellow Lady Slipper orchid, but the pink Lady Slipper orchids I'd hoped to find eluded us. There were many other by-now familiar wildflowers like rue anemone, a few new to me (wild comfrey), and one quite rare.

The hike proved to be longer than I'd anticipated, but the woods in spring are so lovely, the spirit feels refreshed at every turn. No paintings to bring back this weekend--just a few photos and my old quite muddy and tired self.

Plein Air

Last weekend's plein air workshop in Cambridge, Md was wonderful in every respect. It's so rare to have a marvelous instructor like Sara Poly, a congenial group of painters and perfect weather all at the same time! Covey Point Farm is a lovely place on the water, with fabulous views all around, the converted barn comfy.

Painting in the sun (or shade) for five to six hours a day is hard work, though others in the group said this was a relaxed pace as far as painting workshops go. Sara had us do exercises such as 50-stroke paintings, that were beneficial. Making every stroke count was hard, but great discipline. My art leaped light years ahead in just a couple of days, and I feel much closer now to being able to paint oils the way I want to: looser, and full of luminous natural color.

This is my last painting at the workshop, not quite finished, but my best by far. I'm hooked on painting plein air; it's one of the most challenging yet satisfying things an artist can engage. How I wish I could spend more time painting and taking workshops. I'll have to work on that some more.

Oregon Ridge Park

                                Oregon Ridge, watercolor, 14" x 10"

Yesterday my friend Linda and I went on one of our wildflower walks/painting/photo excursions. We'd chosen Oregon Ridge Park to the north of Baltimore because one of my plant guidebooks lists several rare plants that grow here, and neither of us had ever explored this park. The day was beautiful, a bit hot for late April when we started our hike. The terrain rises from the visitor center to a sizable hill where a century ago there used to be a ski area, and the main trail is an old logging road.

The unusual plants are found in an area called Ivy Hill, where the land drops off steeply towards a stream. It is presumed that these rare specimens were planted here long ago and have naturalized, since woods with mixed deciduous and evergreens such as hemlock and pine are rare in our area, specially growing with tree-sized rhododendrons more typical of the southern Appalachian mountains.


We found a clump of Yellow Trillium blooming near the stream, where we had our picnic lunch, but we were unable to find any of the Oconee bells (Shortia genus), so we finally settled by a pond with some enormous rock formations perfect for sketching. This painting of the rocks covered with ferns and the rhododendrons is the result of our pleasant afternoon, and I'm selling it for $100 as is, (not matted or framed); shipping costs to be paid by the buyer. If you are interested in buying, please contact Elena.

On the hike back we found some dog-tooth violets, a species which I'd not seen before, along with blue birdsfoot violets. White and yellow violets were also to be found, the white ones in profusion.

A Sketch Portrait

A Sketch Portrait, vine charcoal, 9" x 12"

I've been studying portraiture for about three years now at the Columbia Arts Center. This is a quick sketch of a friend I visited recently. It was hard to get her to pose, but I believe my sketch in delicate, nervous lines, captures something of her skittish, introspective personality. Underneath, there is a strong-will, and one very resilient woman. She remarked that "her looks were changing," which I took to mean that she thought I'd made her look too old. I sympathize: last year a friend sketched me while I painted, and I was surprised to see myself as a little old lady with reading glasses. It's difficult to accept aging and do so gracefully, being aware that I too have a double chin (mine is much more pronounced) and my flesh is starting to hang down a bit in incipient jowls. Yet as an artist, I refuse to compromise too much, and feel compelled to draw what I see.

Cherry Blossoms and the Moon

Cherry Blossoms and the Moon, oils on board, 14" x 11."

It was only five days ago that the cherry blossoms in our neighborhood were in their glory. Herb and I went out for a walk that evening and lo, the waxing moon was rising as the sun was setting. The flowering cherries in conjunction with the rising moon seemed a special omen, so I took photos for a painting. Today the flowers are fading and the emerging leaves begin to overtake them... Sakura: such brief and evanescent beauty!

The painting is selling for $100, shipping and handling are extra. Please E-mail Elena if you are interested in buying.

Spring is here!

Finally, the weather is glorious and our cherry trees are in full blossom! In this photo you can see the lovely cherry trees at the entrance to my neighborhood. Today it's really warm. I'd better get started on my painting of the cherry blossoms, so I can post it tomorrow or the day after.

Bluebells at Chapman Forest

Bluebells at Chapman Forest, watercolor, 10" x 14"

My dear friends Patrise and Linda live in southern Maryland, very close to Chapman Forest, a large estate on the Potomac riverfront established in colonial times. The old estate has been preserved by a local group and contains many acres of old-growth forest, among which are several large upland patches of Virginia Bluebells, an unusual occurrence. Most large bluebell patches are found along riverbanks where the spring floods help the plants propagate in sandy loam. I wonder just how many years it takes for bluebells to form a patch this big... fifty, eighty or a hundred years undisturbed?

The weather looked pretty chancy for the weekend, but I decided to risk it, since the blooming season for these beautiful flowers is so short, and it had been a couple of years since I'd been down there in the spring. I drove through several showers on my way south from Columbia, and we encountered one more downpour as we were getting underway for our hike, but we got lucky and it didn't rain during the afternoon. We saw other wildflowers during our hike: Dutchman's breeches, tiny white violets, smooth yellow violets, and Jack-in-the-pulpit.

The storm clouds make a dramatic backdrop for this hill covered with bluebells, and the purple-pink color of the redbud flowers is the perfect complement to the tender greens of the emerging foliage. I'm selling it for $100, shipping and handling is additional. If you are interested in buying please drop me an E-mail.