Mid-Winter Blues

 

Pages from my botanical journal.

I wasn't thinking of "blue" paintings like Picasso's when I titled this post--I'm just at that point in mid-winter when the blues set in, when I wish I could be somewhere sunny and warm instead of where I am. But Florida is beyond my budget this year...

We've had no snow on the ground this winter thus far, and with a lot of cold and drizzly days one would think at least the soil had enough moisture, but actually it's been a record dry season too. Everything just looks more drab and colorless than usual--not even a good atmospheric effect like fog to give any illusion of interest.

 

My back yard this morning.

In my studio at least, I can find some colors to please my eye. My journals are steadily filling up with drawings of whatever botanical material I can find around, and some non-botanical stuff, like the local birds. I have set up three feeders this winter: a finch sock, a hanging suet cage, and a platform feeder for birds such as cardinals, who can't get at the other two.

I tried a quick sketch of one of the White-breasted nuthatches that frequent the feeders, but he's so fast, it's difficult to capture anything but a gesture, if that. I think I got the attitude, but had to consult my Sibley's Bird Guide to get the right markings of the plumage. My bird still doesn't have the right proportions, but I'll keep working on that until I can do better.

Tulip Tree Flower sketch, colored pencil.

I'm finishing my illustrations for the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) brochure--the Tulip Tree flowers above were drawn from some old photos I'd taken during a Botanical Artist Society of the National Capital Region (BASNCR) field trip to Tudor Place, a historic estate and garden in Georgetown, in DC. Their garden had one mature Tulip Tree whose branches swept down almost to the ground, and gave a great opportunity to view the flowers at eye level and from above.

The other drawing is of a sprig of American holly, as a companion piece to the Tulip Tree. I'm still working out the arrangement of the leaves and berries on the branch in graphite, and will transfer it to good paper when I have the design worked out.

Garden Bloggers' January Bloom Day

 

Orchids in my bath.

For my first post for the Garden Blogger's Bloom Day (a day late) I'm starting with my indoor garden, where I have a couple of orchids in bloom in my bath. The dark pink is a Miltonidia, a hybrid of Miltonia with Oncidium, I believe. This was the first orchid I ever bought many years ago--it was on sale at a local garden center and looked almost dead, but the orchid expert there assured me it would revive if soaked in water for a few hours, which it did. It has bloomed regularly since then.

The other orchid in the bath with fading blooms and a new flowering spike coming up, I bought at a road-side stand during a trip to Florida, and appears to be a Brassia hybrid, maybe Brassidia? It too flowers regularly for me every year during this time. This season it produced three flowering spikes.

 

Phalaenopsis hybrid

Moving along downstairs to the family room is another orchid, a Phalaenopsis hybrid one of my sisters gave me a few years back, that has re-bloomed reliably. I have another five or six florists' orchids around that haven't bloomed in several years, but hope springs eternal in a gardener's heart, so I won't throw them out just yet.

 

Pink Anthurium

Near the Phalaenopsis is this pink Anthurium, also a gift from my sisters. The African violet below is one of two Optimara varieties I've grown for nearly forty years; I've kept them going by taking leaf cuttings regularly.

 

Optimara African violet (Saintpaulia hybrids)

 

The plant below is the exotic Gardenia Tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata) which I've been growing for about seven years now, and blooms during winter. The flowers have a marvelous scent for the first six hours after opening, and gradually lose their fragrance. My tree is about three feet high now, and I'm wondering just how much larger it might get--I may have to give it away to someone with a greenhouse when it reaches a size I can't accommodate.

Gardenia tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata)

The only thing blooming outdoors in my USDA Zone 6b garden is a native witchhazel tree (Hamamelis virginiana), and some buds are appearing on a Japanese Andromeda (Pieris japonica).

 

Witchhazel blossoms.

Japanese Andromeda cultivar in bud.

There is one more blossom to account for, but this one is the fruit of my artistic endeavors--a flame azalea watercolor that I finally finished. As I was painting this, it was exciting to I learn that the eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly is one of the few insects that can pollinate these native azaleas in the wild.

 

Flame Azalea and Pollinator.

I photographed the flowers and the butterflies two years ago during a trip to a West Virginia forest.

Starting Off the Year

Overlooking the wetlands trail at Blandy.

 

On the last day of the old year and the first few this year, we had an extraordinarily warm spell with highs in the 70's. Being so unusual for the season, I naturally took the opportunity for an afternoon walk at Blandy, and encountered other folk who were enjoying the wonderful break in the weather.

 

Winterberry.

I parked in the back forty to walk the wetlands trail and encountered this large winterberry with lots of  colorful berries. On the way back I checked on the magnolias and other trees in this back area. The Magnolia veitchii whose seedpods I had admired a couple of years ago had been cut back severely--apparently the old trunk was diseased, so they left only a few shoots at its base to regrow. I guess it will be a few years before it produces any blossoms.

Longleaf pine

I saw a longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and observed the geometric pattern of its leaf scars on the twigs. Longleaf pine doesn't occur naturally in our area, its distribution is more coastal, but it does survive here in USDA zone 6.

The respite was short-lived, and by the end of the week it was back to more normal winter weather, and being back indoors, where there is no lack of flowers. Here are two of my orchids are blooming in the master bath: a Brassia hybrid (white with maroon) and a Miltassia hybrid (dark pink).

Two orchids blooming in the master bath.

 The African violets (Saintpaulia hybrids) are also flowering, and my Christmas cactus is displaying the last of its blooms--this one had grown so much in the last year I re-potted it recently, and it seems to be happy in its new home.

African violets in bloom.

Christmas cactus blossom.

 

January is the time when gardeners dream and plan what we will grow in the spring. Tons of gardening catalogs arrive in my mailbox and I welcome them and start dreaming of the new plants I'll grow this year. I love to sketch out designs for my garden, to figure how to expand and re-arrange my plants within the existing beds. When a gardener begins to dream, spring can't be far behind.

Winding Down the Year

Milkweed pods (Asclepias syriaca), watercolor, 21"h x 14"w.

 

As I think about my activities on this blog in the past year, I'm surprised at the ways in which my garden has progressed over the course of these past twelve months. Not just the growing plants, the flowers and vegetables cultivated, but also the cultivation of my art, the work of the hands and mind which nourishes my spirit. I feel so fortunate to have these fountains of inspiration in my life!

The milkweed piece above was started in late November, and is well on it's way to being finished. The colored pencil drawing of the pumpkin Musquee de Provence is complete, as is the iris "Afternoon Delight."

 

Musquee de Provence, colored pencil, 10"h x 14"w.

The Flame Azalea and Pollinator watercolor I worked on over the summer was finally resolved with a very dark muted background--not sure just how successfully. I may deal with the same theme again next year with a traditional botanical white background just for the sake of comparison.

Flame Azalea and Pollinator, watercolor, 7.5"h x 10.5"w.

The Botanical Gourmet exhibition at the Athaneaum in Alexandria, which I organized and managed over the course of the past year, will be on display until Jan. 8, 2023. The show has received some positive mentions in articles in the Washington Post and the Metro Weekly. 

Painting my piece for this show, the Galeux d'Eysines Pumpkin absorbed a good amount of time in the garden as well as in my studio. My learning of my subject took place over the course of a year, not unusual for botanical artists, who often study the plants they depict over a long period of time in order to observe the plant at all stages of its growth.

 

Exploding sketchbook.

 

Some of my projects from this year are still in my studio; I'm hoping to finish them sometime in the next few months before spring arrives. I never had a chance to add the summer and fall sketches for the exploding sketchbook, we'll see if it's possible for me to add a few more to it. This is one project that could stretch out over several years, just like my perpetual botanical journals. 

One more thing: I changed the blog banner again for a refreshed look in the New Year. Happy 2023!

Christmas Decorations

 

It's that time of the year again, time for the annual photo of our house decorated for Christmas. This year the outdoor lights are almost the same as last year's, except that I added a garland of colored lights to the porch railing. Is it me, or does our neighborhood seem a bit lackluster this year? Inflation is definitely making inroads in everyone's budget.

 

 

Our tree is much smaller this year--with fresh-cut trees being so expensive, this was the best we could afford this year (FJB!). I like to think of it as our mini-tree...

 

 

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Lawn to Forest

 

Forest Scene, colored pencil.

 

Recently the Virginia Native Plant Society asked me to do some illustrations for a brochure they are developing called "Your Lawn Wants to be a Forest." The idea is to encourage homeowners to turn an ordinary dull lawn into something more environmentally inviting by planting native trees and other vegetation. Or, by simply not mowing the lawn, allow it to develop into a meadow, which will eventually grow into a forest.

 

Left Hand Meadow, colored pencil.

 

It's a challenge to find a way to illustrate the concepts in the brochure, and I loved our graphic designer's tip of using color in just some places for accent, rather than over all. This wonderful idea allows me to do a detailed drawing of the plants in sepia pencil, and then bring in touches of color to pop up and call attention to elements of the plants and associated pollinators.

 

Right Hand Meadow, colored pencil.

 

I created the sketches using plants from my own garden and the surrounding woods. I have lots of photos of these--it's impossible for me to draw a plant accurately from memory, I need to have a photo or the real plant in front of me to be botanically accurate, which is essential for an assignment like this.

Unfortunately, the last sketch has proved problematic--it seems that the common mullein, which I see all around our area and in my garden, is not a native. So, I'll have to try to find a way to turn that mullein into some other native plant.

The interesting thing as I read the text of the brochure, is to realize that my gardening efforts have instinctively followed its advice, except that I haven't confined myself to all native trees and shrubs. As an eclectic plant lover, I have a predilection for Japanese maples, as well as flora from the southwest and western states and I've indulged it with some success. 

Not all the plants I buy native to our western regions have prospered here--as I've learned, our native clay soils are too dense for some of these plants, but it's fun to experiment and see what will do well here.

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 Fall Color

Viburnum 'Cardinal Candy'

 

This year we've had a very colorful fall and the show isn't over yet. There's still color in them there leaves! 

Fothergilla with aromatic asters.

Some plants are just beginning to reach their peak of color now in early November, like the Fothergilla in the photo above. I wish the asters next to it were a bit bloomier, but the color combination never fails to amaze me. 

 

Aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

My original aromatic aster continues to produce prodigious blooms--the pollinators love it, it's about the only flower that lasts this late into the fall.

 

Japanese maples on east side

Japanese maples l. to r.: Bloodgood, no Id, Full Moon

Much of my labors in the garden each fall consists of expanding and consilidating my flower beds. This year it was time to dig up the Mount Hood daffodils under the Japanese maple 'Amber Ghost' that were over-crowded. I extended the bed out and joined the 'Texas White' redbud tree to make it part of the same bed before replanting the daffodils and grape hyacinths beneath the trees.

 

Reworked bed with 'Amber Ghost' and 'Texas White' redbud.

Next spring I'll consolidate this enlarged bed with the one behind it, for one much larger island bed. The Shasta daisies in the Badlands bed didn't bloom much this year, despite the generous summer rains, so I'll probably transplant those and put them in the grassy strip that will unite those two beds on the west side of the back yard.

 

The "Badlands' in late October.

Other spring-flowering bulbs also need to be dug up, thinned and re-planted. I hope the glorious weather will hold out long enough for me to get this done before the ground freezes hard. I wonder what sort of winter is in store for us?

 

The front yard in late October.