Spring has sprung

At last, flowers are beginning to bloom in my yard.  This first photo is a small plant I bought the fall before last on sale at the local garden center.  I bought two of them, and the other was eaten to the ground last fall, so it has no blooms on it yet.  It did survive the banquet, fortunately, and is showing green leaves.  I don't remember the name of this one, but I love the flowers.  They remind me of a dragon, for some reason.  (fire-breathing, of course!)

This is the hardiest plant I have in my yard so far.  I have three huge, vibrant clumps of this firecracker penstemon.  The awesome thing about this plant (besides the red flowers) is that the rabbits have no desire to eat it!  That is pretty amazing, considering they seem to eat absolutely everything else.  The hummingbirds love to feast on the nectar of this plant, which is an extra added bonus.  I actually lured a hummingbird out of my garage last year with a stem of one of these penstemon.

Some of you readers may remember my quest last year for the native desert mallow.  I have longed to have one (or two or three) of these orange blooming flowers in my yard ever since I first encountered one!  This year, I am proud to show you the wonderful orange cups of one growing in my front yard!!!!  Yay!  This one was carefully sheltered inside a fortress of chicken wire all winter.  It had grown enough that it filled the chicken wire fortress, and everywhere a stem or leaf was brave enough to protrude beyond its protective shelter, it would inevitably get eaten.  Those pesky wabbits!  I had to make my chicken wire fortress bigger, and I am so proud and happy about each and every orange blossom I see. 

Here is the most recent Joshua Tree painting.  It is SUCH a love affair for me!  Oil on canvas, measuring 24 x 18 inches. 

Desert Delights

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  So there are three thousand. 

I do want to mention that the first image is of the Desert Mistletoe.  (Phoradendron Californicum)  It is a partial parasite.  What this means is that it does photosynthesize, but gets food and water from the host plant.  You can read more about it here.  It has the most wonderfully fragrant flowers. 

Perhaps soon I will feel like writing again.

Spring Forward

We woke up this morning and realized we forgot about spring forward. Ooops.

I am a little tired today, and not because I didn't get enough sleep. I think I am still fighting off that cold. Either that, or I am fighting off a whole new cold. Either way. I am not sick. I haven't been sick yet. I am not going to get sick. I am just saying I am tired. (and a little grumpy, obviously.) Kay? Kay.

Pono and I discovered a Joshua Tree that had a ton of flower clusters on it the other day. So here is a photo of it, but you can't see them all. Magnificent! I am so enjoying these.

Oh, and I also found a crinkly cactus near our house that is about to bloom. Matthias says it is a beavertail, but I really don't know what kind it is. I can't wait to see the blossoms! This is so exciting!

Here is a new painting. Another one. I don't seem to be much in the mood to write. This is 25 x 25 x 2.5", oil on canvas. I am still arguing with myself about the title.

Two new paintings and more Joshua Tree Blooms

I have been tromping all over the desert, in pursuit of a Joshua Tree that is actually blooming. However, it seems we must wait a little longer, my dear blog friends. None of them are QUITE READY yet. I did get some really nice close up shots today, where the buds were actually at eye level. (I am only 5'3", so that is really saying something!). I will have to remember where I found these, so when the flowers start to pop open, I can get more good close ups like this. I think these buds are cool looking already. I have no idea what to expect once they bloom. You can see that this second one is not nearly as close to blooming as the first one. I think in this earlier stage, they really remind me of the protea. (one of my favorite flowers!)

I did paint all weekend, pretty much. I had hoped to finish more paintings than I did. I don't know why it's going so slowly. I did finish two smaller ones, and I am happy with them both. These are flowers, well, they are abstracted. Or should I say I invented them. Yes, that is more accurate. I invented them, but to me they are flowers! I have titled them "Desert Bloom I and II". These are both oil on canvas, measuring 12 x 12 x 2.5". The edges are painted too, and so when they are dry, I will try to remember to photograph the edges.


I don't have much else to tell you. I have been fighting off a cold all weekend. I still haven't gotten sick, but I find that I tire easily, and so I am trying to sleep more and take lots of vitamin C. I swear I will post more when I don't feel so pooped!

Rambling Along

Well, hello everyone! Happy Tuesday. I guess I have a bit of catching up to do. First off, I just have to mention how much fun the Sia concert was!!!! I loved Sia! She is really funny and charming onstage. More importantly, she sounded GREAT. Her voice just got stronger with each song. It blew me away. We saw her and her band perform in a small club just north of San Diego called "Belly Up". It was a great place to see her, since it was small. It was the first concert of her US tour!!! If you get a chance to see her, I highly recommend it. It did end up being a long day/night, but well worth the sleep deprivation, in my humble opinion.

Yesterday was Pono's birthday. I gave him a bath on Sunday, so he was sparkly clean for his birthday. I made him another recycled squeaky toy, and of course he got plenty of attention. Here is a cute photo of Pono and Matthias, post bath. Pono hates baths, of course, as any dog does. He DOES enjoy the part after the bath, when I rub him all over with towels. We call it "rubby rubbies" (yes, baby talk, I KNOW!!! Nauseating, really) and he gets so excited. That is the best part of bath day. Who wouldn't want to be rubbed all over with a towel??? It feels great!

I spent most of the day, yesterday and today, in the studio. I managed to finish two, well, three paintings, and I started a whole bunch of new ones. I also put layer number one on two larger paintings. I think both of the larger ones are extremely ugly, but I am not going to worry about it, since it is only layer number one. These new paintings usually have anywhere between 3 and 6 layers, so there's no point in getting too upset about it. I am attaching a photo of one of the new ones for your viewing pleasure. (It is at the top - 12 x 12", oil on canvas)

In news of the desert, I found a couple of Joshua Trees that are nearly there in terms of blooms. I have been snapping photos of these things like crazy, I am so excited!! I find that the buds remind me a lot of the protea, which is a favorite flower of mine. In Hawaii, I painted the protea quite a few times, and sold each and every one of those paintings. If I can dig a photo of one of those old paintings up for you, I'll post it. This is just more rambling, but when Matthias and I were visiting South Africa, where the protea has origins, we actually went to a botanical garden full of them!!! It was awesome!

Joshua Trees will bloom

I am excited, because yesterday, while cruising around in the desert, I noticed that the Joshua Trees are going to bloom!!! Not all of them have buds on them, but I did take photos of three different trees, in various stages of getting ready to bloom. How cool! For those of you who haven't read my earlier post about the Joshua Tree, they don't bloom every year. It seems they require certain conditions for that to happen. It is so exciting. This also means, that by the fall, I should have some Joshua Tree seed pods for someone I promised them to. (you know who you are!) I love that this kind of excitement can make me happy for days.



The other good news is that I took a few of the new paintings down to Christopher Morgan Galleries in Palm Desert yesterday. The owner seemed to be pleased by the direction of my new work. In fact, I put Damar Varnish on three of them, and they will be going back down to the gallery tomorrow. For those of you who aren't painters, Damar Varnish helps seal the painting, and protects it from dirt and scratches. It also provides the surface of the painting with an even gloss or matte finish.

I have been experimenting on small pieces of board, and I thought I would post one for you. I think this one turned out particularly well. It is only about 5 1/2 x 7 1/2" or so, but still, I think it is successful. I have layered several coats of oil paint over the top of heavy acrylic medium that was applied with a palette knife. Once the surface of this painting is dry, I will most likely be listing it on my etsy site, so check back!

Home again

We returned from our VW camper van adventure yesterday afternoon. The van ran pretty well, with only a few minor glitches. We stayed overnight at a place called Cactus Flats, which is a little south of Olancha, on Highway 395. It was beautiful where we were, camped out in the middle of nowhere on some BLM land we found. I finally got a chance to take some photos of Joshua Trees with seed pods on them! Most of the trees near our house don't have seed pods. The Joshua Tree (or yucca brevifolia) does not flower every year. A winter freeze followed by plenty of rain in spring is what will do the trick, according to Joshua Tree, The Complete Guide by James Kaiser. After the Joshua Tree does bloom, the branch will split, which is how the tree gets its distinctive shape. The name "Joshua Tree" was given to these unique trees by Mormon settlers, who thought that the trees resembled the prophet Joshua, pointing them to the promised land. I love these trees!

We also got a chance to enjoy more fall leaves on our leisurely drive home, when we drove to Convict Lake. It was sensational up there!!! The color of that lake was almost indescribably vivid, and the leaves on the trees around the lake were decked out in their finest fall color. If it hadn't been so crowded up there, we would have camped there. But the crowds there deterred us from staying overnight. We did manage to get Pono down to the water, where he could splash around and chase some sticks. Then, we hiked halfway around the lake, drinking in the scenery and warm fall sunshine.
I actually have more to tell you about our journey, and the things we saw, but I need to get ready for the drawing session tonite. More soon!