These birdhouses are made of recycled materials found in anybody’s garden shed. Whether wood or discarded metal fixtures or old roofing materials, the birds enjoy the shelter.
They are feeding on a gigantic sunflower center. I took a little artistic license with the scale of the seed pod…because I can. Moths and butterflies join in on the party.
The pen and ink is done in India Ink and an old fashioned crowquill pen nib. The original is drawn on Bristol board paper, and has been sold but read on to purchase the image on various mediums.
This artwork is available on my Red Bubble POD site. Click the picture to go there and purchase prints or accessories.
Walking in downtown Ajijic, along a small crowded street, a shock of white caught my eye. It was coming from a dark doorway. I couldn’t make out what it was exactly so I stepped closer to get a better look. There were art objects in the doorway as well; a big earthenware bare brown jug with a minimum of decoration, as well as tables with sculptures and displayed paintings.Then I saw the white of the lilies. I snapped some shots and felt privileged. I just loved them. They were dropping red pollen from their stamens onto the lower gigantic petals. They were on their last leg as cut flowers. I knew them as stargazer lilies. I had grown them in Washington. Mine were many colors of pinks, but I had never seen white ones like these. I looked up and saw a woman staring at me and smiling. Apparently I thought I was walking into an art gallery when in reality, I walked right into someone’s studio. I was embarrassed and apologized and stepped back quickly. She did not seem to mind.
I felt both silly and lucky at the same time.
Even though I have been in Mexico almost a year, I have not seen one calla lily yet. I have seen only a few backyard versions while walking in my neighborhood. They were shades of red and I noticed that they seemed happy in shady gardens.
Diego Rivera painted many works using the calla lily. Even though we see these images over and over just about everywhere, I don’t get tired of them. He also painted them so well that he transformed from the well known flower into abstract shapes molded around his figures as perfect adornments. He found a perfect prop for his figures and faces.
Read about this iconic Mexican artist here:
So lilies of all kinds have been on my painting list for a while. Here is what I painted today from my photo. The red grains are pollen. Click the picture to purchase a print.
If you would like to grow some of your own calla lilies, this is a good site for information.
To learn more about stargazer lillies…
Here’s a lovely little video of a bee collecting pollen. It’s relaxing and I’ve watched it a few times. Nature is amazing.
Since I am now using my home base for teaching, I decided to respond to some requests to teach scratchboard and the engraving idea behind it. Although it is not engraved in metal, it offers the very same challenges.
One remarkable quality is that doing large scratchboard is very time consuming and difficult, the opposite is true when in comes to graphic digital reproductions.
This is one of my scratchboard drawings enlarged, which I feel loses zero impact, considering how affordable it is and how it can be applied to metal as well as textile. Click the picture to purchase.
I saw this stunning flower growing out of a very small border garden. I snapped a quick pic with my phone and I found it interesting–mostly because I was amazed that such a beauty came from a meager space. It had just rained and there were some raindrops still on the petals.I was using a few different reds…from Sennellier Red (the main red) to Alizarin Crimson and a little glazing with Opera. I needed to change something, but I could not figure out what to do.
There was a point where I was very ready to gesso over the whole thing. Instead, I slept on it. Two days later, it came to me what I should do.
I glazed the background petals with scarlet red by winsor and newton. It was so intense and gave me the depth I needed. Problem solved.
The problems we face are only as difficult as those we are up to solving. If we can’t figure them out, it’s perfectly ok to continue and keep moving forward. don’t quit. Take a break. That’s a good reason to blog. I may be talking to myself, but I don’t mind. It’s better than watching t.v.
If you would like a print on paper, metal, canvas or textile, click the image.
Love this hanging chair, in the garden…or anywhere https://www.reformasthlm.se/sv/artiklar/hangfatolj-svart-vit.html
Painting Mexico 
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