Charcoal Portrait of a Child

Hi again. It is a cool windy day here in the Annapolis Valley, refreshing after last night's rain.
At long last, I am feeling my creative connection to myself.

This drawing, Charcoal Portrait of a Child, (12"x 18") or (168cm x252cm) feels like me.

It's hard to explain how we feel connected to some work  and others feel like a sham, like we're trying too hard. I've been thinking about a lot of elements that appeal to me and how to combine them.  In this portrait, I wanted to pursue my thoughts about soft edges.

Just for fun I tinted this detail in sepia, closer to the spirit I am going for.

Bathtime for Muji after breakfast this morning.

Peace starts at home with friendship with one's self, 

but culminates by releasing the self.

Have a lovely last weekend of August. Good things are around the corner. 

But great things are happening right now.

patterned backgrounds

Still thinking about patterned backgrounds:

Bunny in charcoal with paint pens 9"x12" on acid free kraft paper

 

 It's a warm sunny day here in the valley. I have yard work to do, but I think I'll draw another picture til it cools off a little.

 

I hope you're enjoying these last, days of August, a wistful time of long shadows and early nights. One feels the ending and the pending...

 

astounding nature

Round two at the Irving Centre, we have come out of the forested perimeter back into the formal garden; really more of a lawn.

The little lily pond is an obvious focal point that we stop to appreciate.

Note the line of benches all around the grounds.

 

The pretty white water lilies

 

and pink

 

I was quite taken with the pink, for I usually only see white water lilies in the wild.

 

Royalty of the water plants

 

I love to wander through the greenhouses which are set up for study

yet accessible to the public

 

I was beginning to get that Costa Rica feeling again

 

especially with these small, joyful, almost comical lily-like flowers

 

and then there are the carnivores of the plant world

 

Fascinating up close

 

and closer still we see...lunch!

 

Today I close with a little texture/pattern project to share with you

pencil on buff, recycled paper

 

thank you for visiting!

let's keep our sights set on the miraculous

 

an afternoon in nature

I've been remiss. I know. It happens.
August is moving right along whether we're ready or not. And now it's been two weeks since I've taken these pictures on a most beautiful outing with a friend who came a long way to visit.

First off we went to the Kentville Agricultural Centre but the flowers that were so glorious a month ago were gone. Instead, we wandered over the to the ravine trail.

 

The views from the trail were breathtaking

 

each more than the last

This is the landscape that reminds me most of Muskoka.

Only 5 minutes from home and NO BUGS!!  Well, at least not the onslaught that Muskoka is getting this year. One of the big reasons we came here! It's no fun gardening in a hail of mosquitos.

 

Next we drove into Wolfville to see the native plantings at the Irving Centre, beautiful public gardens sequestered between the university and the residential neighbourhood.

 

Dozens of these benches with hardly anyone to sit in them.

 

We were quite alone on the grounds

 

except for this lovely visitor

 

as we wandered deeper into the area of native plantings we came upon these stone steps,

called by the sound of rushing water

 

As we stepped down the path we found the source

 

a pretty gushing spring in the shadows of the overhanging branches

 

Looking back to the stone steps through which the spring actually ran so that we had to cross over leading us into a micro landscape of marsh plants

 

I began to get the sense that I was back in Costa Rica.

 

It's hard to believe I was there only 2 1/2 years ago.

 

It's also hard to believe that I am now on a latitude parallel with Ottawa

yet seeing such a similar kind of plant!

 

This is more like it, a berry somewhat like an elderberry.

 

or even these 'fairy' blossoms that some trees put out

(these are particularly pretty)

 

Our meandering trail led us to a bridge

So we crossed it. Love a handmade bridge!

Many of the plants were named, a real treat, but my shots were weak and so I leave the wild gardens with a picture of the ubiquitous wild rose that grows everywhere around here

Tomorrow I will share a few more pictures of our afternoon spent at this beautiful place.

 

I hope you are enjoying the long shadows and late days of summer.