Water Garden

Water Garden
5 x 7
oil on canvas panel
$75

    This is a small painting that I started last weekend at the Dallas Arboretum. It was actually the first water lily painting that I did. It isn't as painterly (loose) as I'm going to try to be doing but I went ahead and finished it in the style I began it.
    We didn't reach 100 today so I enjoyed working on it on my patio. We actually are expecting some days to only be in the 80s next week. That will be great. We have water restrictions now. It has been a real struggle to keep things green. Hopefully we will get some rain in the near future. Right now about the only color in my gardens is from my crape myrtles and roses. My favorite rose is an old rose I got from my grandmothers garden when she passed a few years ago. It seems like as long as they have some water they don't mind the heat. Based on singing, my birds, domestic and wild, seemed to be enjoying the break in the heat today as much as I was.

                This is the new dove I bought to keep my old dove company. At first they didn't care for each other
                         much but as I was out painting today I noticed that It seems now like they are getting along much           
        better. I really enjoy hearing their cooing in the morning . It is a cool and relaxing sound to me.

This is one of two antique roses that I brought from my grandmother's garden. It has small pale pink blooms. She often kept them in a vase on her kitchen table.   The other rose I got from her garden has small red blooms, however it isn't in bloom  right now,    One of the things I love about these old roses is that they are so hardy and disease resistant.

Lilies and More Lilies



Botanical Gardens Lilies
11 x 14
oil on Ampersand panel
$200

I painted out twice this weekend, yesterday at the Arboretum in Dallas and today at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. I went to the Dallas Arboretum with my friends to paint on Saturday. I met Olivette Hubler, Sheri Jones, Hai Chi Lee, Chris Toplyn, and some of the Dallas artists that we never met up with;  it is a big place. Our group painted near a series of pools with water lilies. when we got there only one lily was open by the time we left. There were pink, pale yellow, white, and purple lilies blooming.

Arboretum Lilies
5 x 7o
il on canvas panel
$75

 I was really inspired by the brushwork of Olivette and the palete knife work of Sheri.I am trying to get a more impressionistic style with looser brushwork. It was very hot yesterday, 107, but we hung in there and painted from about 9:00 to 12:00 or so. Then Olivette, Hai Chi and I had lunch at the restaurant in the gardens. We ate outside but in the shade so it wasn't too bad, plus we had plenty of iced tea.

Chris and Hai Chi at the lily pond at the Arboretum.

 After painting at the Arboretum I was inspired to try painting some more water lilies so this morning at 10:30 I went to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. It was 107 again today and I was in  full sun but I was able to paint for three hours. I did the painting at the top of this blog.

Lilies with green and purple pads.

The big lily pond at the Arboretum.

Olivette and Chris painting lilies.

Sheri painting lilies, I believe she finished three paintings.