The Garden's Second Wind

The first two weeks of August were cold and grey and rainy. It was so gloomy that my solar-powered fiber-optic glow light didn't even come on at night. The tomatos were shivering and sulkily refused to ripen.
But the last two weeks have been gorgeous and hot and sunny. The tomatos are feeling much better, and the roses and nasturtiums have found a new reason to bloom again.
The symbolic meaning of this pink rose is simply "happiness". What could be more perfect?
And the meaning of nasturtiums is "victory in battle and conquest" which seems odd for such a short-lived blossom.
This post has taken me 45 minutes to do, mostly because I can't figure out how to first of all add a second picture, and secondly, how to arrange the pictures. And preview looks nothing like the real post. Aaargh! (Technology can sure blow away all the serentity you get from both art and nature, can't it?) So Iwill leave you with a poem, and go and do some yoga to rebalance my chi.
Namaste
Kind hearts are the garden,
kind thoughts are the root,
kind words are the blossoms,
kind deeds are the fruit
Anonymous

EDM 235 - Draw a butterfly

This is a white admiral butterfly, native to Alberta. Their wings are beautiful - a shiny, irridescent black with orange and blue touches of accent.

As I was recently looking through the list of EDM challenges, I noticed that I had quite an emotional reaction to the ones that I had done. I could remember what month the challenge was issued, what the weather was like, other things that were going on that week. It was like the challenges anchored that particular week in time and all the things that happened were attached. My sketches were like little keepsakes boxes that held the story of my life. Even if the sketches did not illustrate what was happening in my life, they seemed to hold the memory and the sequence of events. Has anyone else noticed this?

Sketch is watercolor in the Aquabee Co-Mo sketchbook. The dark color is a mixture of Indigo and Veridian.

EDM 232 - Draw a recent purchase

This is a new garden ornament that I purchased because of its cheerful countenance. The pierced petals are made of metal, and the face is translucent yellow plastic. It looks very fun in amongst all the green of the garden. The lettering was done with some alphabet stamps that I also recently purchased.

Most of this drawing was done outside on the patio, a fact of which I am quite proud. The weather was beautiful in July and my back yard was lush and fragrant. I spent a lot of my drawing time there, doing this and the flower series (from my previous post, and some future posts). I am far behind in posting my drawings, because it was often too hot upstairs in the computer room, and I didn't want to waste one minute of sunshine. Life is good.

Where it all began...

This is my 200th post - a milestone. When I began to draw, it was my garden that gave me both inspiration and courage. I wanted to simply draw the flowers that were blooming each week during our short growing season. These were just done in my day journal using some old colored pencils that I found in a craft box. I also wanted to try using simple line drawings to illustrate my journals. Flowers were generally willing to stand still and pose, they were non-judgmental, and forgiving. And as I began to draw, I began to see, and then I began to look - to really look at shape and form and pattern. I discovered the rhythm and flow of looking and drawing, looking and drawing. The more I looked, the more I saw. That was in the summer of 2006.

In 2007, I joined the EDM group and began doing the weekly challenges. I began that summer to draw garden grids in an actual sketchbook.

This summer, the garden is spectacular and lush. It stills the clamor and soothes my soul and inspires my drawing. Between the garden and the drawing, I find peace and rejuvenation.