The Flowering of Spring

The flowering of Spring, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

This is my latest watercolor. It is finally spring in the Northwest. The cherry trees are in bloom, the crocuses and daffodils are coming up, and I think it's been a day or 2 since any of us had snow. (I don't get much at my house since I am very close to sea level but some areas close by are still getting snow.)


When I did this painting I penciled in the outline of the tree, but the rest was all free hand, or free form, or flow of consciousness - all sort of spiraling out from the tree bark. Tree bark is one of my favorite things to paint - that and hair, I guess. I love all the sinuous lines and earthy tones.

The Flowering of Spring
8 x 10 inches
Watercolor on paper
Available on Etsy

Handwoven silk shawl at Nordic Heritage Museum

Handwoven silk shawl at Nordic Heritage Museum, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

A couple of days ago my mother and I went to the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle to see the show Celebrating 75 Years of the Seattle Weavers’ Guild. This is a photo of the piece my mother had in the show. This gorgeous shawl is hand woven from silk and I think has about 1 million ends to the inch, or something like that anyway. Isn't it beautiful? And it has a lovely drape - I know this because I have one just like it that she wove for me, presumably on the same warp. My sister has a red and black one.

There were many handwoven items in the show - wall hangings, dishtowels, aprons, shawls, pillows, rugs, and more. It was all absolutely beautiful. There are a lot of very talented weavers in the Seattle area. My mother joined the guild when we moved to Washington state, in 1978 it must have been.

The show is up until May 6th. If you are in the Seattle area, you should go and see it. There are even looms set up where you or your child can try a little weaving of your own.

Dragon Scales

Dragon Scales, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

It's been a good weekend. It was snowing yesterday morning, which is ridiculous for Seattle in March. I went over to visit my friends Alex and Janusz. We just sort of lay about on couches and drank tea and watched a little TV. They introduced me to The IT Crowd and Black Books. A good change from the darker British dvds I've been watching (Mi-5).

Then I went home and curled up with a volume of Neil Gaimain short stories - Fragile things. It was quite enjoyable. A lot of the best short stories have a non-traditional structure, and there are plenty of gems in that book.

This painting is:
Dragonscales
5 x 5 inches
Watercolor on Paper
Available on Etsy.

Peacock at Sunset

Peacock at Sunset, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

Peacock at Sunset
8 x 8 inches
Watercolor on paper
Available on Etsy.

I was happy with how this painting came out - which was a good thing - it was a reworking on an idea from earlier this week. but THAT painting tore when I removed it from the watercolor block. It was so annoying! I have not had that happen before! And of course I can't really copy another painting - I can TRY - i am capable of it technically - but my brush always wanders off in new ways I did not know it intended to go. I suppose that does at least make life interesting.

At the Bottom of the Garden

At the Bottom of the Garden, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

This is not a very good picture. I will try again when there is more light! Really I need to go to Kinkos and see if they have a way to scan something this big. Perhaps a blueprint scanner?

This is the 2nd large pen and ink drawing I've done this year. It's 16 x 12 inches. I used pitt pens, which I love.

I started a new painting last night, while listening to the audio book of Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo. I've series, a few years back. They are fun books and a bit less scary than some of the later Harry Potter books, if you are looking for something for a "tween" child to read. I love books of all kinds really, and gladly admit that I still read and listen to kids books.

...we wake, if ever we wake, to the silence of God.

“We sleep to time's hurdy-gurdy; we wake, if ever we wake, to the silence of God. And then, when we wake to the deep shores of time uncreated, then when the dazzling dark breaks over the far slopes of time, then it's time to toss things, like our reason, and our will; then it's time to break our necks for home.
There are no events but thoughts and the heart's hard turning, the heart's slow learning where to love and whom. The rest is merely gossip, and tales for other times.” -- Annie Dillard

Peacocks in the Garden

Peacocks in the Garden, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

This is my latest. I was quite pleased with how it came out - though the colors are brighter in person than they came out on the scan. When I started it I knew it would be green and spring-y but I did not know about the peacocks till I was a ways in.

When I look out my window right now the colors are all grey-ed down with rain. The brightest colors I can see are a couple of red cars and a yellow excavator down the street. Everything else seems grey or brown or taupe and washed out. there are some pine trees, standing like shy sentinels, but they seem to recede into the background somehow. Sometimes you have to make your own color.

Peacocks in the Garden
8 x 8 inches
watercolor and ink on paper
available from Etsy.