Wildflowers

After working in watercolors for recent months I’ve been anxious to switch over to scratchboarding again. I was inspired to create an image with various stages of the wild thistle plant, so full of a variety of textures. Using Photoshop, I combined a couple of photos I had taken of wild thistle growing near my house. Thistle is a plant which often has several stages of growth showing at once, including spiny flower pods, fully opened flowers, and the delicate … Read More

My reference photo I finished this newest scratchboard painting a few weeks ago but I’ve been too busy to blog about it until now. This wild Lady’s Slipper blossom, which I photographed in my forest late last April, was my chosen subject as a deadline neared; I had to deliver 8 original paintings for a solo show of my work as 2019 Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage Artist of the Year. Generally, I don’t cram at the last minute, but I thought … Read More

Just as I am seeing my early wildflowers pop out of the forest floor, my bio as “Artist of the Year” has been posted on the 2019 Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage website. I am honored to receive such recognition. T-shirts, coffee mugs and decals with my watercolor painting “Bloodroot” in a bold design are now being sold online in conjunction with the 2019 Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Shirts available in regular adult style or ladies’ … Read More

My love of spring wildflowers may be genetic. When my maternal grandmother was a high school senior in 1912 she wrote “We hail the approach of spring… our pulses are stirring as the odor of the arbutus and the violet is wafted on the gentle breeze….” I hope my new acrylic painting “Showy Orchis” celebrates the glory of spring visually as elegantly as young Emma Fox did verbally. My usual step-by-step progress is shown below, but I will divert for … Read More

I thought 2018 was “my year” as an artist, but this year just started out with a bang…. I have been selected as the 2019 Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage Artist of the Year! The designation was made by the renowned Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in conjunction with the 69th annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This recognition combines two of my greatest passions – painting and spring wildflowers – making it … Read More

After recently creating a few paintings of fury and feathered creatures on Scratchbord®, I decided to feature some other favorite subjects in my newest scratchboard painting: wildflowers and weathered barnwood. The black background and the process of scratching down to a white surface favor subjects with light values and strong textures; with this in mind, I’ve learned that I need to select my subjects and plan my compositions differently than I do when painting on white paper or canvas. Wild … Read More

I admit it – I am hooked on flowers. April is when my flower season gets into full swing, so it was easy to set an appropriate theme for my fine art focus this month. Here’s a peak of some of my paintings which have a focus on flowers. “April In Paradise” depicts some of Mother Nature’s treasures that I associate with April where I live in SE Tennessee. The dogwood trees, which I was amazed to discover growing wild as … Read More

Many fine art masters have done still life paintings, and the genre typically includes arrangements of fruit, flowers, vases or bowls, and draped fabric. I consider my newest painting to be a “still life,” although the elements I have arranged don’t quite fit the mold. Rather, they reflect my life in a lovely rural area, where winding country backroads are lined with wildflowers, and pastures are fenced with old cedar posts and barbed wire. I’m never at a loss for … Read More

As spring officially comes to a close, I present my final Spring Wildflower slide show for 2009. I discovered the chiggers were out the day I photographed the Horse Nettle, so I don’t walk unprotected into the woods and field these days. “Queen Anne’s Lace”, aka Chigger Weed, is flowering now, but I haven’t seen it growing on my property so it didn’t make the show. The final photo is Dandelion, a wildflower which has been with us all spring, … Read More

I seem to be making more wildflower discoveries every day, pouring through my books to identify them. Just imagine, these are only the ones I am finding on my property… I pass by so many others in my travels through this area. We are truly blessed to live in an area so rich. When is a wildflower a weed? In the case of “Cranes Bill”, shown in this slide show, I must confess calling it a weed. It has taken … Read More