Tag: inspired by nature

Posted in painting, weaving

Friday Finish: Tight Quarters

Posted on by Laura Kate

Good morning,

This is my mixed media interpretation of Bill’s photograph of baby sparrows in a crowded nest. I have encased my watercolor painting in a free-form weaving.

He found these hapless birds in a fake flower wreath near the door of a busy downtown business.

I did the watercolor painting on a six by six stretched canvas. After it dried, I pounded in the tacks and strung a warp of Perl cotton embroidery thread. The weaving was worked with yarn and floss in compatible colors. To finish, I poked holes through the canvas and gathered up the threads to create peepholes for the birds.

I’m not sure if I intended some kind of statement about the crowded world, or the clash of humanity and nature. Or maybe it was just a little experiment.

Posted in drawing

Sunday Sketching: for a fundraiser

Posted on by Laura Kate

My local art association is having an art sale in October. The members are asked to use 6×6 canvases to make artwork, choosing whatever media they prefer. At the event, each canvas will be sold for $66.

This is something I can do. This week I picked up three of these canvases. I came up with six ideas for subject matter. To get started, I made some sketches today (really, just contour drawings.) These will be painted with watercolors.

  1. Butterfly perched on my hand. Butterflies have landed on me in real life. Often it’s the little hackberry butterflies, drawn to warm or sweaty clothing. I wanted something with more drama. I chose to sketch a spicebush swallowtail.

My hand was drawn from life. For the butterfly, I referenced a photo from the Audobon Guide to Butterflies of North America, published in 1980.

There were no photo credits in the book.

2. Baby sparrows in a nest: This drawing was made based on a photograph by Bill.

At times, parent birds choose unfortunate locations for building their nests. This nest was located in a door wreath at a downtown business. Here is my contour sketch.

I have something special in mind for this work. Fiber art will be involved, giving this painting more of a 3D object.

3. Two of my other ideas will be worked with fabric paint on cotton. I will recreate some early experiments of mine using the sun printing technique.

I’m excited to get started. Perhaps I will work on color selection later today.

Posted in knitting, Living Life Well

Mary Delaney in the Garden

Posted on by Laura Kate

Yesterday I finished the first sock using KDDs design Mary Delaney. During a break in the rain, the sock and I took a stroll through the garden.

Pinned to a panicle of the Oakleaf Hydrangea. As you can see, the blooms are close to opening fully.

Mary Delaney on the rock edging surrounding the herbs. You see lemon thyme here. Very fragrant and excellent in chicken or fish dishes.

Hanging around with the garden peas. This variety is Sugarsnap.

Some of the paeonies haven’t bloomed yet, but buds are swollen. This stop resulted in a few surprised ants walking across the sock.

On the trellis with some clematis blooms. Notice some of the fluffy seedheads. They are fun to touch – springy, but soft as corn silk.

The sock has come to rest on my concrete statue of a garden cherub. I call him Dickon, after the character in A Secret Garden who charmed the wild animals.

I hope you were as amused as I was by this fanciful photo shoot uniting knitting and nature. When the rain starts up again, I’ll cast on sock no. 2.

Posted in Living Life Well

A Morning Stroll through the Garden

Posted on by Laura Kate

What a difference a year makes. This spring, we have had sufficient rainfall, and the plants are blooming madly. Bill and I both took photos this morning. Here are mine, taken with my little point and shoot canon.

  1. Solomon’s Seal under the oak tree. 2. Catmint with an onion background. 3. Chives growing in a concrete block. 4. Clematis with blooms the size of my palm. 5. A few paeonies. 6. Mouse-eared coreopsis nestled among various pansies. 7. Crepe myrtle shoots. 8. A collection of textured leaves. 9. Woodland columbines.

The bearded iris are just starting to bloom, but my photos of them didn’t turn out well. Perhaps I can persuade Bill to share a few of his.

There is a storm coming tonight and these blooms may end up shredded by wind. A life on the prairie has its trials. (sigh) It’s best to enjoy nature’s floral bounty promptly, for tomorrow it may be gone.

Posted in painting

Admirable Weeds

Posted on by Laura Kate

My inspiration for this painting happened during a camping trip to Kansas in late March. At the site, I noticed a dozen or so Red Admiral butterflies floating around an open area near some trees. After following them around for awhile, I realized that they were taking nectar from two weedy non-native plants: henbit and dandelions. My thoughts went something like this: Those two plants are disdained by gardeners and the general public. Yet one of our most beautiful native butterflies found them attractive. There is something to be valued here that I wish to explore.

The henbit was lush and blooming profusely.

I grabbed another photo in my backyard, which I used to create my drawing.

For the butterfly reference, I went to Unsplash.com for this lovely by Don Coombez.

https://unsplash.com/photos/a-butterfly-sitting-on-top-of-a-metal-pole-PLyR1XIwcsU

Reference in hand, I started work, first by testing colors in my sketchbook.

Next came a pencil sketch which was transferred to Arches cold press paper.

Stages of the painting:

Masking fluid applied and Initial wash laid down.

First round of colors dropped in.

Foreground painted and additional layers added.

Masking fluid removed, some shadows and details painted in.

Finished up by adding highlights and cast shadows.

I’m relieved to have finished. These complex organic scenes are still very difficult for me. And while I can’t say I love every bit of my painting, I did achieve my objective.