A Rocky Heart

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love hearts. I love to paint them, I own heart-shaped jewelry, I love to see heart shapes in other things. I also really love rocks. The heart rock collection above was gathered on our holiday this past August in Maine. I actually have more of them than I was able to fit in the photo.

I can't tell you how much pleasure looking at these gorgeous heart rocks gives me. I love that there are smooth ones, wonky ones, broken ones, light and dark. Don't all of our hearts go through all of those stages at some time or another?

Some of these rocks are particularly nice to hold. The great big, smooth rock in the centre came from Jasper Beach in Maine. It is the most extraordinary place. Mounds and mounds of ocean-sculpted, smooth jasper stones. That big heart is so beautiful and just might be the ultimate worry stone.

In April, I showed you a painting I did of a gorgeous tree that lives in the forest where I walk with Meeko during the winter. It has the most wonderful heart shape on its trunk.  I finally made my painting into a print and added it to my shop this week. I am very happy with how it turned out. I did the original painting in gouache as I wanted to make sure that all of the woodsy, earthy, mossy tones came through on the beautiful tree trunk.  The print has captured the original's tones very nicely.

"Legend has it she gave her heart to the forest."  8 1/2 x 11 inch print on Italian watercolour paper

I also found some beautiful egg-shaped rocks. I'm like a kid when I'm on the beach. I get so excited about shells, sea glass and all shapes of rocks. Look at these beauties!

I wonder if Arounna from Bookhou ever wonders about the treasures that her beautifully made bags carry. My wonderful rock collection was transported in a Bookhou bag from the coast of Maine back to our home.

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Thank you for your patience with me in past weeks. I came back from our holiday in early August fired up and with the best intentions of posting on my blog more often. Well and then I didn't. (Did you wonder if our house had been surrounded by the black-eyed susans in my last post?) I've missed you all and hope to be here more often this fall.  Both Emma and Chloé are now back to school. After a very slow summer, I've started to sell again in my shop. (Yay!) I've added new prints and some more originals, so please have a look. I'll be adding more in the weeks ahead. The next month will be busy. I have a special commissioned painting to work on (maybe two) as well as a craft show to prepare for. I'll see you here!

Forest Legend

Well hello there! I can't believe it's been a week and a half since I posted last.  Just after my last post celebrating the return of spring flowers to my garden, there was a big April snowstorm. I think it knocked the spring breeze right out of me! I certainly wasn't about to post more snow photos here. I haven't been idle though. I've been painting quite a bit and enjoying myself too.

I've been working on the painting at the top the past few days. It is special in several ways. First of all, it was painted in gouache rather than watercolour. I had a few tubes of rarely used gouache in my painting drawer but have just invested in a wider range of colours. The scene I painted is very special to me. Meeko and I walk on the same forest path all winter long. I thought I had every curve in the path and tree trunk memorized, but no. All of a sudden I came upon this gorgeous tree with a beautiful heart shape on its trunk. I gasped out loud when I saw it off to the side of our path. The heart, the gnarly bark, the gorgeous green lichen all made this tree trunk look more alive than all of the trunks around it. I didn't post the photo I took of it anywhere. I didn't want anyone to take it. I've actually been using it as my desktop image the past few weeks while I gathered the courage to paint it. I chose to use gouache as I wanted it to be a strong painting and for the heart tree to have plenty of character. I put the final few details on it this morning. The image measures 8 x 10 inches and it is painted on 300 lb Arches watercolour paper. There's a close-up of the trunk below. I am calling the painting "Legend has it she gave her heart to the forest".

The day of the snowstorm, I gathered bouquets of crocuses and scilla from the garden just before the snow began to fall. I even plucked some bulbs right out of the ground. (Crazy lady!) I took a crocus bulb because I wanted to paint it. I took several muscari bulbs because I wanted to see if I could force them to bloom a little faster inside the house if I 'planted' them in fish gravel with water up to their roots. It's working!

Here's the crocus painting I started the day of the storm and finished over the next couple of days.  (I'm such a slow painter.) It's painted on gorgeous feather-deckle Twinrocker watercolour paper. I made it complicated for myself by choosing a bulb that had two intertwined stems but I'm happy with the way it turned out. It's the first time I've included a bulb in a painting.

Good news! My flowers all survived the late snow cover. The garden is coming alive again. Leaf buds are swelling. The birds are singing. Here's a pretty little bouquet of botanical tulips I picked yesterday. The blue in the background is scilla. From me to you! Have a lovely week!