Jack Frost!

Where Did The Summer Go?
Where did the Year Go!
Just the other morning as I was heading out the door on my way to work, Jack Frost grabbed me and insisted that I stop and take pictures of my Garden covered in the sparkling crystals of Late Autumn! This happens to me often, Dear Friends, as I rush past the Garden on my way to work; that I Must stop and take pictures and try to capture the Beauty that is such an endless source of Joy for Me in my Garden! It seems it was only Yesterday I was adoring the crocus that bloomed so beautifully and so Early this year! And I really meant to come back here regularly and often to share the Beauty with you! But Alas, I did not and now the year has sped by..... but I did take the pictures and I will now try to share a few of the highlights with you...

The weather turned hot in the middle of March this year, and continued to be hotter than usual for most of the summer, which meant that all the flowers bloomed earlier than usual and for shorter length of time. Beginning with the Tulips that usually bloom in May arriving in April....

 And the Sweet William too.....

 Capturing me as I rushed by.....

And the dew drops on the Lady's Mantle....

Glistening in the morning sun... 

Who could resist stopping to take a picture or two.....!

And the Lilacs came in April.... 

when usually they bloom in May...

And in May the Roses .... 

that usually wait for June....

Not to mention the Clematis....

That I must admire as I enter my door....

And even a rainy morn captures me.... 

as the rain is caught on the leaves....

of  Lady's Mantle...

And Rose...

Leaf and Bloom alike.....

But we cannot linger, Dear Friends,..... rushing to work.....

As the plants are rushing to bloom.... 

and the seasons are changing so quickly....

Peonies explode forth....

Roses adorn Every shrub.....

And Foxgloves.....!!!

That seeded themselves last summer.....

With Such Abandon.....

Only rivaled by the Blossoms of the Roses Overhead....

And Every Single Blossom wanting to be admired....

As I rush by.....

On a Beautiful Summer Morning....

Calling to me....

In the morning....

In the Evening..... And was that only June...?

July was Merciless.... but the Day lilies didn't notice....

They glowed.....

And my Favorite Orchid Lily too.....

But before we know it, the Summer is passing by.....

The Queen Anne's Lace and the Phlox begin to bloom.....

And this year the Queen Anne's Lace was a sight to behold!

In the heat of the Summer all the other flowers faded.....

But the Queen Anne's Lace simply took my breath away...!!!

I could never get enough of it!

But even this must pass....

We are busy rushing back and forth...

And suddenly the Summer is Gone!

Cobwebs and dew greet us in the fading dawn...

Some so splendid they rival the most beautiful bloom.....!

And the morning light is meeker as I rush by....

And evening light is just as soft.... and early....

As the leaves begin to fall....

And cluster at the gate....

While the late roses continue to bloom....

And seed pods cast their treasures....

Until Jack Frost appears......

Where did the year go?

Alas... I think we know...!

A Twilight Ride

Painting Dream Horses....

My Most Recent Wall paintings, Dear Readers, have surprised even Me! The idea has been brewing in my mind for a long time.... wanting to paint horses in as close to Real Scale as could be managed. But I live in a very small house... and there are only a couple of walls even close to big enough to hold an entire horse! But about a year ago I embarked on the painting of my Small Upstairs Studio, a room about ten feet by twelve feet with a slanting ceiling.... and that only eight feet high. A Small Room. But I spend a lot of time in this room... and wanted to expand it's horizons visually and psychically... so I began by painting the ceiling to resemble sky and clouds in a very Pseudo-baroque manner.....

You can sort of see the effect in this picture..... ignore the Victorian ceiling fixture..... the walls are lavender and the ceiling I painted light blue.... and the "clouds" run around the top of the walls to link the two surfaces, and to try to create the illusion of sky overhead.....

It is quite difficult to photograph in it's entirety.... 

and I added more detail and depth of shadowing later.....

Here you can see the corner with the slanted roof under the eaves....

But I didn't take any more pictures of it because it wasn't finished. 

And then Hurricane Irene came calling.... causing much damage in the area....

(although thankfully, no damage to my property)

and somehow I didn't continue with the painting in this room.

But the project continued to whisper to me all winter..... 

I kept seeing a Horse on the larger of the walls....!

So This Summer, when I was moved to Finish the one wall in this room that still had broken lath and plaster from where a closet had been torn out by previous owners.... 

requiring the upheaval and removal of half the furnishings of the room.....

The urge to paint the newly finished wall became irresistible...

This was the corner with the torn wall newly patched and trimmed.....

And this is the Irresistible Blank Slate......

With the Dream Horse Emerging..... 

of course.... it had to acquire Wings..... being in the clouds....

This is the basic latex house paint undercoats.....

And the details gradually added....

With artists acrylic paint and a much smaller brush!

And a closer view.......

But This wasn't the Horse I had been dreaming of.....

This was the Smaller wall.... the wall I had never intended to paint at all....

And the Other wall still cried out for the Horse I was dreaming of.....

So I moved the Remaining furniture out of the way.....

And started painting the other wall.....

Much harder to photograph as it is difficult to stand in the right spot with the furniture in the way....

And with so much More Horse..... More details to paint.....

And Closer.....

And More....

It took me several Days to be willing to move the Furniture back into place....

for after all it is a Room and the furniture has nowhere else to go.....

and I use it all the time....

He is only Partly obscured.....

And She is ignoring the furniture.....

And in a funny way, I do think they make the walls recede.....

And in spite of adding two large Horses.... the room feels bigger....

And at Twilight.... 

they are just plain Magic!

My Dream Horses......!