Watercolor Trees: Expressive Painting May 3, 2015

Student, you teach me

Trust me to a blank paper

Then your muse responds.

Art Prescription:  I taught a great class today at the North Carolina Botanical Gardens. It is a wonderful thing to encourage people to be expressive. To give adults permission to play and respond to the paint and not their brain can be a challenge. It always amazes me to see each person tap into their voice…

Here are my finished demonstration pieces:

Trees expressive blown

Blown trees with sumi-ink and watercolor.

Trees expressive

Loose wet into wet watercolor trees.

Coloring May 2, 2015

A walk in the woods

Spring wildflowers, pen and ink

For you to color!

Art Prescription:  Today I did a set of three pen and ink wildflowers on index cards. I’d love to do an adult coloring book with wildflowers, feathers, and birds. https://www.etsy.com/listing/232055127/adult-coloring-wildflower-index-cards?ref=shop_home_active_1

Pen and ink on index cards

Index card green and gold

Backyard May 1, 2015

Squirreling away seed

Little “hands” work to gather

Sunflower seed pet.

Art Prescription:  It’s hard to feed the birds and not the squirrels. They are master-minds at breaking bird feeders. So I enjoy watching their acrobatic antics.

8 1/2 x 8 1/2 watercolor and chop that says “hope”

Backyard squirrel

Northern Parula April 25, 2015

Northern Parula

Steady song in the forest

Lulled by the soft rain.

Art Prescription:  Early hike at Mason Farm and the rain caught us. It was quite peaceful walking under the canopy of trees while the rain pitter-pattered on leaves.

Collage, colored pencil and graphite:

Art journal Northern Parula

Ephemeral April 6, 2015

Ephemeral sketch

Two friends, one quilt, wildflowers

Sun-hats and magic.

Art Prescription:  Into the garden we did go! With our sun-hats, colored pencils, and a sense of hope. Wildflowers we did find, along with cures for the common soul!!

Pen and Ink and Colored Pencil

Sweet Betsy.jpg

Bees March 31, 2015

Swarm of honey bees

The weight on a new spring branch

Queen rules colony.

Art Prescription:  Saw this on my walk today. So amazing and beautiful. Swarming behavior only occurs in spring when the Queen Bee decides to start a new colony and leaves with thousands of worker bees in search of a new nest. Meanwhile they swarm in unexpected places.

bees