Summer at last! - Maree

“See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... we need silence to be able to touch souls.”
- Mother Teresa

W&N Watercolours on Amedeo 200gsm sketching paper - 12" x 8"

Summer at last on our Smallholding in Tarlton, South Africa! Remnants of Winter are still visible, but we've had our first summer rains and the Blue gums (Eucalyptus) are looking spectacular. They truly did this metamorphosis in complete silence - the one minute they were cold and sparse-looking and the next they're dressed in their finest summer finery, offering food and protection for the birds once more.

For the white parts of the trunks, I did a few strokes with a candle. I used the ordinary Price's candles (the cheapies in the blue wrapping), but you can also use white birthday cake candles, which actually work very well seeing as they are smaller.

Summer in Hillside - Maree

“It is summer, it is the solstice

the crowd is cheering,

the crowd is laughing

in detail

permanently, seriously

without thought.”

- William Carlos Williams

The beginning of summer in Tarlton is always a mixture of old dead grass left over from the winter and green shining through the landscape blackened by the winter's veld fires - this is a friend's smallholding not far from us up in Hillside (Tarlton, South Africa).

Eurasian Oystercatcher

Oystercatcher are a very common shorebird around the Irish coast, both winter and summer. They often spend a lot of time ,between feeding bouts, just sitting around with their heads tucked under their wing. This gives an opportunity to get a few sketches without them constantly moving.

Summer madness in Winter! - Maree

“In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.”
- Albert Camus



Isn't it amazing how our palettes take on the colours of our seasons? During Autumn I was celebrating the change of seasons with bright browns, oranges and yellows. As we're experiencing the cold of Winter here in South Africa now, my palette has been consisting of browns, greys, cold blues and dry yellows, even black, depicting Mother Earth as she struggles through the short days and long nights, hoping for Spring once more.

I actually started sketching some of the grasses in a corner at my pond, they had these gorgeous feathery tufts on them, but I've been longing to use some of my favourite colours - like the Alizarin Crimson here and there was quite a bit just sitting there in my palette, so, breaking out of my "seasonal rut", I just did a quick dab of colour to brighten my day!

Magic time! Fireflies...

Whether you call them fireflies or lightning bugs or something else entirely, these little creatures with lanterns in their tails populate many parts of the globe. There are more than 2000 members of this family in temperate and tropical climates!

Summer evenings are alight with their syncopated flashings, all in the hopes of attracting a mate (though the one that made it into my house seemed to flash in alarm when it got turned on its back--perhaps it was calling its mate to help right it!)

There have been songs and poems, paintings and more, odes to the firefly...you can see a wide selection of books devoted to the subject (many of them for children, who always seem enchanted by lightning bugs even if they're afraid of other insects and spiders--one of my earliest memories was chasing these delightful creatures, barefoot, in my white nightgown) on this page--click the link to see much more.

Many years later, we went on a night nature walk on Summer Solstice, at the Martha Lafite Thompson Nature Sanctuary in nearby Liberty, Missouri. They offered us nature and magic as well, that night, with faeries and a "troll bridge" and wonderful sights and sounds. When we reached The Firefly Meadow, we watched them dance to the strains of Vivaldi on the warm night air.

I've had a long association with the Sanctuary, but that is my favorite memory by far.

Their cold light is chemical--no infrared or ultraviolet involved. Lampyridae are family to Coleoptera, or beetles, as you can tell by looking at them closely. To my surprise, I find their larvae are predators, feeding on other small bugs and slugs.

You can learn much more about lightning bugs at the Ohio State site, here, and of course, even Wikipedia has an entry



I had already done a quick sketch of my kitten, Sofie (A.K.A. Frack, A.K.A. Squirt), on my journal page, when I spotted the firefly. It had survived the night indoors without being eaten by my cats, so I had to sketch it before releasing it.

I had my little Altoids kit handly so that's what I used--field sketching in the kitchen!

For some reason it was fond of my husband Joseph's favorite antique fork, so I just let that be his modeling stand. I did a bit more work on my sketch later, when I could see the details better...




I usually try to take any chance I get to observe this closely...what a treat!

Flowers in a Jar

Flowers in a Jar
Originally uploaded by linfrye

Daily Practice
Journal

A bit of meditation - on summer and nature ....

Summer - warm, often hot days, flowers and vegetables growing, time on the porch, in the water, time for leisure.

This summer, perhaps because it hasn't yet been as dry or as unbearably hot as it has been over the last few years, reminds me of the first years C and I 'farmed' our own food and I was working from home. Each morning, just after sun-up and before the heat of the day, I'd take my basket and walk among the dewed plants, picking the ripe vegetables, cutting flowers, 'communing' with the pollinating bees. How I LOVED that time!

Since commuting so far to a different job, I've so missed that time of living on and with the land. But THIS year, for some reason, I seem to be spending more time in the small gardens I can 'almost' manage on the weekends. I'm tending to invading insects, picking finally ripened tomatoes, fruits, herbs, flowers -- and rendering them for winter use and storage - much as I did on a far larger scale 10 years ago.

In a most generous comment (among many I thank you for!!!!), Berryf (http://www.flickr.com/photos/berryfs/) said that my painting yesterday " was..."very serene, becoming a great hallmark of your paintings." I was so touched by these words, especially because I don't see myself in my frenetic workworld as serene. So I asked C if HE thought I was serene. He said that in many ways I was - especially when I was out in the garden or painting. And again, I was surprised -- do we ever see ourselves as others do?? or our work??? LOL

Another kind flickr friend (http://www.flickr.com/photos/beegirl211/) who is urban homesteading, raises bees and so reminds me of what I was doing ten years ago --- I just love to see what she's up too!

So both of these friends inspired me to take a walk among my many bookcases. I found an often read book that still speaks to me, reminds me of these generous friends, and reminds me of summer. It's a poem from the book "Becoming Bread" by Gunilla Norris, entitled "Summer:"

Let the golden honey run
out of the jar. Let the water
be sweetened in our mixing bowl.

Three giant spoonfuls
of Summer-nectar, sunshine,
the hum of bees, warm nights,

and ourselves in the grass.
Three giant spoonfuls of Summer
sweetening the water in the mixing bowl.

We need this liquid gold
to remember the goodness
of life...the taste of honey.

The memory of Summer ...
that it returns, that at the center
the open flower is sweet.

That at the center
when it opens, we too are sweet,
and love, like a swarm of bees,

can fly into us...estatic,
nectar-drunk and
powdered with pollen.

Our bread will have this
poured-from-the-center
rich gold...three girant spoonfuls.

May YOUR summer, and today, be as rich as golden honey.

And thank you, my dear friends, for your encouragement, kindness and friendship ... YOU are my honey.

Lin Frye
North Carolina