EveryDay Matters April 17 several things at once

Lately I've been very occupied with art commitments, friends, planning for workshops, all kinds of things happening at once. The odd thing is that when I'm very busy I still make a lot of other art, such as the series I did in the last day and a bit.

I walked the labyrinth for a friend, and as usual, found something symbolic of her current struggle - a tiny wild alyssum, fragile looking, but in fact tough as anything. I made a picture of it on my hand,



to give you the relative size of it, lifted out of the ground (now safely at home in its own eggcup container), and drew it in black ink on mulberry paper.

Closeup of the drawing



showing more detail, and another image, further back to show how it sits on the page, always a big issue with situating a drawing.



I often go off the page in order to create negative space and interest, but here there was enough negative space within the architecture of the plant to provide plenty of interest.

Then on the way home, saw an old farmhouse, with new growth around it, trees and shrubs still going on, blossoms flying all over



And then a field with wild trees, flailing about.



No place to stop and park there, so I did both paintings at the nearest safe location, from memory. These are probably fun for the artist as much as anything, and I'll await the judgment of the viewer as to whether they're fun for them, too.

As always, click to get a slideshow and some enlargement.