Monday, March 26, 2012

First Up - SOLD

First Up SOLD
6" x 6" watercolor

This year I made a promise to myself. It happened last week while I was outside clearing out the withered brown corpses from last year.

It's pretty hard not to promise to try a little harder when you're doing such a grizzly task. Poor little unsuspecting flowers.

I really don't try to kill them, it's more like death by neglect, or indifference. So, sometimes I forget to water them? I really don't mean to, I just. . . sort of. . . forget.

But this year? This is the year that I no longer wear their blood (sap?? I don't know what to call flower blood. Do they even have such a thing?) on my hands! Huzzah!

"I will not kill any flowers this year. I will not kill any flowers this year. I will not kill any flowers this year."

:)

This is my painting in response to the Cook-Waller monthly painting challenge. The theme was: New, chosen by me.

The first, new crocus peeking its head through the snow in the spring always makes me feel so hopeful, like no matter how bleak or dark the winter gets, sunshine and warm days are coming closer day by day.

And just in case you were wondering, these are indeed flowers from my garden, and I did NOT kill them. Of course crocus are kind of hard to kill, they're pretty self sufficient little buggers. That's another reason why I like them so much. :))

Here's Carrie's paintings:

                            
'Sam, newborn' by Carrie Waller 8" x 10" watercolor

'Steven, newborn' by Carrie Waller 8" x 10" watercolor

These are paintings of Carrie's two sons as newborns. Aren't they beautiful? She did a wonderful job, painting a newborn is no easy feat let me tell you. I love the soft gradations of colors in their full little cheeks. And I just love Sam's little hands. Such a classic newborn gesture. :))

Until Thursday my friends!

P.S. If any of you garden whizzes out there have some suggestions for me for hardy (as in, hard to kill) but beautiful flowers I can plant this spring let me know in the comments. I could use some help with my promise. :))


17 comments:

  1. your crocus are beautiful, I love the dark background, they just stand out so beautiful.The paintings of the newborns are amazing, did I unserstand correctly the mum did these.Maybe thats the key, she paint them so beautifully because they are part of her.
    Hardy flowers, mmm, perenials or annuals, pansies are a hardy flower, lavender is hardy, so are lillies, and there are so many different kinds, oh and peonies, they are long lasting, just plant and forget.Iris's are also hardy and good to spread.sigh,,,, I miss my flowers......best of luck!

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  2. How funny... For a moment there I read that as 'I must not kill any FOLLOWERS this year'!!! I had to read it again!
    The flowers are beautiful! And such a gorgeous colour! I would describe myself as having 'red' fingers - ie the exact opposite of green! There must be something in the air though because I too have recently vowed to make much more of an effort in the garden this year. I have recently picked up some packs of wild flower seeds and scattered them all over the garden in the hope that they might be more hardy than other varieties. We will see! ;0)

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  3. Beautiful crocus', Crystal. All I have is one inch green shoots right now but I am hopeful.

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  4. I don't keep very many plants alive either - but I tried planting bulbs last fall, and they are doing well. :) My indoor plants are mostly succulents...so it's ok if I forget to water them. Plus, I asked the lady at J&J, "Which one of these indoor trees is hard to kill?" She refered me to a fig. Now it's huge and people think I'm a green thumb. :)

    PS I went to the new City Creek mall last weekend. They allow dogs, and I saw someone with a dog like yours. It was beautiful. I had no idea they were THAT big!

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  5. Hmm, maybe the key is to paint flowers, they never need watering once done :-) No help in the flower department, I have a black thumb most the time!

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  6. I thought of entering the challenge with a cartoon, "NEW Boy on the BLOG" ... but I can't, for a technical reason, I can't draw cartoons!

    I'm pretty good at gardening, but I've seen no crocus lovelier than yours - such much warmth and luxury.

    I love Bren's answer to watering :0) Paint me a garden, Crystal, and save the world's water supplies!!

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  7. wonderful view point and the bright sunshine

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  8. Love these crocus' Crystal! The dark background makes the orange pop! Beautifully painted!!

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  9. Gorgeous tulips! So light and wonderful! And your friend Carrie's work is incredible as well!

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  10. Crystal, O She of the Black Thumb!!! So, you have taken a step into the weird world of watercolor florals ... WONDERFUL!!!
    As for hardy [as in "hard to kill"] plants, I have had great success with lupines, irises and honeysuckle. They all self-propagate, almost like weeds. The lupine and iris need a fair bit of direct sun, but I believe honeysuckle will grow almost anywhere. GOOD LUCK!

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  11. L'aquarelle de vos crocus est forte et puissante tout comme le sont ces fleurs qui parviennent à fleurir juste au tout début du printemps, bien que les nuits soient encore froides...
    Les aquarelles des bébés sont à me faire fondre ! tant de délicatesse... Peindre un bébé est si difficile. Il faut avoir le geste et l'amour d'une mère pour y parvenir...
    gros bisous à vous

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  12. Love the crocus! Beautiful work.
    If you have a garden centre near you, check out the hardy perennials, some beautiful flowers in there that come up year after year and increase in size too! Cranesbill (hardy geranium) aquilegia, japanese anemone, phlox, rose of sharon are just a few which spring to mind.

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  13. Even though I SAW the info below the crocuses, I STILL thought it was a photograph, till I read the whole post, and saw Carrie's paintings, but couldn't 'find' yours! GOOD JOB! I vote for impatiens, who like a little shade, and just some water every once in a while.....
    But good Challenge! I look forward to the next!

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  14. Love your crocuses! Wonderful feeling of light on them.

    No help with the flowers here though. I paint them because I can't manage to keep them alive for very long. I start each season with the best of intentions, but.......

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  15. Love your luminous crocuses!
    And love how Carrie has captured the simultaneous brand-newness and age-oldness of new borns, awesome!

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  16. sweet crocus. sometimes plants take awhile to get established-they'll look weak and spindly, stunted and then the next year they burst out of the ground and shock you with their vigor-that's been my experience and I'm told my thumbs and fingers are very green.

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  17. what a beautiful color combination! Don't worry about a silly green thumb --you got a palette of colors on your fingers :)

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment they really do mean so much to me! Because not all bloggers have their email enabled so I can reply directly through email I will try to reply here in the comments. If I don't please forgive me, life must have been hectic that day! :)) Huzzah!!

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