Poppies!

Poppies!

5 in. x 7 in., Soft pastel on sanded paper

$150 matted and framed

I grew a miniature thicket of bright, orange-red poppies in the lamp post garden.  This soft pastel sketch takes the grassroots view of these papery, hot scarlet beauties against the blue of the sky, the light filtering subtly through the thin, rippled petals.  The thick application of the brightest highlights feel rich and delicious on the sanded paper, setting off areas of warm and cool colors in this prim little portrait of these delicate flowers.

Happy Heliopsis

Happy Heliopsis

5 in. x 7 in., Soft pastel on sanded paper

$150 matted and framed

I broke out the pastels once the perennial garden achieved "full swing" status.  Swaying Heliopsis happily waves over the heads of almost all my other flowers, bobbing up and down in the breeze on multitudinous stiff stems.  This little sketch captures the crowd of bright golden blooms with creamy thick strokes of the lightest creamy yellows on the petals, and cool, restful aqua highlights among the constantly undulating sea of deep green foliage.  

French Breakfast Radishes

French Breakfast Radishes

8 in. x 10 in., acrylic on canvas

$190 unframed

To be honest, they tasted like any other radish.  I was excited; the seed catalog said they were prolific and mild.  I found their germination rate to be average and their flavor to be just like any other common garden radish.  And for sure, they were crunchy and peppery like, well, radishes are, and a gorgeous reddish pink with white bottoms.  But the NAME!  I'm not impressed with much but this was a fabulous feat of marketing genius.  When it came time to buy a packet of $3.95 seeds and the choice was between Scarlet Globe (yeah, I can SEE that), or French Breakfast... how could anyone resist?  The radishes in the painting above grew in my garden and were delicious, and deserved a portrait.  I hope you like it.

 

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Mount Cardigan Alpenglow

Mount Cardigan Alpenglow

8 in. x 10 in., acrylic on canvas

$190 unframed

Prescott Hill Road in Grafton, NH, just up from Robinson's Corner and opposite Kinsman Highway, is where my people are buried.  My Morrill family ancestors lie awaiting the resurrection in the cemetery there in the back corner under moss and clover.  If you drive straight up the hill beyond them and get to the crest, the skies open up beyond the trees and a farmhouse field along the side of the road, and you can see this incredible view of Mount Cardigan over in Orange. It's a view you just can't get down on Rte. 4 through Canaan. No, the ridge across the way in humble and backwoods Grafton is the most glorious view of Cardigan you'll find, I guarantee.  Here, the mountain is spread fully across your line of vision reclining west, as the setting sun sheds pink light across the sky, bathing Cardigan's rocky, bald head in the fading light.

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