Millefiore

Needing a break from rendering
the brush and pen
fall into repeated circles
free of thought

resulting in
barnacles of millefiore.

A pause for abstraction instead of the usual detailed rendering - another page of the watercolor sketchbook.

Monarchs

No froufrou butterflies
this lineage of regal Monarchs,
who suffered two apocalyptic winters
in the 1990's.

Completely absent from the garden
for twenty-nine years
until
sailing over the continent
they arrived again
to dominate the Buddleia. 

Nothing is fragile or helpless about these Monarchs. They soar - not so much as fly. Breeze nor gale is an obstacle to them as they make use of the movements of air to reach their destination.

Another watercolor sketch in the artist's notebook.

Angel's Trumpets and Blue Birdbath

Remembering those who never made it home
on September 11th
twenty years ago,

we miss you,
we miss you,
we miss you.

Let the Angel's Trumpets sound

while we rest our reflections in a still pool of blue.

Painted while listening to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings played by the New York Philharmonic and lead by Leonard Bernstein. 

Homemade Cheese

 An olive wood platter 

loaded with cheeses made by the artist:

pepper coated Belper Knolle

and hard grating cheeses

made from kefir

finished with olive oil

or cabernet sauvignon.

This is yet another page in my watercolor sketchbook, celebrating a month of successful cheesemaking.

Volunteer Tomatoes

The garden is full of volunteer tomato plants, 
everything from deep red to bright yellow
beefsteak to cherry tomatoes,
sweet and full of flavor.
Practicing a little daily care,
the plants have defied disease and pests,
providing an extraordinary
surge of fruit this year.

This is watercolor number nine, another page in the new 5" x 7" sketchbook that was started this past June.