This dragonfly painting (darner), is from a photo taken in my garden in Florida. The plant it rests on is commonly called horse tail, which is indeed a favorite perch of dragonflies. I took a much needed hiatus this summer and in that time frame made a trip to visit friends and family in Florida. One of my favorite resting places was the faded green bench on the back porch of my best friends home. It faces a view of a lovely garden. To the right of my view lies a trellis covered with twining jasmine- the perch of the dragonfly.

I sat there often watching the dragonfly dance. Off he would circle while doing rounds through the well groomed and loved garden. Back he would come and rest. For whatever reason, it was made clear that my job was to sit and watch. Any time I got up to take pictures he would disappear, maybe he didn’t recognize my face. My friends however had no trouble getting many great close ups of him. This allowed me to do start this painting. Per my own artistic tastes, and the good tastes of KC, I swapped out the trellis for horse tail.

So here I am thinking about perspective, times of work and rest, and how balance feeds the appetite for a creative life. I am calling it the Dragonfly Dance, which I will name this collection I am working on. I love all the ascribed meanings and attributes of dragonflies: dream keeper, stripper of illusion, remover of obstacles in vision and so on.

I have spent the last few months de-cluttering my workspace in every possible way. Largely to take out obstacles for what is usually my most productive time of year. I need a regular “active rest” period. A consistently used time to serve the purpose of reflecting, learning, and circling through the garden of the goals I have set.

I forget how challenging depicting white can be with watercolor and to shade with out loosing vibrance. This was one of my favorite fish. I sat by my pond working on sketching him out from life. Sketching from life produces a very different form than from a photo.

Sketching wildlife can be challenging as you can not hold them captive. I often elicit the use of photos to capture things missed during the initial sketch. Luckily in this instance my lil’ fish was bound by the pond and I could count on him swimming in his usual favorite path over and over again.

Artist Tips:

• Grays can be chromatic or achromatic (so don’t assume the limits of achromatic shading)
• When sketching from life do not look for the outline or color book lines to copy- you are replicating an understanding of the form not the actual form.
• Don’t feel a need to hide sketch lines in a painting they can add character; but do avoid using softer pencils whose  loose graphite can muddle the pigment and it’s transparency.
• Think about the positive and negative ground concept to the use paper.

Artist Notes

• Damp on damp altering colors to create papery texture
• Use light and dark lines to create veining texture
• Authentic vermillion pigment as key warm red hue

Through the Wave That Unfolds You

Tonight may you
rest deeply enfolded
in a blanket of waking stars
softly kissed by the
silver light of ageless moons
blessed and caressed serenly
by the wind that moves over you
by the wind that moves over you
by the wind that moves over you.

Tonight may you
take endless comfort
in the bossom of ancient forests
gently warmed by the
sacred fire deep in the breast
of the earth that rises to you
of the earth that rises to you
of the earth that rises to you.

Tonight may you
glide peaceful and effortless
in an ocean of loving abyss
rocking and ever knowing
the power and infinity of your being
through the wave that unfolds you
through the wave that unfolds you
through the wave that unfolds you.

This lovely little twig dropped out of the tree after a stormy night. It was perfect and I decided to paint it- when I had the time. I set it on the microwave to be painted where it sat a couple of days. Then it got thrown away, and I rescued it from the trash, it lost a leaf and only had three left. But no, I spent a tad bit of time trying to glue the leaf back on- while ignoring the minor damage to the coloring from the coffee grounds. Then the acorn fell out it’s hat. Sigh

So I glued it back in. Being such a busy week I wanted to photograph it and work from the photograph. But no, the camera battery was dead. Got a new battery to find out the camera is dead. So I used my cell phone- does not work well for close ups.

Gods, what choice did I have but to sketch it out right away by hand. I painted it yesterday, and polished it out with details today. The specimen is now about fully dry and brown, so I may paint it again all shriveled and darkened.

The moral of the story- Don’t procrastinate! LOL Ultimately though, it was demonstration of will.

As always I feel partially like it is still not finished. However, I know not to risk venturing over into overdone. The final painting is about 6 X 7 ” .