A Wonderful Spring
Spring was just beautiful here in our part of the world. It stayed cool even at night, right up until two weeks ago. And then, after a few days of running the A/C, we had another bonus cool night, and were able to have the windows open.
If you know me, you know that this usually means lots of time outside puttering in the flower beds and getting a small vegetable garden planted. In between, I’ve spent quite a bit of time fussing with those new 8×8-inch panels, trying to resolve a few of them that didn’t want to cooperate. No new collages, though. I miss doing them. But now that the panels are ready for the gallery, I can take a break to play in the studio, making gelli prints and some collage.
Here’s a shot of my flower bed, and a few flower closeups:
Those irises are finished now, but then came the amaryllises:
And the Dutch irises:
And of course, the peonies.
And here are a few of the new paintings. All are acrylics with texture on cradled panel, 8x8x2 inches. I finished 12 of these and shipped them to the gallery this week. Now on to the next thing.
An Artist's Journal 
i just love those flowers they remind me of my mamas garden…. and the paintings aren’t bad either!
Love your Dutch Irises, they’re stunning. The top work speaks to me in particular; I think it’s the bottom right. Reminds me of Braille – I’m itching to touch it and ‘read’ the surface. Wonderful 🙂
I love all the pics of the flowers, so beautiful and the art pieces are equally wonderful. They almost look like encaustic Martha. What are the dark seed like pieces in last one, & small texture pebbles in 2nd from last? Just want to touch them.
Haha Pat – good questions! The dark seed like pieces are little black beads. The pebbles are aquarium gravel. These look like encaustic because I embed all the textural elements in mostly self-leveling clear gel. I love encaustic, but I also love making acrylics mimic them.
forgot to ask do you ever paint the flowers?
I have painted flowers on occasion, Pat. It’s something I’d enjoy exploring more.
Thank you. I know you are busy. I do love the textures.
Thanks, Pat. I’m back replying to comments this morning after a long absence from my blog. Thinking about writing a new post.
Beautiful post Martha. The weather looks great there, it’s has been odd here. I’m so glad that you got to get out in your garden. Thank you for sharing with us, the flowers, and your works. Love the texture!:)
Thank you, Angela!
Hello Martha, I really enjoy getting your weekly digest. Looking a your flowers and garden shots first, and then at your painting, I was struck by the decidedly organic look of your pieces. Very handsome. Interesting textures create this organic look! You are very prolific!
I suspect you live somewhere warm in the US. I live in Canada, where summers are so short: right now, garden and boat work take precedence over art making but I find myself often creating pieces in my mind..and it is also very enjoyable.
Do you have a sense of where your next series of paintings will go or is it something that “happens” ?
Marleyne
I live in the US Southeast, Marleyne. Our planting zone is 7a.