Painting the Crocus

The Crocus trio of paintings were completed yesterday.  This marks six weeks of my adventures in painting on a regular basis.  I am treating this as a real job.  Funny, huh.  That's not sad and depressing at all.  I've spent years putting my artistic ventures last because I love my husband and children.  That's what we women do...we set our interest aside to focus on our family.  It's easy to resist saying no to someone else while saying no to myself.  In the past, when attending art show exhibits, I'd sheepishly say, "I paint watercolors."  Not, "I'm an artist on hiatus while I raise a family."  It was like this, because I was not actively busy with watercolors or any other kind of art, I felt like I wasn't really an artist anymore.  

Painting the Shooting Stars

Spring is finally here!  The shooting stars said so.

Shooting stars blooming abundantly with a few Indian paintbrush

It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want — oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain

The color and size of the shooting stars vary.

"Oh, look!  I see them!  Quick, stop, I'll be right back."  

These words are followed by me grabbing my camera and jumping out of the car.  I wander the roadside ditch for the next 15 minutes, searching for the best and brightest blooms.  Aware that my family is patiently waiting for me during a pause in our drive to wherever we are heading today.  This has been our habit for so long that no one complains; there's no impatience because this is our normal.  I can pass up boutiques and coffee shops but I brake for wildflowers.  For me, nature sends delightful little messengers of spring in the grassy wet areas.  I glance around for the amount of standing water, hoping to keep my feet dry.  It may sound crazy but I'm like a child at a parade, watching for candy to be tossed my way.  That's how it is for me while I'm anticipating the growing season for each wildflower.  This vivid fuchsia flower on slender stem has a lovely scent, as gentle and pleasing as lilacs or roses but still distinctly different.

Weekend Escape to Two Medicine, Glacier National Park

Mariposa Lily

Glacier National Park is an amazing place to visit.  If you've been there, you know what I mean.  The views are majestic and tell why Montana is known as Big Sky County.  God's creation is so inspiring with the massive mountain peaks rising up from vividly green meadows.  Intricately designed wildflowers springing up along the trails like confetti beg to have their photos taken.  We spent one Sunday afternoon and another weekend at Two Medicine.  

It's such a treat to pack a simple picnic lunch in the cooler and head out on the road, knowing that these vistas are waiting at the other end.  A few sandwiches, a pasta salad, potato chips, cookies and sodas...refillable water bottles are a must if there's any hiking in our plans.

Big New Adventures of Artist Momma

My son's chance with the Canon...Yeah! I'm actually IN a photograph.

Okay, well...here I am again.  Um.  Yeah, there's been another long break and now I'm trying again.  That whole "if at first you don't succeed" thing has me as its illustration.  In the meantime, I've been taking my camera wherever we go so that if my eye can compose it, I'm on it.  Even while sitting in the passenger seat, through a less than clean car window, at 75 miles per hour.  Okay, he might drive a little faster and he does often offer to stop so I can get a better shot.  So how does this keep happening that I can manage one post every how many, many months apart?  Well, where do I begin...

The Intermission is Over.

Life interrupts the goals I make for myself.  I have no choice but to regroup and make adjustments to the way I thought things would work.  Isn't that the way goals work?  Those idealistic dreams I form in my head, like a movie playing out, watching how it could fall into place.  If you look at the time that has passed since my previous post, it's been a looonnnggg time.  It's been so long that I figure just making this quick post will be a relearning experience...remembering how this dad blamed thing works.  I am no experienced blogger.  I am a wife and mom desiring to keep alive my creative spark.  I am trying to save time to just paint an inspiring subject.  I want to take hold of the small windows of time that afford quiet solitude (even if singers and songwriters are blaring on Pandora) to dip the brushes into the brilliant pools of pigment on my palette and transfer that to paper.