SAVE THE REDWOODS (AND ME)

I did this watercolor of some hollyhocks that were growing in my garden. B is always yelling at me to "cut those things down" because they grow so prolifically here and you could actually consider them a weed of sorts. After all, weeds are just flowers out of place. So, I went out there before the massacre and photographed them and saved them to a disc.

I love to paint with watercolors and colored pencils. I actually did a bit of colored pencil stuff on this down by the wire. It was easier for me to shade such a small area and I could get a variety of colors in there. I get lost in paintings like this. It is fun to actually do representational work because I get to play with shadows and shading to try to make the watercolor look like the photograph. It is not my only way to work but when I want to do representational work, it is fun. Somehow it seems to take the work out of it and my mind just wanders doing what my eyes tell it to do. Does that make sense? Art is hard work. Don't let anyone tell you any different. Lots of the work comes from "thinking".

On another note: today I received a postcard in the mail from a dear friend of mine. She (and probably all of you now too) knows that I collect postcards and that the mailbox is my favorite place to go each day. Well, maybe not EVERY day...some days IKEA draws me or the fabric store. Sometimes even a walk is exciting but they are all coupled with the daily trek to the mailbox.

The postcard I received today has a photo of some gorgeous trees covered with snow. I was going to take a photo of it but the batteries in my camera went dead. So, a description will have to do. Dark blue sky, giant green redwood trees, big billowy snow hanging down on all the branches, and snow on the ground. I know...it is a bit out of season to be receiving a postcard of snow. I did enjoy it however, thinking about what is to come in a few short months and it gave my mind a brief respite from the heat here in California. And the wildfires. Mary Ann: are you OK there? You're not too close to Bonny Doon are you? I hope not! Stay safe.

Anyway, getting back to the postcard: the very BEST part is what the message said:

Dear T,

By the time the snow falls again, you will be feeling good again. The cyclical nature of things...

You have us. We have you. Thank goodness!

"When it is dark enough, you can see the stars." Ralph Waldo Emerson

(heart) SP

Now--------isn't that the best postcard message you have ever read? How apropos considering what I am going through but you really find out who your friends are at times like these. All it takes is a brief little postcard to really make a person's day. Or month. Or year.! I am that easy!

Thank you Sunny for saving me today. You are a dear special friend. I'll be gone for a few days camping at Lake Tahoe, enjoying my family, the trees, the lake. The food: not so much! No iodine diets suck!