Spring is thinking about sprunging!

Sun, sun, sun! A lovely spring day. The wooden birds can come out from under the flowers, and I notice in the garden all the trees are tight emerging blossom and buds that look like butterfly cocoons. This is another panel from my 'California' series. It is a dog faced butterfly - which is the state butterfly for California, and of course, california poppies - the state flower.

The Morris rabbits are taking shape and are in the kiln for their first firing.

Flowers

A good friend surprised me with some beautiful flowers. They are in a vase in my fruit bowl (since there isn't much fruit in it!) and two little wooden birds are using the open lilies as umbrellas, since today is showers.

Meanwhile, today I will start to paint the bunnies to life in the 'Morris' style stained glass panel I am making.

The magic hat!

Never mind the magic bag, there must be a magic hat around here somewhere. This morning, when I looked into the yard I saw a large gray rabbit!

As with all peculiar adventures, The rabbit led to other rabbits. I realized I am drinking cardamon tea from a Peter Rabbit mug (whilst looking at the rabbit in the yard) and I am about to make a rabbit panel, of which I will post the cartoon.

It just so happened I purchased carrots last night, so I couldn't resist but throw him one. He seemed very pleased with it, and ate it immediately!

Back to the bag

The rain is back again. Pouring, soaking, saturating the mountains, and running off in little streams towards the reservoir. I don't mind, as it is very needed, and makes me feel hopeful about the water supplies for the months ahead.

But it's back to the magic bag for me, making sure the top is zipped, and that it won't flood, so I can stay dry. And from the warmth and comfort of the bag, I was able to do a painting with an idea that I had whilst on vacation in oregon. I enjoyed the style of it, and plan to do more with the same feel, so I shall post those too, as they come to life!

Sunny day stroll

Another sunny day! So I'll take a detour on my creative wanderings and go to the beautiful hills above Los Gatos to D'Orsa Winery. Every corner turned reveals another scene or vista from renaissance Italy. I Wind up the mountain roadways through the grape vines, and pause at the statue of St Francis of Assisi, to whom the Vineyard is dedicated.

At D'Orsa, they have recently built a new Artist's studio, the theme being 'Sister Moon' from the canticle of St Francis. So here is the round window I made for it. I have included three pictures, as the glass is irridised from the outside, and slumped, so I think it looks lovely from the outside. One is a picture of the finished window, and the best picture, I think, is the one of the light cast by the window as I was installing it.

The sunlight was so strong that afternoon, I think the installation was around 2-3pm, and it cast amazing shapes and colors onto the surrounding ledge!

Oh, and finally one picture of the Artist studio, to put the window in context with the building and the vineyard.

Out of the bag!

The rain has been so heavy over the last few days, that I have pretty much been holed up in the magic bag.

Today the sun had come out, and I can continue my journey!

Yesterday's pictures of hummingbirds made me think about just how many birds, trees and butterflies have featured in my work over the years. I guess all artists have a subject matter they return to often - and those are mine.

The sun today makes me think of spring, and hiking in the California open spaces. Todays picture is of a California quail and California poppies. The image is again based on Sunol (same as the 'secret tree' window before (Infact - the trees and shadows on the horizon are are based on the same imagery).

Sunol is such a wonderful place to walk, and I was inspired by the 'California' theme when I moved to America. It made me examine the different flora and fauna here, which was interesting.

Hummingbird drawing

This is a detail of a hummingbird drawing I did for another window. It has a yellow clematis and the vine stretches and curls over eight panels. There are two hummingbirds in the whole window.