Swallowtail on the Sunflower

I love this time of year when the butterflies are abundant in the garden!  The sunflowers are blooming and I am painting in miniature on this bright and sunny day.  It's been close to 100 degrees for so many days in a row, that I've fully acclimated to the heat.  I'm completely comfortable in the shade for hours!  Good thing, because this heat wave is expected to last for another week at least!  Painting number 4992 in 4992 days 

A Stroll through Kauffman Garden

 

The cannas are putting on a show at the Kauffman Memorial Garden, and I am happy to paint it with a few artist friends today!  Taking a break from framing artwork for an upcoming show, I just couldn't resist the chance to paint here again.  I've not seen the cannas blooming here before - and they grabbed my attention immediately. I dreaded seeing the entrance with the stately old trees removed, but found the area charming, with a replanting of my favorite redbud trees in their place.  Flanked by rows of vivid blooms, the space really was much improved.  The music of the fountain had me longing to repair my own.  I didn't realize how much I miss the trickling water.  In this canna bed were white narrow leaf zinnias which looked like daisies, starclusters, and tropical milkweed - three flowers I couldn't identify without Google lens! I LOVE learning something new while out painting something I love!  Painting number 4990 in 4990 days. 

Shuttlecocks on the Lawn

It sure was a windy day for painting on the lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum during the Arterie event!  I LOVE capturing these iconic shuttlecocks in paint!  

Calendula Mini

 There is something so rewarding about growing flowers and plants from seeds! I love watching that first little sprout, and the first tiny leaves unfold!  Imagine my joy when that plant grows into this beautiful flower!  I hope to plant these outside, too, where I will paint them in glorious masses!  Painting 4988 in 4988 days. 

413 Market Sketch

There's always time to sketch when the sky lights up!  Mom and I stayed in a sweet Airbnb in Brookfield, and I just HAD to do a quick sketch in my art journal!  It's super fun to create a visual journey through my days in a sketchbook!  I keep several going at a time, one for travel, one in vintage pen and ink only, one for gardening and a few others picked up at random.  All have a blurring of the lines when it comes to theme, as I follow whatever creative muse calls out to me at a given time!  I hope these journals will be fun for my children, their children, and their children to browse through some day!  Painting number 4986 in 4986 days. 

Horse Drawn Wagon

 Mom and I visited Jamesport, and we found plenty of Amish at the local market.  Buggies were parked, awaiting their riders, while others dotted the roads and shops in town.  It wad a lovely day to be out, and fun to share this place with Mom.  She's been wanting to come up here for years!  Painting number 4984 in 4984 days. 

413 Market Street

Mom and I stayed in this sweet vintage house in Brookfield, after a day spent visiting Jamesport.  We shopped the antique stores and I found a few vintage chicken things I had to have!  We had the buffet and Gingerich's Dutch Pantry, and closed down the town before heading out. I stocked up on Amish spices and Mexican vanilla at the local Amish store.  It's the largest Old Order Amish settlement in the state of Missouri.  This house was very comfortable to stay in, even with the quirky, wavy floor from the front door to the back!  Super nice host, too!  Painting number 4983 in 4983 days.  

Phillips Taylor Century Farm

SOLD

 

When I arrived in Marceline, I passed the most amazing field full of hay bales.  Instantly, I wanted to paint some, even though I have some dotting my pastoral landscape at home!  Rather than painting in town, I set off for this farm with the landscape in mind.  After scouting within the perimeter of the fence, i decided to walk out into the field, too see what I could see.  Of course, there was no going back after I saw this beautiful scene. Sometimes I've got to set up way back in the pasture to get the full scene I didn't even know I needed to paint!  I'm so happy and honored this painting was selected for the Magnolia Antiques Purchase Award in Paint Marceline!  The extra effort is always worth it.  Painting number 4982 in 4982 days. 

Sunflowers in August

 

The days are growing short and I missed my outdoor painting window!  It's pretty cushy painting inside with a hot cup of strawberry cheesecake tea, though! I helped Tiffany work her PTO's t shirt booth at Back to School night, and arrived back home for Chicken Time. By the time my work was done, it was dark outside, so I an painting these beauties from my table tonight!  The mosquitoes have returned with our days off rain, and I just didn't feel like battling them!  We have less blooms this year, and I'm not sure if it's the heavy rains or the high heat stretch that has shortened their bright blooms.  I'm happy to have a few to paint despite it all! Painting number 4979 in 4979 days 

Butterfly Bonanza

 

The rudbeckia is putting on a show - and the butterflies have noticed!  Of course, I HAD to paint it!!  These blooms really shine as the garden phlox begins to fade.  Though I bought these at a local nursery, they grow wild in every meadow here and I move some up to the gardens each fall. I think this variety has a slightly different shaped bloom than our locals, the brown center more of a ball with dropping petals.  I think the others are flatter, somehow.  I'll have to check that out tomorrow, because they are also in bloom!  Perhaps I should also paint this in oils to see how different they would look!  Painting number 4978 in 4978 days. 

The Cows Come Home

 

No better way to relax than to paint these beauties during the Golden Hour!  After a long day of hard work, immersing myself so completely here, with only the focus of what is before me, restores me in a way nothing else does.  The experience fills me up, and I can go forth with love and light for the world.  Painting number 4977 in 4977 days. 

Summer Herefords

 

I'm working on something new for the upcoming Buttonwood show - and herefords are on my easel! Throughout my painting journey, I feel compelled to move in different directions artistically.  Lately, I feel drawn to western themes.  I've always loved cattle, likely due to childhood memories of Grandma Frank's and Great Uncle Richard's herds. Or maybe because we have horses again..... but whatever the reason, I think I'll paint more of these.  It feels like honoring history and the ranchers that work the cattle still.  Painting number 4975 in 4975 days. 

Yellow Sulphur on Zinnia

These are butterfly days indeed, as many fly into the garden to play!  It's such a joy to set down my garden tools and pick up pen and sketchbook for a quick capture of life in my garden!  The zinnias are show stoppers that attract many pollinators, and I choose my favorite here.  Too soon the days are growing short, and I'll miss the long, hot days of summer.  Painting number 4974 in 4974 days. 

Peach Zinnias

 

I love painting the cool zinnias that pop up from saved seed!  LOVE that awesome peach color on those unruly petals!  I save seed over the years, often gathered on trips to special places. These might have come from St. Charles, near the Boone Lick lodging. I also have red ones in the garden, and I hope to paint them soon with butterflies around them!  Painting number 4971 in 4971 days. 

Garden Nocturne

What a lovely night for a nocturne in the garden, at one of my favorite places - the Main Street Inn in Sainte Genevieve!  After dinner at the Brick House and walking through the town listening to the live music, Mom and I returned to the inn to find live music playing nearby, clearly heard from the garden!  So I grabbed my gear - and Mom - are started sketching.  The band stopped before I hardly got started, and my nocturne light went out.  So, I sketched with the ambient light, only turning this light back on for the photo.  I'll need to put that charging cord in my sketch bag from now on! Painting number 4967 in 4967 days. 

Bee among Sunflowers

Even on a day so busy I can't sit down, there's time for a quick sketch in the garden!  Today I've painted in one of the many bees that attend each bloom.  The garden is alive with many insects, like a little city humming beneath the petals.  It's fun to watch this tiny world as I sketch, even for the brief time In there between Mom's birthday lunch and packing!  Painting number 4965 in 4965 days. 

Swallowtail and Sunflower

We've had some really beautiful swallowtail butterflies in the flowers, and I just had to capture one in paint!  Ink and watercolor is my chosen medium today on this miniature paper.  This is a great size when I only have minutes to get in a sketch.  I hope to paint another black and blue swallowtail that I also saw today - he caught my attention from across the garden!  I've never seen one like it before, but alas, my time is short.  Painting number 4964 in 4964 days. 

Chicken Time

Each evening after dinner, our ritual is to gather with the chickens for treats before putting them in for the night.  The kids join in the fun and my Mom comes over with cooked pasta from her kitchen and romaine lettuce that she has bought just for them!  The older girls know what's coming as soon as we walk up, but the younger girls are just now getting to know the system.  They were so bad about going in at first that I had to leave them in the run, lest they be left out overnight!  Our young rooster has started herding them together, and helping to get them back into the run - and he's still so sweet and gentle with us.  I sure hope that continues!  Who knew we'd grow so attached to these 16 little creatures?  Painting number 4962 in 4962 days. 

Monarch and Sunflowers

 I wait ALL year for the bloom of the sunflowers - and I absolutely love painting the magic of it all!  Butterflies and bees literally swarm these large blooms - and it's all I can do to get them painted as they quickly dart in and out.  These blooms above all are the most cheerful!  I can't help but smile whenever I see them - and especially when I'm painting them!  Painting number 4961 in 4961 days. 

Blue Jersey Giant Sketched

I have a special Chicken Sketchbook, that I am filling with only paintings of my girls - and our one rooster!  This sweet chicken is a Blue Jersey Giant, and a sweetheart with a floppy comb. It lays over a little, giving her extra personality. Once in a while she delays her re-entry to the run by hanging behind the others for those last few bugs in her way in!  Painting number 4960 in 4960 days.