Winter Wildflowers: Looking and Seeing vs. Painting

If you've ever lived in this part of southwestern Ohio, you've seen scenes like this photo before. And even though I've seen many different paintings and photos of this subject before, I was inspired by the sight on Saturday.

I keep track of how many hours I paint, and how many hours I walk outside, each day. Sometimes those facts can be discouraging. But despite painting fewer hours than I planned Saturday March 13, I did walk outside in the rain and had a successful day as an artist, despite not painting very much.

Let me explain. I am learning that time spent looking and seeing is just as important to my work as putting brush to canvas. I've always been kind of a "fair weather" walker, so I really had to push myself to go out Saturday afternoon. But I'm so glad I did! I'd never been to Withrow Nature Preserve on Five Mile Rd. and will definitely go back there. There's a lovely home on the property that was deeded to the Hamilton County Park district and I toured it and took some great photos for future painting reference.

As you can see from the photo I took of the river, it was a cold, wet, gloomy day: pretty typical of Ohio in March. But when I got down into the forest on the trail, the canopy of trees kept me pretty dry and I couldn't believe all the colorful wildflowers I saw blooming! The naturalist had showed me photos of what to look for and I saw every one: bright yellow, soft Lenten rose, white snowflake and snow drops. They looked especially beautiful I think because they were wet, like seashells look better wet on their beach than they do when I get them home.

Then I got a magical surprise. I saw something large and white flying through the trees in front of me and thought it was some kind of bird, only to realize it was the huge white tail of a deer and then I saw more than half a dozen of them. Their tails were huge and white; they looked like the plumes on marching band helmets. There are definitely some great places in this park to paint when the weather gets nicer. And I am actually inspired to try to paint the more subtle beauty of these river scenes, and I never thought I would be.

Stay tuned for my progress on the large acrylic painting I'm finishing of the John Roebling Bridge. And for more work employing the multi-media techniques I learned from C.F. Payne, like those used in my Laurel Court painting. I'm thrilled that sold as a result of the Cincinnati Art Club show, which runs through this Sunday. So I started a painting today of the Krippendorf Lodge at the Cincinnati Nature Center, hoping to finish in time to sell it at the "Nature's Symphony" benefit on April 30.