The Blossoming Pear Tree

The pear tree is blossoming . . . the tulips are tuliping . . . the azaleas flowering . . . as is the apple tree . . . with the cherry tree to follow . . .

-Bree

The Dancing Rose Bush

Rose Bush watercolor/graphite on paper 11"x14"

There is a rose bush in my garden. If you walk onto my porch, through my house, out the back door, past the fire pit, and beyond the wild garden, you will find it next to the wood shed. It dances when it blossoms, its huge thorny stems bobbing and weaving in the air, the heavy fragrant blooms dipping and leaping. Such a thing simply must have (at least) rhymes written about it, perhaps even poems and music.

Now see a glimpse of my Dancing Rose Bush painting as it is partially completed, with plate palettes and tubes of paint strewn about . . .

-Bree

Visiting My Studio Rhyme Tree

Folklings Studio Rhyme Tree - watercolor & graphite on paper 11" x 14"

Would you like to visit my Studio Rhyme Tree with me? In it I keep everything I need to make paintings. There is the paint, of course, but we'll get to that. First I must tell you about the flower. It helps so much to have a little bit of Nature around when I am painting, so I keep plants stuffed into spare nooks and crannies. In adjacent cubby-holes all colors and kinds of yarn can be found. After midnight the yarns turn into things like felted imp houses. Next there is The Ubiquitous Studio Snack. The key is there to unlock doors to all the ideas I haven't had yet. My paints are kept in odd-sized jars stacked neatly on a shelf or two. Next to that is the ceramic mug full of all sorts of brushes - I never know when I might need that funny-shaped one to paint myself out of a corner (it's easy to paint yourself into a corner . . . it's when you have to paint yourself out of a corner that funny-shaped brushes really come in handy). Books are never far from my fingers, and my studio is the best place to keep my favorites. Hmmm . . . what is behind that itty bitty door?

Why is it one can never quite see Impish Spiders?

It must really be Spring! For the Robin tells me so. Look quickly and be still - there is a bunny under the branch. Before the bunny came to life . . . before the Rhyme Tree became real . . . after Nature moved in . . . after Snacks . . .

-Bree

The Butterfly Tree

Do you remember the Tree with a Secret? Now the secret is out and about to fly away . . . . . The Butterfly Tree (and details)

watercolor & graphite on illustration board 8" x 10"

(please click images to enlarge)

The Once Upon A Time Traveller

graphite on paper 6" x 6"

(click images to enlarge)

Once upon a time an imp set out across the Water on an adventure . . .

To remind us of summer . . . as we lie deep in the fog and rain of a northwest winter . . . while others are knee-deep or more in snow . . . here is a faery house I made this past June in a large leaf maple tree that lives in a horse pasture . . . a roof of maple leaf, siding of lichen, floor of snapped twig . . . with a brilliant buttercup in mossy hair . . . lush and fragrant are my dreams in winter.

Hat House in a Tree

Hat House 9" x 12" watercolor

(click on images to enlarge)

One day a Person took off his fine felt hat while resting for a moment in the woods, and without thinking very much he hung it on a nearby branch. He began to walk again still without thinking very much, for he left his hat on the branch. That hat stayed there so long the branch grew right on through it and a mysterious little creature moved in, made itself comfy, and invited a few friends over, as we can see from the pile of shoes near the front step.

The next three images show my Hat House painting in various stages of progress . . . with tea of course . . .

(I must apologize for the color quality of these images, my computer and I are still working out our relationship - I'm afraid we just haven't reached an understanding of those sorts of things just yet. I am confident it will come in time).

-Bree