The Blank Paper

I want you all to consider where I am starting . . . with a blank piece of paper.  Anyone undertaking a creative endeavor begins here, with the slate wiped clean.  A song, a painting, a lecture, a story . . . whatever it is, if it is a creative thing, it starts from nothing on the page.  Well, not nothing, exactly.  For me, it is a whisper of an idea in my imagination.  Usually I can visualize a part of it but it takes a while for the whole thing to take shape.  I sketch and play around with the composition until I get it just the way I want it, and then I am ready to begin the painting.  By this time the idea is fully formed.  Some folks are terrified of the empty whiteness of a blank page.  But for me, I get excited taking out a fresh, new stiff piece of watercolor paper, knowing how much time I'm going to spend hunched over it, transforming it.  I wonder what serendipity will happen.  What will it look like when I'm done?

Sometimes when we look at a finished painting or hear beautiful music or taste an amazing meal or read something profound, we forget that it began as nothing more than a glimmer of an idea.  Somehow the creative mind took that idea and played with it, tested it, tried it this way and that.  Perhaps many previous bad ideas were discarded along the way before this inspiration took hold. And then, by slow degrees, the creative soul executes the idea, word by word, brush stroke by brush stroke, note by note, putting one foot in front of the other, aiming for the far distant finish line.  I think it was Thomas Edison who said genius is one part inspiration and 99 parts perspiration.  He was right.  Sometimes beautiful things seem so perfect, as if they were always here, always just so, and we forget about the creative process that lovingly and patiently coaxed it into its fully formed, complete being. 

For my paintings, I use Arches 300# lb. hot press watercolor paper.   You can't tell anything from this scan, but it is stiff, with a slight 'tooth' and a beautiful feathery deckled edge.  It is a work of art just as it is!  And so with my first pencil mark, this empty paper with endless possibilities will be limited to just one, and a journey begins. 

Introducing Quercus alba

For those of you who are getting slightly annoyed that hollysdailydraw isn't exactly every day, but you keep checking up on me anyway, today you will be rewarded.  Allow me to introduce you to one of my favorite trees, Quercus alba, the mighty White oak.  I love this tree because it grows to such magnificence -- tall, sturdy, and elegant.  The pale gray bark is fissured but not too deeply.  Its large, lobed leaves wear a changing rainbow of colors through spring, summer and fall, and don't drop to the ground until the very end of winter.  And who doesn't love acorns?  Traditional uses of White oak wood include hardwood flooring, whiskey barrels and boat building.  The famouse Revolutionary War frigate, USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides", was made of White oak.  Who knew?

On our property, we have a number of White oaks, but one in particular, which is just outside my studio, is our favorite.  It is the oldest and has the most beautiful spread of branches.  Several years ago now, I promised Peter I'd paint him a series of paintings of White oak, through the seasons.  So in 2008, I successfully completed two of them (autumn and winter).  And then Life took over and I haven't returned to the project in three years.  Now is the time!  I did a completed pencil drawing back in 2008, which I'll post here.  This took hours and hours, working out the composition, studying the leaf structure and actually doing the drawing.  Now I will take you through the process of making a painting!  Don't hold your breath; it takes rediculously long!  And don't worry, I won't only post Quercus alba updates for the next two months.  I'll keep going with quick daily drawings, too.  Enjoy!

for Alice

I am creating another card for Alice the music teacher, who is also retiring at the end of this school year.  Alice not only has directed the lower school music program at our school for many many years, she has also played the piano at every school musical, every school ceremony, and every holiday program.  Can't imagine how we'll get along without her!  One thing that will always remind me of Alice is handbells.  She teaches a select group of third and fourth graders to play handbells every year, and they play with such pride and sense of accomplishment!  Not only do they learn about reading the music and the technique of ringing, they learn to care for the precious instruments.  Nobody messes with Alice's bell tables!  I love the sight of the little people, in their school vests and white gloves, standing at full attention behind the tables.  And those shiny bells do make a beautiful sound!

for Bonnie

I am creating a card for Bonnie the art teacher, who is retiring at the end of this school year.  Since she is a painter, I thought I'd draw an image of an old tube of paint.  Oh dear!  It looks like a tube of toothpaste!  I think I need to add just a dribble of paint spilling on to the table.  What do you think?

Larkspur

One of my favorite flowering plants has to be the larkspur.  The flowers unfurl along a long, sinewy stalk, which gracefully curves and bends upwards to the sun.  Each flower along the stalk opens one at a time, from the bottom of the stem to the top, so that looking at the whole, you can see the entire progression from bud (still at the top) to full bloom (at the bottom).  The colors, too, follow some sort of progression, from the palest cerulean blue at the tip, to deep, shimery blueish purple further down.  And those blossoms!  Ever look at one closely?  It reminds me of a snapdragon, but more angular.  The inner petals curve in on themselves and enclose the stamen, all loaded with bright yellow pollen. Any bumble bee or butterfly that gets trapped in there looking for nectar is going to get a pollen shower, like it or not! At the back of the bloom, a long, green spur juts out, in true larkspur fashion.  It is surprisingly stiff and rubbery.  I suppose it serves some reproductive function, but I think it makes the flower so balanced and beautiful.  The delphinium (it's scientific name) is a relative of the buttercup but is very toxic. 'Delphinium' comes from the Latin word for dolphin, alluding to the shape of the opening flower... isn't that cool?

Azalea -- final drawing

Finally I finished it!  As time drags on in a lengthy drawing, I sometimes wonder why bother?  Why do I spend so much time trying to capture the likeness of something that is so perfect and so beautiful?  My version of it won't come anything close to God's version!  Well I wouldn't get very far if I let this thought stick around for very long.  All I have to do is look at the spent specimen when I'm done and I realize my drawing is an homage, an offering of sorts.  Gratitude that this little blossom graced the earth for a few days and made a beautiful spot of color in the landscape.  It is gone now, preserved only in memory.  And in my small drawing.  Is it enough to hold us over until next spring when the azaleas bloom again?

You are invited...

to come see my garden!  These pictures don't begin to do justice (probably because I took them at about 8:00 p.m.!).  We are having a fabulous spring in the garden, thanks to the good Lord sending plenty of rain and cool days.  We are now in The Pinks.  Spring in my garden always begins with the yellows of the daffodils and forsythia and witch hazel; then moves on to the psychedelic phase, which I've mentioned before and is blessedly brief; and then we get to The Pinks.  Pink peonies, pink roses, pink rhododendron and late azaleas.  All fragrant and feminine.  My favorite time of spring! 

I know I should be in my studio, hunched over my drawing table in hushed concentration, but with this heady, glorious, heavenly Symphony in Pink happening outside, how can I keep indoors?  Soon it will be over, and I'll begin the annual battle with the Japanese beetles and the voles and the slugs and the deer.  But right this minute, it is sublime.  If you're so inclined, do stop by and take a look this week.  Seriously!  And I'll leave the clippers on the back porch, in case you want to snip some peonies to take home . . . A bounty like this should be shared!