Sunday, July 5, 2015

Blooming Where They Are Planted

 Remember the slogan 'Bloom where you are planted' that showed up on bumper stickers and posters and greeting cards a bunch of years ago, like in the 70s?  Today's first drawing is an embodiment of that cliche, and it puts an interesting twist on the idea.  About two weeks ago a woman gave me a jam jar full of flowers from her yard, after I taught a class for a group that she runs.  It was a really hot day, and I was parked a long way from the studio where I had taught.  I dumped the water out and stuffed the jar with a wet paper towel since I also had to drive this vase of flowers home after walking the mile or so to the car.  I almost gave the flowers away to some people who passed me on the street and said they liked my flowers.  By the time I got home the flowers were drooping and limp, another point when I nearly tossed them.  But I gave them fresh water, and, to my surprise, by evening the flowers looked great.
One was a stem of daylilies, and the two blooms closed that first night.  I almost picked out that stem, but they looked kind of nice in the vase with the still-blooming flowers, so I left them.  Eventually I threw out just the dead daylily blooms, and one by one pulled out the other flowers as they died.  Today I noticed that one of the remaining daylily buds had bloomed!  It's a kind of eccentric blossom.  The petals are a little bit crumpled, but the colors are gorgeous, and as I got into drawing it, I noticed how lovely the forms are.  I then drew the remaining dead blooms and the two buds that still might open.  Jesse slept the whole time.  We were out on the porch at the table while soft rain fell outside.

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