Canterbury Bells

Thin as paper lanterns

Back at It

Michelle gave us a few daylily corms last fall,  and this is today’s bloom.  I’ve been not drawing much the past few weeks.  That felt freeing for a while.  But when I don’t draw something I more or less just glide over the surface:  “nice daylily, that one too, ✅✅”  , checking it off mentally, not spending time with it.  I really miss seeing slowly for a few minutes a day.

It was fascinating to follow the intricacies of each petal, knowing that the form is so ephemeral and that even as I was drawing it, it was withdrawing water from the petal and gearing up for seed making.

So I numbered it, but I don’t have a goal beyond drawing something every day.  At least for now.

Geese Grow Up

Feet seem to grow first, like slick black oversized swim fins.
The adolescent brood of 11 can now fly and have started chasing each other and attacking.  The four parents seem to be booting them out.
Meanwhile the babies are staying in tight clutches (of five and of six) on the periphery.  The parents are doing a lot of hissing at threats such as alien geese, ducks, people, dogs.  Possibly the floods of the past week have them as tense as all the rest of us are.

Diving Lesson

It’s bottoms up for the adolescent geese today as their parents take them out on the pond and one big goose demos a legs-in-the-air-waving style!

Studies

This is a postcard-size section of a study for a piece about the pre-history of one of my favorite places.  Small rubber cuts and Caran d’Ache.
And another
And another
And here are some very new goslings and the now adolescents

Putty Root Blooms! Growing Goslings!

Yesterday the putty root orchids were putting up bloom stems.
Today some of the racemes are branching out!  Last year at this point shiny black miniature beetles moved in and sucked the life out of the blossoms before they could open.  Maybe tomorrow the bloom on the far left will open.  These are such rare flowerings.  This year the adjacent floribunda roses are protecting them from trail walkers and dogs somewhat.
Meanwhile yellow water irises are opening in the pond

and the goslings are turning rapidly into geese.

Wild Iris Patches on Jones Mountain