Daily Practice - Provided by Nature

8:28 PM

Sitting quietly, watching the rain fall softly, I could almost hear the earth sigh. Slow, gentle, cool drizzle giving the earth time to drink deeply. Just what was needed. Hopefully, more rain to soon come . . . . 


We've been having a fairly severe drought here in Florida and we had a day of rain today. Nothing more than a drizzle, but definitely preferable to a quick hard shower that would have drained away before doing much good because the ground is so hard. 

I went out this morning and did some more raking and clearing away. As always, I find that Nature rewards those who take the time to look and observe. I was gifted with a visit from a flock of Ibis, and one of them kindly left me a feather!  When I first saw it, the feather had a brownish cast to it. I thought that odd as the birds appear to be white. I set it aside and when on with my raking. 

Later, up closer to the walkway, I found a leaf that was already turning into a skeleton. Its color appeared almost white against the darker leaves and ground around it. I happen to see yet another that was curled and twisted. I picked it up and set it with the feather for later. 


Upon returning to the studio late this morning, I drew out both and got busy painting the feather. I had laid it against a dark grey background to better see the vane. That's when I realized the feather now looked grey. When I held it up to the light I realized that it was nearly translucent! I'm not really sure that my sketch shows that, but it was kind of cool to see it up close.

As with the feather, upon closer inspection the leaf really was a pale shade of silver bordering on yellow. Depending on the background it rested on, the leaf also seem to change colors. It was interesting trying to find colors that would give an impression of translucency. Again, not sure I succeeded, but it was fun to try!

 

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6 Creative Thought(s)

  1. Isn't nature grand! She is so generous with her gifts if we only look as you said. Fabulous job on these!!

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  2. Thank you, Teri! Yes, Nature is so very generous and most of the time we're in too big of a hurry to notice.

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  3. I love your feather and leaf painting...beautiful, and the first paragraph you wrote in this entry is beautiful too--descriptive with a very nice feel!!

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  4. Nature has its own power and we are nothing in front of her. Its creativity is somewhat not compared to any art..Wonderful work !

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  5. Thank you, Kelly and Megha!

    You are so right, Megha, we are nothing in front of Nature. Thanks so much for stopping by!

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  6. That "close inspection" really gets the imagination going, doesn't it?

    The feather and leaf are just beautiful. So delicate... you captured them nicely!

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