Friends in the Cosmos

I appreciated a visit from old friends this summer.
We made a still life and whipped out the paints, just like back in the day.

Title: Friends in the Cosmos
watercolor on paper, 7 x 5

#cosmos, #old friends #flower power

Red Dahlia in September, watercolor

Red Dahlia for Tom Doe

This painting is a tribute to my father in law, who passed away on 9/25/15 at age 93.
He was a wonderful man who will be always remembered and loved.

10 x 13
watercolor on paper

#Tom Doe #Thomas Aiguier Doe #red dahlia #treasuring memories

Tribute to a beautiful life

Tribute to a beautiful life
Watercolor on paper, 8 x 10.5

Dedicated to the memory of Suzanne River. Flying free.

Calendula in the October Sky

'Calendula in the October Sky'
10 x 17
Watercolor on paper

January is starting to get long and cold here in Western Massachusetts.
Catalogs are arriving to get folks thinking on seeds, which is a very good thing to be thinking about right now. Especially if you are concerned for bees. Calendula are wonderful hosts for honey bees. Last October, when all the other flowers were browned over from cold, I walked in the calendula row at Next Barn Over farm under a manganese blue sky. Thank you calendula, thank you farm, thank you bees.

Chrysanthemum on the windowsill, watercolor

Title: for you
Size 10" x 6"
Watercolor on paper

After the first frost, when the calendula outside had bowed down reverently to the power of freezing, the ones indoors were still singing their heads off.' Anyone you know have surgery?' they asked. 'Or illness? We can help, just send us there and we will be unerringly cheerful!'

the joy of spring

Title: the joy of spring
size: 4.5 x 6
price $25 + $10 s & h

Dreaming about it while gazing on last year's photos is one thing, but sitting there with the first of the warm breezes -- and bugs -- painting fresh blooms is a truly sublime other thing. Thank you, universe, for bringing Spring back.

Dreams of April

After a long winter, with a bunch of ice still out there, one dreams relentlessly of things to come. Daffodils, for example, shall begin in a few weeks and continue to open, one variety at a time, all spring long. This is a take off from a photo of early daffs I found outside the Lilly Library last April.
Chins up!

Whiff of July

Title: Whiff of July
3 x 5
$30

Too much snow calls for an antidote, non?
I pulled out some height-of-July pics I took at the Smith Botanical Garden last summer
and whipped y'all up a little cure for the winter time blues.

jj's in jars

Title: jj's in jars
3.5 x 7.5
watercolor on paper

Sniff the sweet little flowers and be assured that they are soon to jump up from under the snow!
To all my kind viewers, Happy Valentine's Day with wishes for your happy heart.

Why are they in jars? The jars emerge after a spring rain, from the soil down near the swamp at the back of my yard. Perfume, nail polish, god-knows-what. The johnny jump ups I find in December, rolled up in to themselves, well after the first or second frost, under perhaps a brown maple leaf or two.
I bring them in, put them in jars, and they unfurl to reveal their sweetly scented, multi-colored faces.
Be sure not to leave nose marks on your computer screen :).

Friends

Title: Friends
10 x 5.5 watercolor on paper
$30

These two cuties met in a vase, struck up a friendship, and chatted for hours.
Weeks later, when all but a sliver of water was left in their shared home,
you could still hear the rustling -- if listening carefully -- of their sweet intimate whispers.

Frost Finale

Title: Frost Finale
Size: 7 x 10
Watercolor on paper
for sale $75

The last bouquets before frost are so grand.
Are they a fireworks, a funereal tribute to the season, simply an abundant last chance,
or a source of faith that Spring will come again?

This one contains Sheffield Mums, Cosmos, and Scabiosa.

In a National Geographic Article, authored by Michael Klesisus, he writes that  flowers first appeared over 130 millions years ago, during the Cretaceous period. In geologic times, this is relatively recent.

He goes on to say that” if all Earth’s history were compressed into an hour, flowering plants would exist for only the last 90 seconds. But once they took firm root about 100 million years ago, they swiftly diversified in an explosion of varieties that established most of the flowering plant families of the modern world.”

- See more at: http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=25339#sthash.VkiJXKeY.dpuf.
“Today flowering plant species outnumber by twenty to one those of ferns and cone-bearing trees, or conifers, which had thrived for 200 million years before the first bloom appeared. As a food source flowering plants provide us and the rest of the animal world with the nourishment that is fundamental to our existence. In the words of Walter Judd, a botanist at the University of Florida, “If it weren’t for flowering plants, we humans wouldn’t be here.” - See more at: http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=25339#sthash.uupuyKVi.dpuf

pear for nancy miller

Title: pear for nancy miller
pastel on paper
Size 32 x 24

This pear is a tribute to my pastel teacher, Nancy Miller. A gifted artist, she died tragically two years ago. The pear was a life long study of hers.

And just so you don't think life is all flowers and no fruits.
Happy eleven twelve thirteen, thanks for viewing.

#pear #pastel #fruit #Nancy Miller

just becosmos

just becosmos
7 x 7
watercolor on paper
for sale
contact info@amajoy.net


The joy, the song, of summer!
They float tall and delicate, abundant, until the first night of frost.

Marry Golds and Batchelor Buttons

Title: Marry Golds and Batchelor Buttons
Size: 10 x 7
Watercolor on Paper

The last flowers before frost are so colorful!

NG gazing

My wonderful younger nephew gazing at the camera.
6 x 8 watercolor on paper.

moving day

Title: moving day
Size: 7.5 x 7
watercolor on paper

Its so much work to move, but once it's done, everyone is happier in the new place, even the houseplants!

BRMK w Joy

E.M.G. on 5.12.12

Mom on our happy day 

H. with 3 fingers in her hair

H. with 3 fingers in her hair, Watercolor on Paper, Size 7 x 8, $50 contact the artist

Title: Stairway to Heaven Size: 11 x 7 Watercolor on Paper available For Sale $40 contact the artist With each unique zinnia we climb closer to heaven.

Title: Glad (iola) Watercolor on Paper 10 x 14 Midsummer decadence and joy!

Title: Anticipation
Size 8 x 10
Watercolor on paper

good advice from a cuppla goldenrods

good advice from a cuppla goldenrods
Watercolor on Paper
9 x 5.5
$35 unframed contact the artist here here

A long walk on a chill day yielded a surprise greeting from two wise goldenrods.
They came home to persevere in a vase for almost 3 weeks, not missing a beat.

Wedding Flowers

'Wedding Flowers'
16 x 10
Watercolor on Paper

We had such a wonderful time at Vera and Willis' gorgeous wedding!
The couple of course were the most gorgeous of all.

Simply Radishing

'Simply Radishing'
Watercolor on Paper, 11 x 6

Those fine farmers at the Next Barn Over in Hadley, Massachusetts sure do grow gorgeous vegetables!

One, Two, Waterlilies

Title 'One, Two, Waterlilies'
7 x 10 watercolor on paper
Collection SJC

Anyone who knows SJC is wishing her a blessed new chapter of life on Long Island.
We walked by the Smith Pond before she moved (can you hear the bullfrogs' deep croaking?)
and admired lilies strikingly similar to the ones here, which I had started painting a long time ago and had been working on here and there since, so it went w her as a thank you and good luck symbol.

Sorry it is sideways, please tilt your head to the left! Thanks.

The Week Before Commencement

Title 'The Week Before Commencement'
Watercolor on Paper 11 x 8
available unframed for $60

Painting outdoors in the shade at the Smith Botanical Gardens one could just feel the hummmm of the approaching ceremonies.

big party

'big party'
Watercolor on paper 9 x 12.5

Festiva Maxima, a thrill like no other

Bee Balm's Point of View

Title: 'Bee Balm's Point of View'
Watercolor on Paper 12 x 9.5

Afternoon trees pour long shadows over the yard while the bee balm looks on.

belated happy birthday

Title: 'belated happy birthday'
12 x 9 Watercolor on Paper