Little Brown Bird

 Watercolor with some white gouache.

I like using the M. Graham brand of gouache. You can mix white with your watercolor paint and it will take on the consistency of gouache. (It will also lighten the paint color) If I remember right, the M. Graham brand uses honey for the binder in their line of gouache

. 

I use a different brand of watercolor-I think Winsor & Newton. Those would be wonderful names for two cats, wouldn't they?

The farmers are cutting the corn. Geese will land in the stubs and eat the fallen kernels, then rest a bit. Tucked beaks between wings, muffled honks, they group, then suddenly take flight. It is a sudden time of the year. Not slow like summer. It is a time for fast moving slate gray clouds and rain turning to snow.

Soon enough, the trees will be bare.

More sky to see...

 above: detail of a fabric fox I made. He was a little larger than lifesize

Have a nice weekend

***

Flowers and things.

From my garden-a bucket of fleurs....

We went to an antique sale with lots of vendors. These things are just a few of the treasures I bought. The antique paisley is quite beat up, but it's still so beautiful. I will cut it. There are different views about doing this. I only cut very damaged antique fabrics.

The bird guide is from 1925. It cost me one dollar. Same for the dictionary. The bird book is beautiful with lots of paintings. The cover is leather I think.

This is some plain stitching I have done on this vintage wool jacket. I took the lining of the jacket out enough so I could do the stitching. I want to embroider some flowers and birds on it too. It's quite plain as it is now.

 Have a great rest of the week!

Poppy and Sam...

This California poppy was a surprise. I had dug a new area of the garden this year. Almost 20 years ago I planted a row of these poppies. I didn't even remember doing that until this one lone poppy came up in the same area. Then I remembered and I was in awe that the seed would survive hidden and just waiting for the right circumstances to bloom again. I also took a little lesson from this frail beauty. 

Wonderful things are buried deep sometimes. They need to surface and have light and warmth to come forth into what they were made to be. I know I'm not expressing this very well, but it means something to me to see this one plant blooming its heart out, after so many years in the secret of dirt and roots.

Maybe your heart knows what I'm trying to say.

My beautiful girl, Sam. Her name is Sam Houston, named after a character on the series "Christy."

 Have a wonderful week...

Flowers and so on...

My zinnias are over 5 feet tall. I have not grown them like this before. It was such a weird summer for weather, I don't know how they grew so tall. They cheer me every time we meet in my garden.

Above: kohlrabi. Tastes like a turnip.

It has been a time of changes. Some sorrowful and some glorious.

That is life, for us all.

You would think the simple seasons changing would show me that things don't stay the same. 

God is still good. That will never change. 

So-I have some new projects I want to show you in future posts. I am doing some simple embroidery and Shashiko stitching-even though it is my own version-and some knitting (the project might be a few years old, but it's getting there!) and of course more painting.

It will be lovely to slow down and fall into a new season with threads and needles and cloth.

Above: I absolutely adore my bees that make their nests in these bamboos. We made another one by drilling holes in a block of wood-no one has touched it. I guess it's scaring the bees.

 Walk with me through the privet, and we can sit a spell on the rock wall.

Happy days to you all!

A poem of birds with paintings

Night came to the trees first, then it filled the sky

Sun is up

Birds sing

 Birds bow heads

Eyelids closed

And some of them flew in dreams

Debra Smith 2022

The Hansa rose

I wanted to show one of my roses. I wish you could smell it. It makes huge rose hips and reblooms all season. 

 I have been wondering about keeping up blogging-so I will not post very much anymore-at least for a while. We have a lot of different life challenges going on at the same time also.