Not sure what Susan did or why she has a black eye but these are cool flowers nonetheless.

While waiting for a ride this weekend I walked over to a small patch of wild flowers growing behind our garbage cans (there is beauty everywhere in this world, isn’t there?). I was attempting to get a half-decent shot of this bumble bee that was bouncing from flower to flower, sucking up the nectar while at the same time pollinating the entire patch by himself.

I suppose I managed to get a half-decent shot of him, but I really appreciate the details in the flower itself – the fact that it is just beginning to dry up on its edges, that its a color that I can not identify (I call it a pinkish purple), and that it grows behind garbage cans.

There isn’t much of an inspiring story behind either of these pieces. The orchids painting was a lesson from a Japanese watercolor painting book that Eliza picked up for me. The birch tree I wanted to do because, for whatever reasons, birch trees are some of my favorite trees.

I plan on doing this same orchid painting at least a few more times.  The techniques in the book are beyond both my abilities and, I think, the abilities of my brushes. My watercolor brush set isn’t of the highest quality. In order to have the reeds, or leafs, in this painting be much better than they are in this first try – I will need to get the technique down.

I’m fairly pleased with how this piece came out. It took me about 3 and 1/2 hours to complete the painting, since I had to allow the paint do dry between “coats”. My impatience near the end is probably what caused the tree, specifically the trunk, not to turn out exactly like I wanted to. Less a problem of technique and more a problem of patience on this one.

I’m looking forward to doing many more this winter. My goal is to get good enough at watercolor to make a piece that I want to hang in our apartment.

While on my run.  The clouds over the past few days seem to be much fluffier and far larger than I’ve seen in a long time.