Batik of Fantasy out of the Rain

Sunday morning I awoke to the sound of much needed rain. It was a peaceful and welcome sound and the heavy rain had a hypnotic effect on me. Many fields and lawns had turned brown as one hot sunny day followed another. I'm glad our plants can now be renewed and grateful that there was no hay mowed to be ruined by the downpour.

As I was encouraged to stay inside, I turned to stretching some batik on canvas stretchers and then framed them. I looked back to a batik from long ago. See the detail of unicorns swimming in the sea, inspired by the book "The Last Unicorn"

I enjoy fantasy and here are some more recent batik. Horse Dreaming Below Tree ( about unicorns), and Golden Eagle over Lothlorien ( inspired by Tolkien).

Goodbye to Daylilies!

As I took my morning walk with my tai chi practice at the top of the hill behind my house, I stopped and sat on a rock and drank my coffee in the warm summer breeze. The air felt good and was filled with the sounds of insects. There was much more intensity to their chorus than a month ago. Birds and occasionally the sound of a car or a truck in the distance became blended into the insect's sounds. The farmer's machines were quiet as the fields continue to grow for the next cutting. A small airplane cruised the sky with a lazy drone to it's engine. The sound from the insects is an expansive relaxing sound that has an effect on me of feeling connected to all things.

My favorite flowers, the daylillies,are almost gone for the year. A few appear, but I find myself pulling out the dried stems and thinking of the time next year when they will be back. I think back to the beautiful show they put on. Each flower is here for one day only and I do not want to miss seeing that flower.

My heifer, Footstep, is now one year and two months and is growing well and happy here near our house. I'm glad to have her and her mom here.

The garden, much of it in pots has done well, with the exception of the squash plants. The cherry tomatos, peppers, dill and purple basil are very pretty to look at. The rainbow swiss chard is especially beautiful in the early morning sun. I'm grateful to such a good beginning to a productive day.

Weeds!!

I have been pulling out weeds in the hot, very dry sun. There seems to be no end. The grass is drying up and becoming dormant, and the flowers and vegetables seem to need water every day lately. The weeds however seem to thrive.

We plant flowers and crops for us and our livestock. We try to push back, pull out, chop down and spray the weeds to keep them in line. Let's take a look at the field's edge.

Upon looking closely, I find that weeds can be beautiful.
The mullen plants on the edge stand stately and are beginning to flower at the top with beautiful yellow flowers. The prickly thistle that can spread so quickly, scratch our animals and keep them from eating the pastures, have gorgeous purple flowers. Even the dreaded burr plant has pretty purple spikey flowes at this time. Queen Anne's Lace is not good for livestock and can clog a field when not mowed down frequently. But look at the beautiful lacey flowers! This clump has striking pink dots in their centers.

There are many other weeds with flowers of all colors and shapes. Also some weeds that do not flower have very fascinating shapes and subtle shades of color and texture.

These too make a contrbution to ideas, colors and patterns for my batik.

Horses from the Tjanting

I am including some examples of some of the horses I have generated using the tjanting technique. The differences between the gray stallion and others. The Stallion was created using more painting effects rather than the narrow focused flow of wax from the tjanting tool which make the wonderful streaming manes on some of my other horse batik.

The real life picture is of two mares, Kelly and Maya, from days long gone bye.

Horses Flow From the Tjanting (batik)

The horse is my very favorite subject and I find a comfortable relationship with the tjanting tool ( the brass or copper bowl that holds wax and allows an artist to make lines of wax). This is used to creat my horses with flowing and flying manes. The horse and fast flowing wax combine to show a graceful, sensuous, soothing and capricious quality. No other artistic medium has given me the ability to capture these same flowing and magical qualities.

The horse has been a noble servant to the human race, a symbol of speed, strength and grace.For me the horse shows the way to also show dynamic tension and the striving that we all encounter in our lives.

Early Morning in July

It has been a long time since the mountains could be seen in the morning and today is no exception. The trend lately has been hot and very humid and a heavy mist has settled into the fields, forests and valleys.The distant farms are not visible at all.The morning air is sweet and warm, with everything covered with rain drops from last night. The early sun feels good and although quite warm, the air has a clearer and dryer feeling to it. The sounds of birds and insects fill the air with a pleasant all encompassing sound.

I feel not only grateful to be able to see, but also grateful to be surrounded by such beauty as is in my back yard and all about me in Washington County, New York.

The sun catches the rising mists with sunny highlights streaming through the tree branches. A drop of dew in the morning clover is caught by the sun and turns into a prism, then to amber, red, and green. The cornfield is cast with a flood of hazy morning sun. The stalks have tassels on top highlighted gold, and the young corncobs have tender young silk loaded with dew. In the distance the farms are revealed, but no mountains yet.

Near the house the coneflowers look brilliant, accented by their irridescent centers. The large old trumpet vine is in full bloom making hummingbirds and bees very happy. I find myself flooded with ideas and images for my batik work. I'm glad for the inspiration, but can not hope to achieve such beauty as is found in nature.