Tag: family

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Watercolor Haiku: Water Lily

Leaves, Any kind of leaf gives me trouble, especially with edges and vein lines. This was one of the very first watercolor paintings I completed on spring break in my step-by-step paint-on-page watercolor book, the equivalent of a bicycle with training wheels. I look at this and the logo above and of course the nature lover in me remembers sitting at a picnic table on a campsite by the creek that runs to the pond full of water lilies and frogs at FDR State Park in Georgia. It seems like a lifetime ago, and here we are at the end of May. And then my eyes trail to the veins in this leaf that looks more like a molded croissant or a fortune cookie than a lily pad. Tsk-tsk.

But I can appreciate it. After looking at hundreds of watercolor paintings over the past few weeks and learning a little more of the blending techniques, I can see some growth even just in how I hold the brush now compared to two months ago. I’ve been watching my writing friend Susie Morice as she tries a new paper and is moving all to one kind of watercolor paint. My friend Glenda took a class and can paint flowers like a pro now. My friend Margaret Simon is in a class and could illustrate her next book. And my daughters are both painting again, too ~ one sent me a peach from her morning painting yesterday, and it warmed my heart…..my firstborn, born a Georgia Peach in Savannah, now living out west and painting a peach. She went to art school years ago and has given me tips and pointers as we share creations. She told me that watercolor was less forgiving than any other kind of painting, and I can feel it. She also told me that when I painted a fern on a notecard and messed up two of the leaves, I could paint a caterpillar over it. I learn so much from my children.

I wonder what she would say about a moldy croissant trying to look like a lily pad……

Watercolor Waterlily

Neverland tales of

Princess Water Lily drift

into adulthood

….or was she Tiger Lily?

I’m too old to remember

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Watercolor Fox for Silas

When my daughter saw that I was watercolor painting, she asked me to paint something for my youngest grandson, her son Silas, whose name means “man of the forest,” bringing to mind all my favorite woodland critters. Before he was born in December 2024, I made him a quilt featuring forest animals (as I have for all of the other grandchildren for their nurseries); it was his baby shower theme, his nursery theme, and will hopefully stay with him in a love of nature and animals throughout his life.

When I saw the book of woodland critters to paint, I snapped it up and started working through the pages. There were several similarly-themed books to consider, but the fox had to be cute. Every other critter can be ho-hum, but if you’ve got a cute fox, you’ve got the right watercolor book. And I think I found it. I love this little fox, looking like he is sitting in the breeze just chilling and enjoying life. This is what I wish for all of my grandchildren ~ that they will know how to appreciate each moment, love the outdoors, and be respectful of the environment for all creatures great and small.

For My Grandson

a fox for Silas

little man of the forest

clever and charming

(…..and sometime this weekend, I’ll be shopping for a new quilt theme for the newest grandson, our eighth grandchild, who is due July 4).

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Hydrangea Watercolor Haiku

Whenever I see a hydrangea, I think of two people. The first is my late father, who in his waning days after a lifetime of calling it a hydrangea, called it a hydranjula. Someone had brought one to the hospital, and he urged me to “take that hydranjula” home with me. Either he was used to the constant room changes or he knew his days were quickly coming to an end. I took the flower.

The second is Missy, my childhood friend who gave me a sprig of a hydrangea she’d been rooting. I transplanted it to our farmland home in middle Georgia from the island where we grew up riding bikes all over the place before it became a tourist destination. It must have wanted to be a country hydrangea, living in a quieter, less subtropical place. It’s thriving, despite my neglect of it. These are the kinds of plants I need. The kind I can plant, water, and forget – – and let nature do the rest until time for pruning.

When I saw the blank watercolor page with its step-by-step paint-on-page directions, I had no idea how to create color within color until I learned a little about wet on wet versus wet on dry painting. When a page is wet, the colors bleed together in a way that painting colors on dry pages doesn’t. I can’t think of a better flower choice to learn about wet on wet than a hydrangea, with its blending pop of colors that change based on the pH of the soil. And for once, I had a leaf actually turn out the way it’s supposed to look. I couldn’t have done that when I started, so I am learning a little as I go. I prefer slow, unhurried learning – – and ironically, it’s a lot like watercolor painting where you build layer on layer. I was never a fast learner, but once I finally get it, I’ve got a grasp.

Happy Sunday! Tomorrow, I’ll share our first experience boondocking in a Harvest Hosts site. If you’ve never heard of Harvest Hosts, it’s an innovative way to travel like a complete and total hippie – – which is my ultimate goal for the next chapter of my life. I want to be a hydranjula-painting traveling haiku-writing hippie, and I’ll show you the boondocking part of what that looks like tomorrow.

Hydrangea

the last flower my

father ever gave me was

a hydran-jula

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Watercolor Weekend: Fennel

When spring days grow warm and the butterflies appear, I think of my mother and the way she always planted fennel for the Black Swallowtails to lay their eggs. Once a caterpillar breaks out of its chrysalis and greets the world, it is hungry and can munch down practically a whole wispy branch of a fennel stalk. I’ve seen it happen. While I won’t be framing this watercolor painting to hang in my kitchen as the Floral Fun page tip suggests, it does bring to mind the happiest memories of my mother and keeps her memory close.

To the Garden Fennel

those Black Swallowtails

know you’re caterpillar hosts

nursing their offspring

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Black Rock Mountain Stop

On the way home from visiting my brother in Bethlehem, North Carolina last weekend, we made two quick stops at campgrounds in North Georgia: Tallulah Gorge and Black Rock Mountain. These are two of my favorites for scenery alone – – particularly Black Rock Mountain, which is Georgia’s highest elevation state park and is on the eastern continental divide. It’s quite a car-climb to get there, and we wanted to scope out the campsites to see which might be our favorite one to try to reserve. You can read more about Black Rock Mountain State Park here. Tallulah Gorge is also a gorgeous campground, and we love its unique history with Karl Wallenda having walked across. Both are located near the town of Clayton, Georgia, which has many wonderful eateries and even a meadery downtown. We like the farm-to-table chefs who change the menus based on what’s fresh and in season.

We’re ready for the summer, for some travel and relaxed pacing of days to be able to read in the hammock and sit around the campfire under the stars. These are the times we look most forward to – – – slow travel, relaxed days, dog walks and leisurely morning coffee seeping down to firefly dusk. There are cottages (including dog-friendly cottages) here, too! If you’re ever in Black Rock Mountain State Park in Georgia and looking for a place to make memories, Cottage 5 looks like the one I’d recommend…..

Black Rock Acrostic

Brunch in the late morning

Lingering over coffee

Afterglow horizon sunsets

Camping on Black Mountain

Keeping it simple

Reading, talking, holding presence

On Black Mountain

Camping in the clouds

Knowing each moment

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When We Can Read, We Can Do Things

I’ve been watercolor painting step-by-step from paint-on-page instructional books on weekends, writing haiku, and relaxing in the paint peace. A Slice of Life blogger shared her Emily Lex watercolor workbook in March, and it reminded me of the one I’d seen in a shop in Woodstock, Vermont but didn’t buy because of the lack of luggage space. And then I was drawn back to wanting to (try to) paint.

It’s not like I’m talented or anything. Not naturally, anyway. But I can read and follow directions. It’s what I told a friend who once said she was glad her mother never taught her to cook so she would never be expected to. “If you can read, you can cook,” I assured her. And so it is with painting. If I can read, I can (try to) paint.

Fellow blogger Glenda Funk discovered she loved watercolor through a recent painting class I also signed up for, but my work life prevented my attending the actual classes, and in the midst of testing season I didn’t find the time in the evenings to go back and watch the recordings. Her paintings are vibrant and beautiful – the kind you can frame and put on your wall. When I’m retired, I will take a sure ’nuff painting class either online like Glenda or in person like fellow blogger Margaret Simon, who is also finding joy in the process. So does Anita Ferreri. Fellow blogger Debbie Lynn has also shared her gorgeous sketches and art forms, and more and more I’m inspired by all that our writing community does to express creativity through various forms of art. I wish we had an Art Market blogging day so we could share blog posts on how we blend writing and other art. I’d love to see more.

One flower new to me is a protea, and while I’ve never seen a protea in person, they remind me of a tall, thin water lily like on the logo above. Apparently the painting is relaxing me more than I realize. I came home from work yesterday all stirred up over an issue, and after listening to me whine for a while, my husband said, “You just need to sit down and paint.”

And I was relieved that he didn’t say, “You just need to cook.” He is alive and well this morning because of it.

Protea Haiku

pink, red, yellow, white

nectar-rich cone-shaped flower

South African bloom!

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Open Write

Erica and Jessica of Arkansas are our hosts today for the third and final day of the Open Write for May 2026 at http://www.ethicalela.com. They inspire us to write “found” poems not by finding lines or words from other poets by collecting thoughts and ideas of things we find. You can read their full prompt here. It’s a lot like taking a nature walk and instead of collecting pine cones or stones or feathers, poets collect moments and feelings to share.

I visited my brother on Lake Hickory over the weekend, so this morning I’m scrolling back through my photos for my “walk” back through the weekend.

Welcome to North Carolina

Welcome sign greets us into the state

we pull into the driveway overlooking the lake

artist’s palette sunset, dock, pool,

a sloping hill for dogs to play

Mojave sun hat on the boat

tritoon power fast afloat

Ospreys soar and dive for fish

songbirds, praise chimes, fountain wish

boats on sandbar, toasting dreams

wallowing in warm sunbeams

but one more stop while traveling home

Malaprops for treasure-tomes

And then two more,

Black Rock Mountain, Tallulah Gorge

but back to work, a life to forge…..

.

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Open Write Day 2 of May 2026: Trees

Erica of Arkansas is our host today for the second day of the Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com. She’s shared an inspirational prompt about trees and invites us to write about them. You can read her full prompt here. Come join us and read the poems of others or write your own!

I’ve been dabbling in watercolor lately, and one thing I’ve realized is that leaves are not easy to paint. I’ve also tried drawing my own pictures to paint, but concluded I’m a long way away from that technique. So pages in the watercolor books that guide and tell. how to paint the subject are my best option for building confidence and learning techniques.

And while ferns are not trees, it’s a Watercolor Weekend! Here is a fern I painted (not dark enough, but at least it turned out somewhere in the green color family). I recently brought a fern in a turtle planter home from St. Simons Island, where we are cleaning Dad’s house and yard to prepare it to go on the market, and ferns were one of my mother’s favorite plants.

To My New Turtle Fern

Fern: from 322 Magnolia Avenue in a concrete turtle planter

Everything about you

Reminds me of Mom – and Fitz, who

Never met a turtle he didn’t like

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May 16 Open Write Place Based Poetry on a Watercolor Weekend

It’s a Watercolor Weekend and an Open Write weekend, too – and I wish I could have painted the sky last night, but instead I am sharing a painting I started earlier this week and have not yet finished – it’s a Lily of the Valley, and I chose it for the varied shades of blue I feel when I’m around all this water. I’m on the road, so I didn’t bring my paints with me in preference for spending time with my people this weekend. This one didn’t blend well, but I do like the colors.

Our host today for the May Open Write is Jessica, who lives in Arkansas. Today, she inspires us to write about places in our state – anywhere, but particularly considering any hidden or obscure places. I’m in a uniquely-named place this morning – not in my own state, but in North Carolina visiting my brother and sister-in-law, who just bought their dream home right on Lake Hickory. I asked him, “So your house is in Hickory?” He said “No, it’s close…..it’s a Taylorsville mailing address.” And then he elaborated. “It’s actually Bethlehem. Our place on the map is in Bethlehem, North Carolina.” Our late parents would be so proud – Dad, a preacher, and Mom’s favorite Christmas carol was O Little Town of Bethlehem.

It took my breath away when I rolled in just before sunset last night. The sky changed from a watercolor palette to vibrance the opacity of oil with its blues and oranges and pinks a purples. We sat with wineglasses in hand watching it. This morning, a heron and an osprey, already, waving hello with a thousand other birds looking for breakfast. And I saw the Osprey flying high change course, dip down, skim the surface, and catch a fish. It’s spectacular to watch and resembled the eagles I saw in Alaska swooping down for fish so much that it has me wondering…..have I seen an eagle this morning??

So I’m writing about morning lake activity here in Bethlehem, North Carolina

Bethlehem

I think I know

why His eye is on the sparrow

with all the other birds

far more majestic in flight

this tiny song sparrow

may not have the wingspan

of the eagle or the osprey

but it sings praises more

powerfully than all the rest

here in Bethlehem

where songbirds

know the best reason

to sing

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Watercolor Haiku: Thistle

Today and tomorrow, I’ll be working in my late parents’ house – replacing toilet seats and ceiling fans, scrubbing hard water stains out of toilet bowls, and hauling the last things off to the dump. I bristle at some of the memories in that house, when what I need to do is thistle at them. So I’m changing my mindset from bristling to thistling…..and I may even whistle while I thistle.

It’s all part of the grief process I’ve been in for the past year with the way Dad chose to live his remaining years, still holding tight to everything he ever owned, despite our repeated requests to help him divest himself of all that was in those seven storage rooms and crammed into his house. He never considered the mess he was leaving for his children – a newlywed son who has had more to do than to want to clean up a lifetime of someone else’s memories, and me – a daughter who lives five hours north and works full time. Ah, but I digress and bristle…..let me thistle instead.

The Symbolism of Thistle

bravery and strength~

I need to thistle myself

for the coming hours