Nature Walk

Just a few warm sunny days followed by refreshing spring rain have completely transformed the landscape.  The yellow dandelions like radiant suns amid a sky of green have already turned into magical fluffy spheres dancing in the wind.   

My morning nature walks are my favorite part of the day when I feel most present and at home. When in nature, one may observe that the overall beauty does not just emanate from isolated individual parts, rather from an intimate interconnection between all things.

"This grand show is eternal.  It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising.  Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls."

-John Muir

Simple Pleasures

"The dreamer - if you want an exact definition - is not a human being, but a creature of an intermediate sort."

-Dostoevsky

The Dream

"Sorrow compressed my heart, and I felt I would die, and then … Well, then I woke up."
- Dostoevsky

Spring Rain

On this day, the drizzling rain was an invitation to stay indoors.  They listened in silence ...

Nature Meditations

At last the grey melancholic days of winter are over. This morning on my way to the pond, I noticed the magnolia tree once again in bloom giving unconditionally and igniting an inner smile.  

Inspired by nature's beauty, I painted a scene using the chalk dust that I had collected when sharpening the pastel pencil, for the initial tonal values.  I used a soft watercolor brush to apply very small amounts and then used the pencil to add sharper lines for precision.  Lastly, I added a bit of white for the lightest values.