Experiencing Change

It is the season of change.  Weather goes from cool to hot.  Animals go from egg to chick, or pup to adult. And some insects go from larvae to pupa to butterfly. Change seems to be constant.  In fact the thing that never changes is that there is always change.  Likewise, in our lives, change is inevitable.  We age, grow grumpier or happier, healthier or more sick, more active, or more sedentary.  In all this, much of how we change is up to us.

Recently I did a couple of envelopes for people that are being asked to go through some intense amount of change.  One, who is suffering the stark reality that their body is changing, is infected with a life threatening disease, and may end the life as they currently know it.

Another was for an individual who, after already undergoing extremely invasive surgery to remove a tumor, is about to undergo yet another surgery to continue to cut away at the growth deep inside of her her brain.

I can't imagine how each of them are feeling, how they will react to their circumstances, how they will grow through these challenges.  I trust that they will let the change happen, and come out on the other side a stronger, more beautiful, wise, and capable individual because of the transformation that occurs during difficult times.  At least, this is my hope for them both.

Both are done in gouache.

Wings for another friend

This week's envelope goes out to another neighbor who has been facing the challenge of their first born baby wanting to come much earlier than it should.  She and her husband have been at the hospital indefinitely while they work through all options to keep baby in the womb for further development. 

 

I chose to go back to painting a butterfly.  One cannot watch the transformation from a caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly without looking at the process, the struggle that each phase presents to the insect, and the resplendent result without seeing meaning in their own life.  Trials, if reacted to patiently, give us strength and beauty.  Somehow, this struggle for my neighbors, in time, will give radiance to them.  And, no doubt, the ability to soar through future challenges.

 

This is done in gouache.

 

Wings for a Grandmother

The paternal grandmother of my wife is a sweet, gentle and caring individual.  Over the past few years her health has declined, and a mind that was once sharp and buoyant has grown dimmer as she has ailed.  At this point someone always has to be with her to keep her safe from the affects of dementia and a weakening body.  However, she still loves to sit down and look at pictures and to sing whatever words are in front of her.

After her first husband passed away, whenever she saw a butterfly, she felt it was a sign that he was near and watching over her.  

Today's envelope and letter (to words I hope she will sing) is going out to her.

This one was done with gouache, with an acrylic background.

Insect Map, Finally Complete!

Wow!  Undertaking the map project was enlightening in a lot of different ways.  First, I didn't realize how much time it would take to produce something that large, with that much detail, especially when trying to capture something from my youth.  I'm happy to have done it, but happy that I can move back to something a little smaller and more manageable through a couple of hours.
I also learned that drawing a map of a place you once knew brought back a lot of memories, transported me back in time to almost reliving some of the things that occurred there.

When painting this map, I remembered being chastened once for not watering Dad's garden the way that he showed me, but also how he rushed to me in the garden after that reprimand when he noticed that I was tearful at the rebuke.  I remember him kneeling in the soft, dark soil and asking him to forgive me for hurting my feelings.

I remembered laying under the massive cherry trees we had in the yard and playing with my dog, "Pepper" and watching the birds come and eat the cherries that were in abundance.

I also remember tying strings in a 45 degree angle to the side of my house, staking it to the ground, and then finding tomato worms in the garden and having races up those strings as the worms slowly crawled from the bottom of the string to the top.  GOOD TIMES!

Anyway, I hope you get as much enjoyment out of the finished product as I have had making it.  It's clear that I love painting insects, studying them and finding out what makes them tick...but I think I'm going to take a pass for a while on the little critters.  I also learned that when you do big projects, its harder to document.....I couldn't really scan anything, so I just had to take pictures of various details.  Sorry about the poorer quality on the photos.

Here's a few close-ups of some of the insects:

Insect Garden

Another lazy Saturday has found me with the options of either listening to all the innumerable talking heads spewing their rhetoric about how diabolical any political candidate currently is, or, enjoying a few hours of peace sketching and painting something that has nothing to do with any of that....consequently, I chose the later.
Inspired by the amazing work of Felicita Sala, I decided to do something a little simpler, and painting a bunch of different things and then cutting them out to add them to one composition.

Enjoy this little insect garden....done with gouache and a hint of prismacolor here and there.

A Little Butterfly for my Spouse

The other day, Cheristy said, "when are you going to do something that I like?"  So, hoping to avoid the walk of shame, I asked her what she wanted.  She said a yellow butterfly on a pink or red flower.  So, I knocked this out this weekend.  However, it looks like I'll be going back to the drawing board, because as I showed her the finished product she said, "that's nice, but I'm not so sure about the purple, we don't have any purple in the house to match it with."  So, I have a few options.  1. I can tell her I used purple to convey how calm and peaceful she makes me feel when she's around, (and hear her ask me what I've been drinking.) or 2. Crank up the photoshop. 3. Head over to Sherwin Williams to repaint the den as colorful as a bad Prince movie from the 80's. Oh well, it was a good attempt.