Mystery Botanicals Wrap-up

I am stopping the one a day Mystery Botanicals. It was great to paint in the Fall but it had a natural end with the weather getting cold, the variety of plants lessening and I just got a bad cold.

Thank you for all watching, liking and commenting. Best to you all. Brenna

Mystery Botanicals #34

Mystery at Lighthouse Point

While I paint I watch a cat 6 feet from me catch a mouse from our wood pile. It took the mouse in it's mouth and trotted home with it.

There are a few tiny flowers left in my yard. I use my rigger brush to make long flowing grass strokes and then balance icy blue vine leaves on top of them and through it all the tiny yellow dandelions poke their heads up. It is like a large wave of life is about to crash over them.

mystery botanicals #34 Mystery at Lighthouse Point, October 10,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12" overcast , 2h

Mystery Botanicals #33

Grateful

Thanksgiving dinner day! The house smells wonderful and outside is cold.

The cat owners, a family with 4 boys, saw the found cat poster. We gave them their cat back. It was a happy reunion as the cat was held in the teenage boy's arms and licked him. I am grateful we had time with the kitty, that I have time and supplies to paint and that I have a family to spend the holidays with.

These are garlic seeds they taste good when they are fresh. They hang like pine cones and the minty green background makes a holiday feeling. I like the downward droop of lowered expectations and the thin stems that cross two characters together.

mystery botanicals #33 Grateful, October 9,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12" sun and overcast mix, 1h

Mystery Botanicals #32

The Allure of Mrs. Plum

This is our plum tree it has gone all pink. I have not painted just leaves in this series until today. They are just so flat I an not sure they will have enough interest on their own but the plum tree leaves are such an amazing pink that I jumped in.
 
This painting is pink. The two in focus leaves point at each other while their respective partners are unaware.

mystery botanicals #32  The Allure of Mrs. Plum, October 8,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12" sun and overcast mix, 2h

We still have the cat. We put up more posters today in case the rain washed out the others. We bought a harness and leash because the cat is getting cabin fever. Here is my daughter giving the cat a walk.

Mystery Botanicals #31

Unsuited

Today I thought I might stop the series because of the weather of snowy rains. This uncertainty made me unhappy and jittery all morning until I decided to continue. I am still curious of where this series will go with the fall landscape inside of me and in my yard. Must build a better painting hut the plastic is too noisy and hits me and my painting. The plastic flew completely away at one point and I felt so naked.

The grey sky chunks around in solid blocks so weighty on top of everything. The vines smear into each other and arch across the surface while our main characters are awkward, prickly and trying to get to know each other in difficult circumstances.

mystery botanicals #31  Unsuited, October 7,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12" snowy rains, 1 h

Mystery Botanicals #30

Unfavorable 

The blustery fall conditions continue so I paint fast in the 6 degree weather before I shut down from the cold.

Sticks jut upward. That is all that is left of the black raspberries. The purple clouds tumble across the sky. Everything is fast and simple. This is a stark work where two figure stand side by side in adverse conditions.

mystery botanicals #30  Unfavorable, October 6,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12" overcast, 6 degrees, 1 h

Mystery Botanicals #29

Adventure in Blustery Valley

The afternoon is windy and grey. As fall progresses there is less to paint. My subjects will become more minimal as flowers, seeds, leaves and fruit fall and join the soil.

I set up and paint for 30 minutes and then it rains. I go inside and wait. As I wait I look at my painting and I love it. It is full of gusty wind, a rain cloud filled sky and thin vines that change colour as they progress. If I work it more it will just be different. I choose to keep it.

mystery botanicals #29  Adventure in Blustery Valley, October 5,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12" overcast, windy 30 min

The Flowers of Fright, The Grasses of Gore, The Twigs of Terror and The Leaves of Lingering, all great names that my 12 year old daughter thought up for this painting or I can use them for other ones she says. She made up this one Adventure in Blustery Valley as all of I could think of at this time of night was so bad, The Hermit and the Forbidden Pleasure

Mystery Botanicals #28

Promise me a Whirlwind

The forecast is for a lighting storm and rains. I set up my plastic hut but it flaps in the wind so noisy and hitting me constantly. Half way through I take in down. I need to build a solid transparent movable hut but not today.

I paint the whole work drawing with the brush. It is so full and tight it looks good but I want an open bit and a closed bit because I don't want to trap the viewer. I wipe off the top half and sketch it in lightly. I like the wild abandon feeling of it like a storm is just approaching.

mystery botanicals #28 Promise me a Whirlwind, October 4,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12" overcast, windy 1.5h

When I pack up the rains begin.

Mystery Botanicals #27

Professor Pear and the Road Ahead

The wind keeps the wasps away so there is only a few to paint.

The solid shapes arc upwards and away. The leaves are pink. I have this swirling everybody in the picture attitude, so in goes the grass and the leaves.

mystery botanicals #27  Professor Pear and the Road Ahead, October 3,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12" sunny 3.5h

I like the look of the wet paint with the sun. It is so slippery looking.

Mystery Botanicals #26

The Reckless Apparition

So tired after the late night at Nuit Blanch, also picking up my daughter from Pathfinders camp and taking the found cat to humane society to see if it has a micro chip.

I am grateful for the time to paint. I make a woshing ghosting image of the dying pears and the energy of the zipping wasps. I am so brave to make work about this subject which must not be named.

mystery botanicals #26 The Reckless Apparition , October 2,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12" sunny 2h

Found cat at in car outside of Humane Society. If when scanned and it has a micro chip my daughter must give it up . But Ack no chip and 7 month old boy brown tabby comes back.

Mystery Botanicals #25

Professor Pear and the Situation of Surrender

Nuit Blanche is on tonight so I will go and see all the art others have made. I still have images in my mind from the last two Nuit Blanches. My favourite was the car full of water, dripping and spilling onto the street.

There is a hot spot among the pears where all the wasps are. They eat, fight and fly. I make a yellow work. This painting talks about death. I think of the Dutch masters paintings about mortality using fruit and flower still lifes that mix full bloom beside decomposition. I am afraid of death.

mystery botanicals #25 Professor Pear and the Situation of Surrender, October 1,  2016 oil on canvas 9" x 12" sunny 4h

I needed a new photo for google because I have aged since the last one so I had Rick take this one when I was painting. I look a bit like a fuzzy bear.

This bird was right in front of me chomping on an insect.