What inspires me to paint "Days Apart"...

While at the On The Balcony exhibit last weekend a friend and very talented artist asked what inspired me to paint Days Apart. It's a great question since a caterpillar and Pawpaw blooms isn't the typical floral subject.

Lots of folks know me as a graphic artist and photographer. Some know I paint and draw and others seem surprised. I can't imagine being a graphic artist without good drawing skills. What many folks don't know is I have long been interested in plants and gardening. For years I belonged to the American Camellia Society which has a local chapter and the American Azalea Society in order to learn more about hybridizing goals and plant attributes. I'm crazy about azaleas and did some evergreen azalea hybridizing many years back.

Our last move turned my gardening world upside down, loosing the shade and good soil I had taken for granted. So instead of forcing my favorite plants on this plot of land I decided to take my cue from what was thriving naturally. When we moved from our last house we only brought a few specimens. The one original azalea hybrid I moved with us has flourished against the odds. Our current location is an often dry, sandy, pine/oak scrub micro climate which makes a formal landscape high maintenance. Near the studio you immediately see oaks and pines, a few black cherry trees and weedy Mimosa thickets. A closer look, beyond a few common nursery plants, reveals a rather diverse assortment of native trees, bushes, perennials and vines. Something is always flowering or putting on a show of color. Lots to inspire.

Why a Pawpaw? Pawpaws are not well suited to nursery production, not fast growing or easy to relocate with a tap root that can reach twelve feet. They are rather inconspicuous in the wild so few viewers of the painting will find the blooms familiar. Days Apart is an exploration of the color change that particular Pawpaw's bloom goes through over a few days. Those blooms are quite different from the creamy white blooms on the other Pawpaws near the studio (as shown in this photo).

Here's a partial list of native plants I have identified around the studio.

• Flag Pawpaw
• Narrow-leaf Pawpaw
• numerous Oak varieties
• Sand Pine
• Longleaf Pine
• Mimosa
• Scrub Plums
• Parsley Haw
• Flowering Dogwood,
• Redbud
• Black Cherry tree
• Winged Sumac
• Devil's Walkingstick
• Blackberry
• Sparkleberry 
• Wax Myrtle
• Beautyberry
• Saw Palmetto
• Spanish Bayonet
• Gopher Apple
• Milkweed
• Sandhill Wireweed
• Blackroot
• Snakeroots
• Hair Indigo (non-native)
• Tickseed
• Green Eyes
• Silky Golden-Aster
• Dotted Horsemint
• Florida Elephant's-foot
• Blazing Star
• Dog Fennel
• Tread-softly (ouch! Stinging Nettle)
• Lopsided Indian Grass
• Saw Grass
• Hairgrass
• Cherokee Bean
• Prickly-pear Cactus
• Muscadine Grape
• Butterfly-pea
• Virginia Creeper
• Carolina Jessamine
• Coral Honeysuckle
• Passionflower

and a few we have added...

• Sweetgum
• Fringe Trees
• Coontie
• Lovegrass
• Firebush
• East Palatka Holly
• Flame Azalea

Many gardeners might think of these plants as weeds and well, some easily earn that title even in a native landscape. Yearly weather changes have some natives thriving and send others into quick decline. You need to roll with the changes if you want to experience native plants as they naturally grow. I can't say I miss the messy Pokeweed. The Poison Oak, Greenbrier vines and Tread-softly are welcome to leave any time! -pw

New Pawpaw Painting On Exhibit

I'm honored that my latest Pawpaw floral painting will be part of the Ocala Art Group's juried exhibition at the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, FL. The 30 piece group show titled On The Balcony runs from May 19 to June 17, 2012. Opening day, Saturday May 19 from 10-5, is the Appleton's annual Community Day with FREE museum admission to the public plus OAG’s new Silver Toast to the Arts Art Fair. Drop by and help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Appleton Museum of Art, College of Central Florida. The museum is well known for it's world-class permanent collections that include European, American and Contemporary art, plus Asian, African, Islamic and pre-Columbian artifacts and antiquities as well as hosting amazing temporary exhibits.

OAG’s Silver Toast to the Arts one day Art Fair will be held in front of the museum with original paintings in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pen and ink, color pencil, mixed media, photography, ceramics, sculpture, jewelry, and wood turnings created by over 30 artists from throughout Central Florida. There will be live entertainment, food and children's activities. Food provided by Horse and Hound, Mo Jo Grill, and The Chocolate Factory. Entertainment includes Treblehawk, Ron Frosig, Town and Country, and Lonesome Willy Earle. Auditorium artists include Civic Chorale and Ocala Storytelling.

The 20" x 16" Pawpaw painting is titled Days Apart for the way the blooms change appearance over time. This Pawpaw bush grows near my studio and is the most unusual variety I have encountered. The painting shows the blooms about two and a half times their actual size. The springtime blooms start out green and in a few days mature to a deep magenta with pink and creamy white drooping petals. The Pawpaw is a host plant for the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly.

We have numerous other native plants near the studio that we take great care to leave undisturbed. Some are short lived and were only present for a couple years after we disturbed the soil to build. Others like the deep rooted pawpaw I hope to enjoy for many years to come.

While you are at the museum do not miss the incredible Art and the Animal exhibit. 45 works from The Society of Animal Artists. This show also runs until June 17th. Enjoy! -pw

Appleton Museum of Art (link) celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2012

Ocala Art Group (link) since 1950

Current blog photo... Custom Glass Mosaic

My blog's current header photo features a blossom from our Camellia sasanqua 'Shishi Gashira' floating over a custom art glass mosaic my wonderful wife Renee created as a gift to my mother. The three Koi symbolize mom's three children. Small pebbles were incorporated to represent pieces of fish food floating on the surface at the center of the water ripples. The mosaic was done in the curved basin of a bird bath. -pw

Spring blooms in February

Our redbud trees and loropetalum shrubs are bursting with pink color. The wild plum trees near the studio are smothered with clouds of white blooms. Even our Japanese Magnolia, which is always late to bloom, is starting to put on a show. The azaleas, spirea, dogwoods, fringe trees and native thorny haw trees are still waiting to see if winter is over. Our last frost date is typically mid March. With this early warm weather persisting the pawpaw flowers might start blooming before April. The small scrubby pawpaw plants seem to appear out of nowhere with unusual droopy blooms. Quite similar to an upside down Japanese magnolia bloom. Of all of the native flowers I tend to, I'm drawn to photograph the pawpaws the most. Each year a different pawpaw near the studio puts on the best show. Most are creamy white, a couple have burgundy blooms. Every shot feels like I'm seeing them in a new way. Here are a couple magnolia blooms from yesterday.  -pw
Ant climbing Japanese magnolia to watch sunset (link)
Japanese magnolia from above (link) 

High Key photography - a memory of summer

Glowing Sunflower

As our small spring veggie garden faded in the Florida summer heat, a row of tall light yellow sunflowers began to put on a show at the back of the garden. To add to the display we also planted Heavenly Blue morning glories along the wire rabbit fence to add foliage and flowers below the sunflowers. Just as the sunflowers began to bloom the morning glories hit their stride and grew fast, wrapping around the sunflower stems and blooms. So much for most of my sunflower photography plans. I could have trimmed the vines back but I was too curious to see what would happen. It wasn’t pretty but the cardinals enjoyed it... Next year I’ll keep the vines in check for a bit to enjoy the sunflowers longer. I did manage to get a few individual shots. Here’s one of a sunflower converted to black and white. It’s my favorite high key photo from this year’s shots.

The winter garden got it’s first taste of rain water yesterday after over a month of drought. Where did all of the weeds come from over night? I can't wait for some garden fresh broccoli!  -pw