Roadside daylilies . . .

Roadside

Ah, yes.

Practice.

I just can't tweak the foliage any longer.

At some point, I will paint this again.

When my hand gets looser and more confident, I'll try the daylilies one more time.

For now, I still have the essential barns and outbuildings

that I see all day every day.

And that's good.

Figuring out how to release the flowers will be my challenge

for now and in paintings to come.

Still, I like the composition and color.

It's coming. It's coming.

Detail : Oil on canvas

6"x6"

Day 22 : An Oil a Day 30 Day Challenge . . .

Day 22 : Milkweed

Since we live in the middle of farmland, it's only natural that it is my first choice for a subject to paint.

Just up the road a ways is this neighbor's field.

Very soon it will be dusty golden yellow from harvesting corn and beans but for now,

this field is blooming with milkweed throughout.
And summer haze.

Details : Oil on canvas

6"x6"

Day 20 : An Oil a Day 30 Day Challenge

Day 20 : Person to Person

I love to paint wide expanses of prairie and sky with farmsteads on the horizon.

But I can't shake the feeling that they are somewhat lifeless until I add

what is always there but not so obvious - tall radio and telephone towers.

So I call this one 'Person to Person' as farms used to be

remote and out of communication until telephones came along.

And now we all have these little handheld devices that beam your conversation

up into the sky where it connects with a satellite

then beams it unbelievably to the person you wish to speak with.

I can see that this painting needs a little touchup but you get my message.

Details : 8"x8"

Oil on canvas

Day 16 : An Oil a Day 30 Day Challenge . . .

Day 16 : Seward July

Yeah, I took a break.

Not that I wanted to.

It was kind of forced on me by first my sinuses and then my intestines.

I won't go into more than that.

So.

Here I start in once again at Day 16 with a quick and light summer scene.

From the Seward, Nebraska Airport, I can see a far off farm.

Looking so clean and tidy and bright from a mile off,

sultry summer clouds building and dying, building and dying.

Milo is yellow/green with heads ready to turn rust soon.

Details : 6"x6"
Oil on canvas

And this . . .

#3

From a picture I took last winter when we actually had snow on the ground.  
Eddie giving rides off the farm strip in the Cub. 

Watercolor #3 and having a ball

Old dog - new tricks

Trial and error. 

Crazy Snow . . .

 Crazy.  We don't usually get this kind of snow until January or February.

Eddie is all snug in his shop getting the BobKitty ready to push snow for us and our surrounding neighbors.

 The farmette - snow was just starting late in the afternoon.

My front porch!  There is an equal amount of snow on all four of the porches of this house, the wind is blowing so hard! Usually one side gets it all but this time, the snow is equal opportunity.

Yeah.  I need to shovel off the hot tub first, for sure.  I have a feeling it will come in handy by the end of day. 

Oh I really should not have opened that door . . . 

And so it begins . . .

Yep.  Daylily bloom time once again.  Rather, daylily bloom time FINALLY.  Lots of things are in bloom at the Bowes Motor Speedway Farmette right now and the green things are lush but nothing, no nothing, beats daylily bloom time.  srsly.

Mystery Daylily and Oprah
surveying her domain

I'm only posting one here so as to not distract with other lovely daylily blooms as this one outshines all of the rest and will likely be moved to a showcase spot for 2013.  (Oh my, did I say 2013? Too soon, too soon.)

I bought this daylily fan from someone I 'friended' on flickr in one of the daylily groups and I'm sure I started a stampede.  He said it did not have a name and was a volunteer crossbred plant - not sure what its lineage is but just feast your eyes on this heavily veined beauty.  Colors are exactly what you see here and the veins are beautifully prominent.

No further comment required.  Behold.

Corn crib gazebo . . .

I have large plans for Spring.  Seriously large.  I've been on the lookout for an old corn crib since, oh, forever and I've had a hard time describing what I envision.  Lo and behold!  I came across this picture on a website - The Mustard Seed - and here is my vision in the flesh!

We have two pads here on the farmette that both held old silos for many years.  I removed the old auger from one and it will hold my Purple Martin house later this Spring.  The dryer and blower portion is still covered with a vented steel cover that is about 6' square and my plan is for that to become a firepit.  Ed still cocks his head and raises one eyebrow when I talk about these plans so let's just keep it to ourselves, shall we?

I picture the corn crib with a couple of adirondack chairs and maybe a table for my ever-present Diet Coke, vertical garden panels, Passion Flower and tangerine colored Trumpetvine, surrounded by my ever-growing collection of daylilies.  From here I can see for miles and miles and miles - maybe just watch the storms blossoming on the horizon.  Dream.  Draw.  Nap.

Be honest, isn't this the sweetest thing ever?