Tag Archives: flowers

Waiting for spring

Posted on January 17, 2021 | 2 comments

We had a little over an inch of snow last night.  The sight that greeted us this morning was so pretty.  Every branch and plant was covered.  Actually, it seems as if we haven’t had a heavy snow of several inches for a few years.  Even though winter has been relatively mild – so far, I am already sick of the season.  News exhaustion, tired of restrictions, worried about COVID.  Missing my family.

The past few weeks since the holiday crush, I have been concentrating on finishing up my Breaking Bread series of paintings.  These are middling to large, 24 x 30 paintings expressing my thoughts and observations of people eating together, or not as the case may be.  A few are humorous but most are thought-provoking. Scenes we see every day or used to at least.  But they are also mentally or emotionally draining. 

I decided to take a little respite this week and paint something lighter.  Think spring.  Back to some small watercolors with pen and ink, even colored pencil added. Some florals and landscapes.  Promises of things to come in a few months.

Landscape with spring daffodils. Watercolor, pen and ink, colored pencil on Arches paper. 10.5 x 13.5 Kit Miracle These naturalized daffodils are a delight to look at every spring. I didn’t plant them but always send thanks to the person who did.

The first one that I tackled was Spring Daffodils.  This is a landscape of the naturalized daffodils in my yard.  Sometimes they come up as early as mid-February but usually they’re not out in full force until March and April.  It’s just such a peaceful scene with spring colors.

Purple Irises. Watercolor, pen and ink, colored pencil on Arches paper. 10.5 x 13.5 Kit Miracle

Another scene is of some of the purple irises out by the woodshed.  I know that I planted these shortly after we moved here many years ago but can’t remember the name.  It doesn’t really matter.  I have many varieties of irises from light purple to deep purple, peach and white, and some more that I’ve forgotten.  It’s always a pleasant surprise to see them explode in color in some out of the way place. 

I’ll take another week “off” to paint some of these spring scenes.  They have lightened my mood and inspired me during these dismal times.  Then I’ll get back to the more serious series.  I have four more paintings to complete before the big show in May and June. 

I hope you have some activity to inspire you during these difficult times, too.  Take care of yourselves.

2 Comments

Posted in country living, garden, landscape, watercolor

Tagged , , , ,

Soft days of autumn

Posted on September 27, 2020 | 2 comments

View of Madison, Indiana, from the inn. It’s a quaint, arty little town about forty minutes up the river from Louisville. I wanted to get a photo of the sunrise in the morning but the whole river valley was fogged in. Couldn’t see a foot in front of myself.

The soft days of autumn seem to be sneaking up on us. From temperatures in the 80s a week ago, to lows in the 50s and even 40s now.  I love autumn with the smell of wood smoke and newly fallen leaves.  The golden sunshine and the reds and yellows of the leaves.  Everything seems to be winding down…but not quite yet.

This is the view from the Clifty Falls Inn. That is the Ohio River and Kentucky on the other side. Another week or two, and those hills will be ablaze with color.

My husband and I visited Clifty Falls State Park in Madison, Indiana.  This 1400 acre park sits on the banks of the Ohio river and boasts some beautiful views of the river scenes, foliage, and the town of Madison. There is some great hiking here, too.  Unfortunately, with the dry September, the falls weren’t running so we’ll have to plan a visit for another time.

The variety of pumpkins and gourds at the farm was amazing. I could have brought home three times as many. But they provide a little fall color for the season. And in the end, get tossed into the chicken pen. The ladies are very appreciative.

We just spent one night at the inn but it was a pleasant getaway.  On our return, it seemed as if the leaves had begun changing colors overnight.  We stopped to buy pumpkins at the Cornucopia Family Farm.  This was our first visit but apparently they have many visitors from a wide area.  Whole families were there for the hayrides and popcorn, children’s activities and, well, to buy pumpkins.  I have never seen so many varieties.  I wanted them all but had to restrain myself.

We discovered this beautiful little country church as we were looking for the pumpkin farm.

As we drove home on the country backroads, we saw little churches and just enjoyed the day.  There were several Amish buggies on the roads.  It was Saturday, after all.  Just so relaxing to be out and about.

Late garden harvest of loads of peppers and a few tomatoes. Plenty more peppers to pick, too!

Summer tasks are winding down here on the farm.  The garden has about had it but I’m a hold out for the last green bean.  Still have plenty of peppers to pick as well as the sweet potatoes.  And the zinnias which I grow for cutting are still vibrant. Some of them are taller than me!

Firewood. This is nice, dry and seasoned firewood and splits easily. The basement is already stacked but there’s plenty more wood to split.

It’s time to put away the fishing gear. Although, really, does the season ever end? The impatiens and coleus are getting a little leggy.

The leaves are starting to turn and drop.  We usually just grind them up with the mower for mulch.  And our stack of winter firewood is growing.  We share a log splitter with the neighbor which is great for gnarly old pieces of wood.  But the boys actually like to split the wood by hand with a maul.  There is a lot more skill to this than it looks, requiring just the right swinging rhythm and twist of the wrist.  It’s nice of them to come out and help the old man out once in awhile.

The zinnias that I use for cutting are still going strong. Some of them are taller than me! In the background are the desiccated stalks of the sunflowers that the goldfinches have stripped. And those poles on the left hold motion sensitive lights which help scare away the night critters. Sometimes.

The next month will find me out tidying up the place before it gets too cold.  Maybe sitting by the firepit with a hot beverage and a book.  I hope you have a quite place to retreat, too.  Enjoy the season.

The last rose. Well maybe, maybe not. Sometimes I bring this little beauty inside in the winter just to enjoy the beautiful perfume on a cold day.

2 Comments

Posted in country living, garden, old house, travel

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

July flowers in the garden

Posted on July 12, 2020 | Comments Off on July flowers in the garden

One of the smaller sunflowers. I think it is Ring of Fire but am not positive.

The heat has arrived and the humidity has never left.  I’ve been occupied with painting in the studio but the yard and garden are never far from my mind.  A quick tour around this week reminded me that I need to get out there and weed again.  Didn’t I just weed that?  Well, time to go around again.

Zinnias which I use for casual arrangements.

The garden is going well and starting to produce.  Green beans, squash, peppers.  The snow peas are nearly past and the lettuce and asparagus are long gone.  We had to replant the corn as the first plantings weren’t doing too well.  I think probably due to some wascally wabbits.  Anyway, the next crops of corn are coming along nicely.

The hostas are almost over. These are actually light purple.

So far, only some cherry tomatoes but the other varieties are heavy with fruit.  Won’t be too long.  And the eggplant has survived the flea beetles and are looking healthy.

I love the shape of the budding sunflowers. They are such interesting flowers with lots of geometric shapes.

But I always have a passion for flowers.  They grow all over the yard.  Many perennials and some are very old as they were here when we moved here decades ago.  But the garden will always have zinnias and cosmos for cutting.  This year I have six kinds of sunflowers in two long rows.

The new sunflower patch. I’m so anxious to see the whole patch in bloom.

Plus!….I added a new 30 x 30 foot patch to plant sunflowers.  This is just below the spring garden.  And, I planted it with the birdseed sunflowers, probably oiled sunflower seeds, as I felt they probably didn’t have any chemicals on them since they were for the birds.  By the time I got to this area, I was flagging after all the other gardening work.  I just sowed the seeds, scratched them in with the rake and called it a day.  I thought the birds and the rabbits would have them all.  But, to my surprise, they took off and are now blooming.  Yes, there are some weeds in there but plenty of flowers. It’s always fun to experiment with new gardening ideas.

All the sunflowers feed the birds (or whomever).

Purple cone flowers.

The last of the lilies.

Mystery flower. These flowers started coming up in my peonies a few years ago. I let them stay as the butterflies seem to like them. But I really don’t know what they are? Any help out there would be appreciated.

Comments Off on July flowers in the garden

Posted in country living, garden, old house

Tagged , , , , ,

A spring tour of the yard

Posted on April 12, 2020 | 6 comments

One of my favorite views is of the front yard and the old woodshed. The white patches are swaths of spring beauties, a delicate tiny white flower with faint pink stripes. The forsythia are past but the lilies of the valley are coming in as are the day lilies.

After an unseasonably warm early spring with temperatures in the 70s and even up to 80, the flowers and other signs of spring are nearly overwhelming.  I love spring!

This old house had an abundance of established trees and flowers when we moved here but we have added many ourselves over the years.  Plus, I’m a great one for digging things up and moving them.  I’ve also shared many plants over the years with friends and family.  Did I mention how much I love spring?

Come take a little walk around the yard with me to see what is happening.

The east field is a study in various shades of green. The yellow flowers are actually weeds but they’re pretty this time of year.

Crabapple from a start from another tree in the yard. Before is a white magnolia (not in bloom yet) with shiny leaves.

Columbine. No work at all except that they spread everywhere. Such a beautiful, delicate flower.

These bluebells are so easy to grow and require no maintenance at all. They totally die back to come up again next year. I love the way they start out as pink and then the blossoms turn a beautiful sky blue. I’ve moved them all over the yard. The little white flowers are spring beauties, along with grape hyacinths, and some spent daffodils.

The lilacs were here when we bought the place. You can smell their perfume all across the yard.

Not a flower but the martin nest built on the porch of my studio. Yes, we have a martin house but the bluebirds live there. The martins usually build on top of their previous nest but it finally fell down last year. It took them about two weeks of bringing mud, weeds and moss to make this new home.

Narcissus take over after the daffodils are done.

Violets are wildflowers that some people think are weeds. But I love their beauty and variety of colors from blues to deep purples to variegated to cream.

The redbud is a delicate under-story tree which grows from central Indiana and south, throughout the Midwest and southern mountains. The flowers are directly on the branches. The heart-shaped leaves don’t come out until later. They pair well with dogwoods which are just starting to come out and the woods are loaded with them.

I love tulips but they’re difficult to grow around here. The deer think they’re candy and they often don’t make it to bloom.

We call this a tulip tree around here but it really is a variety of magnolia. It’s a new addition to the yard so we were surprised to see it bloom this year.

Azaleas. This color pairs great with the orangey/peach azalea next to it.

6 Comments

Posted in country living, garden, landscape, old house

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Signs of spring

Posted on March 8, 2020 | 2 comments

We’ve had an unusually warm winter down here in Southern Indiana.  The warmest recorded in 140 years!  Very little snow but plenty of rain.  The past week saw temperatures in the 50s and 60s.  All of this warm weather has given a real push to spring.  Today I took a little walk around the yard and this is what I saw.

Crocuses all over the yard, appearing in the most unusual places, courtesy of children planting them where they wish.

First, several different kinds of crocuses.  Over the years I’ve purchased bags of these in the fall and let the kids and now grand kids plant them.  It is always a surprise to see where they come up.  And some of them seem to travel from where I planted them many years ago.  I really don’t know how they do that.

Daffodils emerging with day lilies in the background.

The early daffodils are always a welcome harbinger of spring.  It seems the singles come out earliest, especially the ones that were already naturalized in this old homestead.  We have doubles and other colors but they come out a bit later.  Another “walking” plant as they seem to come up in the strangest places, not where I have planted them at all.

Forsythia jungle. This will be a golden mountain in another week or two.

The forsythia jungle has grown from the three small plants that I bought end of season at the tractor supply center many years ago.  About fifteen years ago, I had one of my sons dig up the resets and plant them along the road.  The past few years they have made quite a showing.  I hope the travelers enjoy them.  He replanted some lilac starts, too, but they’re a bit slower.

Flowering quince, ready to pop.

This is a flowering quince bush ready to pop.  I’m sure the sun and 60 degree temps will lead to an explosion of blooms real soon.  The start came from my mother’s garden so I always think of her when I pass by.

Twenty tons of rock delivered this week to repair the winter damage.

After all the rain and mud this winter, we just had twenty tons of rock delivered for the drive.  It seems that we’re always trying to keep up here on the farm, man against nature…and nature is winning.

Down at the creek. The peepers are creating a cacophony of noise!

The peepers are going to town down at the creek.  I love this early sound of spring.  Sometimes the beaver have dammed the stream so I can see a one acre pond through the trees.  Fortunately, not this year.

Hazelnut bushes with catkins.

I also spotted a lot of hazelnut bushes coming into bloom.  They’re not real showy but they make a nice addition to a spring bouquet.  I cut some forsythia branches last week and forced them into bloom.  It only took about three days for them to come out and brings a needed touch of spring indoors.  Check out this previous post for how to do this.

Runaway daffodils. I really don’t know how they got here.

Some call this vinca an invasive species but I really like their periwinkle flowers. Yes, I have to pull out tons of vines in the spring, but I think they’re worth it.

Tulips and flowering trees will be out soon as will the spring beauties and violets. And my husband prepped the cold frame for sowing some lettuce soon.  Can’t wait.

Anyway, that’s the spring update from this part of my world.  I hope you are seeing signs of spring in your neck of the woods, too.

2 Comments

Posted in country living, garden, old house

Tagged , , , ,

Painting in 3D

Posted on January 12, 2020 | 2 comments

I recently had some work in an exhibit which was limited to works 8  by 8 inches.  That is pretty small.  So I decided to challenge myself by adding another twist.  I ordered three canvasses 8 x 8 by 2.5 depth.  It was almost like painting on boxes.

I’ve painted edges of canvasses before but this deep was extra challenging.

Kit Miracle – White Dahlia 3D, acrylic, 8 x 8

White Dahlia, left side

The first two paintings were of flowers, of course.  I paint a fair amount of flowers as you know.  Here it was fun to plan what part to focus on and which parts to wrap around with the painting.

Kit Miracle – Sunflowers 3D, acrylic, 8 x 8

Sunflowers 3D, left side. You can see where the flowers were carried around the edge of the deep canvas.

Sunflowers 3D, right side.

The final painting was really outside of my normal subject matter.  A goldfish bowl with a couple of fish swimming around.  I actually had great fun with it, especially carrying the fish bowl around the sides, top and bottom.

Kit Miracle, Goldfish Bowl 3D, acrylic on canvas, 8 x 8 I love the way the fish on the right is looking directly at you. Or so it seems.

Goldfish Bowl left side

Goldfish Bowl 3D, right side

Goldfish Bowl, top

Kit Miracle – Goldfish Bowl 3D – bottom

I guess some artists are more comfortable painting the same thing time after time, but I find that I like the challenge of trying something different.  What do you think?

2 Comments

Posted in art, contemporary impressionism

Tagged , , , , , , ,

What a difference a background makes

Posted on December 22, 2019 | 5 comments

Lilies with brown background. Acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20. Kit Miracle

I often treat myself to a bouquet of fresh flowers when I’m at the grocery.  They just make me feel good and remind me that spring will be here soon (another three months).  This week’s selection included some beautiful lilies and other flowers.  Of course, everything becomes a subject for painting to an artist.

I started this painting yesterday and worked on it some more today.  Although the first image with the dark background is pretty classic, it was nice but didn’t move me.

Lilies with orange background. Acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20. Kit Miracle (Apologies for the glare from my easel light.)

So…..I decided to try some different backgrounds.  First I painted a bright, orangey-red background. This really added some pop to the painting.  But it seemed very flat to me which is probably what I didn’t like about the first painting background.

Lilies with blue and orange background. Acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20. Kit Miracle

Then I added some variegated shades of blue to the background, leaving the orange at the bottom. Much better and it ties in with the blue vase.  (I have many cobalt blue vases of various shapes and sizes which I’ve collected over the years.  This is why you see them in so many paintings.)

The flowers are essentially the same although I may have touched them up here and there. So, which background do you like best?  Dark brown, orangey-red, or blue and orange?  They each bring something different to the painting.

Hummmm….I wonder what a lime yellow-green would look like?

5 Comments

Posted in art, painting instruction

Tagged , , , , ,

A walk through the yard

Posted on August 25, 2019 | 1 comment

After weeks of oppressive heat and no rain, we finally had a few storms blow through here earlier this week.  Not only did the yard and garden receive a beneficial watering, but the temperatures have dropped to actually pleasant for late August.  The windows are flung open and I can’t help but want to play outside.

Chicken in the Woods fungi. Such a beautiful color and shape. This is supposed to be edible but I’m not too fond of wild mushrooms.

This evening the dog and I took a walk around the yard to see what was going on.  The first thing to catch my eye was a spectacular Chicken of the Woods mushroom.  It grows in about the same place every year.  It’s supposed to be edible and is highly sought after, but I’m not much for wild fungi.

Garden sunflowers about a week ago. Some of these beauties were over twelve feet tall!

Sunflowers down after the big storm blew through here earlier this week.

This sunflower seed head is already being harvested by the little critters.

And here are two photos of my giant sunflowers.  One from a week ago.  And the other from a few days ago, after the storm knocked them down. Well, all is not wasted.  Apparently the critters are already feasting on the seeds.  Enough flowers are still standing for the hummingbirds and finches, too.

Wild Joe Pye weed is a perennial which grows throughout the Midwest. The butterflies love it and it’s supposed to have been valued for its medicinal properties by the pioneers.

Our yard is surrounded by fields and woods.  There are banks of Joe Pye weed and Jewel-weed.  So pretty for summer bouquets.

We planted this peach tree over thirty years ago. It blew over many years ago but has managed to survive and even provide some of the sweetest peaches I’ve ever eaten….if I can get to them before the animals do.

And here is an old survivor, a thirty year old peach tree which still produces.

Damage to cedar bench from wood bees (Carpenter bees), and the wood peckers who went after their larvae.

As a little sidebar, I am showing you the damage to the cedar benches we refinished a couple of years ago.  The wood bees (Carpenter bee), digs a hole into the wood and lays her eggs.  This only causes a little round hole but the inside is eaten out like a honeycomb which weakens the wood.  The real damage you see are from the pileated woodpeckers who are going after the larvae.  Gggggggggggrrrrrr.

The last lily of the season. I’ve drawn and painted this one many times.

Here is a photo of the last lily of the summer.  It is a beautiful peach color with a yellow interior.  I’m not sure what variety this is but I have painted it several times over the years.

Beautiful large hosta blooming in late August. Variety Plantaginea Aphrodite.

Finally, these large white hostas (Plantaginea Aphrodite) are just coming out.  They’re the last of my hostas to bloom in the garden.  They have large white bell-shaped flowers and a heavenly perfume.  I especially like the whorls of flowers.  They’re very hardy and need little care.

So, this is just a walk though my little corner of the world.  I hope that you have someplace where you can enjoy a bit of the outdoors, to reflect and just admire.

In every walk in nature, one receives far more than he seeks.

  John Muir

1 Comment

Posted in country living, garden, landscape

Tagged , ,

Summer garden

Posted on July 28, 2019 | 2 comments

Giant tomato, Park Whopper My husband ate the entire tomato for lunch. Yummmm.

 

You haven’t heard me bragging about the garden this summer because, well, in a word, it’s been awful.  We usually plant a big garden (25 x 40) and a small spring garden which holds spring crops, such as, lettuce, spinach, kale, peas, etc.

Tomatoes ready for canning.

Everything was looking good before we went out west last month on vacation.  Although we enjoyed wonderful weather on our trip, apparently the Midwest received buckets of rain the entire time.  We returned to a garden full of weeds, at least, that which was not drowned.  I could watch them grow on the deer cam.

Multi-stemmed sunflowers just came out this week. They’re already being eyed by the goldfinches.

Red sunflower being strangled with a morning glory. The bees are loving this.

Then with a couple of weeks of extreme heat, there were some crops that we just gave up on.  The peas blew past, the kale, lettuce and spinach bolted.  The beans, corn, and squash in the big garden looked anemic.

New bean crop. The red line gives you an indication of location.

This past month we have spent hoeing and weeding, feeding and trimming.  Some things we’ve just given up on.  I planted new beans a couple of weeks ago and they’re up now, doing nicely.  The sweet corn has recovered but we’re trying to keep the varmints out of it until we can pick it.  The raccoons have already cleaned out the apple trees and devastated my seckle pear.

Swallowtail on some volunteer flowers.

Butterfly and zinnias

A bouquet of zinnias just for me. I love cut flowers in the garden.

The sunflowers are out, the butterflies are loving the zinnias, and we’ll still probably end up with way too many tomatoes.

Anyway, that’s life in the country.

2 Comments

Posted in country living, garden

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Do plants move?

Posted on April 21, 2019 | Comments Off on Do plants move?

This is a follow-up to my post last Wednesday about some spring flowers.  As you can see, more flowers are blooming.

Red Trillium. This lovely wildflower just popped up next to my studio this year. This is the first time in three decades that we have seen this plant here and have no idea how it got there.

Today I had a surprise. As I was doing some mushroom hunting – right next to the house is the best place actually – I discovered this beautiful red trillium.  This is the first time that I’ve ever seen this trillium in this place.  Yes, up in the big woods which is half mile away, but never close to the house.

So my question is this, how did the flower get here?  Were the roots in the ground for decades?  Did some animal move it there?  Sometimes it’s easy to see how plants move from one place to another. (I’ll rant about the Russian Olives that the DNR planted over at the lake which is two miles away and which are now establishing themselves here, but that’s a story for another day.)

From one little patch of flowers, these delicate Virginia Bluebells have now established themselves all over. And I plan to move them into the woods very soon. They die back after blooming to totally disappear until next year.

Here are the Virginia bluebells.  When we moved here, there was only one small patch in front of the house, over fifty yards away. Now they spring up in the most unusual places.  This patch is behind the dog house.  However, they’re so beautiful with their pinky turning to sky blue flowers.  And they totally disappear after blooming until next year.

Columbine is a beautiful, delicate flower which self-propagates through prolific seed production.

These columbine are very prolific.  I planted one plant fifteen years ago.  They have now established in many areas.  Their seed pods practically explode but I really don’t mind these flowers as they are so pretty and delicate.

These beautiful old-stock lilacs were here when we arrived. They were probably shared from someone else’s garden, as we have since shared them with others. That is how old plants moved.

Finally, this is a beautiful old lilac.  I have a few bushes around the yard but have often dug up starts to replant elsewhere.  Today, I noticed one that I had my son plant along the road ten years ago is now blooming next to the mailbox. My son has some starts from the same bush at his home.

Not in bloom now is some golden sedum which has popped up in the most unusual places.  Or the jungle of forsythia bushes which are now also planted along the road. They’ll get a hard pruning when they finish blooming.

So, how do plants move?  Well, obviously humans have some influence, and birds dropping seeds.  But otherwise, I’d like to believe that it’s magic, maybe faeries or garden elves who are just having fun with us.  Hey, it could be true.

Comments Off on Do plants move?

Posted in country living, garden

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,