Blanket Flowers

“Blanket Flowers”    9 x 12    Pastel    $ 100     © Sharon Lewis   

            I’m re-posting one of my favorite flower paintings as I’m currently traveling. I love the vivid colors in the Blanket flower (or Gaillardia grandiflora) and the fact that they attract butterflies and bees. Apparently, they’re also great in that deer leave them alone, something I have a hard time believing after watching the deer in my area eat everything in my yard.  

            Happy Weekend!

 

Attracts Butterflies, Resists Deer

“Blanket Flowers”    9 x 12    Pastel    $ 100     © Sharon Lewis 
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            I found these beautiful flowers when I went grocery shopping the other day and thought they might be a nice change from all of the fjords I’ve been painting. I enjoy flowers quite a bit but don’t often paint them because I never feel I quite capture their beauty. These Blanket flowers or Gaillardia grandiflora, are perfect summer flowers, with their vivid colors and their ability to attract butterflies. They also apparently resist deer and I’d love to know how since the deer that visit my yard make sure that they eat a little of everything.

          Wishing you a perfect summer weekend!

   

A Time of Light and New Beginnings

“New Life”     2.5” x 3.5”    Pastel   $25      © Sharon Lewis
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            Mother Nature sure seems to love messing with us lately. Just when we settle into the idea that spring is really here to stay, since the beautiful blooming trees and flowers seem to attest to this, it get’s cold again.

            Oh well, no matter what the weather, Easter finally occurs this weekend (and it’s the middle of Passover). It’s interesting to me that the two holidays seem to center on hope, remembrance, and renewal of faith, and both occur in early spring. Upon conducting some online research, I found out that “Easter” comes from the name for a pagan goddess, Eostre (Old English) or Ostara (Old High German), who derived her name from a Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn.  Somehow, this association with light, new beginnings, renewal and spring, makes this a particularly joyful holiday for me. Although I’m not religious I think holiday rituals are wonderful when they allow us to transcend the ordinary patterns of our lives. They can help us reflect on what we hold sacred, what we believe, and maybe all of those things and people in our lives for which we are grateful.

            Today’s painting is based on photos taken near the Mount Washington area in New Hampshire. We were hiking through the woods and along a stream when I found unexpected beauty poking up from amongst the weeds along a path; new life in the form of these beautiful daisies.          

           Happy Easter, Chag Sameach, Happy Spring and Happy Weekend to all!