Piper and I went to the woods today.
It started to rain very lightly as we arrived,
so I chose an area where we would never be far from a hemlock stand.
It was wet.
It was buggy.
Hot and humid.
Felt rather subtropical, really.
The rain continued to fall. We were comfortably sheltered, but my sketchbook stayed in the pack because I painted another iris last night:
and I kind of like this one. Didn't want it rained upon.
So for a while I just played "Treats!" with Piper,
and looked at many things,
and took a lot of photographs.
Piper loves playing "Treats!"
Still the light rain fell.
We began to wend our way back up from the stream
toward the path and home.
I stopped to take a few pictures of wild iris,
and water flowing over stones.
And then - the rain stopped!
So I plunked myself down right there in the path
and tried to paint the view from my sketching chair:
And Piper helped.
Painting really takes a lot out of Piper. When we got home, she inhaled a big bowl of food, hopped up on her couch, and went straight to sleep. She's been sleeping ever since, with a floor fan providing a gentle breeze.
It's after 7 PM and I'm heading out to feed the goats for the evening. Once that's done, I may have a big bowl of food and go to sleep myself. The fan will be staying on.
~~~~~
Neat photos. The irises out in the wild are treasures. Bug spray season!
ReplyDeleteThe humidity was awful today. Every store I went into wasn't cold enough. Go outside, and the sidewalks are too hot. Doing errands was awful, but without bugs.
Yes, I have gone through every non-toxic bug spray in my arsenal, and have regretfully brought out the 25% DEET, Even so, I have a collection of new mosquito bite welts this morning, perhaps from evening chores last night. Right now, 99% humidity. Phew.
DeleteThanks for the iris photo/painting. They're my favorite flowers, esp. the purple ones. And that picture of water on stones is amazing. But my favorite is that yellow leaf. Not sure what makes it so comfortable-looking but I really like it.
ReplyDeleteThank you - I'm glad you like the photographs. Iris = my favorite also :) I took a lot of photographs of the wild ones yesterday, so I can sketch from the photographs on a day too uncomfortable for painting outdoors. Like today, actually ;)
DeleteIt looks tropical as well. Beautiful pictures!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sally! I hope the weather is kinder in your art of the Commonwealth. Digging into some postponed housekeeping is actually going to be a welcome change from working outdoors today - I guess that's the "up" side :)
DeleteThat's the face of a very happy dog! You should think about turning those first four photos into greeting cards...so pretty.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that suggestion! I certainly ought to come up with some way to generate a little hay. I mean "income."
DeleteI think that your photo from the top of an Iris is one of the best Iris photos I've seen! And your painting of it is wonderful!
ReplyDeletePiper looks as if she had a fantastic time during your outing.
Piper had a blast :) The high humidity lately is quite a deterrent for romps, but even a short walk - followed by a long nap! - is better than none.
DeleteThank you very much for your compliment about the iris photograph - I took a bunch for later drawing material. But the painting is of one of the not-wild type of iris, blooming here at home. Well, it was. So soon gone! But I painted it while it was here :) Thanks again for your comment, KB!