In the interest of pushing myself outside of my comfort zone & to test if the forms I am using in the aerial view series stand up without affect I produced a blue painting. It reveals that some areas need more work, but that the underlying structure sans salt is solid enough to keep exploring. Experimental success is always encouraging. 

Pied Beauty
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Glory be to God for dappled things –
   For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
      For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
   Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
      And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
   Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
      With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
                                Praise him.

Gerard Manley Hopkins: Poems and Prose (Penguin Classics, 1985)

This poem by Hopkins is one of my favorites with its descriptions of the natural world with the closing remark to praise G*D for all things created. Love it! 

Often I walk this bluff alongside the Port Royal Sound. There is only one set of stairs that lead to the water in this mile long stretch of easement. And I love taking panoramas from their height, on top of the bulwark. Two moonrise shots & in the middle image trees clearly shadowed on the water. Enjoy! 

Raindrops, I wish I could send to California
7"x7"
Pen on Paper with Digital Alterations
2014

I couldn't help but share the dramatic lens flare photo of this 12"x16" Aerial View. Now that I have ascertained the source material for these paintings it is erroneous to call them Aerial Views, but that it one of arts beauties: interpretation. Below are some detail shots of this painting, which are lost in the lens flare. The photo above gives the flow of the piece. As usual this piece is available for purchase or licensing. If you are interested in it or a commission please contact me. 

Today's palette comes from Theresa Hendrickson, my mother. She is a watercolor artist, that frequently paints landscapes & objects found on walks. Her eye for capturing the natural world is amazing. I tagged along to her first watercolor landscape painting class. While I struggled even getting paints on the paper, she laid in the grasses, barn, water & sky as if she had done it 10,000 times before. Her skill is unquestionable. Follow Theresa on Instagram for more gorgeous watercolors. 
J: What color do you wish wasn't there?
T: This is a relatively new palette. The colors are pale as compared to all of my previous palettes. I think I would get rid of the "opera pink" in this line up.  
J: What is your favorite brush?
T: My favorite brush is a 1 inch flat that I have had for at least 10 years. 
J: What is your favorite paper/surface to paint on?
T: I use "Winsor and Newton" watercolor, and "Arches" 140 lb. Hot Pressed Paper.
J: What is your favorite color to work with? 
T: One new color that I am especially enjoying is "indatherene blue." I like using it to paint the sky.

Do not go gentle into that good night
Dylan Thomas, 1914 - 1953

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

The Poems of Dylan Thomas © 1971

Due to some technical inabilities yesterday this did not get posted.

I will also be posting today's poetry post momentarily.