This afternoon the weather was picture-perfect so I thought I'd share some of the spring colors here. The trees in flower and newly leafed out made for gorgeous contrast against the clear blue sky. It felt so good to finally see that color and feel the warmth of the sun on my back as I worked in the yard!Here is a glimpse of my neighbor's front yard. She has put a lot of time (and money!) into landscaping in the last few years and it really shows! I'm a little bit jealous of how neat and clean it looks, but I'm glad I get to enjoy the view!
I noticed a lot of lovely lavender-purples everywhere, from the periwinkle on the hillside to the grape hyacinths near the front door and the violets that are springing up just about everywhere.
The andromeda and bleeding hearts are two of my favorites with their little dangling bells and hearts.
The daffodills I planted on the slope in the backyard have been blooming beautifully for the last few weeks. I got to really enjoy them today while I planted the ferns I ordered earlier this month. Here is one of last year's ferns already pushing through all the wood chips I spread around. So nice to see them reappearing!
Before I got a chance to plant all the new little roots I got, my mischievous dog grabbed the bag they were in and ran off with them! As much as I've practiced "come" with her (and I even had a treat in my hand!) she refused to put them down and ran around the yard ripping up the bag and shaking the little plants all over the place! Luckily they were packaged with a small piece of yarn that kind of kept them together and made them a little bit easier to spot in the yard, but it took me a while to gather them all back up and get them in the ground. 
Now that most of the yard work is done for the weekend (I'm going to let my husband take over tomorrow), I'd like to spend some time on my underwater WiP. Here is a shot of the coral pinned to the background that I painted, with two of the fish I've made. The sand and formations all around the coral at St. John's were grayish white - not a lot of color - so I kept the lower portion of the background pale to resemble the real thing. But it looks to me like the aqua water color crept too far down - I'm thinking of taking another shot at it with the second piece of fabric I have.
When I painted the one pictured, I found it to be quite challenging, partly because I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to paint, and partly because the piece of fabric is so large. Since I wanted a really watered down wash, I sprayed the fabric first. I ended up with a huge piece of soggy fabric, which was impossible to keep smooth. I ended up wrinkling the fabric on purpose, in hopes that the rusulting lines and variations in color would look like underwater shapes and forms in the background. I'm not sure if I want to try that approach again, but I do know that I wanted some better paint and ink, as well as sponges to apply them. I did some shopping this week, so I now have everything I need (I hope!) to really get moving on this project. Now I just have to get up my nerve again to dive in and paint...
Needless to say, she is now on my Very Naughty list, although you'd never know it from the look on her face here, would you? Bad dog!
Now that most of the yard work is done for the weekend (I'm going to let my husband take over tomorrow), I'd like to spend some time on my underwater WiP. Here is a shot of the coral pinned to the background that I painted, with two of the fish I've made. The sand and formations all around the coral at St. John's were grayish white - not a lot of color - so I kept the lower portion of the background pale to resemble the real thing. But it looks to me like the aqua water color crept too far down - I'm thinking of taking another shot at it with the second piece of fabric I have.
When I painted the one pictured, I found it to be quite challenging, partly because I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to paint, and partly because the piece of fabric is so large. Since I wanted a really watered down wash, I sprayed the fabric first. I ended up with a huge piece of soggy fabric, which was impossible to keep smooth. I ended up wrinkling the fabric on purpose, in hopes that the rusulting lines and variations in color would look like underwater shapes and forms in the background. I'm not sure if I want to try that approach again, but I do know that I wanted some better paint and ink, as well as sponges to apply them. I did some shopping this week, so I now have everything I need (I hope!) to really get moving on this project. Now I just have to get up my nerve again to dive in and paint...
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