• 
  2009

  Sep 6
  10
  roseindigo

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  This time of year everything that bloomed earlier is bearing seeds or fruit. This is mountain ash with it’s beautiful orange-red fruit.
  tags: ink | Mountain Ash | watercolor
   

Comments

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  Tim Goss 8:35 am on September 6, 2009 | #

  This looks like it came right out of a botanical book. Wonderful!

  Tim

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  trebor61 8:59 am on September 6, 2009 | #

  Ah! Rose. Memories! Mountain Ash or “Rowans” as they are know here, in Scotland, are considered to be lucky if grown next to a house. It’s also considered to be unlucky if one is cut down. The traditional song, “O Rowan Tree” was my mother’s favourite and although she died 38 years ago, I can still hear her singing it. Thanks for the memory.
  http://www.rampantscotland.com/songs/blsongs_rowan.htm

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  Sophie Brown 9:19 am on September 6, 2009 | #

  I’m always so reminded of the beautiful watercolor books done by Audobon and the big color plates done by Victorians, etc. Also there’s something about the simplicity of some of these that are really nice. There’s a good minimalism.

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  Sophie Brown 9:20 am on September 6, 2009 | #

  I love the leaf eaten by the bug.

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  roseindigo 11:02 am on September 6, 2009 | #

  Thanks everyone. With all the fruiting, I’ve been out concentrating on getting them all down on paper before they are gone, and then I make jam from the fruits that I’ve picked. So far I have lots of blackberry jam, elderberry jam, and next on the agenda is bitter cherry jam because the trees are absolutely packed with bitter cherries this year—more than I’ve ever seen. It’s amazing how, during the gray days of winter, how it seems like warm sunshine fills the room whenever I open one of those jars.

  I ADORE this time of year, but often wonder why Mother Nature arranged it so everything ripens at once instead of having staggered harvest time. Right now all the apples are ripening too, the plums and the crabapples and the pears, and there isn’t enough time to harvest it and can it all. But the abundance of it amazes me every year

  Bob, I love that song! The first time I heard it was at a Scottish festival with all those handsome men in kilts that I love to ogle. And I have several recordings of it. I can just imagine the memories it evokes when you hear it. I have some of the same memories of my grandmother with a different song she used to sing about a spinning wheel and the susurring sound it makes in the evening while the sun is going down. I sing it myself once in a while when I think of her—at least the part I can remember.

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  trebor61 11:35 am on September 6, 2009 | #

  This is too much. Another song my mother was known to sing was the traditional Irish one about the spinning wheel. She even like this so much when we got our first “record player” – about 1954, this was one of the first records that was purchased to play on it. It was an old 78 RPM vinyl one. Happy days!
  http://www.ireland-information.com/irishmusic/thespinningwheel.shtml
  It would be too much of a coincidence if this was the same one beloved by your grandmother. No matter if it isn’t. You have put me in a philosophical mood tonight and I’ve got just the painting for my next post. As they say, “Watch this space”.

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  roseindigo 11:48 am on September 6, 2009 | #

  No Bob, I’m sure it wasn’t the same song. My grandmother was German and she sang the song in German, especially while we lived in Canada where she was sooooo homesick that we eventually had to send her back, and I never saw her again. But I still remember some of the words and every once in a while they appear out of nowhere and I think of her and smile. She, along with my mother, were very knowledgeable about plants, and I think it’s from both of them that the interest awoke in me. In fact, I can recall wanting to be a botanical artist from the age of 5, and now, after so much life got in the way and the desire had been forgotten for many years, I have finally reached at least a semblance of it. I can’t think of a happier ending to a story

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  roseindigo 11:52 am on September 6, 2009 | #

  By the way, for anyone who is interested, the veining in the leaves and the softer highlighting on the red berries was done with a Prismacolor white pencil. Unlike wax or resist, which gives a definite edge, the white colored pencil doesn’t resist the watercolor quite as much and gives a softer look. The only problem with that is, if you are using a white pencil on white paper it’s hard to see what you’re doing, but I manage.

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  ziza 3:37 am on September 7, 2009 | #

  Rose I love this. I want ro eat it, but I think it’s nod edible. I’ll eat it anyway. Ashes to ashes…

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  Nikira 8:39 pm on September 7, 2009 | #

  What a wonderful drawing and touching stories, and songs are lovely, involving memories. Thank you.)))

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