SPRING GREEN!

Spring is definitely coming to the desert.


My plan was to feature the color ‘yellow’ next. But I just don’t think that’s possible….what with all the lovely, luscious greens springing up all around me.

With all the rain we’ve had this year, the desert is bustin’ out all over!

I can hardly wait for the blossom displays which will be very soon. But for right now, the gorgeous greens are doing a quite nice job of taking my breath away!

For example…

Our Tombstone roses which cover our entire back fence look like this right now.

Within a few short weeks…or maybe days…it will be covered with tiny white roses and look exactly like it’s been completely covered with popcorn!


Why is it called a Tombstone rose?

lhttp://www.tombstonetimes.com/stories/rose.html

Tucson is at a much lower elevation than Tombstone, so our roses bloom about a month sooner than THE Tombstone rose in that story.

Here's another link for some more interesting information about this most special rose.

http://www.tombstonechamber.com/Rose-Tree-Museum-and-Books

Our ocotillo, (oh-co-tea-o) which looks like nothing more than an unpleasant, ugly bouquet of thorny sticks during dry times, is now covered top to bottom with lovely, soft green leaves. But you still need to watch out for those thorns! And we’ll be watching for the orange-red blossoms which inebriate every hummingbird around with their sweet nectar.

The Palo Verde…(green wood in Spanish) is this chartreuse green year round. Later it will become an ethereal yellow cloud. This it the tree which drives me nuts trying to paint it!

I guess I should 'splain that 'stuff' hanging in my palo verde tree.  It is, starting from the top, an old rusty hay hook, to which is tied 2 rusty horse-shoes, hubby and I found while roaming the desert and one rusty old small shovel which was used by my blacksmith grandfather.  Together it all makes a delightful clanking and clunking when the wind blows.  Even my neigbors enjoy these 'wind chimes.'

Under the Palo Verde is this mass planting of African Daisies…mixed with an abundance of weeds! I will spend hours identifying and pulling all unwanted plants from this particular area.

In many places in Tucson, African daisies are already in full bloom.  These are in shade until afternoon, so they are going to be late-bloomers.  But, that's ok 'cause they are sure worth the wait!

The Bermuda grass hasn’t had enough warm night-time temperatures yet to push new blades up through the old fall-dead mat. But it will…soon!

I couldn't  pass up this opportunity to show you this picture of Codi.  I guess she is waiting for lunch.  I feel so bad that I let the birdbath dry completely up!  That's a glimpse of our Tombstone roses in the background.

In this warm micro-climate, right at my studio door, the wild verbena is not only growing, but blooming already!

My golden lantana showed me some blossoms, telling me that I have put off pruning as long as I possibly can this year. I must get after that…and my Mexican Bird of Paradise….Arabian Jasmine…and everything else that needs cutting back this time of year.

Oh yes! It’s definitely time to get the pruners out and get busy!



Green.



The color of money….but even better….the color Spring wears each and every year!



Oh…and it’s the color of St. Patrick’s Day, too!  So, even though it's a little early....

Slainte!

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_say_slainte


And one more thing.

Green is the color of frogs.

If you’ve known me for long…and especially if you knew me from the Oprah discussion boards….you KNOW I have a very special place in my heart for frogs…and for all my froggie friends.

You know who you are!

I am grateful for the Frog Pond…and the color green!

COLOR! COLOR!! I NEED COLOR!!!

I worked on Lori’s big painting every day last week. It has lots of color in it, but doesn’t have a colorful look, at all. The overall look of it is green, but subdued green. It’s very soft and peaceful, intentionally.


Also, last week,  Tucson’s weather was unusually grey and dreary. Sun? What sun? Nothing but grey clouds, grey mountains, grey trees and grey moods.

So, one day, I took a color break!  Here's what I did...and what I wrote on that day.

***************

One of the things I love about painting is the ability to actually ‘do’ something about the weather! If you don’t like the weather outside the window, you can just paint whatever weather you want! Is that not cool?

I feel cold. So, I painted me a hot sky!

It is wet, wet, wet!!! I 'm grateful, very grateful, for all the rain, but my bones want dry, dry, dry!!! So, I painted me a dry riverbed.

Everything is just so grey! So, I planted me some chartreuse trees. And who knows what else might wind up in here!

COLOR MY WORLD

16 x 20 oil on canvas

I feel warmer, dryer and sunnier already.



Now, please, excuse me….I am going to go paint some more COLOR!

PALO VERDE BRANCHES

16 x 20 oil on canvas

ok...just one more....

MEXICAN FLOWERS

9 x 12

oil on masonite

I am grateful for every opportunity I have to create my world the way I want it!