Pansies on a sunny day

I couldn't resist photographing these bright flowers.

PAINTING: Tulips by Alexander Couard

This lovely little watercolor painting is by an artist named Alexander Perot Couard. When my parents got married in 1949 Mr. Couard himself gave them this painting as a wedding gift. Mr. Couard and one Miss Burgoyne lived a few houses down the road from my grandparents. When my mother and my Aunt Florence were young children in pigtails, he came to the  house  and took photos of them to reference for various paintings he was working on. (They still have the photos...)

One of the interesting things about this work is that it is all about reflection, It features cut tulips with a oval mirror behind them, which reflects partially opened French doors, and the landscape beyond.

This beautiful work has been on display in my parents house all of my life. I have been looking at this painting for almost 60 years. It may be why I paint.

NOTE: This painting was photographed with a phone through the glass in the frame. 

NaPoWriMo #3 Forgotten in the drawer

Forgotten in the drawer 
"place the bulb in complete darkness for one week"

Long pale roots, white
strings of life reach
deep into the bulb vase
stretching down for the last
half inch of murky water.

Pale whitish leaves
bent over, twisted
longing for the sun. Worse:
the now dried lavender bloom
that no one ever saw.

-- Mar Walker

The prompt was to write a poem about something you fear. Right after reading the prompt, i found the hyacinth plants in the drawer. I don't even remember what month it was when I put the bulbs in there. they did their blooming-growing thing as best they could, entrely without witness, carried on without human intervention, as nature always does when we walk away.