Well, Rats

I got all excited when the landscaper pulled up and drove his tractor along the side of the house early this morning. He called at about 8 o'clock to say that he had another job to finish and would be over about midday. Okay, fine. Then they pulled up just after lunch and he came to the door to say that the other job had gotten a bit bigger (and more annoying) so they wouldn't make it today. Tomorrow for sure. Unless it rains. Then Sunday. I'm not holding my breath but I've still got the tractor as a hostage so I am confident that they'll be here soon. One of these days.

I had a lot of fun art-ing this morning. The next page in 365 Days of Drawing said to use paper to make a picture so I brushed black watercolor ink over the page and then cut out shapes in homage to Matisse's Icarus which is one of my favorite works of art. When Matisse was old and nearly blind he made art with scissors, cutting out shapes and gluing them to canvas, some of them were gigantic. I like them.

Then the next figure in The 15-Minute Artist was a paintbrush. It was surprisingly interesting to draw. I enjoyed it.

After that I turned to the next page in Drawing Cute wanting to mix things up. I was happy to see that the next figures were a jellyfish and an octopus. Also fun to draw.

The Stella d'Oro lilies are starting to pop along the retaining wall but they aren't quite ready for that long shot. This single lily posed in profile for me.

Oh, my writing friend, JMcK, knew the name of that white flower--penstemon. As soon as I read it I knew that she was right but I sure couldn't think of it myself. Thanks!

Dad's roses are going great guns, just blooming away. The buds on either side of the rose that I showed you the other day are opening so I have this lovely trio of roses.

For today's watercolor I went back to the pictures I took at the Botanical Garden and took another run at the yellow peony. It still isn't right, I think it looks more like a daffodil, but that's way better than the yellow blob of the last attempt. And the blurry green leaves look better too, I think.

Today's toss was a teddy bear that Durwood ordered over a decade ago and left to gather dust on a top shelf. It had on a mask, snorkel, and fins. The rubber of the mask gave out so that's trash but the teddy is still fuzzy and lovable in his swim trunks. Some child will like him.

I really hope that the rain holds off tomorrow so that they can make a start on the garden removal. I'm anxious to have it over and done with.

--Barbara