Sugarbush Trout Lily (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.) SOLD!

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20 April finds me in the Cooks' sugarbush, west of Bishops Mills Ontario, trying to decide which of the hundreds of blooming Trout Lilies to paint.  The potential compositions are thick on the ground here, among fallen Maple leaves, fallen branches, wrinkle-barked trunks, and mossy patches.  I followed a Honey Bee from flower to flower with my camera, resulting in one blurry photo that had focused past the subject.

I'm settled down to paint this Trout Lily at 17:30, and it's a good thing I began with the blossom - because by 18:00 it is closing early for the night, along with all of the other Trout Lilies as far as I can see across the forest floor.  A great tall old snag rears its ghost-like profile vaguely above the delicate green mist of opening leaves, and looking higher I notice the moon curving pale in the baby blue sky.

A Gray Tree Frog calls a few times at 18:10, and a Barred Owl hoots "Who cooks for you-all" from the swampy Cedar woods to the west at 18:35, answered right away from the north by another with a voice a couple of tones higher.  They call back and forth a few times, and then fall silent, leaving evening song to the Robins.

I painted very comfortably here until 20:00, with no need for the extra sweater I brought, and no mosquito bites.

Comments

  1. Rose-Marie BurkeApril 22, 2010 at 12:23 PM

    I like the background, all the gnarly bits of dead branches and leaves. I'm just wanting a tad more space above the flower. I was admiring some of these trout lilies at Little Cat Cons. Area couple days ago, and lamenting that we don't have any blooming near the house on our property. There are several patches of leaves along our laneway, but they're in shady places and don't bloom. I'm thinking of transplanting some to a sunnier location to see how they'll do. They're such a cheerful simple flower. I'm hoping the sun warms things up a bit this afternoon, I want to take the camera down the south trail at Little Cat to see how the flowers are doing in the hardwood forest.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 27, 2010 at 3:46 PM

    beautiful yellow and green spots amongst the browns and greys. absolutely lovely as always!!

    ReplyDelete

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