Spring at Last, Spring at Last...

People who live in the northern reaches of the United States spend much of March and part of April wishing fervently for warm weather, for green foliage, even for a splash or two of dandelions in an otherwise greening lawn. A person begins to thirst for it, mull it over, and strengthen those wishes. People who know better want to set out tomato seedlings on the first warm day--never mind the looming horror of an April blizzard. But at last, grudgingly sometimes, the weather turns and the world goes green.

"Spring in Redmond," watercolor, 5x9 2009

Here along Druid Hill Creek the honeysuckle is out, narcissi are in bloom, birds are in song. To commemorate the changing of the seasons--at long last--here are some spring watercolors from this year and a few past years, too. As with most of my watercolor work, these were started with a bare suggestion of composition using a B or HB pencil, then painted and accented afterward with a technical pen. Sometimes I draw directly with the pen, then paint.

Spring makes all of the greens, even the cool greens of spruces, more yellow. The sun on the tops of these trees in Redmond, Washington were the inspiration for this little watercolor. After I finished with the branches of the two tall evergreens the rest of the scene was less interesting so I merely noted the skyline of the surrounding trees. Of course, in a finished painting you'd have to consider what next.

"Ancient," watercolor, 5x9, 2017

This is an ancient, moss-encrusted lilac that was just about to burst into leaf one spring. Its twisted, riven branches and great age were the attractions. I sat outside in a misty rain and sketched this one.

Although flowers aren't generally part of my practice, sometimes a particular blossom or flower type attracts me. I've done any number of silverpoint drawings of roses, for example. But in watercolor, flowers haven't spoken to me very often. Nevertheless, here are a couple from this spring. The first is some dark crocuses that opened about three weeks ago and the second is a group of narcissi that have only faded in the last few days.

"Crocus Blossoms," watercolor, 3x5, 2019

These tiny beauties come up so early in spring that if you don't pull away any leaves or mulch in the garden beds you could miss them. Every year I welcome these guys as harbingers of the season, along with another minor bulb, Siberian squill.

These narcissi form part of a much bigger group in one of our front gardens. Their bright white petals and yellow cups are accented by their striking orange-red pistels. When the springtime weather is cool these will last for as long as two weeks. But if the temperatures climb once they're open they fade faster than a schoolboy crush.

This year one of my artistic goals is to spend more time outside, so perhaps I'll do more flowers.