Spreading Wings

Butterflies are so beautiful! …and challenging to paint. I tried to not get too caught into all the intricate details while still making it look authentic.

Tom’s poem for this painting will help conjure Spring for sure!

Hallelujah! Hear the news!
The spring is here and sun is warm!
Spread your wings and pass the booze!
Join with me in coming swarm!

Hummingbird on a Wire

Another Anna’s hummingbird because …they are just so sweet. I had fun playing with colours as well as form.

Here is Tom’s short poem for this tiny painting.

So kind of humans to erect
a fence like this through open fields
where the flower’s first effect
is to make me many meals!

Bumble 3

OK, this is the third and last bumblebee of this series …but who could blame me? They are so cute and this one even has a heart on its back. I scaled down my brushes a bit to do these but you can clearly see the brush strokes because the painting is so small.

Here is Tom’s poem for this one. I think this bumblebee deserves his nap. 🙂

Not every bee’s a working worker:
some like me are known to chill
upon a leaf. But I’m no shirker!
I just rest when all is still.

Bumble 2

I had so much fun painting the last bumblebee that I did another. It’s a challenge to get the fuzziness just so and the transparency of the wings too. Don’t forget how tiny the paintings in this series are – just 4″ x 4″.

Tom’s poem reflects the bustling busy-ness of the bees!

Scurry, shuffle, search and sniff,
gather pollen all the day.
Circle, flying, catch a whiff
of new flowers… On my way!

Bumble

Isn’t he cute! This bumblebee is head down getting all the pollen going …which is exactly what Tom wrote about in his delightful poem.

It’s in here, sure, so thick and rich,
the very best of nectar sweet.
It is my all, my ding-an-sich…
I have it! Oh! It’s such a treat!

Anna’s hummingbird

Another tiny creature for a tiny painting. Hummingbirds are so sweet and we do see them around quite a lot where we live. As we plant more flowering plants in the garden I hope they will spend more time in view instead of speeding off.

Tom wrote this: (I love the hummingbird’s perspective he imagines!)

Precisely feathered, warmed by sun
I sit upon a summer twig
while in the trees the bumblers hum
wishing they were like me: big!

Butterfly Blackberries

I have just finished a series of eight mini oil paintings. I thought it would be fun to try tiny creatures on tiny paintings. It was! 🙂 Remember, it may look large on your screen but these are very small.

Tom has written delightful short poems – one for each. Enjoy!

Now really, Darling, don’t you see
that when I’m posed beside this berry
my colours bold and wild and free
are so much brighter, fun, and merry?

Adrift – Abstract diptych

Adrift – diptych (oil on 2 raised panels each 8″x10″)

I painted this one back in November exploring shape and scale, colour and value. My method is a bit different from my acrylic abstracts but there is still lots of layering, shifts between warm and cool colours, and scratching through the surface to “excavate” down to previous layers. I love how this turned out.

Here is Tom’s haiku which interestingly also shifts between scales.

continents adrift
folding candelabra stones
crystals shine anew

Pansies

A small bouquet of pansies from the garden – subtle shades of velvet. I love how this one came out. It almost makes you want to put your nose to the painting!

Tom wrote a haiku that perfectly evokes the day.

butterflies gather
fluttering in shadowed light
lazy summer days

image (c) Hilary Farmer
poem (c) TJ Radcliffe

Brickyard Beach – Late Summer

Early in September I went out with my gear and found another local beauty spot. It was really hot that day! I was glad to find a bit of shade to set up in. The challenge as usual with plein air painting was to catch the light quickly – as well as the colour of the water and the shapes and locations of the clouds before everything changes. The result is less detailed but fresher and more dynamic than working from a photo.

Here is Tom’s poem which at first seems to be for another scene but wait for it – the final couplet tells the tale.

In summer gales these waters roil
as wind and tide and waves contend
for who shall make the sailor’s toil
the worst. And who shall best unmend
the flapping canvas, spliced up rope,
a bimini not made to cope
with gusts that come from angles all
around the compass. Masts might fall
as waves come in from every point.
The bow is bounced, the stern is slewed,
the sky with clouds ascudding’s strewed
as the sea tests every joint.
But in the calm it lies serene
as if those storms were never seen!

Green Tea Doodles

take some time for tea and check out my doodles

oil painting