Honestly, I wasn't paying attention to the connections between my gardening activity and what's going on in the studio. It hit me when I asked for titles of the paintings I'd been doing last month. 

Perennial Hope popped to mind immediately. Okay, good. Now how about it's sister painting?

I paint in pairs. I love having two together on the easel. They play off each other. And it's the only way to create a truly mated pair. 

The paintings themselves are indulgences. I've come to the point where I grant myself precious presence to stand at the easel, brush in hand, and let the colors flow through me. No judgement. No destinaion. No agenda except acceptance of my heart.

When the second title finally came, Perennial Mercy challenged my ideas about gardening and life. 

OMG, I've been 'perennial hope,' forever hoping. Hoping the flowers I plant will bloom. Hoping I will get to see my youngest granddaughter. Hoping, hoping, hoping.

But what does mercy even look like?  

I hearn someone say, 'you can plant a $5 plant in a 50 cent hole ~ or you can put a 50 cent plant in a $5 hole.

This opened a swinging door between the garden, studio, and life itself. 

For the next few weeks I dug up sad looking perennials, fashioned new soil with composted manure and peat, fertilizer to stimulate root growth, and looked for ways to do the same in the studio.

Some new leaves are sprouting. I've started writing this blog. 

How will this ever apply this to the grandbaby? 

Perennial blessings, grace, peace, joy. 

Everblooming

These are mixed media, acrylic, collage, pastel, flashe paint, charcoal, and tailor's chalk. 

Mixing drawing and painting media, fuses wet and dry with gritty organic and pearlescent metallic. Earth spirit radiates in these Everblooming pieces.