Hello,
I want to begin by saying that I appreciate your support in this space. Whether you’re a paid subscriber or not, I feel beholden to make good use of your attention and not waste precious time that few of us have. So I hope you’ll forgive me for taking a brief break from these weekly newsletters as I try and untangle my digital life. Here are a few color studies from the past week. I promise I’m still painting and I’ll be back here shortly.
xo Lorene
I’m pretty sure I began gardening so I could pick flowers with impunity. Once, on the way to school in the second grade, I gathered a small posy of garden pinks, an offering to my teacher. Miss Mogus reprimanded me front of the entire class for stealing flowers. I was mortified.
Ever since, whenever I have garden space I always plant blossoms for picking and sharing. Anemones, like this buxom bloom, are one of my favorites. The flowers have a long vase life and the plants continue to produce blooms as long as you keep picking them until summer heat brings the bloom season to a close.
In other news, —> this is me, Lorene Edwards Forkner, gardener, writer, and colorist. I thought I’d introduce myself because you may be new to this space. For 6+ years I posted my daily color studies on another account (that I’m actually afraid to mention) but it was hacked and vanished a couple of weeks ago. So here we are, begin again.
Pansies are (one of) my favorite. The second round of seedlings is coming along in the garden room. The first succumbed to neglect and aphids. Life is busy – this happen to all of us, I tell myself.
The return of this rag-tag lavender blue anemone has my whole heart.! Anne Long of The Dahlia House calls anemones and ranunculus “luxury flowers for busy people.” I finally got around to planting my new anemone corms (from Dahlia House) into the garden. I’m looking forward to picking and painting their watercolor blooms.
Shells are my comfort and my calm when life gets choppy. The linig of an oyster shell is a gift from nature to remind us all that beauty exists although sometimes you have to look inside to find it.
A leaf skeleton after winter has had its way with it, look like vintage lace in sepia tones.
Robin Wall Kimmerer writes, “Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world.” My daily practice is about plants and color and paying attention.
Still free!
My daily practice Color In and Out of the Garden on Creativebug is FREE to watch throughout the months of April, May, and June. Here’s a list of all the free classes you can explore during the same time period. For those of you who may not know what I’m talking about, Creativebug is an online learning platform where you can stream a multitude of classes on art & design, sewing, crafts and garden making. My Garden Journaling class recently launched on the first day of Spring this year.
As much as I enjoy your flower studies, your shell studies comfort my heart.