Wonder

The red shed
acrylic on canvas
8 x 8 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009
(This little painting describes the
quirky arrangements of elements
you sometimes see on a drive
through the country. City
people, squeezed for space,
expect everything to line up and make sense,
but sometimes a country yard will have
what this one does -- a shed in the middle
of nowhere. I liked that. I'll straighten the fence
a bit tomorrow.)

Are artists blessed with an overactive sense of wonder?
I wonder (I do sorry). I don't mean to be on a theme here,
but my garden is a bit worse than the mess under my
bed. I can see the neighbours looking into my yard and
thinking why don't they do something? The why has been
about time -- neither of the two less-than-stellar gardeners
in this family has had the time to weed, plant, decide,
contemplate, even water that sad little patch at the back
of the house. Thank goodness for the cherry tree and
the apple tree, doing their best to make it look
picturesque.

But how could I have overlooked the field poppies -- my
all time favorite flower. Okay -- I love many types of
flowers, I was a flower painter for ten years.
There they were -- brilliant red (one of my top colours),
delicate pink, peach, mauve, and I almost didn't see them,
although in this season of neglect they are absolutely
thriving. They are a wild sort of flower, used to blooming
in fields in France. The other night I looked down into the
center of a huge red bloom and noticed that all the stamens
were a deep indigo, grey blue. A colour so unusual that I
can't even describe it, and I thought --'what is your problem?
Okay there are weeds -- someday you'll have time to pull
them out, but look at this incredible beauty and feast your
eyes!' Did I feel better? Yes. I was back in the land of wonder
where artists belong.

And when I take a break I'm doing a bit of weeding.

Have a seeing-what-is-there-in-front-of-you day.