Martial Arts - Protective goggles recommended

When I first introduced my Astrological Plants series, I heard back from two friends, within a day of each other. "When will you do Aries?" (her sign) "When will you do Scorpio?" (her sign) The first message gave me a smile, the second a laugh-out-loud. Because wouldn't you know? Both these signs are ruled by Mars so it's no wonder these two gals are a tad...assertive, shall we say?

There's only one thing to do with folks like this. Meet them head on. (I should know, having worked with them both for a couple of intense years. ) So I decided it would be fun to work on the Aries and Scorpio paintings at the same time, playing differently with the colours assigned to Mars: all shades of red, dark orange, dull greens and browns. Here's Mars, which you can see under development in the usual slideshow.

And here's Scorpio, with its own slideshow here.

Not surprisingly, the plants assigned to Mars have sharp edges. Aries' hops, which we were pleased to find abundantly growing up and over an old stable on our property, are no doubt "volunteers" from an early 20th-century hops industry in the Squamish Valley. It's no kidding that the "beer that made Milwaukee famous" was due in part to the prized hops of Squamish, as well as those of Washington and Oregon. The soil and climate apparently contribute a unique buzz in the fermentation process. (Brewed rather than fermented, the papery flowers make a soothing tea which JT likes to make. Tastes like warm beer to me). If the distinctive teeth of the leaves remind you of something on the illicit side, that's because Humulus lupulus (don't you love it?) belongs to the Cannabis family.

Scorpios' Common Burdock has its own distinctions, beyond the one familiar to all walkers in wild places who come home with trouser legs full of sticky brown burrs. We've found plants growing majestically up to six feet in height. When late fall frosts hit our moist coastal valley, the whole plants with their pyramidal shape became glittering "Christmas trees" full of sparkling silvered balls, the frost crystals a quarter-inch long.

A true red colour is so far down the list of my personal preferences that I'd not bothered to refresh my supply of Cadmium Red paint, but Aries and Scorpio demanded the full punch and I had to make a special trip out to get a new tube.