Spring is in the air

 

 

It's been the wettest autumn for us, the coldest January-February, but yes, spring is on its way.  In celebration, I'm featuring my newest fascination – air plants (Tillandsia) – thanks to a holiday gift from my friend L.  For verification that spring is at hand, my windowsill plants are bursting towards the sun –

 

And the largest of the succulents is positively crying, "LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

 

 

It's still raining a lot but when, occasionally, the sky clears at midday, the throngs pour into the street for dancing and acrobatics.

 

 

My wool cap is sick of being a winter cap and started playing funny games with my groceries….flinging itself around my entryway and hiding a bag of mini-potatoes for almost two days.

 

I'm breathing deeply and trying to take a fresh look at things, renewing my original plan to develop a series of "East Side Storeys."  Next up on my list was one of these two houses, about five blocks from where I live.

 

The bay window and the colour combination of the house on the right particularly enchant me.

 

So:  Away we go, with a couple of splashy little studies to play with a composition and then an underlayer in orange, the colour complement of the house's predominant blue.

 

 

Here's a very early planning stage, after I've corralled those sunshine street dancers.

 

 

 

At this point, I'd put in about a third of the many hours I would come to use – finding it a bit exhausting and confusing but well past the point of no return.

 

 

 

I usually build my tones and variations on 3-4 tube colours – this is called a "limited palette."  But I must have used a good 12, plus Payne's Grey, an almost-black….and an almost no-no.  Crazy – and so the logical title was, "Spring Fever" (East Side Storeys series, copyright 2025).

 

Do you know an architect or contractor who would love to know about this series?  Don't tell them…….!  There are just too many errors and irregularities.  (Well, there were no fewer than three recorded earthquakes during the weeks this painting was under way).  But it IS spring – officially next week.  Why not suggest that they forget their building projects and take a walk under the cherry blossoms?