I used to want to travel, and I took a few long trips when I was much younger, but now I mostly want to stay home. I vaguely thought of traveling as a spiritual, emotional, artistic quest--a way, among other things, to connect with more beauty and meaning than I could access by staying in one underappreciated place. But appreciation for my place has grown, energy to flit about has waned, and I stay happily put as the earth wheels around its sun, traveling through seasons that bring all the change of scene I want just now.
My drawing for Illustration Friday is of violets, common little flowers of spring I sketched from life. I thought perhaps they, like dandelions, had made the voyage to the New World with European immigrants, but it turns out they are native to this continent as well as to Europe. When I Googled violets to find out where they came from I was mildly affronted by these words: "violets can be a problem in shady fescue lawns." I cannot at all relate to the American suburban ideal of the smooth green lawn, free of violets, dandelions, clover and other interesting variations. Such lawns feel sterile and unfriendly to me.
Lovely drawing, nice range of values, and contour lines are so descriptive! Lovely!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
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