Lilac Brunch on the Patio

16"x20" oil on oil-primed canvas mounted on professional artboard (Raymar)

Today was SO MUCH FUN!!! Although, I thought at first it might be 'impending doom'. I started the morning by cutting these lilac blossoms - I knew they weren't going to last if I didn't get going! I had a day full of sun shine predicted so I set this arrangement in my favorite green pottery pitcher out on the back patio. As I went into the house to gather the rest of my 'still-life' set-up of pears & dishes as well as my paint gear, my daughter called out "Mom, your flowers just blew over, but I picked them up". Well, over they went again, water dumped out all over, & blossoms disheveled. But lilacs hold up fairly well (at least after 2 dumpings). So I filled up the pitcher & this time placed 2 huge rocks around the pitcher to keep it from falling again. (My daughter told me I should have put the rocks inside the pitcher....but it was too full & they were too big!).

The breeze was cool, but the sun was strong on the patio - lighting everything beautifully. The rock wall & stone surface of the patio was so warm in the sunshine. I will miss this part of the house when we move in July. This has been a fun- old house to rent...lots of painterly character! But I'm looking forward to settling down, post-Navy-life and having a place of our own.

I intend to build a garden space as inviting as this one in our new place - where the sun warms a beautiful stone patio and lilacs and other blossoms flourish in beautiful painterly places!