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Blue-stemmed Goldenrod

1/27/23

Blue-stemmed Goldenrod
 Many years ago I set myself the task of drawing all of the Chicagoland plants I could find, using the Swink &Wilhelm book as my guide.  I have clambered through some pretty rough terrain and found treasures.  It has been a proper treasure hunt!  I'm glad I found as many plants as I did early on, as my knees have pretty much put a limit on my wanderings now.  When I find a plant, I take its photo from several angles and make some field sketches.  I've learned to be sure to get a photo of the basal leaf, nodes, hairs, etc.  Then I head back to my studio and begin work drawing the plant in pen and ink.  My purpose in this exercise was to explore and celebrate the amazing diversity of forms to be found in our plants here in the Chicago region.  It delights me to see them arranged side-by-side in my portfolios.  What fun it has been!

At first I wanted it to be only pen and ink, because that made the differences of form really sing out.  Now I am revisiting my old friends with an eye to painting them in color.  For this one, I wanted to suggest the gestalt of the plant, rather than render it in scientific accuracy.

 


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Spring Bluff Marsh

1/11/23

Spring Bluff Marsh

There has been a break since my last post, and before that I have been sporadic.  This is because I've been thinking what my message should even be about. Also, I've been going through some stuff.  A year ago I had a very bad reaction to  my first chemo treatment.  After a week  in the hospital I was finally given to understand that my heart had nearly stopped for good.  A second treatment put me into shock, and at that point the doctor said I was done with chemo.  Thank goodness!  Then recently, I nearly lost my son. He had been complaining of headaches, and finally a scan revealed a subdural hematoma.  Since then I've heard of some other people having the same, potentially fatal, thing happen, something I'd never even heard of before. 
Once he'd had surgery and was recovering, I could breathe again.  I've been pondering what meaning there might be in these rather shocking events.
What I've learned is, we really aren't in control here.  I was raised to believe that if you ate right, exercised and brushed your teeth, life would go well for you.  Well, ok that is an oversimplification but you get the idea.  My family was pretty judgmental, believing that if something bad happened to someone they probably deserved it.  I grew into a rather anxious adult, always scanning the horizon for things to watch out for, always trying to be perfect so that nothing bad would happen.  Surprise!  Very bad things indeed can and do happen, straight out of left field.  What a relief it is to know this.  What flows out of this is the understanding of what matters, and that is, we're here to love ourselves, and the life we have been given.  We are not here to beat ourselves up.  As I've learned to relax and just love my life, I have begun to feel connected to everything and everyone.  Turns out, all the clichés are true!  So, go with the flow out there.  And have some fun.

 


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Grant Woods in Autumn

11/29/22

Grant Woods with Cottonwood and Oak
I completed this painting right before we moved, just over a year ago.  Rummaging through my images I was pleased to come across it.  I really liked how the cottonwood trunks made an appealing repeating pattern behind the oak in its fall splendor.  I love how fall stretches on so long here, as the natural world gently drifts toward winter and sleep.

 


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Illinois Beach State Park Dunes

10/27/22

Illinois Beach State Park Dunes
For over a decade I had the honor of being the butterfly monitor at Illinois Beach State Park.  I walked 3 routes, and here the season was longer than usual, running from April to August.  This was the perfect place to learn about the interaction between insects and their host plants, and in turn, the interaction between the plants and the geology and history of a place. 
There are so many layers of memory here that sometimes when I walk the trail I must blink away the memories to see what is actually before me, today.  Changes have come, of course.  Both to me and to "my" park.  Still, we recognize each other, this place and I.

 


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The Birch

10/14/22

The Birch
Illinois Beach State Park boasts a number of cool habitats, and one I really enjoy walking in is found in the North Unit up near the Wisconsin border.  Here black oaks thrive on very old dunes where the organic matter has accumulated enough to support them.  In this painting we see a lonely white birch peeking from behind two other trees.  Is this a relict from glacial times, when it was colder and birches could thrive here?

 


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Spirit of the Lake

10/2/22

Making Waves
You wouldn't know it from my body of work, but I'm all about water.  My earliest memories are of day trips to the Pacific where my Dad fished from the shore.  When we moved to Illinois, my parents made sure we lived near Lake Michigan.  
I'm not as eager to get in and swim anymore, but watching the waves still nourishes my soul.    
I've had a series of photos of the shoreline for a number of years, and finally felt I wanted to try to capture the sense of movement and gorgeous color of our magnificent lake.  Above the water rises a spirit fish, symbolizing the magic I always feel from a body of water, and also the wish for clean healthy ecosystems.  

This painting is now available, along with a selection of others of my work, at the Curtis Frame Gallery in Libertyville.  I dearly love this beautiful little gallery located in the parking lot near the rose garden.  Do check it out if you are in the area, you won't be disappointed.

 


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All Lined Up

9/16/22

Blue-Stemmed Goldenrod
I think Illinois is so beautiful in the fall.  Right now with blazing stars blazing away in the prairies, their purple a counterpoint for rich yellows of sunflowers and goldenrods, the prairie and savanna are at their peak.  

 


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Pond Life

9/10/22

Pond Life
I was a lucky child, growing up with a pond in my back yard.  This richly alive body of water was the absolute center of my existence all those years.  As soon as  my chores were done I'd race down to the shore and push in the canoe.  The canoe was my trusty water steed taking me off for adventure.  In early summer baby turtles would appear, tiny circles floating at the surface to get air before swimming off.  So cute.  A bit later squadrons of dragonflies would patrol for the mosquitoes and biting flies.  Schools of bullhead would move together in a fish-shaped formation.  Oh, the magic!  I could go on about it all day, the creatures and plants I'd watch.
For this little painting, just 9x12", I wanted to capture that dark mystery you can see on a very sunny day.  What might be lurking below the surface?  See how the sun sparkles on the surface?  And a flash above~a dragonfly!

 


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Dunes with Sand Coreopsis

9/2/22

Dunes with Sand Coreopsis
I started this painting quite some time ago, then with one thing and another, it got pushed aside.  Finally I was ready to tackle it once again.  Sections of the sky needed to be repainted, and I wanted to add a killdeer.  One wonderful summer walking the Dune Trail weekly in my capacity as butterfly monitor, I noticed a killdeer creating a nest right by the trail.  As the weeks passed I saw eggs appear, then fluffy babies scampering around.  It was with that summer in mind that I added the bird here and completed the painting.  It is really large~36x48"!  I used that sized canvas so I could really make it seem like you are there, standing on the trail, hearing the wind and the birds.

 


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Black Oak Woodland

8/27/22

Black Oak Woodland
Illinois Beach is a wonderful place, full of rare plants living in a wide variety of habitats.  At the north unit, near the marina which is causing so much problems for the beach to the south, a trail winds through a beautiful black oak woodland.  These trees grow well on the old dunes.  I remember one year we had a powerful wind sweep through the area and when it was over many trees had been ripped up by their roots and lay scattered like jack straws.  It was fascinating to see their root balls up in the air, pure sand beneath them. After, what? hundreds, or thousands of years, so little organic matter had built up on these dunes.  

 


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Previously published:

Original paintings celebrating the natural world of NE Illinois and Wisconsin


 Melissa Blue Fine Art • Antioch, IL
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