My Art Featured on Commemorative World Bonsai Day T-Shirt!

Some of you may remember that back in 2018 I led a drawing class at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the U.S. National Arboretum presented by the National Bonsai Foundation.

They reached out again last month asking if I’d like to participate in World Bonsai Day, a global celebration of bonsai in the spirit of peace and unity, by granting them permission to use one of my drawings from the class on a commemorative t-shirt marking the celebration. I jumped at the chance, of course!

And what better drawing to use for this celebration of peace than the one i did of one of the Museum’s most treasured trees, the Yamaki Pine, aka “Peace Tree,” perhaps best known for its surviving of the atomic bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima, Japan during WW!!.

I encourage you to join the National Bonsai Foundation for their (virtual) festivities which will take place on their homepage at www.bonsai-nbf.org all day Saturday, May 8th. (And will remain up until May 18 after that at www.bonsai-nbf.org/wbd2021).

And, of course, should the spirit move you, purchase a t-shirt of which proceeds go to support the National Bonsai Foundation and their work to preserve these incredible trees!

Special Edition Commemorative T-Shirt for World Bonsai Day (in dark blue)

Special Edition Commemorative T-Shirt for World Bonsai Day (in gray)

Mary Oliver is my guide for this spring

“When I am among the trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust,

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness.

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

in which I have goodness, and discernment,

and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out,

“Stay awhile.” The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It's simple,” they say,

“and you too have come into the world to do this,

to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.”

Studio Tour Chronicles

My days are filled watching spring unfold in Barnesville.  The Spring Peepers are calling out in the wetlands, Tree buds are unfurling new tiny new leaves and flowers are just barely blooming.  These seasonal sightings are where I want to stay focused, in my art and daily life.

However, the large 150 year old White Pine that fell next to, and infront of my studio building is also calling for attention.  I have to say goodbye to this beautiful old giant that framed my view of Sugarloaf Mountain, and I have to manage the massive trunk still laying on the ground in the gardens near the studio.   We have had help processing some of the tree, those branches and logs are piled high in our bocce court.  But the rest of the tree is laying there waiting for us to deal with it.

I hope the tree trimmer we called can come soon and mulch a lot of those logs and branches, and help me find a way to leave about 15 feet of trunk where the base of the tree fans out into the root mass.  I have been working to remove the dirt from the roots and base of this old pine... But I know Spring Studio Tour will be upon me in 2 1/2 weeks (April 20), so I must switch to the normal Studio Tour Prep Mode.

That means my days are filled with finishing art projects begun over the last 3 months, finding frames and tagging that art; cleaning up and repairing the studio building, preparing all the gardens for visitors, and hanging the art in the studio.  I try to let that massive tree trunk lay there, work on rebuilding all the gardens beds destroyed when it fell, and enjoy those spring peepers.

Fall color in the Sugarloaf Mountain countryside

I love fall.  Most days I walk and bike the rustic roads around Barnesville, watching the subtle color changes in the hedgerows, fields and on Sugarloaf Mountain.  Recently, I biked with Montgomery Countryside Alliance in the 'Ride for the Reserve'.  We were on rustic roads throughout the Ag Reserve, starting out the morning in a misty rain that turned into a sunny afternoon.  As I rode in the changing light, familiar scenes came into view and I kept saying to myself, "I have got to paint this."  

That thought doesn't always turn into a drawing or painting.  Sometimes it is better to soak it up and think of it later when working on a similar landscape drawing or painting.  I love to watch the colors changing on the hillsides and in the agricultural fields.  Then daydream  about how the changing light and temperature are creating this fall tapestry.

Fall colors in Poolesville Soybean fields

Fall in the Ag Reserve

Fall Bike ride on West Old Baltimore Road

I love fall.  Most days I walk and bike the rustic roads around Barnesville, watching the subtle color changes in the hedgerows, fields and on Sugarloaf Mountain.  Recently I biked 28 miles with the Montgomery Countryside Alliance 'Ride for the Reserve' on Poolesville, Dickerson, Comus, Boyds and Barnesville's rustic roads.