Monday, October 12, 2020

#2420 "In the Shade of the Sunflower"


The morning was open for painting. I decided to keep the sun on my back and paint looking up into the head of the giant sunflower plant. The colours were different. 

The sunflower came from Wendy Banks, a proud, 6th generation farmer from Lyndhurst. Wendy's Country Market can be found at ​408 Fortune Line Road in the Rideau Lakes Township. To quote Wendy and to summarize how I feel, we are " In the middle of nowhere, and the centre of everything!" Wendy mailed out small packets of sunflower seeds in the COVID spring of 2020. We planted the three seeds. Chipmunks got two of them but the survivor turned into a giant almost worthy of Jack and the Bean Stalk. A tape measure had it at ten feet tall and it still grew a few inches. I put a support tie on it to prevent it from being blown over by the Singleton winds. 


The red shouldered hawk scolded me again while I painted. It paused directly overhead and took a good and close look at me. Hickory nuts were falling naturally as well as being launched from the upper limbs by squirrels. Life is never dull en plein air. 

Normally sunflowers will bloom anytime between mid-July and mid-August. It all depends on the sun, rain, warm temperatures and cold temperatures. The blooms look amazing for about two weeks and then start to fade. As the plant matures and starts making the seeds, the yellow flower starts to droop and die off. This is the natural progression for a sunflower. 

Vincent would have loved to paint those flowers. I know I did. I plan to do a series at different stages of growth and even decay. Life is good.  

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.




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