Earth laughs in flowers

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

With hollyhocks was kept ablaze;
In all my recollections they
In friendly columns nod and sway;
And when to-day their blooms I see,
Always the mother smiles at me;
The mind's bright chambers, life unlocks
Each summer with the hollyhocks.
-Edgar-Albert-Guest

Flowers don't worry about how they're going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful. ~Jim Carrey

August, the summer day

 oil on canvas, plein air

 30x30in, copyright Jan Yates 2014

available

Painting, Planting, Growing

When we moved into this old farmhouse the first thing I did was plant hollyhocks from seed. Sometimes they would grow, sometimes not. So when they come, to mark my delight in their arrival, I paint them.

Their old fashioned look suits this place and I love everything about them-stalks, buds and leaves as well as the flower. This summer’s hollyhocks (I even like their name) appeared beside the house and as bedraggled as they are from the season’s drought, (and neglect) managed to show some optimistic blooms.

  Finally my Hollyhocks, oil on canvas, 18x24in, 2012

This morning I set up my easel and laid in the overall composition. It’s likely that I will go back in to resolve/refine and quiet  areas down - but I think I like the overall feel of the work.

The wee Black-Eyed Susans make a nice contrast