Last of Summer

 As I sit here listening to the pouring rain, I know that the last remaining petals on the bee balm are being beaten off the stalks. *sigh*  I love my summer bee balm, and am wondering where time went. How can Fall be nearly here? I sure can feel it in the weather.

However, I have fond memories of warm summer days and dancing bee balm being worked over by the hummingbirds and honey bees. And photos and artwork to help remind me. It's enough for now.

In the meantime, I've got my sweaters and socks to keep me warm. :)

From my Garden - Bee Balm!

Stages of a Blooming Bee Balm aka Monarda. 

Gosh, I love this stuff. And so do the hummingbirds. 

HuMp DaY Haiku - Winters Gentle Touch

Frosty morning. White

coats the bee balm seed heads.

Winters gentle touch.

A year or so ago, I started doing Hump Day Haiku with Carla Sonheim's Silly classes and decided as a challenge for myself, I'd continue. I have found that creating a haiku (non rhyming poem with 5 - 7 - 5 syllables per line) feeds my soul. I especially like creating them to go with my photos and art. 

Would you like to share a haiku you have written? 

You may include a haiku in the comments, OR you may copy your blog post url (featuring a haiku) and add a link to your blog using Mr. Linky. And consider visiting other contributors blogs to see what they've created and say hello. 

Paint Party Friday - a-Muse-less week

My muse was not in residence this week. I had plans, but just couldn't get anything I really wanted to finish, finished. Although, I did attempt a water color study of  Monarda/Bee Balm from my garden. I really want to paint them and have yet to master it. Practice, practice. 

This post from my Wednesday  Hump Day Haiku shows you my inspiration. 

In other news... I worked on some inchies and moo card houses for swaps on atcsforall.com. I'm building a mini village! :)

What have you been up to this week?  


I'll be checking in  in with the other PPF artists at  Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin! If you have time, I invite you to stop by and  browse their wonderful art! I'm sure their art will help revive my lagging muse. 

HuMp DaY Haiku - Spires of Red

Tall spires of deep red

dancing among light green leaves.

Summer's here at last! 

It always seems that summer weather finally arrives when the monarda (aka bee balm) begins to bloom.  Our weather the past week has been summery, sunny in the high 70's, with a few thunderstorms thrown in. 
Bee Balm is hands down my favorite flower in our garden, loved also by the hummingbirds and bumble bees. The garden is alive with activity! 

I started doing Hump Day Haiku with Carla Sonheim's Silly classes...  and decided as a challenge for myself, I'd continue.  In this process, I have found that creating a haiku (non rhyming poem with 5 - 7 - 5 syllables per line) feeds my soul. I especially like creating them to go with my photos and art. 

Would you like to share a haiku you have written? 

You may include a haiku in the comments, OR you may copy your blog post url (featuring a haiku) and add a link to your blog using Mr. Linky. And consider visiting other contributors blogs to see what they've created and say hello. 

Late August Blooms

Late August means my lovely tall red monarda (bee balm) blooms start to fade... although there are a few late blooming plants. This variety is called Blue Stocking... according to the nursery where I bought the original plant nearly 20 years ago.

Our native bergamot monarda is in full bloom right now. The leaf mold is especially prevalent with the wet cold summer we've had this year... but I still love the delicate little blooms.

So do the hummingbirds.

August Break 2011

30 Days - July 27

I'm working on a project themed on my favorite bee balm. Have I mentioned I just love that flower? Today I made a few sketches, and started playing with oil pastels. not sure if this is how I'm going to create what I have in mind, though...

This is the best sketch... if I keep practicing, I'll get better. So they say. :)

And is the best oil pastel sketch of the bunch. I sucketh at them thus far, however see improvement as I keep working on it. I want a bit of an abstract look to the end product.

And this is the photo I used as my model.

I've just realized we have only three more days in our 30 Day Challenge. The month has flown by! This has been a fun experiment, as I've done separate art for this challenge and for the Project 365 2011 I'm doing this year. I have engrained the art habit in myself doing art every day, and I plan to keep it up. A little bit of art a day, helps keep the doldrums at bay. Ha!  :)

See what the other 30 Day Challenge artists are doing here.

30 Days - July 26: Bee Balm

I took advantage of the overcast day to get more pictures of the garden, focusing on the bee balm;  I need a good model for a project. The hummingbirds don't seem to mind me being out in the garden, and come feed within arms length. It's pretty cool.

Anyway, I decided to play with the photographs in a photo editing program (Picnik) and came up with these versions of one closeup. Most fun!

Check out what Traci and the other 30 Day Challenge folks are doing here.

Bee Balm

The bee balm (monarda) is in full bloom... and the hummingbirds love it. We still have Rufus coming to visit, and the Anna's are here too. I love this time of year. Now if the weather will just keep co-operating...