Forests, blue hills and ambitious plans

My apologies for not posting for more than a week now, after saying I intended to post daily updates. While I am digitally well equipped I am not well connected. I'm now beginning to understand the coffeehouse culture, because this is where I can get high-speed internet besides the library.

I mentioned the lovely old house I stayed at in Cincinnati, spending the night in a four-poster bed. This photo of the window at the top of the stairs should give you a flavor for its elegance.

Here's a photo of my charge, Simba. He's very mellow and tolerates me but misses his people. Like all older cats he sleeps most of the day, and scared me the first few days when I couldn't find him. I finally discovered him sleeping in the owners' closet, curled up on his mom's t-shirts. He was named Simba because in the winter he has a full chest mane that reaches the floor.

After resting from the two-day drive and intense push to get here, I began painting in the gardens last weekend. The house is on five acres, with lovely perennial gardens around the house and extensive raised-bed vegetable gardens in the back. The rest off the property is woods and I can't see any neighbors. That doesn't mean I don't know they're there -- I can hear lots of dogs, music from the neighbor behind and traffic from the paved and dirt roads. Just like home in Ferndale -- almost.

I'm fascinated by the light and mist in the trees, the woods and on the hills. It's incredibly difficult to capture well in paint. I decided to paint the garden bed with the woods behind for the sharp contrast between the warm yellow of the evening sunlight on the grass and flowers and cool blue shadows in the woods. This one took about two hours to paint.

The next evening, I got back to the house late and gave myself an hour to capture the dusk mist in the trees. Because I started at 7 pm that was all the light and time I had. I'm not entirely pleased with this first one.

It's easy to get lost in the forest, watching the dappled light dance off the leaves and branches. The woods around the house look completely different in the morning, from the afternoon, from the evening.

Here's a photo of what greeted me the other morning when I woke up and walked outside -- a common sight in the morning.

Here are a few more I hope you enjoy: