Re Do

After a week or so of scrutiny; snatching glimpses at the oil painting as it sat in my studio, I figured out what was wrong with the Magnolia Blossom painting.

Let's see if you can figure it out.........

First rendition:


Now, the FINAL painting!


Do you see the change? It is rather subtle. Better, right?

Sunday Sketches

Not surprising that my sketch this week is of a magnolia blossom after my exciting encounter the other day as I was leaving the house. I do not want to boast too much, but there is a second bud ready to bloom.

I absolutely love the shapes of both the blossom and the leaves of the magnolia tree!

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Magnolia and Bee

The other day as I was leaving my yard, I notice that the magnolia blossom had finally bloomed. This was tremendously exciting because it is the second magnolia tree that I planted and I placed it in the ground this spring.

You can see from the photos that I literally jumped out of my car to take in this fascinating display of nature. To my surprise I found a bee absolutely molesting the stigma of the flower. The bee was stuffing pollen into a huge sack near its back feet. I stood mesmerized and felt as if I were watching a nature film.

When I returned later that day, the lower part of the stigma lay in total disarray at the base of the petals.

This is what I captured with my camera.....

See if you can see the sack of pollen.......