Ruth Bailey, artist

June 4, 2018

Lilacs

For a brief period in spring, the lilacs bloom and fill the surrounding area with their delightful fragrance. Blooming in either pink, white or lilac(!) the cone-shaped bunches of flowers drape elegantly from the ends of the new growth. Lilacs, watercolor, 3” x 3” What are your favorite spring blooms?

June 2, 2018

Sunshine

Today was one of those rare days when everything came together nicely. The Doodlewash theme for the month of June is “Outdoor Fun” and today’s prompt is “Sunshine.” As I thought about how to depict the sunshine (which we didn’t have much of today) I thought of a photo that my husband had taken on…

May 30, 2018

A Visit to a Bog

A couple of days ago, my husband and I visited a bog. There are many different plants in a bog due to the moist, sometimes wet, and acidic soil. I was primarily attracted to the ones that were flowering at that time, as you will see by my sketches. When I haven’t gone out to…

May 25, 2018

Allium

My husband and I spent a couple of hours at a botanical garden yesterday. The roses weren’t blooming yet, but the garden was filled with large, shimmering, purple allium (A. giganteum), a flower related to garlic.

May 23, 2018

Bluebells

When one moves to a new home, it is interesting to find what floral gems spring up from the ground, having been planted by previous residents. We have had a wonderful flower make its appearance each year in this home, but until this year I haven’t taken the time to paint it before it faded. It actually took me a couple of years before I looked up the name to find out that we had bluebells planted in a corner of the garden. I had to grab a few painting moments between rainstorms. Welcome Spring!

April 26, 2018

Spring Means Violets

We’re getting some warm days interspersed with days of rain, so the plants are all happy and growing. When I walk outside, I am surrounded by flowers begging me to sit down and paint them. I don’t mind obliging! When my daughter was little, there was nothing she liked better than to go out in the spring and fill her little hands with bunches of violets. Now that she is grown and has daughters of her own… she still goes out and picks violets!

March 22, 2018

Dakota

Dakota is my son’s cat, a sweet calico that he and my daughter-in-law adopted a couple of years ago. Dakota has kept us entertained while her “staff” have been at work during our visit. Here she is enjoying a few moments in the sunshine.

March 16, 2018

Another Acrylic Paint Pour

I continue to be fascinated by fluid acrylic paint and what happens when the colors flow over and around each other. I was thinking of the beach, so I chose several blues, a green, some gold for sand, and white. This one came out looking like a wave or a piece of agate.

February 15, 2018

Ladybugs

As we go on this Doodlewash Nature Hike together (and thank you for journeying along with me!), we have explored many different terrains. Yesterday we were in the Pacific Ocean and today we are on the surface of a leaf, looking at ladybugs. I was wondering if this were one of Charlie’s trick prompts, as these insects are not really bugs, but are properly called Lady Beetles. (Beetles have one set of hardened wings which form a “shell” over their abdomens and another set of membranous wings with which they fly. True bugs have only half of their first set of wings hardened, with the other half membranous like the…

February 14, 2018

Clown Fish

My daughter and her family have just gotten back from a vacation on Guam. She sent me beautiful pictures of my grandchildren playing in the waves, playing tag on the beach, and enjoying amazing sunsets. The children also got to try out their new fins, masks and snorkels. I didn’t get any underwater shots, but here is a fish they might have seen in the coral reefs.