Late summer and Monarch Butterflies

"The butterfly and I had lit upon,

Nevertheless, a message from the dawn",

Robert Frost

From the egg laid on the leaf of a milk weed, to a tiny larvae, to an adult caterpillar. The exciting stages of a Monarch butterfly.

The Monarch butterfly used to be abundant but now their numbers are declining.

This summer I learned how to help increase their chances of survival by hand raising.

Because the small egg is vulnerable at this stage it is easy to help 

ensure survival by bringing the plant with the egg into a protected area and raise the small larvae to a full grown caterpillar.  When the caterpillar reaches maturity it forms a perfect jade green capsule..a chrysalis....a perfect container for the miracle that happens next.

Now the chrysalis is formed and begins to transform the body of the

 caterpillar to a butterfly.

Here she is, an exquisite female. 

Butterfly letting go.

A drawing in honor of these beautiful silent creatures.

The Encounter

pencil drawing-Ramona Felse

Pencil drawing shows a woman and a fawn together on top of a hill.

Spring happenings

It's hard to believe this same spot was frozen and covered in snow just a short time ago.

                                  Lovely spring blooms. 

.

Ink drawing on brown paper

Ink drawing on brown paper bag.

February Twilight

I stood beside a hill

Smooth with new-laid snow,

A single star looked out

From the cold evening glow.

There was no other creature

That saw what I could see--

I stood and watched the evening star

As long as it watched me. 

Sara Teasdale

A very long and very cold winter has a firm grip on us.

No, I have not wished it away…. I know that soon enough the 

Winter of 2014 will be but a memory.

I dress warm when it's cold and drink hot soup.

I look long at the shadows on snow

 and listen to the quiet.

The Jim Show, A Tribute to Artist and Friend

It was with much gratitude that I was asked to be a part of a special

Art Exhibition honoring a local artist and 

friend who died last summer.

This weekend the home of artist Jim Julin who died suddenly last year
 after a short illness was filled to the brim with artists and their artwork
celebrating Jim's life as an artist, craftsmen and friend.

Jim Julin

                                     

I created the drawing and poem 'A Giant Fell Today' just a few days after Jim died last year as a way to express what I was feeling at the time. When I learned of the 'Jim Show' being put together in his memory this summer, I knew that this is what I was to contribute.


The pieces were placed in a shadow box and pinned
bulletin board style as a tribute to a man with a generous spirit.

                                                                                   artist Ramona Felse

Garment made from several pairs of Jim's jeans as a gift to his sister.

in the window a pine tree that Jim planted.

Several pieces of Jim's work were included.

 Every piece in the show was created with Jim's creative spirit in mind.

A gathering of friends,
and love,
and art.

Lovely June

In the grey summer garden I shall find you   

 With day-break and the morning hills behind you.   

There will be rain-wet roses; stir of wings;   

And down the wood a thrush that wakes and sings.   

Not from the past you'll come, but from that deep

Where beauty murmurs to the soul asleep:   

And I shall know the sense of life re-born   

From dreams into the mystery of morn   

Where gloom and brightness meet. And standing there   

Till that calm song is done, at last we'll share

The league-spread, quiring symphonies that are   

Joy in the world, and peace, and dawn’s one star.

Idyll- by Siegfried Sassoon

Wishing you all an abundance of sunshine, good health,

safe travels and long warm summer days. 

Stars, Moons and Hens.

There are white hens on the side board.

What was to be two hens turned into five. 

Some are pausing under the moon and stars, and some are floating skyward.

These drawings celebrate mystery and the ability to  imagine.

Have a Happy Blue Moon!

Revisiting oils with 'The Offering'.

         It's been a while since I've painted in oils. It was the medium that

 I first started painting with in my late teens. For years that was my medium of choice until I wanted to learn how to use 

water based paints....I'm still learning.

Lately, I've been craving the smell of linseed oil and turpentine.

Knowing that I would choose my subject from my sketchbook of drawings,

I needed to decide which one I would attempt to recreate in oils. 

This ink drawing that I call 'The Offering' is what I've decided on. At the end of the day, when sick of oil spills and corrupt politicians, if I am to have a painting around me to look at, let it be the simple gesture of a kindly 

old woman offering food to a stray cat.

I make another sketch of the original drawing showing how much 

of the drawing will be in the painting and then draw a series of faces.

Letting myself be free with the pencil, I allow her face to show itself to me

and am amazed and humored at what I see.

Somehow the end result will be a combination of these faces 

as they are now a part of me.

I apply gesso to the board and gather materials.

An old painting becomes a palette for mixing paint.

When I am finished using it this way, I can still use it 

to paint a new painting on.

The smell is wonderful.

My approach to painting in oils has always been to

first apply the paint quickly and freely and then slowly

develop the painting once I have the under painting in place.

And so it begins.