Strange Beauty
One morning as I pulled out of the driveway, I spotted an event of stunning beauty. Bathed in early morning sunlight, glowing white and golden and deep green, were the most beautiful cactus flowers. The buds had been swelling for the last several days, and I drove slowly by, gazing at their singular beauty. At the end of the day, as I drove by, I noticed they were already fading, the petals wilting in the warm afternoon air.
The next year, when I spotted the buds again, I determined to capture them. And I did.
This is the last of the flower bouquet, and they were fading fast. A very good exercise in daily painting with a limited time frame.
Walking up to the studio in the early morning, my eye naturally turns toward the east, where the sun rises over the distant hills along the San Andreas fault. I can hear the very faint dull roar of the nearby highway traffic, but it is not at all disturbing in light of the glory of this scene.
I began a daily drawing practice over a year ago. Restricting myself to pen and ink and posting regularly on Instagram forced me to let go of perfectionism and come to terms with my self-censoring habit. Not that I didn’t hesitate and procrastinate when I drew an image that I didn’t like. The rule of daily posting won, I’m glad to admit!
Marjie Hill 