This past Sunday afternoon, I attended a Cabarrus County Art Guild meeting (I LOVE saying I am part of the GUILD!) A member from the official society for Whiskey Painters of America was there to do a demo. We all had the opportunity to create our own miniature painting. Whiskey painting is a style which was developed in the 1940's by a guy who would go to a local bar after work with his friends. He always carried a tiny set of watercolors and some paper with him and ended up making it a daily occurrence that he and his friends would paint, using whiskey instead of water to wet the paints. The whiskey reacts with the paint different than water, creating a vibrant hue and dries a lot quicker. It totally changes the process. I do not have whiskey (you can use any hard liquor) in the house, or else I would have created several more paintings by today. I am not overly happy about the above pansy painting, but I guess its good for my first try.
And speaking of pansies, have you ever wondered why "pansy" is used to describe a weaker person? A pansy is a very hardy flower surviving much colder weather than most other flowers.
And speaking of flowers, my friend and I visited the botanical gardens and greenhouses at UNCC today. It was a GORGEOUS 80 degree day today. The flowers were starting to bloom. In a couple of weeks, I plan to go back to take pictures of the rhododendren which will be in full beauty.
The above flower is a wildflower we use to find in the woods as a kid. If you pick it, red liquid pours from the stem, we called it bloodroot, but I haven't researched the proper name.
These are all from the greenhouses. There are some really extraordinary tropical and desert plants grown there. The big root, I just thought had a cool shape.
I have no idea what this is, but it looked edible...
It was a great day to ramble about.
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