Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Thistles & Butterflies

In early September we went for our first day trip since the beginning of COVID-19. 

Staying mostly on rural roads, we left NW Arkansas... drove down Western Oklahoma... crossed into and over the Ouachita Mountains ... circled through my hometown... made our way back up to our home in the Ozark Mountains.

I love the Ouachitas.  I grew up right  in the middle of them.
The Talimena Scenic Highway is the best way to view them from the top.

Beautiful, I know.
But, what does this have to do with the painting?
The Talimena Scenic Highway has many pullouts or overlooks so that cars can stop and people can enjoy the view.  Of course I had my camera so I could take pictures of that view; however, I got distracted every single time.  At every stop, the ground was covered with thistles, and the thistles were covered with butterflies. I think I ended up taking about five photos of the mountaintop views and 50 photos of the thistles and butterflies.





The word for the weekly painting challenge with my art mentor Cheri was "lavender."  I went through several ideas for what I might paint, then I remembered these gorgeous lavender-colored thistles. Since we're making the rules up as we go, I decided that thistles would be the perfect response for "lavender."


Original Oil Painting on 8"x 10" Canvas Board, Framed
Click Thistles & Butterflies if you'd like to purchase this painting.


4 comments:

  1. Looks like a lovely drive, and I completely understand the fun with the thistles and butterflies!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Because I grew up there, I don't know that I ever stopped to notice how beautiful it was. It was just regular old mountains that are always there.

      Delete
  2. I remember when you told me of this trip! Those are swallowtails! Aren't they incredible? Tehy have extra meaning for me because of the one, first time I'd ever seen one, that floated around me and a pot of flowers by our side door the entire time that my siblings were scattering my mum's ashes 3000 km to the west of me... And the Ozarks! I remember a much-loved book as a kid, someone(?) of the Ozarks. Googled it but couldn't seem to find it. Such a cool name for a mountain range. As is the other!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know that story of the butterfly and your pot of yellow flowers. Do you remember that I loved the photo so much that I asked if I could paint it?
      As for the book, could it be Where the Red Fern Grows? There were also some Rose of the Ozarks books about Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, but those were published much more recently.

      Delete