Permanent Orchids

Comfortably ensconced in the new house for about a month, we are having a great time. I get critter visitors sometimes, like large spiders, moths and butterflies and we share the property with a family of small lizards, for which I am really grateful, because they chow down on the mosquitoes. This past week, I started a garden, the way you do this here is to stick things in the soil and then wait a little while. Right now, the garden is still too new to take a photo, everything is alive, but small. Give it a couple more weeks…the guys who work outdoors all carry machetes for a reason. I have also started painting again regularly. My “taller” (studio) is upstairs on the porch, in the hammock, with a small table beside me, and a view of the volcano. It’s a tough life, but someone has to do it. For some reason, I am now painting realistically, which I have not done since art school. I have started what appears to be a series of paintings using acrylics on canvas of orchids from photos that I have taken. I am totally surprised at how much I like both the process and the results. In these photos, some of the paintings are not finished yet...