Back to the Drawing Board

My first morel!    
I can't believe I've never found a morel before, especially since I spent many, many long hours as a young girl in the woods identifying everything I saw.  So now I have these amazing mushrooms and some lovely wildflowers to draw, selectively harvested from Pat's woods on Sim's Ridge. I'm looking forward to sitting at my drawing table in the bay window, listening to the returning chimney swifts twittering as they circle the rooftops, and painting -- then having a mushroom dinner!  

Spring is here!  ~ellen.

New Horizons

Today is Easter Sunday. A time for new beginnings and hope, a time for forgiveness and love, and a time for gratitude and grace.

How can nature instantly transport us and change our emotions, and our lives? I consider that one of God's blessings, and I have to smile and say "Thank you!" The beauty of nature is just waiting for me or anyone to experience its powerful healing properties. 

During a transitional (very hard) time of my life, I was fortunate enough to have an unexpected opportunity to go to the beach, and one day was walking through the Virginia Dare Gardens on Roanoke Island, losing my troubles on the soft sandy paths. One path took me to a quiet hidden place on the edge of a precipice above the water.  I came upon this view suddenly; it took my breath away, and at the same time an intense sense of awe and peace washed over me. I can still feel the wind off the waves wrapping new strength around me. 

Several years later, I drew it. Recently I wrote prose to accompany it, and entered it into an open art competition, called "Doors to the Imagination", and was thrilled when it took third place. Perhaps that's because, at least this is what I'd like to think, the healing nature of what I saw and experienced that day in the gardens in one moment and breath, transcends the illustration and continues to be shared with others. 

"Horizon II" (3x5, Pen & Ink, Prismacolor Pencil)
From a secure standpoint on high ground, 
Looking through the branches of a weathered pine,  
You wonder...what lies beyond the waves?  
It remains to be seen, left to the imagination.  
Obstacles and the unknown can obscure vision,  
Creating fear or summoning courage.  
The Door to the Imagination is on the Horizon…
...Believe. 

That is what I'd like to share with you today. Have a Blessed Easter.   ~ellen.