Thursday, July 17, 2014

Flowers & Five Senses

Bountiful Blooms
8x10" Watercolor & Water Soluble Pencil on 140# Strathmore 300 Paper
©BEDeuel Bronson Hill Arts


For so many years, I have gardened without gloves. My hands have been scratched, scraped, gouged, & bruised. Repeatedly.

With time, my skin also continues to get more and more sensitive to saps, sticky leaves and ant nibbles. So, this year, I've been trying to wear gloves to keep some of the "damage" under control.

I can't do it. It's too unnatural.

Just in the tedious task of weeding, it is much easier to "feel" where to grip the stem and how to twist and pull the noxious plant without gloves.

Then I started thinking about how tactile gardening can be: the silky sensation of a petal, the waxy smoothness of the pocket of a deep bloom. The strength that supports a multitude of colored crowns and the delicate curliques of a climbing vine can be sensed through naked fingertips.

Reaching deeper into the thought, it became obvious how the flowers in our gardens and in nature's fields envelop all of our five senses.

The visual beauty can be overwhelming in the flow of colors and textures. Either spread sparsely, elegantly amid grasses and trees or clustered like happy children, blending into a mosiac of life, the sight can be stunning.

Of course, inhaling the sweetness and freshness of blossoms is a treat beyond description. Memories and dreams are triggered with the slightest whiff on the breeze. Spring and summer become eternal, following a trail of scents that only flowers can create.

What do you hear in the garden? Whispers of the air sharing a laugh with you. The joyful hum of the bumblebees and the honey bees getting high on nectar. The swooping of swallow's wings, the hovering of the hummingbird.

How do you taste a garden? The berries, the grapes, yes. But just plucking a spike of chive and savoring the spontaneous zing can be delightful. Harvesting sunflower seeds, brewing chickweed tea. There are so many little surprises waiting to be sampled.

The next time you're feeling dull and uninspired, find a garden. Then let your senses run free!

10 comments:

  1. Beautiful flower painting! Valerie

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  2. What a beautiful painting. I love flowers and yours are wonderful. I so can relate to not using gloves when weeding, it's not comfortable and one looses the senses for where to grip as you say.

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  3. beautiful painting! I actually like weeding sometimes.

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  4. What a really gorgeous painting!

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  5. What a an absolutely lovely painting and equally post. I am glad I got to visit.

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  6. Thank you! You are all so wonderful with your support and positivity!

    Secretly, I enjoy weeding, too. It's nicely mindless and yields such lovely results!

    -Barb

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  7. I know exactly what you are feeling, hearing, smelling, tasting, and seeing. I love to be in my garden and to garden without gloves, but oooooo those nasty thistles really hurt without gloves! Thanks for sharing your heart and art!

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  8. Oh, I am with you, forget the gloves--though I do try to use them when I clip the rose bushes and blackberry brambles! How wonderful to find a kindred spirit in the garden. lol Your painting is amazing--I can almost imagine I am there and sense fragrance of the flowers floating in the warm summer air.

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  9. You have written a beautiful post and accompanied with beautiful art.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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