Flowers in Color and in Black and White

When I created the black and white still life for Lesson One of Think Like an Artist Workshop, I was thinking to myself, do I really want to create black flowers? Normally when they turn black, it is not a good sign, LOL. Then, in the mail the other day, there was a flyer for this quilting book:

Maybe I was on to something! While on the subject of flowers, here are some more spring pictures for those of you longing for the snow to melt and temperatures to thaw.

This handsome fellow (a mockingbird) was perched atop the loropetalum bush in full bloom in my front yard. Thanks to my friend, Jean, for identifying this shrub for me when she visited on Wednesday. It is in full bloom now, and has really brightened up the gray days of this rainy week.And here is a last shot of the cherry blossoms before they all drift to the ground, with the loropetalum in the distance.

My earliest daffodils have faded now, but with many varieties, they continue to provide sunny spots of color throughout the yard. These are below one of my garden feeders- OOPS, it looks empty. A chore for this morning!

I like this double flowering variety next to my front steps.

These are candytuft (Iberis) and grape hyacinth against a backdrop of dwarf crimson barberry.

On our morning walk yesterday, I noticed that the Carolina Jessamine is blooming wildly in a vacant wooded lot. And the first of the dogwoods is now blooming. My favorite time of year here in the South is when the dogwoods and azaleas are in bloom.

Unfortunately, as soon as the dogwood trees blossom, so do the pine trees. The dreaded yellow dust of pine pollen is already starting to cover automobiles, lawn furniture, sidewalks and streets. My formerly slate blue porch chairs turn a sickly chartreuse, and so does the seat of your pants when you sit in one. With the current ban on washing cars and hosing off landscaping due to the drought, I guess we will all be seeing sickly green for awhile. At least the rain will help not only the drought, but also the pollen removal. Here are the beginnings of pine pollen forming a sickening scum on the surface of our little garden pond.

Well, after all this nature talk, I am inspired to get back to quilting The Green Man, which I started yesterday. Hope to finish the quilting today and start the embellishing!