BIRD OF PARADISE

I wrote a letter to you my friend

So many letters that I never send

I think about you at the days end

The time that we had

I laughed in my bed

The stupid things you said -

We were two birds in Paradise

When I was a little girl

With clay horses and lambs on the shelf

I caught frogs in ditches, listened for elves

My friends and I had a world unto ourselves

No grownup could find us when we

Made our plans so secretly

To run away and fly to be

With the two birds of paradise

from Birds Of Paradise, the Pretenders

Today I put the final touches on and delivered the painting I worked on last week (affectionately called the Dodibop (for my friend Dodi plus Bird Of Paradise)) She was really happy and she was surprised at its size (40" by 48"). I'm pleased with it too. I came up with an image after looking through hundreds of pictures on Google Image search (which I cannot live without), never even thinking I'd find an actual plant in bloom here in February. But one was; SBomb drove me over to see it last week, and in just the nick of time because I was having a hard time understanding the blue part of the flower (the stamen, I think). Seeing the real thing helped a great deal. It also revealed a few inaccuracies in my painting, but so be it. Every time I paint without the real thing for reference I swear I won't do it again because I always end up having to guess at some detail; a shadow, a hue, a texture; it never fails! But I always manage to find myself in the same position again...

Those who realize their folly are not true fools. Chuang tzu, Works, 400 BC

So there's hope for me! :) Love, RED