oceans of violets in bloom

compared to last month, we have many more blooms to show off this time, for garden blogger's bloom day. this is our first spring in indiana, and it's exciting to discover all of the spring flowers in our yard, and our neighborhood. i keep singing that line from the prince song, when the doves cry, because some of our neighbor's lawns are carpeted in blooming violets right now. we have some in our yard too.



we also have some very tiny flowers that look like miniature violets, but i don't know their name.



cosmo's favorite is the dandelion, but he has also learned to spot, and say forsythia. the one blooming outside his bedroom window fills his room with a glorious golden glow when the sun hits it just right. he calls that one "cosmo's for-si-tee-ta"



yesterday we discovered a few grape hyacinths in the lawn. i had been admiring them on our walks, in other people's yards. they might be my favorite of the spring bulbs.



our neighbor jack has a wonderful peach tree in bloom, visible from where i sit right now.



and across the street, a magnolia is peaking. i stole a few blossoms for the house.




our daffodils finally bloomed, and i was inspired to do a watercolor of one of them. when i finished, i remembered something a painting instructor in college once told us: don't bother trying to paint beautiful things found in nature, like sunsets or flowers. you will never be able to make something as beautiful as a sunset. you can't improve on that. instead, challenge yourself to make beautiful paintings out of the mundane objects in our lives (he was really into still life arrangements of boxes, mannequin pieces, etc.).



while i enjoyed painting the daffodil, because it allowed me to do an intimate study of it, the painting really pales against the flower itself, or even the photograph.

our red amaryllis, indoors, is on its second round of blooms. it sure has a striking presence in our living room.



the burst of color all around gives me something to focus my attention on while i wait and wait and wait. when is the predicted last frost date, again??? april 22? may 5?