Now You See It . . .

The house is still filled with the scent of flowers
as the last of the lilies in my birthday bouquet open.

I love an arrangement like this that's stuffed with buds,
because each morning there's the joy of discovering the newly opened flowers.

It's a bit like walking down the garden while the dew is fresh
and seeing what new things have happened overnight.

At present things are so extraordinarily dry and warm in the garden
that we are about a month ahead with all the plants,
- and being asked not to use our hoses.
Unheard of in an English spring when the one thing we can usually
count on is
rain.

As we were struggling to dig some roots out of the hard dry soil the other day
I noticed this little guy sitting in the shade.
Quite hard to spot but isn't he handsome?
Well I say "he" but I can't really tell because the tell tale front thumbs are hidden.

He got a bit warm after we'd removed the shade and
after I'd taken the camera in
(wouldn't you know it?)
turned to face us and began to pant,
opening his mouth in a wide pale green smile.

The creases under his "arms" were a lovely green too,
and his underside much more pinkish red than brown.

To think we almost didn't see him sitting so much like a dead leaf
amongst other dead leaves.

Like so many other species these
"common garden frogs"
are becoming anything but common.

It's too awful to think we might lose this little jewel of the garden.

One year I found one floating in the watering can
and, thinking it was an old brown leaf,
put my hand in to scoop it out in case it blocked the spout.

I don't know which of us was most startled
but the frog jumped further than I did.
......

While I was thinking how good he was at making himself invisible
I began to think about the
"now you see it now you don't"
aspect of painting.

Some work is so strictly representational that they could be photographs.

Other work gives us very little, or no graphic clues at all,
and usually there is a polarity between who likes what.

I have friends who have asked in a puzzled way why I
"Do this",
pointing to an abstract piece, when I can
"Do that",
meaning a representational work.

Perhaps I'll try and explain why, next time I post.
God Bless