Daily Archives: May 26, 2017

Take A Hike

Posted May 26, 2017 by Kerry McFall

Some of the best advice ever: Take a Hike.  Get outside.  Move, Breathe deeply.  Listen.  Really look at your world.

painting of cow parsnip

“Take a Hike”, mixed media by Kerry McFall

I wandered up to Bald Hill on Monday, taking my own advice and also wanting to postpone another round of phone calls to insurance company robots.  It was lovely, and I was delighted at the varieties of wildflowers in bloom.  Cow parsnips get the prize for biggest, flashiest blossoms and they are EVERYWHERE.  Their big lacy umbrellas are really tall this year, over my head.  Looking up from beneath them gives them a glow against the bright sky, which I tried to portray in this painting by using a dark background.  The batik effect of that background is thanks to a post by Elsbeth McLeod of Sketchbook Skool, where she described using plastic wrap on wet paint to create random shapes  – I’m pleased with it, although my resident critic says the light spot is a bit too light and draws attention away from the blossom.  Hmm.  After it dried, I added a few light layers of colored pencil using the side of the lead, which highlighted the paint edges and also gave nice overall texture.

As for those phone robots, I have to shake my head at how we as consumers put up with such horrendous customer service.  How did we ever let them get away with this?  Why is there never an option that says, “Press 3 with your middle finger to flip a bird at the corporate MBAs who thought this was a good idea…”  After 15 minutes of pressing this, that, and the other, I get the privilege of listening to music on hold for half an hour before a human being answers.  And for this I pay over $450 a month?!  Grr.  I need another hike.

For an interesting comparison between this plant and Queen Anne’s Lace, here’s a web page ink http://www.nwplants.com/information/white_flowers/white_comparison.html.