A miracle: we actually had clear skies here for the annual Leonid Meteor Shower. However, there was a full moon, making it difficult to see many meteors. I got up at my usual time: about 5 AM, started the coffee going, then went outside with the cats to “see what we could see”. My point-and-shoot camera is unable to take night photos, so I tried to remember the scene. Owls hooted out in the swamp. Cats frolicked. The bright moonlight struck the blue bottles, making them sparkle like diamonds. Magical! I had to try to paint the scene from memory!
I set up my easel in front of the porch at first light, looking through the “forest” of blue bottle trees.* That’s about as much “plein air” as I could do with this. The rest is all from memory.
*Blue bottle trees — I saw my first blue bottle tree way back around 1994, in New Mexico. It was the last day of an art workshop and our class was celebrating, having lunch in an outdoor restaurant. There was a house with a big blue bottle tree next door. Aha! I knew that someday I’d have one of my own.
For more on the history: https://southcarolinalowcountry.com/blue-bottle-trees/
Margie Guyot Art 