pastel on 300gpm cold-press, pumice surface added, 20x20cm (8x8 in)Poor magnolia, broken by the plow, which tore off three branches and left the shrub kind of lop-sided. Clearly the town has some problems with the way they plow: the shrub is four feet tall, more than four feet from the sidewalk, and got completely buried the same day they blocked me in before Christmas. The magnolia not only lost branches, but has some trunk damage as well (the plow ran right into it).
Two of the branches were pretty well trashed, but when I dug the snow out, I found one branch that was broken off but mostly intact. Magnolia stellata flower buds form in the fall and look very fragile, but survive through the worst winters. So I brought it in and put it in a large bottle/cum vase on my table to see if the buds would open. They did, and though the flowers are not as well-formed or fragrant as they would be on the shrub in the spring, it was pleasant to see them open.
I needed to give them some sort of memorial, so here they are. Nothing in my dining room is red or pink: that's just the way it came out. Think I'll frame it in white, and hang it in my bedroom. My morning smile.
