Beauty and Inspiration.

This time of year, I stumble over beauty.  Everywhere.

It pops up in my delicious peonies.  Each and everyone is a delight.  The smell is sweet and spicy and tangy.  I sniff and smile and melt into each fresh flower.  The double pinkness overflows onto the grass because the blossoms are so heavy, so heady and so abundant that they can not hold themselves up. Ah, I'm forced to trim them so they don't break and bring their sweetness inside where the fragrance fills my rooms.  

My favorite rose bush is blooming too.  It's a red and white swirl of softness with just a slight scent that's more peppery than sweet.  Quite a contrast to the peonies.  And if that's not enough deliciousness, the calla lilies are blooming, honeysuckle is out in full force marching across my fence and my small strawberry plants have delicate pink flowers.

And that's a surprise, because usually it's peonies, roses, calla lilies and then, honeysuckle.  But this year, it's all of them at the same time.   

It's abundance.  It's fragrant.  It's beauty.  It inspires me even when I don't realize it.

This week in the studio, I was playing with shapes that I realize, now,  came from my backyard.  The little figures were inspired by the lemon balm and the fern fronds bending upwards.   The vases furled and undulated like my beautiful calla lilies.

My hands worked away, my mind unaware of beauty's inspiration all around.