Mimi Torchia Boothby

This is a study for a project I am doing. What does it look like, inside a rabbit hole? Does it look cosy? Scary? Does it look like the rabbits like it?

During the month of February, I pledged to write one letter (or more) every day. There’s a group that uses the acronym INCOWRIMO (and they have a blog too, google it) that helps people find other penpals to play. And of course, I couldn’t just write letters. I had to paint stuff. This is a painting of my hand. I sent it as a postcard to the owner of the blog at Http://handinfriendship.com who asked people to send them hands. Follow the link, she’s got a lot of hands on there! A lot of creativity on those pages from people who live all over the world. Oh, and yes, that’s Chinese. I have been doing a little of that for fun.

It is nearly spring here in Tallahassee, and more and more wild plants are starting to bud out and flower. Notable among these is the Spiderwort. They look like someone rather mad designed them; with the strange angles to the leaves, and the three petaled flowers. They are diurnal, which means each flower lasts just one day. But they are pretty!

Today was my last portrait session in Tallahassee, as next Monday my cats and I will be flying back to Seattle. We watched expectantly as different possible portrait models walked through our room, after Tom told us our model wasn’t coming. And then Florence walked in. She was diminutive and soft spoken. She couldn’t see very well, and it was okay with her that we asked her to remove her glasses. She’d never sat as a model before, but was clearly an over achiever, no model we’d ever had held the pose as long as she did. We had to insist she take breaks. Her face was like a rhapsody. Sometimes she smiled, she looked like she was in a rapture, other times, the lines changed, her lips thinned, and she looked sad. I wish I could get her to talk. I knew she had stories to tell.

This is the pretty fan-leaved shrubby tree that most people think of as a Palmetto. With a casual glance, they are hard to tell from the Sabal, but the Sabal’s leaves are not so round. I am really loving painting these trees in misty vague landscapes. I hope you are enjoying them too.