finished journal page

My fire annuals were all painted on the same page - so I added the bit of homework I had done in researching them and now have a completed journal page.

Thank you for all of the wonderful comments along the way ....

a wild lotus

(Lotus strigosus)

This is another fire annual in my little series (see these posts).

From what I read about this one, it grows in "disturbed earth."

I imagined giant bulldozers and earth movers creating housing pads for sub-divisions .... a common sight in Southern California ..... they do more than "disturb" the earth ..... but maybe this miraculous plant is one that would erupt out of such a horrid place in the spring after the winter rains.

These wildflowers are truly miraculous.

Growing in fire scar areas and disturbed earth.

You go girl.

another fire annual

.... in THIS earlier post and THIS earlier post you can see and read about the California Fire Poppy and the miraculous event of particular wildflowers thriving in a fire scarred chaparral area.

Here is another such flower:

Phacelia brachyloba.

Someone wondered about the paper I use ....

.... it's a watercolor journal that was a gift from my Dad.

The journal paper is handmade 100% cotton rag and made in India.

It's quite thick and heavily textured.

You have to be careful because it doesn't tolerate "scrubbing" too well ....

.... so I'm learning to live with any mistakes I've made and not try to fix them.

Also, any pencil marks are not very easily erased because of that same problem.

It's a good paper to have in a journal.

Erasing and scrubbing are counterproductive to journaling.

Thank you for all of the wonderful comments on this particular series.

The sense of community in bloggerland is just exactly what I love about it.

It's the next best thing to being back in art class again :)

finding color

here are my fire poppies again.

in the earlier post, Elizabeth had commented,

"I love that your drawing of the fire poppy has not yet seen color."

here I've done them with only color and no black lines at all.

finding color.

the fire poppy

This miraculous flower is among a precious few species that ONLY emerge and carpet the ground following a wildfire - specifically a wildfire of the California type - burned chaparral and sagebrush overgrowth. They are called "fire annuals" or "fire followers," and their seeds will lie dormant in the soil for 50 years or longer - and only germinate after a fire. Fire poppies will grow profusely for several years but will eventually disappear again as the chaparral plants return.

The regular chaparral plants such as sagebrush, black sage and laurel have very strong toxins which permeate the soil around the plant and act as germination inhibitors. But these toxins burn away in a fire and other plants seeds will flourish - this is what gives a "fire scar" bounteous flowers that haven't been seen in years.

There was a house fire in our neighborhood this weekend - fortunately no one was hurt - but the house is a "total loss."

Have you got something in your life that is or was a "total loss?"

Watch for those precious miraculous things that will germinate ONLY in those conditions.

I know that might sound preachy - especially if you're in the thick of things right now - but just try to remember the fire poppy .......