The First "Frit" Sighting

Those of you familiar with wildflowers may understand that "call". Living here in Jacksonville, OR, I've come to be acquainted with this silly sounding name for a plump, richly colored, trumpet-like rare flower. We here in Jacksonville even have an entire month we celebrate this blossom, we post children's drawings of the flower all over local business windows and have a hike-a-thon in April in search of the first "frit". The Scarlet Fritillary (Fritillaria recurva) is from the Lily Family.


So the other day, when Roland, Cody and I'd gone on a short hike and I'd stumbled across my very first "frit" sighting, I was thrilled. We've lived nearly 5 years here and on most of our hikes, it was more in the heat of the Summer, when all the lilies were long ago wilted. Among nothing but grey sticks, stretching across a dry, high ridge, this lil beauty glistened with it's robust color. Of course, she had to be the beginning for a new journal first entry.


My painted version shares the page with the starting sketch from our Ashland First Friday Artwalk for April. These pigment tubes are 'on sale' from a peer studio artist and was something I could quick sketch out on a bustling Friday evening. I played with the copper metal flakes to add the sparkle of the metal lid in which the tubes lie. A pleasant, colorful start for a new journal. And you know . . . the journal continues and continues :)


Happy Creating!