Welcome to day thirteen in the 33 Paintings in 33 Days Project of Alaskan artist  Nikki Kinne and Wisconsin artist Helen Klebesadel.

Both Nikki and I spend our thirteenth day doing paintings from direct observation.

Nikki created her painting plein air (on site outside) while traveling to visit friends in the Alaskan Kenai Peninsula.  This lovely little painting captures the natural light and gesture of the trees and water that are her subject as she painted on the river near the  home of her friends.

I spent my time focused on careful observation of the Milkweed plants in my back yard while their wonderful perfume continues to waft through the air.  This plant’s buds are just on the verge of bursting into flower.

I know that one of the reasons I paint is so that I can have an excuse to sit spend my time looking carefully at plants, examining how they are constructed and discovering their special magic that is so easy to brush by and take for granted.  I read somewhere that the real work of artists is to notice those things that other people don’t slow down enough to see, and to hold up what they discover for the rest of the world to notice too.  So…checkout these Milkweeds and this lovely riverbank in Alaska!

Thank you for joining us in our careful observation of nature’s beauty.

My artworks for this project available for sale online in my Meylah shop here: http://meylah.com/HelenKle​besadel  I post them each day after they are posted in the blog.