Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) and Yellow Honeysuckle (Lonicera flava) are two species of native honeysuckles that grow here. They aren't invasive and won't choke out trees or other flora. Unfortunately, they don't have a scent but the bees and hummingbirds still love them. Both of these are blooming now.

I added a thin yellow layer to my owl painting. If you're interested in the thinking that goes on behind a painting (or at least the thinking *I'm* doing while making one, lol), I have a blog post. It also gives the color sources I used: https://www.wildozark.com/essence-of-sunlight/

They're blooming now! I put the video in the course (Classroom tab), but here's a pic:

This morning, since it's dreary outside, I decided to take some time to work on my owl painting. But I found that I didn't have one of the colors I wanted. It's from a greenish siltstone and makes a sage/grayish/yellowish green that's really nice for background hills especially for scenes set in fall or winter, or an underbody color for other seasons. So, first I had to make some paint. I'm working in thin layers for this painting, so it's going to take a while to reach the finish line. Every layer has to dry before I can add more. So not a whole lot gets done in each session. I won't begin on the trees, fence, or owl until I get the sky and background finished. But already I like the depth the distant hill gives to the scene. 1) where it started out 2) where I left it today 3) the rock and a pile of pigment from a rock like it, ready to make the paint

Well, when I went to do the swap to the lower price plan for hosting this group, I found out that my URL will change and it won't redirect to whatever generic string the new one becomes. This is a huge problem because I've put out a lot of marketing with this nature-connection URL. I don't even know where all they are, lol. Sooooo, I think for now it's going to stay as it is until I think this over some more.