Cat Doodles

I had started this drawing a long time ago but ran out of a lot of the colors I'd been using so I'd set it aside. Today I needed to send a friend a card that would fit into a standard business envelope so I cut part of the drawing to fit and folded it in the center so that the front and back wouldn't have to match which of course made it easier to finish and color in.

When I finished and folded it I cut a light, bright green piece of paper to line it with and write my message on. My friend loves cats so this should work out nicely for both of us.

Lemonade Project:Making things out of whatever comes your way

I'm always making things out of anything that comes my way. In between all of the things I'm doing with the garden, the computer and the mail there's always some crocheting. It doesn't get much respect but it's really one of the ultimate "something out of nothing" projects. All you really need is a long strand or string of anything that's handy (I recently saw a show on television where a woman was crocheting large scale sculptures out of wire and fishing line...and people say I have crazy ideas...). The actual crocheting can be done with your hands, a regular crochet hook or a stick of some sort with a notch in it to pull the yarn with. As far as I'm concerned it's a magic trick of sorts that can be accomplished by almost anyone.

This week I finished another hat for charity and 4 potholders for various members of my family. There are no photos here because they're the same type that I always make and because I gave them away as soon as they were finished so there wasn't time to scan them.

I found the designs in my last post to be a "lemonade" project too. They all came from a corner of a photo of  lily leaves on the edge of my driveway. There are 3 or 4 iris that pop up over there in the course of a summer too but there won't be anything blooming over there for a couple of months and those will all be orange.

Orange is not my favorite color so I do consider that "life gives you lemons" so I loved the idea that I could create an abstract design out of them in so many different colors..."lemonade" indeed.

Designing with Lily and Iris leaves

My first purple Iris and a great view of roses against the house

This is the only one of these Iris to bloom this year so I'm reluctant to cut it and bring it in to draw or paint. I may do it tomorrow but haven't quite decided on it yet.

I did cut it and was headed to the house with it when a neighbor stopped by to visit. Yes, you guessed it. I gave it away instead of bringing it in.

This is my favorite picture of the roses so far this year.

I liked it so much that I put it on cards to write my letters on . ( both the homemade paper and tape ones and some professionally printed ones where I was also able to include one of my rose drawings done in colored pencil.) I also created matching postage stamps and stickers which can be found in PaperHugs (one of my stores on Zazzle.)

Roses gone wild

Roses to the roof

It's hard to tell what's in this tangle of roses and grapevines but it's clearly headed to swallow up my house as well as the yard. It seems to have mistaken the TV antenna for a trellis and it's running up that too.

You can see the edge of the roof but not much more of the house. The aroma fills the air and is almost overpowering if you should open a window on that side of the house.

The garden at the center of the universe

Everything comes from my garden. Food, inspiration, art, relaxation, exercise...the list is endless and of course includes the businesses where I market some of the artwork I create on various household items.

It made me laugh this week to create over 1/2 dozen new designs simply based on the unmowed grass in the corner of one of the photos that I took of my tulips a few weeks ago.

As I changed the image over and over again I eventually reduced it to what appears to be a perfectly conventional neutral tweed pattern and it really amused me to create something so classy out of a yard that's wildly grassy.

Oh dear, I find myself starting to rhyme so I'll sign off for mow before I drive us all a bit crazy.

Have fun! Don't take life so seriously, you'll enjoy it more.

Drawing Iris in Pencil

I'm just getting started on this but thought I'd share it with you as I go along.

I'm taking a bit of a lazy approach today, more coloring than drawing but I still think it's going well, don't you? I'm using cheap pencils and they don't blend well. Some brands definitely work better than others.

Adventures of a lone Iris

It's nice to see that at least one of these Iris made it through the winter.

It's funny what will grow when other things won't. My neighbor is not having much luck with her lawn this year. This row of Iris and lilies is the border between us.

I tried to photograph it from several different angles before I cut it so that I'll have something to go by if the flower doesn't last until I finish my drawing.

The weather was nice today so we also took some time to carve some more wooden horses.

Here's my favorite photo of this Iris so far.

I hope your day has been a lovely one too. summer goes by much to fast to waste a moment.

Beyond the garden photos

After altering the flower pictures in all of the ways I could think of the thought occurred to me that there must be a way to do something useful with the unmowed grass and the weeds as well so I isolated those areas of the photos and went back to work with an assortment of filters and other things in the paint program.

Why would I bother? Sometimes it's just to see how far I can push an idea but today I'm looking for designs that would adapt themselves well to neckties and no one will ever guess just looking at them that the design was inspired by nature...although I think the guys would like to know that the whole thing started by NOT mowing the lawn.

It's surprising the number of colors and effects you can create with the computer, isn't it?

I think I'll be "playing" with this idea a lot more through the rest of the season.

Who knows?...I may try it with the veggies too.

Variations on white flowers

Taking the Tulips to the computer

Taking a closer look at a sunflower painting

It's interesting to look at your old paintings is a new way. I shot some new photos with different lighting to see if that would give me any new ideas.

I cropped it in a few new ways to and will see what can be done with the new images.

Patio Garden in Progress

It's a bit hard to imagine now but eventually the whole area from the house and this end of the driveway will become one large patio and container garden. Those few pots of hosta on the lower left of the photo are to mark the area and keep me inspired to finish the job.

There wasn't much to work with this year so that big brown pot is simply filled with some carrot seed, a box of wildflower seed from the dollar store and one old potato from my kitchen. So far it looks like at least some of it is off to a good start.

This is my favorite spot to sit and relax in the middle of my projects out here. The nice thing is that the pretty lace tablecloth is just plastic and can be left outside until the sun breaks it down. Last year just 2 of them got me through the whole summer. Inexpensive, Elegant and fun makes them one of my favorite things for summer entertaining.