A few watercolor envelopes

DECORATING ENVELOPES WITH WATERCOLORS:

 I do a lot of this sort of thing between other projects. It's always nice to have a brush in my hands whether I'm doing anything really important.

I picked a few flowers this morning and was planning to do some drawings or paintings with them.

Oh well, maybe tomorrow...

Iris and Lily Art

My brother sent me these great lilies and Iris so I set about drawing and painting them to make a thank you card for him as well as to decorate cards and letters for some of the other great people in my life.

I wasn't pleased with this envelope but you have to start somewhere and it will still get the card to where it needs to go.

On this card I wanted to show him a picture of the flowers I was thanking him for as well as including a drawing to let him know I was putting the flowers to work as well.

Card

Watercolor on envelope

Colored pencil on an envelope

Collage and colored pencil

Campfire Tomatoes

I'm really enjoying the garden these days. It's fun that the tomatoes are on each side of that arched bench along with the lettuce so you don't need to go far to have a salad.

For me, good garden design is all about ease, comfort and accessibility.

I like to make it a seamless experience by keeping everything handy and fun.

This will be even better when the grapes start going good on the trellis.

 My whole philosophy is that things should be both useful and ornamental. A campfire isn't exactly beautiful but it's useful for helping with garden clean up and we really enjoy relaxing and watching it at the end of a long day.

Current Projects

My sister and I continue to work on this little mural each time she comes to visit.

I also continue to draw the flowers from my garden.

Other things I'm working on are carving horses to paint for my dala horse store and embroidering a handkerchief for a gift.

Covered Bench

Before

In Progress

Finished and ready to plant grapevines and climbing roses on it. Once they cover it we'll have a lot more privacy here.

Waiting on the Garden :Pencil drawings to make your letters more fun

There isn't a lot to do in the garden these days except wait for the tomatoes to ripen, pick a little lettuce and wait to see how the broccoli and carrots will turn out so I took this old photo of last years lettuce and peas and filled the bottom of the card with a drawing based on the design of the teacup holding the veggies.

For a bit of a change I put a rose on this envelope for one on my husbands aunts who used to grow amazing roses.

Adding Light and Bright Touches to an Old Painting

Before

In Progress

Painting Signs and Planters for the Garden

I love it when the weather is nice and I can paint in the garden while painting things for the garden. It inspires me to see the butterflies and the birds fly around while the birds sing and the butterflies bounce back and forth landing on various plants and flowers.The suet seems to be the favorite of the woodpeckers while the chickadees go for the thistle seed. 

As I did this little sign to explain all of the milkweed to the neighbors. I attempted to paint the variety of butterflies that we've been raising and releasing all summer. They're called "Painted Ladies" and I thought that was really appropriate to express what we're trying to do here.

It's hard to see in these photos but the reverse of the sign says "Milkweed for the butterflies"

This little planter stand is seen laying on it's side as I paint it. I'm laying in the basic shapes for the leaves and stems now and will add rosebuds when I go back out to work on it.

While I worked on my projects my husband installed the lattice panels on this garden bench for a bit more privacy in this corner of the garden.