Growing in Every Way

I'm growing some Basil for a friend and am amazed at how fast it's going. I'm assuming it's the extra attention that I've been giving it. Whether it is or isn't I'm very pleased with the results.

My art however, hasn't grown at all so I'm going through my best sketchbook and picking up where I left off on a number of projects over the years in hopes of rekindling some fire and interest in other projects. No real results yet but there's always hope.

I tried a few sketches and things but only managed to confirm the fact that I'm really out of practice. Realizing that I Decided to move on.

 

A few pages away was this drawing/painting of Iris that I thought might be a good idea to base an acrylic painting on.

I started by making a black and white copy of it to help me choose the number of light and dark areas of color I would need to stat painting with.

 

Inspired and Taking Mixed Media a Step Further

Inspired by the colors of this summers flowers I decided to pull my paints and collage materials out and try something new. 

 Somehow adding the bits of sheet music and vintage book text adds an extra layer  of meaning to your work and makes it more interesting to  others.

Here are some closer views to help you appreciate these pieces more.

1 Garden Floral Arrangement, 4 different ways

We went through the garden to see what's still blooming and make an arrangement of flowers to draw or paint.

I've just got a few perennials to work with so it's always a challenge to make them look nice.

 

I was pleased by the number of looks I was able to achieve just by moving the flowers around.

 The best thing about them is that the yellow lilies came from one of my sister in laws houses and the roses are from 3 generations of my husband's family farms. So they feel like a hug and make my heart happy.

More Collages

 I realize that a lot of these are looking more or less the same but that is because i had a lot of copies of a lot of the same source material.

I use a lot of these to cut up and make greeting cards by hand with. some people like to see how some of these are  made.  

This one especially amused me because it included favorite pictures of myself in a hat.

including elements that mean a lot to me makes them more fun.

This Years Iris

 

Roses

 The summer is going so fast that I barely get one type of flower photographed before the next one comes along. I've probably even missed a few.

Today the Roses Dominated everything.

These are on the right side of the yard coning from the street. The are along the stone path that I use to get from the front sidewalk to the driveway.

These are mostly wild roses and heritage roses from my husband's family farm. Moved along with us from place to place over the last 40 years or so. Dividing and moving them from time to time has taken them from about a half dozen plants to many bushes around 3 sides of our yard. it may have been full hedges by now but we gift several bushes each year so it's kept the numbers down.

All of the roses here are from the same source. The ones in this photo are to the back of the yard on the left hand side from the street.

On the front of the left side of the yard is our Butterfly Garden where you will find many native pollinators and host plants along with the rose and lilac bushes.

Here we are in front of the house looking up from the street and our hand painted, floral wheelchair ramp.

No matter where you look, you just have to smile.

Rasperry Bushes

A lot of people have mixed feelings about raspberry bushes. I'm aware of that but I have a rare love and appreciation for them because they fed us in the lean years, they keep the bees happy and I've been able to gift them to people when I had nothing else to give.

We don't need to depend on them like we used too and they've taken over the entire back yard as I attempt to find them a new home.

 This years posts won't be about that. I'll simply be following one bush that I've moved into my tea garden.

I'm planning to keep  this one trimmed and hopefully under control as I'm confined to a wheelchair and have had to abandoned the rest.

I'm still trying to give the rest away or turn it into a u-pick. wish me luck.

Julia

 

A Look Around The Veggie Garden

I'm happy to say I've finally been able to get radishes to grow here after failure for three years. Each year I would change the location and soil mix. The key to success here was to add a lot of peat moss to lighten up our heavy clay soil.

Here are some variations of a recent painting of lettuce leaves. i was trying to catch the way the light looked as it showed through the leaves and remind everyone how beautiful the simple things in life can be.

The painting is an acrylic on stretched canvas. In this case I manipulated it on the computer to see what it would have looked if I had drawn it instead.

This is the what it looks now. I'll be waiting for another day, when I feel more inspired to capture light in a better way.

These planters hold an assortment of things. Tomatoes, beans, peas, carrots, cucumbers and a number of other things.

Yes, I've also poked a few flowers in between things to make it pretty for afternoon teas and other events.

Yes, I also want to grow the peace and the happiness here and harvest joy. It's my little world ands I love it dearly no matter what anyone else thinks.