Adding Color When the Flowers Fade

 Cool weather comes early in Minnesota. Most of my garden is gone already. the only things that remain in bloom are the marigolds and the seedum.

It won't be long before the only color here will be the painted spindles on my wheelchair ramp.

The last time I painted this the birds were bluebirds and the flowers were daisies.

This time my goal was to make it as brightly colored as possible so I'll have a nicer view out the window when the snow flies.

Wrapping up the wheelchair ramp project

After 2 years of painting and planning I'm down to just the last two posts. I'm also doing a border design on the rails but it feels good to say it will be finished and I can move on to other projects.

The next question will be what to do with the 2 years of project photos and the story behind them. So far I'm considering a video or a paper scrapbook of some sort.

I love the way my projects go together and hope that someday others will appreciate it as well. You can see more of this on my Dala Horse Blog.

The End Of The 2017 Garden

The season went really fast this year. All that's left of the garden are a few Sunflowers, potatoes and a few tomatoes...and of course in the house there's plenty of raspberry jam and a few peas and pea pods in the freezer.

As you can see here I did some painting from the sunflowers while I wait for the Jerusalem artichokes to bloom.

In the house I'm growing lettuce, strawberries, chamomile and a daisy.

It's handy to have them at the table so that I can make sure things get watered or picked when needed.

Back in the garden our butterflies have returned and have been hanging around the sedum and some of our other plants.

Of course the painted ramp goes on and will provide color in the garden over the winter months.

Painted Birdhouse for the Ramp Project

This bright and busy design on a birdhouse is a great way to practice your brushstrokes and have something to show for all of your hard work.

I took the opportunity to vary the shape, size and color of the different strokes to find out which ones I like best.

This project took me about 3 days start to finish but the time it would require for you may vary depending on how much of it you want to do at a time.

There were only 2 sides of this birdhouse that weren't made up of slats so I painted one red and the other blue and then added a few flowers to them.

You can see here how the wheelchair ramp inspired my design.

What a Difference a Day Makes

 With recent temps around 60 degrees I'd been planning to get out in the garden an do some transplanting. Imagine my surprise when I woke up to snow! I took these photos about 10:00 AM.

It, of course changed my plans a bit but was a pleasant day all the same.

You have to love weather in Minnesota, the snow had gone again by 2:00 PM

I have another painted post ready to add to the ramp and have been busy painting 2 more.

One of the reasons for painting all of the posts differently is so that I can use it as a reference when trying to choose the best color combinations to use for various designs. Another of course is so that when people ask me what sorts of things I paint I can merely point them to the ramp instead of having to launch into long discussions or descriptions. There are a lot of reasons for doing this project but of course best of all, it makes everyone smile and makes me happy.