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.

Update on the Garden and Patio Area so far. Junk Sculpture,Salvage and Recycling

 Hello there! I'll bet you've been wondering what's going on around here...besides trying to keep the squirrels from eating all of my strawberries.

I retouched the paint on that junk sculpture trellis but decided it was just too boring so I grabbed my paints and kicked the color up a notch.

My favorite change was turning the large flowers into sunflowers. Making the other flowers red and painting some vines on the frame seems to have helped a lot. My next plan is to make the birds a bright blue and maybe even the trim on the birdhouse to bring the color all of the way through.

It's still slow going with the wheelchair and the lack of money but it's turning into a more comfortable and happy space all of the time.

The next phase of the project will be to retouch the paint on the patio furniture.
what colors are still yet to be determined but salvage efforts have turned up some cans of primer and a bit of green paint so far.

Fall Comes to the Garden

I'm amazed that the impatiens are still going strong. This entire planter full came from one tiny hanging basket that I divided and transplanted. It's hard to believe a whole season of  color for under six dollars.

 The weeds and plants got away from me this summer but I'm raking them out of the gravel now.

Things are a mess as we moved the campfire ring up to our little patio area but it's been nice to have as the weather cools off.

It's also handy for dealing with branches and old logs...and a good place to cook up a little something as well.

Sitting around the campfire

Made you look! Clearly, we won't be doing that anytime soon. The temps are so far below zero here that the schools are closed again. All of this snow and cold has put me on the mood to design Christmas cards again. This time I'm taking the idea I used for horses, butterflies and cats and using it with Christmas Trees. 

The nice thing about Christmas trees is that I can practice a lot of different border strokes and use them as garlands on the trees. A little hot, spiced cider helps set the mood and I may go for a bit of holiday music as well...

As you can see by this scan I'm taking a couple of different approaches to the idea and working in flat, liquid acrylics. When I come up with a completed design I'll clear coat it  for protection before it goes into storage.