More Work Inspired by Garden Catalogs

Still Waiting for Spring

The lettuce has come and gone is my hydroponic planter and I'm now growing basil, dill and parsley.
I've already clipped the dill back once to add to a cream of broccoli soup. And may start using some of the basil soon for a bit of Italian cooking.

As you can see out the window over my work area it will be a while yet before I plant anything outdoors. Believe it or not they've got snow in the forecast for later this week!

Gotta get some use out of the garden catalogs that keep popping out of my mailbox so I've been using them to improve my drawing and watercolor painting skills.

This photo the catalog clipping is at the top, with my watercolor below it and a marker drawing on the envelope. When the card is folded the catalog picture will be on the back of it.

Fun with Garden Catalogs

 I started with some photocopies of letter paper I made by recycling some old wall decals of orchids and then I cut a lot of flowers out of garden and flower catalogs to dress it up in different ways before I write letters today.

What's fun about this project is that it takes the catalogs from yesterday's mail and turns them into the letters that will go out in today's.

This version was my attempt to send a friend the perfect day (flowers, tea, birds singing). It was a fun way to use a photo of my new electric kettle and the cover from an old purse calendar. this time I actually used the lumpy original with the wall decals on it. The added texture makes it really interesting.

That time of year in the garden

There isn't much to do with the garden this time of year except to keep looking at the garden catalogs as they come and start planning for the season ahead.
The carrot and radish seeds I buy produce a rainbow of colors in just these 2 veggies and are as satisfying to look at as they are to eat. There isn't much of a budget to work with so I'm depending on the seed I saved from last years wildflowers to brighten up the yard a bit until I can afford to buy something really nice and as always I'll be moving some of the perennials around.
I need to plant something lovely to paint this year...I'm just not sure what. I've spent a lot of time on sunflowers and lilies the last few years so it's probably time to start something new.
I'd sure like to hear from some of you about what you'd like to see me paint next.

Indoors and out

Well, I went as far as I could go with those bags and packed away the ones in progress when I ran out of straps and lining fabric. I'll pick up with them the next time I get supplies.

As you can see I've gone back to the portrait I've been painting and made myself another cotton pot holder.

It's been kind of a dull but peaceful week  I wish I had something a bit more interesting for you to be reading just now but on the other hand, perhaps the fact that things are quiet and peaceful here is just the thing to divert your attention from your busy day and have a bit of a vacation with me.

The warmer weather has had the birds back in the garden and a few have even seemed to take up residence in some of the brightly painted bird houses out on the arbor. Clearly, they think it's spring in spite of the date on my calendar.

There are lots of nice garden catalogs in my mailbox these days and I begin to dream about the new season.

Gardening P's, Planning, Planting, Painting

We're still months away from seeing the soil, let alone planting in it. The garden catalogs fill my mailbox and my imagination, I cut a lot of them up and decorate the borders of my letters while I try to decide which sorts of things I'd really like to grow this year.

The main thought I come back to is how quickly it all goes once the season finally gets here. I prefer to work from fresh flowers because you just can't capture the way the petals feel, move or smell from photos.

My plan this year is to get started now painting backgrounds with some of my favorite dishes on them. That way they'll be ready when the blooms finaly arrive and I can focus all of my time and attention on the flowers themselves this season. I'll let you how it works out.

More Fun with Garden Catalogs

I'm still getting a lot of garden catalogs in the mail and really enjoying clipping out a few flowers and rearranging them into letter paper. The rest of the catalog goes into the recycling and I often use the stationery I create to write and answer that days letters on so it all works out really well and everyone I  write says they're enjoying it a lot so I consider it a win, win situation all around, don't you?

Big Hit at the Nursing Home

I have a lot of fun drawing flowers on the envelopes and more bits of flowers and leaves around the ones I clipped from the days"junk" mail . Now my cousin Susan tells me my "lumpy mail" is "a big hit at the table" in the nursing home she visits. It's been great timing too because this time of year there are garden catalogs in almost everydays mail so I promised I'd keep them comming and I'm already beginning to wear that new set of pencils down in the effort but it's fun to see the looks at the post office when I go in to mail them. For me it's the very best kind of art exhibit, more satisfying than "serious work" in a gallery setting and unlikely to be judged by anyone. Yes, I'm gutless but I'm happy and so are the folks that enjoy my letters and today that's all that matters.

The Art is in the mail

"playing" with an old sketchbook, pencils, and a garden catalog that came in today's mail to make the letters I write more interesting for all of us.

I may not have a lot going on to write about but I can make it fun to look at and sometimes that's enough and allows us all to spend the day together and keep our minds off our problems for a while.