Happy Hosta

 As you can see, the hosta is blooming here...at least this variety is. The all green ones bloom later and have different colored flowers on them.

 You get a better idea of the size of this when you see it with the chair sitting next to it.  (Keep in mind  the planter box that they're in is one foot tall.)

I got a bit distracted just now as the local marching band just went past my house as they practice for upcoming parades. It's one of the things I like about this city is that it's still small town enough to stop traffic long enough to allow this sort of thing and of course I had to laugh because they were twirling flags and playing "Funky Town". Who ever thought old disco tunes would be today's band music? Sometimes life is just SO funny...

50 Ways to leave your lover

I was thinking of Paul Simon's song "50 ways to leave your lover" while out in the garden today. I often think of music while enjoying the sights and sounds of the garden and when this song popped into my head it occurred to me that he had a point. There are a number of ways to approach any situation so when I cut this lily, the first thing I did was drop it on the scanner because it provides a different perspective than just shooting photos of an object. Next I went to photography and shot it against a variety of different backgrounds both outdoors and in where the lighting would vary as well. I'll set these images aside to work with later while I use the actual plant to base a series of drawings and paintings on. How many images and in which media will depend on how long the flower itself lasts. I've only got 2 or 3  plants of this variety in the garden so I'll have to work fast and as usual I'll post the results of my work as soon as I have any (good, bad and all). I'll be looking forward to it as much as you will so be sure to post a comment or two or just check a box to let me know how I'm doing. Thanks!

Take a seat

I'm painting the boards for the seat of this bench today. Doug made a great little video of the project so far with a classical music soundtrack but we weren't able to get it to post here or on Facebook so I'll just burn it to a disc in case I find a way to use it later. Meanwhile I'd better get back to the paints.

Daffodils

As you can see from the first photo it's going to be a while before there are any real daffodils here. Luckily there were some old, nasty silks from some cemetary arrangements that I'm pulling apart to redo this year so I really loved the idea of taking this old, dead energy and trying to spin it into something positive before they're disposed of. This bright little painting was the result and of course the money from it's sale will buy new and better flowers for my Mom & Dad in laws graves ...and the cycle continues. Somewhere in the back of my head old songs play "the beat goes on" and "will the circle be unbroken". Art, music, memories and life that made my week intersting and left me smiling.

Non Function Junction

Joseph Campbell said "It is the function of art to carry us beyond speech to experience." As you can see by todays photos we didn't get there today but we've started the journey...and it was nice listening to the Moody Blues and going between painting a bit here, there, the chair, the cabinet door, the dala horse and just about anything and everything in between. Not great art but a good day and maybe that's the most important creation of all.

The Brightest Seat in the house

I'm still painting that child size chair but really starting to enjoy it this time around and seem to be staying in more or less the same style on each section of the chair. The main change is that instead of working all over the piece I'm focusing on one small area at a time.
As I worked today I was listening to some old cassette tapes I found in a box in the basement, checking and sorting them to see which of them can be sold so I was able to do a couple of jobs at once...and enjoy doing it.

A dull but pleasant day

I spent more time outdoors working on the yard and garden, then indoors for excitement like laundry, dishes and sweeping floors so you can imagine what a treat it was to go down to the lake for live music and the farmers market (one of the vendors even had egg rolls and that's the first time I noticed that-as usual I was looking for the pizza ; )
Now, I'm relaxing at home with a nice cup of hot chocolate with waaay too much whipped cream and thinking life (except for my diet) is good.

Ta da dump,dump,dump

An odd title for this post but a bit more fun because it sounded to me like old time theme music for movie serial or television show and a lot less like the boring reality of hauling a trailer load of trash and recycling from all our building & clean up projects around here to the processing center.
The great thing about having done that is that we can get back to work on the old garage that we're converting into an art studio and workshop.
Which of course goes back to the garden because my inspiration for everything comes from all the plants and flowers here...and of course you have to create a great garden to work with when your favorite things to paint & draw are florals.
We're also planning to use some of the scrap lumber we've set aside to build garden arbors that I will also paint...probably with vines & flowers which of course brings us back to the garden again...which brings us back to the art, which brings us back to gardening etc.,etc.,etc.