Pink Flowers out of the Garden and back again

We planted these from seed so I was very happy when they finally bloomed and eager to do everything I could with them.

First I started with a few drawings on bits of my outgoing mail. This one was on an envelope.

Next I moved on to a card and envelope set in watercolor.

  After that I rearranged the flowers and removed the droopy ones before painting them in acrylics on one of the posts for my wheelchair ramp.

I was quite pleased with the likeness on that and eager to get the post installed so that I could get the full effect.

It pleased me that these flowers had now become a permanent part of the garden where I can see them out of my window all winter long.

Scrap Metal and Jar Lids turned into Art in the Garden

What you see on the side of the ramp is what's going to be a great dimensional sunflower made from part of an old solar light and a jar lid. I can't get into that part of the yard but my sister will be painting the section between the 2 pieces to look like the center of a sunflower and then will paint a stem and leaves up that post.

 The metal sun type piece used to be part of a sun shaped solar light but I'm hoping that when we've finished painting around it we'll have the look of the petals of a sunflower in the wind.

Whether it will actually work will depend on how convincing the rest of the painting is. I'll post pictures of the finished project as soon as I can and you can judge for yourselves.

The effect from across the yard should pull all of the sunflower designs together.

Stripes and Dots Painted on the Wheelchair Ramp

As you can see each post celebrates one of my favorite themes to paint. I'm enjoying both the variety and the contrast that you see when they're displayed together. It's my very own permanent art exhibit.

No one has really mentioned it to me but I did notice a gal taking pictures of it last week and today as I was out painting vines on the arbor a couple of people slowed down or stopped a while and watched me work. I'd rather that they'd stop and talk to me but I assume that they didn't want to interrupt me.

Painting Vines on the Arbor

After a decade of painting this arbor with all sorts of different colors and designs I'm returning to a simpler time and simply painting it white with a few vines on it.

It's a blast from the past and an effort to blend it with surroundings in a more harmonious way. I'm enjoying the results so far but will find it a challenge as I'll only be able to paint what I can reach from the wheelchair. Who knows? Maybe that will lead to more creative design solutions this time around.

Painting Flowers in the Garden and the wheelchair ramp

I thought I'd add a few daisies to the wheelchair ramp. It really shows up great in the shady corner of the front garden.

The wheelchair ramp takes up so much of the front yard that there were only 2 choices possible...or at least I thought so. I figured I either had to paint it to blend in or decide to make it a feature.

What I ultimately decided on was to do a bit of both. The spindles are bright bits of art decorated with some of the flowers that  I grow here in the garden and I'll be staining the top and bottom rails as well the 4x4 posts to match the house.

What's next? Kicking things up a notch with brighter colors and a blast from the past that celebrates my World Chair Design that was published in a magazine years ago.

What I'm really enjoying about this project is that it celebrates both where I've been and where I'm going while making my home a lot more fun to be around.

A few watercolor envelopes

DECORATING ENVELOPES WITH WATERCOLORS:

 I do a lot of this sort of thing between other projects. It's always nice to have a brush in my hands whether I'm doing anything really important.

I picked a few flowers this morning and was planning to do some drawings or paintings with them.

Oh well, maybe tomorrow...

Iris and Lily Art

My brother sent me these great lilies and Iris so I set about drawing and painting them to make a thank you card for him as well as to decorate cards and letters for some of the other great people in my life.

I wasn't pleased with this envelope but you have to start somewhere and it will still get the card to where it needs to go.

On this card I wanted to show him a picture of the flowers I was thanking him for as well as including a drawing to let him know I was putting the flowers to work as well.

Card

Watercolor on envelope

Colored pencil on an envelope

Collage and colored pencil

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.

Current Projects

My sister and I continue to work on this little mural each time she comes to visit.

I also continue to draw the flowers from my garden.

Other things I'm working on are carving horses to paint for my dala horse store and embroidering a handkerchief for a gift.

Covered Bench

Before

In Progress

Finished and ready to plant grapevines and climbing roses on it. Once they cover it we'll have a lot more privacy here.

Waiting on the Garden :Pencil drawings to make your letters more fun

There isn't a lot to do in the garden these days except wait for the tomatoes to ripen, pick a little lettuce and wait to see how the broccoli and carrots will turn out so I took this old photo of last years lettuce and peas and filled the bottom of the card with a drawing based on the design of the teacup holding the veggies.

For a bit of a change I put a rose on this envelope for one on my husbands aunts who used to grow amazing roses.

Adding Light and Bright Touches to an Old Painting

Before

In Progress

Painting Signs and Planters for the Garden

I love it when the weather is nice and I can paint in the garden while painting things for the garden. It inspires me to see the butterflies and the birds fly around while the birds sing and the butterflies bounce back and forth landing on various plants and flowers.The suet seems to be the favorite of the woodpeckers while the chickadees go for the thistle seed. 

As I did this little sign to explain all of the milkweed to the neighbors. I attempted to paint the variety of butterflies that we've been raising and releasing all summer. They're called "Painted Ladies" and I thought that was really appropriate to express what we're trying to do here.

It's hard to see in these photos but the reverse of the sign says "Milkweed for the butterflies"

This little planter stand is seen laying on it's side as I paint it. I'm laying in the basic shapes for the leaves and stems now and will add rosebuds when I go back out to work on it.

While I worked on my projects my husband installed the lattice panels on this garden bench for a bit more privacy in this corner of the garden.