Today's Garden and Bird Watching Photos

This time we remembered to bring the camera with us...

It kind of amuses me to see the size of the hosta next to the bird bath. Several birds landed here while we had coffee but we never managed to catch them in the photo.

These are the only sunflowers in my garden this year so I can't wait for them to open so I can finish the painting that I started of them last season.

This one looks like it's got something to say!

I guess they were relaxing a bit too, they're getting pretty used to us...

I was trying to get a better shot of the sunflowers but thought you'd enjoy seeing the geraniums I repotted yesterday.

City Gardening and Wildlife

The summer has gone by fast. I'm eagerly awaiting the 3 sunflowers in my yard this year and looking forward to planting lots more of them next year. The bird feeders are busy and I enjoyed the company of both watching and listening to the birds as I rearranged my container plants (pulling out the ones that weren't doing well and putting the best of what's left in the large urn in the corner of the yard.) This gives me 3 empty pots that I'll put away until next season and quite a bit of a nice soil mix that I'll  use to get some more transplanting done.
It's a nice feeling to walk out in the yard and find birds at the feeders and birdbaths. The rabbit was sitting by my chair, when you hear about the trouble with bees around the world it's nice to see them looking happy and healthy here. There weren't any butterflies out today but that may just be the change in the weather (we're expecting thunderstorms in the next few hours)
The sun is out right now so I'll enjoy that while it lasts and deadhead a few more lilies before grabbing a cup of tea and heading for my favorite chair.
It's too bad that gardening is such hard work but on the other hand the exercise is good. The main reason I garden of course is for the flowers I draw and paint, somehow the art is better when I've chosen and grown them myself.

Bright Spots in my Day

Progress on the latest watercolor

Low Budget, No Budget Birthday

Sometimes it's just about finding different ways to arrange or use the things you've already got. This time 2 old, heavy lead crystal candle holder/vases held silverware as I set up as much of the serving area on the buffet as I could (that old commercial coffeepot takes up a lot of room) There wasn't enough space left for the glasses and napkins so I arranged them on a cake platter. There aren't enough matching napkins so I just alternated the different patterns in a stack.
Tables were set up both inside the house and out so people could settle in wherever they were comfortable and since I didn't have any birthday decorations I brought up some holiday garlands to help set a festive mood.
I suppose I should have taken pictures when I had put all the food out or written up the menu for you but things had gotten too busy by then.  

One thing I like to do when people come up for events like this is to let them pick a drawing or painting along with the other gifts I'm giving them. Here's the one that left yesterday. I'd almost forgotten this one so I'm waving good bye by putting the design on a lot of items in my store http://www.zazzle.com/julia_art*

Getting things sorted out and organized

I "found" all of these small wooden items in a Rubbermaid bin I'd forgotten in the basement. These will be put on that shelf that runs around the top of the dining room in case anyone that comes to paint would like to do anything with them. This  excites me because having an empty bin will allow me to pack up some of the items that I had been trying to sell on eBay and that will free up 2 shelves of cabinet space that I can use for things I'm doing right now. Most of the organizing shows will tell you to go out and buy a lot of containers, I'll tell you how to make the best use of the ones you have.

This wall makes terrific use of vertical space with storage shelves up to the ceiling.

Don't forget the tops of your cabinets. They're a great place to store things that you don't use often.

Always my painting and drawing comes back to my garden. Around the world weather has made it quite a challenge to grow anything so this dwarf orange tree in my dining room is my back up plan and makes me so happy when it blossoms. I'm along way from actually getting any oranges off of it but it keeps hope alive and helps me dream of better days ahead. What could be better than that?

Sometimes You Just Have To Laugh

A tour of my work table today:
Sometimes it's hard to tell which projects to start with. There are 2 paintings in progress, a set of cloth napkins I'm hemming, several crochet projects, pencils, and a library book in this pile.
This time choosing is easy, The library book wins because it has to be returned in the next week or so and there are a lot of sewing techniques I'm hoping to learn berfore it goes back.

In my last post I was commenting that paintings just don't sell so leave it to life to prove me wrong...AGAIN.

I'm always amazed at the way that the art itself seems to have a life of it's own, I can't tell what's likely to go or what's not but I enjoy the work and was happy to trade one of the recent pieces for one of the other things I needed.

One More For The Road

I was less interested in composition and creating yet another painting that won't sell than I was in just enjoying that last pink lily and creating something pretty that I can put on stickers and stamps when I can afford them. This was an interesting effort that kept my mind off my troubles most of the day.
That's the wonderful thing about painting. It shifts your focus, you relax and your breathing slows as you slip away to a happier and calmer place for a while. That's the most healing thing about it.

The Latest Lily and my best effort so far...at least I think so...

The surprise from the back yard

Somehow in moving things around between the front and back garden this Stargazer Lily got separated and forgotten. I found it yesterday under a raspberry bush and was excited to find that it had opened and bloomed today just in time to help me with that last painting that I had started.

A Little Fun Between Projects

I couldn't resist "playing" with bits of that last painting and used both of these details on products from postage stamps to shoes at http://www.Zazzle.com/julia_art*

You wouldn't believe how cute these pencils made up on a pair of kids shoes with red, green and blue bindings and yellow laces. They were so bright, fun and cheerful that I couldn't help but smile the whole time I was designing them. I'll bet they give you the giggles too!

The garden lilies are fading fast so I thought I'd better come up with a more dramatic background for my next attempt to capture them this season. I haven't quite decided which end is up with this but I'm pleased with the progress so far. What do you think?

The first finished Still Life in DECADES!!!

The last few days have been more or less a blur as I worked on this painting every day and night but it's exciting to combine objects and challenge myself to do a wider assortment of subjects. I'm not sure whether or not my style or technique are improving but I do know the effort has been good for me in many ways. The flowers are nearly gone now but I've sketched out 2 more paintings that I'd like to start. I may have to resort to photos but I'm hoping not. It's either that or working the backgrounds and waiting until next years garden. I'll let you know which way it goes.

I couldn't fit the whole painting into the scanner so I'll be shooting some photos of it tomorrow when the light is better.

Still Life Painting in Acrylics

I started this painting as soon as I cut my stargazer lily from the garden. Since I was working with the same vase as was in my last painting I turned it to get a different angle (the base of it is actually square) and I added a few of the other things I had with me to make a more interesting grouping. Many people have told me that the backgrounds I like To paint are too "busy" and take away from the flowers so I'm going for a more neutral and simple background here. This collection of photos is from the first 12 hours of work on this project and I'll post more as I get more of it done.

Stargazer and Friends

Julia's wild style painting

Early Morning Photos

I went out to do some weeding and move some pots in the garden at 6:30 AM planning to beat the heat but it was already pretty steamy by then. I started pulling weeds out of the mulch up by the house and wished I'd used gravel instead. I find it easier to rake through gravel to pull out the weeds than it is to deal with the mess you get with wood chips. What are your thoughts on the subject?
I pulled up one of the extra large pots from the back yard but there are no photos of the ugly stuff because I just want to look at the flowers. I couldn't decide whether or not to cut some to bring in and draw or paint or just leave them out there until I get a firm idea of what I really want to paint today.
It's a good thing that I gave up and headed for the house after an hour or so because it was raining like
mad by 9:00. Hey, on the bright side of things-I didn't have to worry about watering anything.