My Garden

I certainly haven't done much art since my last blog almost a month ago as I have been too busy with my garden and my flowers.

 As well as taking care of the flowers in all the pots and in the garden, this year we decided to enlarge the shade bed in the front yard. We get mostly moss and weeds in this area because of the lack of sunlight and the fact that it is very close to the forest. I think it will look super once it is all finished.

We also added more gravel to this side at the back of the house and for the same reasons. I still need to get some perennials in both of these areas but that will probably wait until the fall.

A lot of people may wonder about all the gravel but I find that it really cuts down on weeding and it keeps water away from the walls of the house. And, it makes a nice backdrop for the flowers in the pots.

We still have a number of jobs to do outside so it will be a while before I get much art done but I am rather enjoying the 'holiday'.

I really like to hear from you so please leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by!

Flowers in my Garden

No art today, just some photos of some of the flowers in my garden. Most of the annuals haven't come into their own yet but the perennials are doing just fine.

I often wish that many perennials would bloom all season instead of just in the Spring. It would be lovely to have the colour and the scent of Peonies all summer long.

I bought a few Fuchsia at the garden centre this year. I liked the pictures on the info cards in the pots but was still surprised when the plants started to bloom.

It is hard to tell from photos but the blossoms in the first two pictures are huge - what a surprise that was! You can get an idea by comparing the buds but I just picked the different types because of the colour.

And, finally, a few pictures of the only rose I have left. When we moved here there were four or five roses in the gardens; I have managed to kill all but this one. I guess they just aren't my thing.

Now for today's quote!

                                         If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

They do not know who to attribute this saying to but think it might be from the Roosevelt or Truman eras. It is thought to be a southern US saying but the first 'recorded' use was during the Nixon administration. I know I heard it long before then and it is one of my 'go to' phrases to this day. I use it or think it often: when they change Facebook or the layout at the grocery store, when the product you have used and loved gets 'new and improved' and isn't. I know there are many instances that I think fit this phrase; what are some that fit for you?

Thank you Sheila Delgado for nominating me for the Three Quotes in Three Days challenge. This is day two.

The rules are simple:

    Thank the person who nominates you
    Post one quote per day for 3 consecutive days
    Nominate three new bloggers each day

As I wrote yesterday, I will not be nominating more bloggers as I just don't know enough that are not already doing the challenge.

It would be great to hear from you - Thanks for stopping by!

Odds and Ends

I haven't been doing much art lately as I have been too busy with yard work and getting my flowers planted. Today was the first time in over 2 weeks that I picked up a brush and, of course, I painted another scene of the Creston Valley.

Cloudy Skies over the Valley - 7 x 10 watercolour

I haven't been completely without art in the last few weeks; I have done a few bits of quilling in my spare time. And, I gave a small Quilling Party on the weekend.

Mini hummer and flower with buds

an ATC with the mini quilling

more mini humming birds and a Canadian dollar coin (loony)

These mini quilling pieces were done with 1/16" paper strips and were VERY difficult to do! I started making them because my blogging friend Nelvia McGrath - Nelvia's Blog  - suggested swapping ATCs. I have a few ATCs made but thought the one I chose for the swap needed a bit extra to make it more interesting - thus the quilling. Then a friend asked me to make her one so I did a few more but I was more than happy to get back to normal sizes for the Quilling Party.

my quilled card

I always forget how long it takes beginners to get their fingers working when learning how to quill with 1/8" paper strips; maybe next time I will start them with the 1/4" paper. At any rate, we all managed to complete a card during the party and the ladies were so interested that they plan to come for regular lessons to learn more. Unfortunately, I was so busy I forgot to take photos of their cards - sigh, when will I learn to have the camera in the room with me!

I have a number of projects in mind for the next while and, hopefully, I will have the time and the energy to do them. Then I will share.

Thanks for stopping by! Please leave a comment as  I would love to hear from you!

30 Paintings - Day 6!

I am not sure if today's painting is abstract or impressionist but it was fun to do and I quite like it.

#1071 - Spring Blossoms - 8 x 10 acrylic

I only added some alizarin to my palette but it is amazing how much difference one colour can make. I use a stay-wet palette so my paints stay good for a long time. I have almost finished the colours I started with on Feb 1 and will be introducing more variety as those get used. I am also reusing some old canvases - saving money and clearing out some questionable art.

I have been seeing some really interesting art from the other artists in the challenge and I hope you will check things out on Leslie's Blog

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

A Short but Sweet Visit

This morning we had a charming visitor who had so much fun bouncing around the yard that I wished for a video camera. No such luck and besides there was a bit too much shade. I had to be happy with a few photos taken from inside the house.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed my sweet visitor!

The photos aren't great because this little guy kept moving too much - so much fun! Mom was either just behind or just ahead of this little one and seemed  very calm about the gallivanting.

I was taking some photos of my yard and flowers to send to my daughter and it made me think about the comparison between my yard this past winter and my yard today.

the courtyard in winter

the courtyard today

I know which I prefer - in spite of the heat!

The Last Party of the Season

Well, summer has hit us with some heat finally and it was so nice to be able to set up in the cool basement for the last Watercolour Painting Party of the season.

I only had five participants this weekend so it made everything go very smoothly. Another advantage was that they all had some experience with watercolours.

Here are the photos of the work created:

Heather and her Derelict Boat

Closeup of Heather's painting

Eileen's Lighthouse

closeup of the Lighthouse

Jane with her Summer Veranda

closeup of Jane's painting

Mike and Rhonda with their paintings

Rhonda's Flower Garden

Mike's Rickety Old Barn

Everyone was very happy with their finished paintings and I think some of them will be back in the fall for another Painting Party.

And the Winner is....

Well, not really a winner but the painting that was chosen to be the gift for a young girl named Poppy. Here it is!

#1036 - Peachy Poppy #2

As you may remember I had a commission from a friend to paint a picture of poppies. The only instructions where to size - 7 x 10 and the colour - a soft peachy pink - the rest was up to me!

I found that a bit confusing so I decided to paint a number of pieces to give my friend lots of choice. I have shared the first two before but here they are again.

#1014  Peachy Poppy #1

#1020 - Poppies by the Fence

I did one more version of this last piece with fewer poppies - sort of a close-up view.

#1037 - Poppies by the Fence #2

All four paintings were very favourably received and it took my friend and her husband a few days to decide which one they preferred. It is so nice when a customer is satisfied!

By the way - I have three poppy paintings for sale - lol!

Commission and Sketches

Earlier this year a friend commissioned me to do a painting of poppies as a gift for her niece. The only instructions I received were about the size  - 7 x 10, and the colour - she wanted a salmon pink for the flowers. So I have been playing around with ideas for composition and searching the internet for good references for the flowers. I have done two pieces and am not sure that I like either of them.

#1014 - Peachy Poppy -  - 7 x 10 watercolour

#1020 - Poppies by the Fence - 7 x 10 watercolour

I have one more drawing ready to paint but I don't feel that I have found the right reference photo yet. Fortunately, I have a lot of time to play with this as the commission isn't due until the end of summer.

Meanwhile, I have continued my promise to myself to do more sketching.

a few sketches from TV and my reference file

Some of the items on top of one of my cupboards

a vase decorated with some metal leaves

It is obvious that I need to work on cylindrical objects but I am reasonably pleased with my progress - getting better every day!

I hope you will let me know what you think of the poppy paintings as any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Always something to do!

There is always something to do when you are an artist and teacher. I had an email last Thursday from a past student wanting to know if I could fit her in for a lesson on Saturday. Of course, I agreed!

Theresa wanted to do flowers and had some of her own wonderful photos as references. She had two major concerns: backgrounds and portraying the delicacy of flowers.

#1012 - Bloom & Bud - 5 x 7 watercolour

I used the leaves to show wet-in-wet blending followed by liner brush work. For the petals we used a wet-on-dry technique with damp brush blending. The background was straight wet-in-wet using a variety of very strong colours blended on the paper, painting carefully around the flower. And finally, I demonstrated lifting out colour from the background and adding a few more leaves and the bud to help balance the composition. There isn't time in a two hour class to do a complete painting so I jump around from subject to subject so the student has had instruction on every element. We work on a few leaves, a few petals, a bit of background and lifting and then the student can (hopefully) complete the painting at home.

Bloom & Bud started off just as a demonstration on a old spotted piece of watercolour paper. In spite of the jumping around, I could see that my demonstration piece was looking pretty good so I cleaned off the few spots that showed on the petals and completed the painting.

To top of the weekend, I got a surprise. A few weeks ago, my friend Sheila was doing a give-away on her blog (Sheila's Blog) of some niftily textured foam. That is what I picked up at the post office on Sunday.

The timing was perfect as I had just started work on a quilled dolphin and wasn't sure how I would finish the card but one of the textured foams was perfect. I will probably be playing with these foam pieces for some time.

And finally, here are a couple of photos of winter in the valley. Today started off with 6 more inches of snow, grey skies and a 20 minute blizzard but by 11:00 the sun was shining in a vibrant blue sky.

Hmm, I got more cloud that I thought. Some day I should paint some winter scenes of the valley but for now, I would rather think Spring and paint flowers.