. . . pictured the garden

Since many artists are also gardeners, I thought I would show you some early bloomers and other things in my garden that are interesting to me. The tree peony above is special because it blooms first, and I'm crazy about the color when the blooms are fully opened.






I planted this baby fothergilla shrub last year and it didn't do anything, but this year the blossoms just crack me up. I hope it will continue to grow and bloom profusely in the future.






This is a Missouri primrose (I think, correct me if I'm wrong.) This thing has the potential of being a weed. Its seeds sprout all over the place, but they are so cute and cheery that I don't care. I transplant some of the babies and give some away. It sits next to a Lenten rose that does the same thing.






I supposed this is special only to me. It is a hemlock, which doesn't grow well in this area, apparently because it gets too hot. When my daughter was going to school in South Bend, Indiana, the campus had so many of these beautiful trees, and I have tried to grow them since I saw them there. This is the first one that has survived and prospered, so far for about five years

I can't even guess how many dogwood trees have given up their lives to my ineptitude, but this one, so far, has bloomed every year. It puzzles me that I have such bad luck in growing these beautiful trees, because it's the state tree of Missouri, and if you drive around in certain sections of KC, you will be dumbstruck by the blooming dogwoods. I have three Kousa dogwoods that may or may not bloom a creamy white, but this one is the one I love best. It's beside a redbud, in front of a massive pine tree, and the combo is stunning, if I do say so myself.

Yesterday before Joey came to spend the afternoon, I went out in the mud and dug weeds out of one last patch of garden. Then Joe and I went to the nursery and the hardware store to get grass seed, weed killer, potting soil and lawn trash bags. Joe got a baby rake and some tiny gardening "glubs" so he could help Nana in the garden. We took "chicken dance Elmo" with us and one apparently sight-impaired gentleman asked Joey if he was going to help me, his mommy, in the yard. We bought whatever that guy was selling.

. . . neglected this blog

recently, as well as art. There's a good reason for it, though. My real estate agent told me that the main selling points for my home were the back yard, garden, deck, back porch, patios; and the kitchen. So I have been spending most of my time cleaning up the outdoors. I have always taken care of the gardens, but I never had much responsibility for the yard. Yesterday I spent ALL DAY raking, mowing bagging, break up limbs and packing them up for disposal, mulching, and generally making things begin to sparkle outside. Little Joey came to help for a few hours that just flew by. . . he ran around and rode his trike and played with the neighbor kids. I'm not quite done yet: I still have to paint some wooden rocking chairs and a side table that are staples on the deck; plant some annuals in a few large pots for the deck and patio; put out a couple of hanging baskets, and just generally keep up with the maintenance on the yard. It was gratifying to get into a hot shower last night. . . it was one of those showers where you can actually see DIRT coming off your body. Next comes the indoors, making the kitchen sparkle, too, but with the weather being so nice, it's hard to stay inside. My first tree peony blossomed yesterday. . . a beautiful ruffly double pink one. . . and new things are blooming and growing all the time.


The picture above is part of a new painting I'm working on. It's hard for me to paint right now, which is another reason I'm not blogging much. . . I don't have a lot to offer an I don't want to bitch about it. I'm trying to work through whatever it is that is blocking me, so I just paint whatever. . . just putting paint on canvas, seeing what happens, hoping something good comes out.

. . . played with paint

Here is a 30 x 30" painting I just finished yesterday. I continued in my quest for color, color, color. I think I achieved that goal in this painting. Pay no attention to any area that appears whitish. . . that's glare.






So, after completing the first painting, and before cleaning up the brushes, and kind of inspired by if not completely following suggestions in Painting Abstracts books, I dripped and splashed the leftover paint on a piece of canvas, threw on some rock salt while it was still very wet, and covered it with plastic wrap. I left it till dry, and this is the result.






And this is just a cropped portion of the second picture. I am completely delighted by this little experiment.

. . . were almost finished

cleaning up the garden plots. I have one more spot to rake out and then I have to chomped up the leaves and spread the resulting compost around. I found a bunch of big fat juicy worms hanging around, which is always a good thing. A toad that I thought was a rock scared the crap out of me the other day. It's weird when a rock moves in your hand, isn't it? The toad hopped off into the base of an evergreen bush just as the neighbor's cat discovered it. The cat seemed to be a bit confused that a rock would hop, too. I started digging up a whole patch of garden phlox that had taken over a large part of the garden. It's pretty when it blooms, but the deer eat it and it has invaded and taken over the surrounding plantings, so it's got to go. The roots go deep and it's hard work. The bigger hunks I will replant out in the green belt between the house and the golf course. The phlox can naturalize and grow as wild as it wants out there. One of the bits of nature that fascinates me is how weeds and other seeds snuggle right down next to and among the shoots and roots of "good" plants, so that you have to dig up the plant to get rid of the weed. Natural self-preservation. . . you gotta love the tenacity of those weeds.


In between bouts outside, I finished the painting above and I have started another one. I'm going for color, color, color. I want it to stand out on the wall. I want it to be happy. This picture is crooked, but the painting isn't. The inner critic is screaming at me. . .

. . . tried new things

This is one of the paintings that was in the art auction a couple of weeks ago. I took the picture hurriedly and just for documentation purposes so I have had to crop it in order to show it on this blog.


Friday I did a couple of things that I have not done before, and for which I am inordinately proud of myself: (a) I mowed part of the lawn and (b) I stretched a painting. Yeah, I know, no big deal for most people. But I did them and now I know I can. Please don't hate me because I'm such a wimp.


In cleaning out my flower beds, I had raked leaves and garden detritus onto the lawn in piles. I knew it was going to rain and I didn't want to leave the stuff there to kill the grass, so I got out the lawnmower and ran it over the leaves, twice, chopping them up into tiny little pieces and catching them in the bagger attachment, then dumped the stuff back onto the flower beds for mulch and composting. Ecologically correct, as well as economical and easier than raking. It wasn't that I had ever had an objection to mowing, it's just that my husband enjoyed doing yardwork and was very picky about mowing, so I just never had to do it. I can't say it was fun, but it is empowering to know I can do it. Except I couldn't get it started toward the end, and it may be out of gas.


The other thing I did was to stretch a painted canvas. I paint flat on a table, as you may know if you've read this blog for a while. Walter, my art guy, wants them flat for easier transportation and/or shipping. But a gallery on the Plaza wanted to display a piece, and to do that, it had to be stretched. So I bought the stretcher bars, assembled the thing, and put the painting on it. It worked out beautifully. And it can be easily unstretched if needed. So, on my way home from delivering the piece (which I forgot to take a picture of), I stopped and bought four more little stretcher bars and stretched one of the small paintings I have, and it worked out pretty well, too. Again, I'd rather paint than stretch, but I feel like whole new opportunities are now available.

. . . worked toward expertise?

Remember the book The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell? Where he claimed it took 10,000 hours of practice to become proficient at your craft? Well, I've been working on those 10,000 hours this week. I have finished a painting, which I may post here one day. I have been looking at art created by other people, including Charlotte Foust, who painted the above picture;

and Karen LaBorde, who painted the picture above. I am intrigued by LaBorde's "Waterworks" series pictured here.

I have also read three books about art: Ann Baldwin's Creative Paint Workshop for Mixed-Media Artists. Painting Abstracts; Ideas, Projects and Techniques, by Rolina van Vliet, and Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him, by Danielle Ganek.

I'm a long-time fan of Ann Baldwin, and have haunted her website for years. The subtitle of her book is "Experimental Techniques for Composition, Layering, Texture, Imagery and Encaustic." The book is full of Ann's artwork, and I will continue to read and study it. I've already looked at all the pictures.

I was not familiar with Rolina van Vliet, but her book got good ratings on Amazon, so I purchased it, and I'm glad I did. She encourages experimentation and presents 65 exercises that start with the words "Playing with..." I will do those many of those exercises.

Lulu is fiction, and a quote from the back of the books capsulizes the plot "As The Devil Wears Prada demystified the world of high fashion, this funny and insightful debut novel dishes the crazy and captivating Manhattan art scene." And further, "[A] glossy, amusing story that still finds time to wonder. . . how, why and whether the art world differentiates between trash and treasure" from The New York Times. Quick mindless reading, but sometimes that what you want, right? I am sooooo glad I don't have to deal with the NY art scene.

. . . won the lottery?

Unfortunately, I have won it yet. . . in fact, haven't been bought a ticket. BUT, if I had won the lottery, here are two artists whose paintings I would buy immediately (among many others). The first painting is by Paula Landrem; the second is by Jamie Tate. Please click on the links to enjoy their other works.