Artful Adventures

Growth

 

Now isn't this the most innocent, unassuming, walk right past it & never give it a second look, kind of potted plant?  You couldn't be more wrong:)  When I first bought this plant about 15 years ago, it had 1 little stalk and was in a 4' pot.  What you're looking at in this picture is not the plant at all, but the flowers that grow after a winter dormancy.  When they open, the flower is a gorgeous burgundy almost calla shaped bloom-that smells like the most rancid rotting whatever that you could ever imagine thing, which is why it also goes by the name "corpse lily".  You don't water it all winter, the bulbs form in bone dry soil.  After they're cut off (as soon as they smell) then the plant grows, and grows, and grows.  Much like an artist, give us the right tools, the right mindset, cultivate our style, and we grow.  Yep, we may produce some stinky stuff in the process, but can thrive if we take care of our needs, learn, and grow.  A growth that can actually be measured daily, as the flowers can be!  If you want to learn more about the plant, it's at The Flying Pig right now for entertainment as it was wintered there, and you can see more photos of it here.  And for even more history and to find out why it's called the plant that only a mother could love, go here and be amused:)  It is spring after all, time for some plant knowledge! 

Even though spring is almost here, it's not nearly far enough along for this peony bloom, not to mention that I've never seen one colored quite this this.  But it's a good example of how things change.  If this bloom were an artist (and that's how I'll refer to it from this point on) you can see that it's changed, some may say for the better, some may not agree.  But this artist has changed her style a bit, enough to still be recognizable as that artist, but has learned new things, new techniques, has morphed into whatever she is today, and who knows what she'll be tomorrow, but still has & always will have, the same roots, same essence that makes her what she is, it's just that today her work looks a little different, mediums have changed, skill levels increased, and different tools used to make her work look like it does today, instead of that plain peony that her art used to be-now it glows a bit, and has a little more confidence, but humble enough to always remember where she came from and not let go of everything, see that touch of original color left?  That's needed to remember who she is, was, and will be.  Still with me? There's a point to this, really!  If you click on over to my friend Debi's blog, The Junkin' YaYa , you'll see that she does a biweekly feature of an artist, and this week it's me!  She had a computer crash and lost the images that I had sent her, so she chose the ones that you'll see on her blog instead.  It's all pieces that I had done 6 or 7 years ago, how things have changed!  If anyone had told me back then that today I'd be painting or making jewelry, I'd have laughed in their face, seriously.  But you know what-I am doing those things!  Most of us look back at our older work, say a quick "blech", and quickly get away from it.  But you know what?  This is where I started, this is what my art was built on, so in all honesty it would be foolish for me to not look at these as a measurement of sorts.  If I'd have chosen to stay stamping, fine, but I didn't.  But I also wouldn't have learned anything new if I hadn't figured out how to do those pieces first and then move on, step by step, inch by inch, and sometimes even a step or so backwards.  I've often heard artists say that they're embarrassed by their older work, or can't believe they used to do______fill in the blank with whatever, but we all had to start somewhere.  And this was my somewhere!  So where did YOU start?  I'd really like to know!  To end this post , one day last week, we went over to the Flying Pig for a cup of coffee, and as we're sll sitting there talking, we noticed that we were each wearing a different pair of Solmate Socks.  It's a line of socks that has mismatched pairs, which is just too much fun!  They say "Life is too short for matching socks", and I have to agree!

Fall colors, but no orange:)

 

Last week on one windy day, every single leaf fell off this tree, exposing this nest that we didn't even know was there.  Another one of those fall wonders, watching colors change, leaves falling off & flying all over the place, covering the ground in wonderful shades of yellows, oranges, burgundy, and a fewe brown.  I'm so shoping to have a little free time to go gather some of them up to dry.  A few seconds in the  MicroFleur and they're perfectly flat & ready to be stored & used in art this winter.

Rather than show the brilliant fall foliage, thought I'd share some other plants instead.  This plant has turned into an unexpected surprise, and a welcome one at that.  We've had it for years, but moved it this year and split it up.  It wasn't liking it at all at first, and took a lot of tlc to convince it to live.  But once that it decided to live, it went to town, spread like crazy and has been in bloom for months.  Sometimes, plants (or people!) just need to find their element, the place that's right for them, and then you cxan sit back & watch them thrive & grow.   

The Obiedient plant is another one of those fall surprises, it doesn't look like much of anything all summer, but when fall rolls around it puts out it's delicate purple flowers that last well into frost.  And did you know how it got it's name?  If you gently push a blossom to one side or the other, it'll just stay there-very obiedient indeed!   

And for an update on the patient, he's doing just fine!  With all the bedrooms on the 2nd floor, we had to bring in a hospital bed & park it in the living room (right in front of the tv-lol) until he can manage the stairs with crutches.  In the meantime, the dogs are loving it, they just hop right up there with him & make themselves to home:)  Mr. Silk just plops right on top of him, while Mr. Smooth chooses the edge of the bed, and they sleep up there all day long!  The surgery day was a long one, it got pushed back about 1 and 1/2 hours, then took longer than expected.  By the time they got him settled back into the short stay unit, it was obvious that he wasn't coming home that night.  He was white as a ghost and couldn't keep his eyes open for more than a minute, so the decision was made to leave him there & bring him home the next morning.   

Jessie came up to the hospital after work, drove me home from the hospital, and then spent the night here.  It's been awhile since this child of mine has stayed here, so it felt good to have her around.  The next morning with the help of Trina, we managed to get both him and the extra car that was left at the hospital overnight, home-safe & sound.  I needed the extra help here anyway to get him back into the house-getting up those few steps that we have just to get inside the house are tricky on crutches when you're not used to using them.  And with Trina being an RN, I felt comfortable that if there was a problem, she'd know what to do, and Jessie kept a level head-all helping to counteract me being a nervous wreck:)  

When we drove up the driveway, we were greeted by this beautiful banner made by Paige & Sarah who had come over while we were gone and hung it across the front of the garage-what a wonderful surprise!  Being the budding artists that they are, they had leaf prints on there, had cut out letters from magazines to form words, used some stamps, did some drawing, and in general were quite creative & extremely thoughtful!  It won't be forgotten. 

With this being the first summer that Gary was retired, it seemed like rather than get more chores done around here, we got less done!  It was offically a summer of goofing off, I quess.  So when this surgery came up so fast, it was glaringly obvious just how much had been pushed to the back burner.  After the initial panic of trying to get everything done quick, then realizing that it wasn't going to happen, there's no choice but to just go with it-and learn a good lesson!  Not cutting the peonies back turned out to be a good thing, the pods & seeds that they make are pretty interesting, don't you think?  I'm picturing maybe a little spray paint, maybe not, who knows really, and long stems of them in a tall floor vase, or maybe in an assemblage.  Lots of possibilities here!  And to end tonight, have to share a little of the jewel like berries that form on the porcelain vine.  They look like little pearls to me!  Tomorrow morning, Amanda is coming to take me to the hospital for the first of who knows how many spoinal injections.  They're sedating me so I need a driver, and Gary can't drive, so once again I'm so fortunate to have friends that'll help.  Keep your fingers crossed for me that all goes well tomorrow!

The Things I've seen!

Definition of persistence-trying to post today!  This is about the 5th try, went right past the 3rd time's a charm thing, and kept right on going.  There's more pictures than words today, in trying to show you all what I've been seeing lately, summer's good for that, isn't it?                                                      

  Last night, Trina (the neighbor from across the street) came over to show us a baby oriole.  Apparently the chicks fell out of their nest the night before when the wind kicked up, but the parents were continuing the feed them while the brave little souls tried hopping from branch to branch, sometimes landing in the tall grass.  This little guy has managed to survive, with help from Trina who made a quick road trip to the closest bait shop for some yummy grubs that he gobbled right up.  The whole neighborhood is cheering him on!  Here we go again (you're all saying that right?) with more beach pictures, as if you didn't see enough of it last year.  But this was the first time this summer that it's actually been warm enough to tolerate sitting there-that wind coming off Lake Michigan is wicked!  But the water was as blue as I've ever seen it, and relatively calm besides. We weren't the only ones enjoying though, we were treated to watching a bunch of young seagulls playing around in the water.  They appered to be having a ball!  Can't be a summer post without more flower pictures from around the yard.  Here's a few, with more to follow in the days ahead. For tonight, last but absolutely not least, is of another sunset taken at Red River Park.  I've shown them here before, but this is by far the most gorgeous sunset that I've ever seen.  It was impossible to choose a favorite out of the bunch that Gary shot, one was more perfect than the next, so I finally grabbed this one-enjoy it!  And I hope you all get to see such a sight as this soon!

A black & white kind of day

After spending the better part of the summer surrounded by a riot of color, the blazing sun (seriously, it was 90 here yesterday!), the flowers, the art everywhere I turned, and the birds, it felt good in an odd kind of way to have a gray cloudy day for a change.  On that note, not having much to say today, thought I'd share some of my husband's photos-his are always much better than mine!  Why can't I get the hang of that?  See what I mean?  I couldn't have caught that shadow from the palm if my life depended on it!  The difference between the black & white of the bee balm, and the bright red of it's natural color is so dramatic-I kept flipping back & forth between the 2 photos, hardly seemed possible that it could be the same flower.  Then I got to wondering how often do we look at any given situation, and depending on our mood, do we see it for what it is-full of color & wildly alive, or as black & white & maybe not so exciting, though still interesting.  I'm telling you, I'm in an odd mood tonight!  This year we bought some rose bushes back in May, to be planted on the south side of the house.  They're STILL sitting on the patio, waiting to get in the ground, and have put out the most gorgeous flowers all summer.  They don't seem to mind staying in their pots, nearly as much as I've minded working at keeping them alive through all the heat.  As an old friend of mine would have said "Oh well, whatcha gonna do?"   And the hydrangea, well it speaks for itself-one of my favorite flowers.  And now, I'm going to go & try to figure out why I'm in such a mood that is so unlike me-maybe it's the aftermath of the full moon, which for the record, I'm damn glad is over!