Artful Adventures

Necklace, anyone?

 

 

If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Amanda before, now's your chance!  She's having her first blog giveaway right now and if I were you, I'd be running over there to sign up for it (I did!)-she's giving away one of gorgeous (and I do mean GORGEOUS!) necklaces!  And while you're over there, she had a birthday last week, you could flood her with belated birthday wishes, too!  Amanda is a good friend of mine, and I'm fortunate enough to live close enough to her that if weather permits, we can get together occasionally and "art" the day away.  Now that spring's officially here, we can start doing that again, although spring in WI translates into you never really know what the weather will be like.  For example, they're talking 7"-8" of snow starting tomorrow sometime.  The good news is that it doesn't stick around long now.  The giant allium is already up a few inches, and I noticed the bleeding hearts poking through in spots, too.  So soon, very soon, spring will be here to stay!  Will try to get some studio pictures up tomorrow, at least that's the goal, so see you then!

Whew, last week flew by!

  

It's here, my favorite time of year!  Although I must admit that I enjoyed every second of those 80 degree days we had last week, knowing that we most likely see that again until next summer.  Don't you just love seeing all the color right now?  When we were kids, we'd rake up huge piles of crispy colored leaves, then run & dive right into that pile, laughing like fools.  All week long, I kept thinking of those moments as I watch the leaves turning color & falling to the ground. 

There are so many photos that were taken this summer that I never got around to posting, maybe I'll do that in the dead of winter instead, reminding myself that plants really will grow here again.  There have been winters when I really have wondered how how anything could survive, but for the most part, they do.

This week we're supposed to get our first freezing weather, and I haven't even begun the job of deciding what warrants trying to carry over, what just has to die, and what needs repotting (i know, I'm late ) before it comes back indoors.  And then there's the arguement we have each & every year, me trying to fit a ton of plants in the house, and Gary saying they just won't fit.  Quess what?  They fit:) 

With the weather being so nice, we spent a lot of time outside, and very little time on the computer for a change.  I tore down a ton of watercolor paper & did the nature printing thing all week long, and playing a little with paint & paper while the papers were drying.  Had to get it done while I still have foliage to work with, and as long as Gary was willing to help, all the better.  It was interesting to see how some plants that worked very well for this process earlier, were now not as suited for it.  It's been so dry here, that plants are stressed and have taken a beating, and it's showing in the leaves.  But I still managed to get some very cool papers done, enough to be able to hold onto summer throughout the winter.  We did take an afternoon off and went over to our favorite places, The Flying Pig and the beach.  Gary picked treasures that the waves were kicking up onto the shore, and I sat at a picnic table with a stack of books.  As hard as I tried, I couldn't concentrate very well, too busy watching the geese flocking on the water, listening to the waves, and shuffling through the leaves on the ground.     

Did you recognize this thing as a beehive?  It's huge!  That's one thing I can do without this time of year are the bees, they're crazy when it starts to cool down and appear to be everywhere.  If we can get them to vacate this hive, I'd love to unwrap it & save it.  I did that once, the number of layers was amazing, and to think those little bees had the know how & energy to build it, if you really think about it, it's kind of mind boggling.   

There will be more photos, stories, and art to share soon.  But first I have to answer a whole lot of emails.  You are all so sweet to continue leaving comments here, and I've been horrible at getting back to everyone in a timely manner.  Your visits & comments are important to me, you all are important to me!  This week is going to be catch up week, that's the plan anyway!  And on that note, I'll talk to you soon!

Getting ready for some summer fun!

Check this out!  This box of innocent looking jars are going to give me hours of fun dying paper, fabric & ribbon this summer-I feel like the mad scientist about to embark on a new experiment.  Actually, that pretty much describes it:)  Awhile back, I talked about Mixed Media Nature Journals written by L.K. Ludwig, rather than repeat myself too much, you can go back & read it here.  For once in my life, I wanted to be prepared, so I made sure that I had plenty of Fabriano watercolor paper on hand (love that stuff!) and then went on over to Dharma Trading Co to order dye.  Sounds simple enough, until I got over there and saw all the possibilities, amazing!  Look here and here and then just keep digging through the site, there are enough ideas to keep anyone busy for a very long time!  This morning we ran into Kewaunee for an estate sale, it's that time of year for all kinds of sales, so off we went.  Not quite sure just yet how or when I'll use this stuff, but it was too cool to leave behind.  See that's the problem at these sales, no time to think, because if you don't grab whatever it is that you're looking at right away, it's gone right before your eyes.  But I'm either going have to do some assemblage pieces soon or I'm going to run out of room in here!  The other thing that keeps me out of the studio for a bit this time of year, is playing in the dirt & potting up containers.  Here's part of one of a pair, to go on each side of the front door.  It's the north side, so not much sun, but by incorporating houseplants, I can still have color in the shade and even bring the container in for the winter and keep it for next year.  See, the old mind is always whirling:)  The violas will drop seeds on the ground beneath it for next year, and the dusty miller, strobilanthus, and streptacarpus all make good houseplants.  I've always said planning a garden (or container) is like collage-layering colors, texture, shape & form-maybe we could coin a new term & like "art gardening", well, ok we can probably do better than that, but it'll do for now.  In the meantime, our flower gardens have gotten out of control over the last few years, so I've got Gary digging up, splitting, & moving plants all over.  And then we keep finding new ones-can't win!  Like this beauty we found at The Flying Pig out in the greenspace.  Robyn does a great job on getting her hands on some different plants to keep our gardens interesting and fresh looking.  Now we need rain to keep the gardens looking good, so far we've had very little.  Hoping this isn't a repeat of last summer!  Ok, now go plant something, I'd love to see what you all come up with!

First warm, then cold, and a birthday too

To my friends living in warm weather-I'm officially jealous:)

Welcome to WI, 40 degrees one day & wake up to 40 degrees below zero wind chill in the morning!  Blech!  Good day for a good book and some art, wouldn't you say?

TODAY: Cloudy, Heavy Snow in the afternoon High: temps falling to 25° Wind: SW/NW 10-20 mph

TONIGHT: Snow Likely & Windy. Low: -5° Wind: NW 20-30 mph, Gusts to 45 mph;  Wind Chill near -40°

And can't forget to wish my husband a very Happy Birthday today!  His last year of being 50 something, scary, huh?