The Pansy

Here is my first painting for Laure's Garden Class. I bought the flower to paint and I'm happy with the result. I went back to Shakespeare's Garden today and took more photos. The next assignment is to paint a window box. I have pictures of window boxes from Saratoga, but the thing that is in my mind is a memory of a beautiful bookshop in New Preston, Ct. It was owned by a man named Timothy Mawson and it had the most beautiful window boxes. In my minds eye I can still see  the garden books and art that he had in his shop.  He died years ago and the memory of his store is, for me, another loss. He wrote a book called "The Garden Room" and this week I ordered it from Alibris. I also have a watercolor painting of his shop and it is very special to me.

Craving Beauty

I went to visit a beautiful garden today. It's a nursery called "Shakespeare's Garden" that's tucked away on a winding road in my town. The property has always been a nursery and was owned by the same family for many years. They sold it a couple of years ago, and I remember feeling a loss. (I have been feeling that way a lot lately). As much as I liked the original, nothing could have prepared me for Shakespeare's Garden. It is absolutely, unbelievably awesome! For the past couple of weeks I've been living in a state of hyperdrive. I took on so many projects, all of them important in their own way. I piled them on feeling that "I can do it all". I am happy to say that I did finish them all, but now I've crashed! I really don't want to do anything. I am taking a new class with Laure - a Trip to the Garden and I am behind 2 assignments and there will be a new one tomorrow. Yikes! So today, after work, for about 20 minutes I went around S.G. and took pictures. I was the only one there. It's hard to describe the energy that I felt, the renewal. I bought 2 plants to use for my class. They also had a rack of handmade paper and I bought a sheet. On the drive home I noticed so many things around me: the old fence lined with daffodils, the buds on the trees, the grass that is so lush, etc. It was just what I needed to get centered again. I'm still tired but I am ready to start painting. I might go back on Friday. I know that finding beauty is, for me, a necessity, like breathing!

Charm Bracelets

I think it all started when my sister-in-law Vicki received a Pandora bracelet for her birthday. It was very pretty - with the donut shaped "charms". It took me back to (for me) the real charm bracelets. The souvenir kind of bracelet. The one in the picture is mine. It's not really mine though, because I bought it at a tag sale. I've adopted it, refined it to make it my own. The little cake charm was actually given to me by my father. It opens up to reveal a candle. So that charm is officially mine! I can take you through the bracelet and tell you the story of my life. It's all there. At one time I had 3 or 4 different bracelets. I took the charms that I wanted and then gave the bracelets  away. Now I've decided that I really need an astronaut charm because I love, love, love anything about outer space and aliens. Maybe  I'll find an alien too. Isn't it fun to have a charm bracelet?

Strolling Along Bourbon St.

Here's another picture that I did for the New Orleans class. I found this location on Google Street view. I spent about an hour looking up and down streets for something that caught my eye. I think that I was in the wrong neighborhood. After I finished this I found some really pretty houses. Oh well! When I pick a subject to paint I'm usually looking for a challenge, something to get me out of my comfort zone. I liked this because of the doors, the shadow and the balconies. It was a challenge! My favorite thing in the painting is the window with the bars. I just painted the negative spaces and the bars magically appeared!