Sketchbook Challenge - June

June's theme - Pathways

Drawings of a few things growing in the garden.
Eating well this summer - a pathway to good health and nutrition.  

Plants cry their gratitude for the sun in green joy. ~Astrid Alauda

Fabric Swatch Exchange

I received my copy of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine in the mail yesterday. As I was flipping through the pages I saw the fabric swatch that I designed and sent in as part of an exchange. How exciting is that!

July/August 2011 issue

Page 82, upper left corner - that's me!

my fabric swatch - their photo is much better than mine.

The object of the exchange was to design an 18” x 36” piece of fabric using any technique (stamp, paint, dye, transfer, etc) you wanted. Cut into 9”x 9” squares and shipped to the magazine to be exchanged. In return, to each participant, the magazine sent 6 randomly chosen swatches designed by some of the other 200 artists who took part in the exchange. I love the variety of swatches I received and it will be fun thinking of ways to use them

Here are a few of the swatches I received. Aren't they beautiful?

designed by Victoria Gordon

designed by Judy Arbuckle

designed by Lisa Encabo

Can't throw it away...

Some new collages in the works. Not quite sure where they're going but having fun using all these bits and pieces that would otherwise end up in the trash or
recycle bin.

  

I love Moss!

When I moved back to the New England eight years ago I fell in love with the green moss, ferns and other shade loving plants that grow here. It was so different from the sunny gardens I had gotten used to in much drier Southern California. When I started thinking about creating a garden I envisioned a place that would capture the lush look and cool feeling I’ve experienced walking in local places like the Connecticut College Arboretum, Harkness Memorial State Park,  and Bluff Point State Park. I poured through the many catalogs arriving in the mail and the few books I had on North East gardening dreaming of the plants I wanted to include and how they would all look together.

"before" winter 2007

There is much more to do but after replacing the barberry hedge with a cedar fence, adding a black metal fence with a gate to contain the space and give it that separate room feel, building a small arbor from 2 trellises, transplanting moss to grow between stepping stones and getting the first plants in the ground last fall this is what it looked like a few weeks ago when the tulips and bleeding hearts were still blooming. Fences, arbor and heavy rock lifting - all courtesy of my most helpful and handy husband.

 

Most of the plants are gifts from gardening friends and family. These are always the most treasured because I’m reminded of these special people every time I spend time in the space and it gives the garden history. Others are transplants from different spots in the yard or from the many wonderful local garden club plant sales that go on each spring – the Ledyard Garden Club plant sale is my absolute favorite!

 Still on the "to do" list:
- one more planting bed
- pea gravel pathway
- make more hypertufa containers
- small water feature?