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?

Sketchbook Challenge - May

May’s Theme – “Can’t resist this!”
A challenge to create images of things you can never resist or to use a ‘resist’ - a medium that masks off areas in your work that you want to preserve. I played with several different ideas and techniques. Here are 3 of my favorites:

Wax paper resist - Pieces of wax paper ironed onto paper to transfer wax and then watercolor over to fill in wherever the wax did not transfer.

 Wax crayon resist - Stencil drawing with crayon and then adding a watercolor wash over top.

Gesso resist and freezer paper resist - learned about this technique from one of the Sketchbook Challenge hosts Jane Davies.
Click here to see the video demonstration on her blog.

North Carolina

I can remember listening to James Taylor sing ”Carolina in my Mind” and thinking what a beautiful place it must be to have inspired him to write that song.  Just having returned from a trip to North Carolina, I’m pretty sure I know why he thought it was so special.

The gardens…

The Sarah P. Duke Garden, Durham

Botanical Gardens, University of North Carolina, Asheville

The food…

Barbeque in the River Arts District, Asheville 

The arts…

Roxy Paine's 'Askew' in the sculpture garden of the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh.

The scenery…

Views from the Blue Ridge Parkway, Asheville

Precious Water

Each Spring the Mystic Arts Center has a juried exhibition with a theme that is open to all artists. This year's theme and title is 'Precious Water: A Personal Response'. Being a coastal town with a large artists community you can image the popularity of this theme so I was thrilled to find out that this print of mine had been chosen to be in the show.



'Drifting'
15" x 15" Gelatin Print Collage

The exhibition runs until May 21st. If you are in the area be sure to stop in to the see all the wonderful works on display. 

Spring

 If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.  ~Audra Foveo 

 Yes, it's finally here!

Sketchbook Challenge - April

I found this months challenge the most difficult so far. I love experimenting, taking classes and trying all different kinds of mediums. So I was thinking about what isn't so comfortable and what I tend to avoid so I could I could figure out how to take a "risk" and participate in the April themes of "Branch Out" and "Go out on a Limb". 

In April there were sketch crawls all over the world. The Mystic Art Center planned one for Saturday the 9th. I thought this would be a good way to challenge myself as I haven't participated in one before and I don't draw in public (OMG what if someone were to look over my shoulder to see what I was drawing!)

We had a cool but sunny morning and four of us started out at Bartleby’s for some coffee to get us going and a little sketching. Then onto a few other places around town including Mystic River Park and a playground.

I usually sketch in pencil so I was interested to hear Cathy (the sketch crawl organizer) explain that if she uses a pencil she spends too much time erasing, reworking and trying to perfect each drawing. Another small challenge - I switched to a permanent pen to give it a try. It changed my approach as I noticed I was taking more time to observe before I made a mark on the page.  I definitely need lots of practice but it was a fun morning.

Planter box at Mystic River park

Quick gesture drawings of people

 watching their children in the park

Leaves and debris on the ground and tree in the park

Logee's

I’ve wanted to visit Logee’s Tropical Plants ever since I first heard of it while taking UConn’s Master Gardner course back in 2007. On Sunday two friends and I took a trip to Danielson, CT and I finally got to see the greenhouses that have been around since 1892. Unassuming from the outside you enter a whole different world once you go through the front door. Walking up and down the very narrow isles you are surrounded by tropical plants of all kinds. Beautiful large specimen plants that have been growing for many years and bins filled with small potted plants that are for sale. I could feel my hair curling right up but I didn’t mind because the warm, humid air felt wonderful. In a year like this where Spring seems to be taking its sweet time to get here what a great destination to see some exotic plants and to warm up and forget about winter for a few hours. 

What did I come home with?

It wasn’t easy but I was able to control myself to leaving with just one plant - Goji Berry (Lycium barbarous ‘Crimson Star’). They are hardy to zone 5 so it should be able to survive our winters here in zone 6. It’s only a bit more than 2 feet tall but they say it could fruit this first season. Each year I like to try one new plant that I have never grown before. I hope the Goji Berry plant will be happy in my garden.