Summer..... ah, summer

It was a long, hot summer.

It was full.  Full of painting and creating, keeping the garden watered and trying to keep a 7-year-old entertained when he wasn't in summer camp and I wasn't working.

The first sunflower bloomed in the garden in July.

These golden beauties were the inspiration of a lot of my canvases this summer. 

Meanwhile the garden has been a handful (as always), bursting forth with cucumbers and zucchini.... and -- anyone know what this is?

I'm venturing a guess that it will maybe turn yellow and it's the spaghetti squash I planted. But nothing surprises me out there. I have other mystery squash that have created their own breed and scare me a little. They are orange and bumpy. I'm not gutsy enough yet to cut them open, so I'm leaving them until I need something for a fall table decoration that doubles as a conversation piece. There are also green peppers (the best plants I've grown of that type. Ever.) And the tomatoes are slow to turn this summer.  Unless they are ripening, and my little chipmunk* inhabitants are scurrying away with them.  

*They will be relocated.  Soon.

My paintbrushes have fashioned all types of flowers this summer.  From very realistic to folksy to representational abstracts.  I had the opportunity to explain this during my very first painting class I taught on a Friday night in August.  It was a "Girls Night Out" BYOB concept and fun as hell!  And the time flew by... I'm looking forward to doing more.

I received a book as a gift on multi-media background techniques, which I have started to experiment with.  This technique is called "Scribing."

You expose parts of an underlying color by scratching the surface paint away.  (That's a smashed metal button in the center of the flower, surrounded by a remnant of sheer ribbon.)  When I start out, I never know where I'll end up, but usually I like the end product.

Another high point of my summer was having some much needed landscaping done on the old flower bed outside my back door.  The whole thing had started to erode into the driveway and it was just an eyesore. But no longer! It has been filled in now with the most lovely hydrangea bushes... but before that: on a very hot day, after playing in the sprinkler outside, my son decided to put his mark on the new landscaping stones.

Ever feel the need to leave an impression, even if it's with sidewalk chalk?

 He left me 52 smileys in all (and one heart).

You never know what that boy will do with sidewalk chalk.  Usually it's forming racetracks or maps to new galaxies.

And who doesn't love to turn to Pinterest for inspiration?

I have spent countless hours learning about new art techniques and crafts and DIYing and luscious food (gawd, it makes me hungry!) So I decided to artsy up a couple plain t-shirts using a bleach pen and permanent markers faded with rubbing alcohol.  You know the pins I'm talking about?  Yep.

Glad I got that out of my system.  Moving on....

Hope you are finding lots to keep you inspired and things that make your soul smile!

Caught You Bloomin'!

Spring-into-summer was a flurry of activity this year.  There was the usual rush to get the garden planted (my target is Memorial Day -- it rained so there was about a week delay while we waited for our ability to rototill).  Since we had such warm weather early in the spring, my perennial blooming favorites I usually see around the second week of June made an appearance early this year.

Wait!

STOP!!

Don't come and go while I'm looking the other direction!

Nanny's old fashioned roses.... one of the most delicate, recognizable scents on earth.

It all happened too fast.  Instead of having a few weeks to be surprised and delighted by the colors and textures, it was sort of a mash-up as the poor bloomers gave a confused performance.

While nature was busy on the outside, I was also bursting on the inside with ideas for new art canvases.  There were itty bitty canvases and 3"x5"s and 8"x10"s.  There were layers and layers of colors and brush strokes.  Sunflowers and wildflowers and zinnias and daisies with a few things to say.

"Be" itty bitty blooming canvas.

You know what happens when you water the flowers?

The same thing happens when you feed creativity, it seems.  Breeds more creativity, and yearning.  And decisions.  I could sleep..... or paint.  I could read a book, or watch an online video about learning a new mixed media technique I haven't tried yet.

Somewhere, sometime I will learn about balance.

The unabashed tiger lily.

Meanwhile, nature is so good.  I'm grateful for its reminders.  I was not going to plant pots this year because of my time crunch, but ......... nothing beats the shot of color that annuals provide.  They're so dang cheerful!  So I did it.  I caved in, blithely.

Annuals in pots, because I can't escape the color and like to move the pots around at whim.

The flowers are doing well under the care of my faithful waterers.  My helpers are generous with their time and eager participants, even in 104 degree weather and a drought that hit the midwest these past few weeks.

Dahlia:  fuchsia and purple on a turquoise backdrop.

I have turned my attention to a bit of artistic growth of my own this summer.  My challenge:  to paint larger canvases than I typically find comfortable.  There's a 12"x16" and a 10"x20" staring at me as I write this.  Blink.  Blink.

Just be patient.  I'm working up the nerve.
 

We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Programming For a Message From Your Muse

A few weeks ago..... maybe even months now....... I carried my old trusty craft bins down from the attic, vowing to get a head start on the holidays this year. No more adrenaline filled late nights putting last minute touches on projects the week of a craft show. No more wishing I had just made one more gift. Time to enjoy Christmas without cursing myself for not planning better.

Broke out the paints, the brushes, the old wood forms rescued from craft store clearance racks. Glue. Markers. Fancy papers. Bits of lace. This and that. Covered my dining room table with newsprint to protect it. Started painting and...... nothing. It felt like drudgery. All creative spark was gone.

And so I have to apologize to anyone who lives with me or even stops by to visit. There my hopes sit, for all to see, scattered out over my dining room table until the inspiration returns.

One thing I learned is that the brain's urge to be creative is hindered by the physiology of the body while it's working on other things. I have spent the better part of the last eight months trying to figure out what ailment I had -- followed by a variety of guesses at how to heal me. Symptoms were all over the spectrum, from dizzying nausea and pain to fatigue and headaches. There were tests and medication. There were alternative therapies and homeopathics. All to treat (apparently) the wrong ailment. Silly me.

But I'm on the mend and the creative juices are stampeding through me like a herd of wild horses. So while I usually spend this Labor Day weekend enjoying the beauty and bounty of my garden, this year I decided to craft my own flowers in place of what is in the sad overgrown patch outside my window. The poor weeds have taken over -- they're having a riotous party knowing I've been too ill this year to send them packing.

First, I learned a new skill in jewelry: the wire-wrapped loop. I found some German vintage glass flowers at a little bead shop and decided they must be transformed into dangles for necklaces.



That's a head pin with a yellow crystal bead at the center of the vintage flower. I put a brass end cap on the top just to make it look extra vintage.....



It takes a right angle bend and then you wrap the wire around, then trim the excess.



Okay so I'm not a pro at it yet. More practice.



After I made a few flowers, I felt inspired enough to continue the flower-making trend in paint. Sunflowers in yellow, orange, and red. These may end up on the top of a trinket box or nailed to a harvest sign.



Oh, and while the creative urge is riding the crest, it helps to have a distraction for the five-year-old. At the very least, his own art project at the ready is a good thing and will buy anywhere from 20 minutes to a hour, depending on the task.



(At one point I looked over at him, tongue appearing at the corner of his mouth. Biting the tongue aids in concentration, don't you know. Tee hee.)

Alright craft show season. Bring it.