Twilight Garden

Diane asked the question this week at Inspiration Avenue,

“If you could be anywhere . . . where would you be?”

Pondering this, I couldn't come up with a single destination.

There are so many places I hope to go!

So I thought about what environments I enjoy.

The beach is tops on my list, but I didn't have time for an ocean picture,

since landscapes and seascapes are not something I paint regularly.

Then what came to mind is how lovely it is to be in a garden!

(Especially a wonderful garden that someone else takes care of. :)

When I'm in my own garden, I'm usually working and 

don't take the time to stop and soak up the beauty.

So this is a fantastical garden that could be anywhere ~

the South of France, Mexico, a tropical island, 

lovely England where they are passionate about gardens. . .

Anywhere that flowers grow. 

Add a comfy arm chair and I'm wishing to go there right now :)

I am linking this to Paint Party Friday as well as Inspiration Avenue.

I must have had thoughts of placing chairs in the garden
when I did these pages in a board book last year.
This chair is not so comfy though and I doubt I'd stay seated very long :)

I still have 2/3 of the book to complete . . .

this reminds me that I should get back to it!

Visit Inspiration Avenue and Paint Party Friday !

Paint Party Friday has the most amazing artists
giving us a peek at what they've been up to lately.

Inspiration Avenue is having a party!
Check them both out!

I'm off to take a look!

Happy May Day!

Round Robin and Postcard Swap 

Lilies of the Valley

It's finally May, and I am itching to get outside and plant some pretty flowers.

The weather is getting warmer and I hope it stays that way,

because I'm gonna plant my plants regardless.

Lily of the Valley is May's flower. They are so delicate and pretty

but every part of them is poisonous. Just a word to the wise :)

May also holds Mother's Day (U.S.) and my birthday. 

It's almost my favorite month...but that distinction goes to June.

That's when the peonies are in bloom:

Inspiration Avenue's Postcard Swap is in full swing.

I got my 5 names yesterday and can't wait 

to start making postcards and get them in the mail.

This will be a month filled with art-making.

I have Kim's GORGEOUS journal in our Round Robin swap.

front

back

It's always intimidating to start, 

when I have worries of messing up this wonderful book.

Kim's art is so amazing, I love the way she decorated the 

front, back, and inside pages.

Speaking of Kim, she is the host this week 

of Inspiration Avenue's weekly challenge.

Do you know the poem,

“Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe, 

Thursday's child has far to go.....”

The poem is the theme of the challenge.

Do you know what day of the week you were born on?

If not, Kim has included a link to find out.

Tuesday. 

My favorite day of the week and the day I was born.

Not the reason I like Tuesdays though, I'm sure.

Tuesday is good because of course it's not the dreaded Monday.

And yet it's very early in the week, and anything exciting might still happen!

Time still to get things done. 

Never mind that I probably won't accomplish nearly what I'd like.

The possibility is there.

Have a fabulous May!

Paint Party Friday and 29 Faces

Day 17

I've worked on this painting a bit more.

I added some collage elements, more paint 

(brayered on...learned that from 

Tam at Willowing, teehee. Brayering's kind of fun but scary too).

I put in some lines in Payne's Gray... (love that color)

and some Japanese anemones.

So that's about it. I don't know if it's finished. 

Seems it is still missing something...

If it strikes me what's missing, I'll add something else :-)

It looked like this before:

I've missed some days in the 29, but will add this as Day 17.

If I get extra faces completed before the 29th (haha), I'll

put them in for the missing days!

I'm also posting this for Paint Party Friday.

Please visit over there to see everyone's PPF entries!

Happy PPF . . . Happy Weekend!

Inspiration Avenue Weekly Challenge

Love is in the Air

So Romantic is the theme this week at Inspiration Avenue,

prompted by the lovely Stephanie of Dragonfly Design Studios.

What could be more romantic than love in a garden?

I'm not sure, exactly, since I am the most unromantic person I know.

But with the sweet-smelling peonies, and kisses, and smoldering looks,

surely romance is in the air.

The peonies are from my garden, and the luvver-ly lovers

are from vintage pictures, of which I have tons.

I had started a painting for this challenge, but it soon

became apparent that no-way was I going to finish it by Sunday,

and a bit of digital was the way to go.

Eeee, I should learn to start something before Friday.

Go to Inspiration Avenue this Sunday afternoon

to get your romantic fix!

Paint Party Friday

Following the Creek

I was thinking of summers past and present, and remembered

a post from a couple of years ago about summer days in the 60s.

We had tons of fun in our unstructured, disorganized way.

One of the activities that kept us busy was following the

neighborhood creek to its end. But, as we discovered, it

had no end! Or none that was closer than miles and miles

from our neighborhood, I'm sure. But being 10 years old,

we actually thought if we set out to follow it, we would

eventually come to the end. Never mind tangled undergrowth

that was impossible to walk through, or that it might take us 

until well past dinnertime or even into the next day! 

Ending up hopelessly lost in unfamiliar territory?

Never entered our minds.

What were we hoping to see at the end? 

Nothing in particular. Just the end of the creek, 

and then we could move on to the next challenge.

But, as I said, we never made it to the end. Truth be told,

what we were calling the end was actually the beginning

(since we were walking upstream, sheesh) and the water probably 

trickled out of a rock or an underground spring somewhere far away.

Too far to walk, but we didn't care about that!

ANYWAY.

When I was putting together this mixed media collage,

I thought of those summer days. I had no other purpose in mind

than putting together images that I liked. It's a bit messy,

but I don't think I'll clean it up. I'll leave it as-is, just like those

memories of our long ago summer days.

***************

Wow, where did this come from?

This beauty popped open yesterday amid all of the

plain red and yellow lilies (as if any lily could be called 'plain').

If I planted this, it has never bloomed before. 

And if I didn't plant it. . . who did?

I love lilies, and I try to enjoy them during the short time they

are blooming. Will have to give some extra time to this one!

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Please visit the party to see what has inspired the entrants this week.

Have a lovely weekend!

Beauty Disappears So Fast

We have 10 peony bushes beside the driveway.
I wish I could say I was the genius who planted them,
but they were here 10 years ago when we moved in.

Is 10 the magic number?
This is the first time I have remembered to photograph them
before the blooms were finished.
As it is, they are almost done for the season.

For the last couple years, they have developed powdery mildew
at the beginning of June. As gorgeous as they are now,
they are a terrible sight to behold when they
have turned gray and yucky.
You could almost weep looking at them.

So, even though I am strongly against spraying my plants
with any chemicals,I caved this year and have given them
2 treatmentsof some kind of fungicide. I'm crossing my fingers,
but I see signs of the creeping gray fuzz already.
I'm trying to stay optimistic! I've read that you should spray
before the mildew appears, but
I didn't want to kill the ants that pollinate the flowers
so I was a little late.

Only time will tell...

The Birds and the Bugs

We planted a nectarine tree about five years ago for the birds and the bugs to enjoy, and they did enjoy it immensely this past summer, as evidenced by all the misshapen, half-eaten little fruits lying on the ground. Same with the apple tree, which we didn't plant because it came with our 80+ year old house. The apple tree may be close to that in age! One project on my "definite" list is to have the apple tree pruned back into shape.

Since I am not a fan of putting chemicals in my yard, and I am probably too lazy to do what the organic fruit growers do, the birds and bugs will enjoy those trees for years to come. The squirrels love the apple tree, but I've never seen them show any interest in nectarines.




September is a time for going through the garden and trying not to get upset at the mistakes of the previous spring and summer, but to keep them all in mind to fix next year. The grapes were poor this year. My fault for not pruning them earlier. But again, they are keeping the birds happy!

The red twig dogwood must be the ugliest autumn shrub; the leaves shrivel to a disgusting color and hang there, refusing to fall. But they redeem themselves in the winter when the stems turn a brilliant red that glow in the sun against the snow. Beautiful!

It's even a little hard to look at your successes, because they were so gorgeous just a month ago and now also look pretty sad. Some things still look pretty good. The sedum is especially pretty this year. The morning glories just don't want to quit. They reseed themselves each year, and this year they just exploded all over the yard.

This must have been a good year for the honeybees. I saw quite a few, and in past years it seemed like they had all but disappeared. In fact it reminded me of one more thing from childhood! Remember going barefoot and stepping on a bee? There were so many on the clover growing in the lawn, that we had to be careful not to get stung. I don't remember having to do that for many years!

Enjoy autumn while it lasts!