Monday, June 30, 2008

Flowers in My Gardens

Bachelor's Buttons


Fragrant Yellow Lily


Fragrant Purple Iris


Hens and Chicks


.........Flowers need not speak to tell us of their Beauty............


Pink Yarrow


Ladys Mantle


Everblooming Bleeding Heart


Veronica


Perennial Sunflower... just beginning to open...


Columbine


Lovage


Onion Chives


Weigela


Siberian Iris


Spurge


Lilac


Creeping Thyme


Yellow Iris


Wild White Clover


Pink Lady's Slipper



These perennial flowers... and many more... bloomed in my garden and along my paths and walkways during the month of June...

Once established, they come up every year without much coaxing...

Oh... if only it could be summer ... all year long...

.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

The Roses are in Bloom



One of my first rosebuds for this year...


I always loved the walled gardens of England... so we did the next best thing, with what we had plenty of...
We planted Rose borders.......... surrounding the veggie garden ... They create airy walls that provide a more sheltered environment for the vegetables, birds and beneficial insects...




Besides beauty... the Roses provide a valuable function for us..








When I sit over there, I feel encompassed by nature, beauty and fragrance...







Every rose at our place originated from 3 rose bushes that I brought here from our old place in 2000... we had heavy clay soil and shade back there and the roses never really flourished...




I divided them up and planted them temporarily in a nursery garden area... for a couple years...





The roses still looked quite scrawny when we spaced them out in all the locations... but they grew bigger and bigger every year....





We also planted some surrounding the verandah and the front of the house... so when they are in bloom... the beautiful scent hits us as we go outside...




More of the divisions were placed around the rock-walls of the courtyard that the driveway encircles... even a portion of bare root, planted will grow a rose bush...




Now some have started poking out here and there... between the crevices of the rock-walls...





When Roses are blooming here... there is no getting away from them... I wish they lasted all year long...










Hardy Shrub Roses...Rosa Rugosa... they are perfect for sandy well drained soil... They love air movement, so the sea breezes do not hurt them... they seem to thrive on them... they are very easy to grow here...




I have divided them many, many, many times over the years... There are more but I just couldn't take pictures of them all...






Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Wine and Goblet



The roses in my garden are in full bloom... They are irresistible... in beauty and fragrance... the air is filled with their offerings... one of my favourite times of year...

After walking in the garden... I went down to the beach... I found a feather... a beautiful delicate wispy gray... tangled in some seaweed ...blown there by the breezes or pushed there by a wave...

I loved the combination of the two... so I used them for the background of this shot of our Fun little "Wine and Goblet" earrings...




We have been making this design for several years now...




Detail of the Goblet... The patina and texture varies with every piece...





Our Sterling Silver and Copper "Wine Bottle" lies on another find from the seashore... a Northern Moon Snail shell...

...Patterns of past barnacles... which acted as a resist in the passage of time... created an earthy, mottled texture on its surface... that I could not resist...


Approx. 1½" long , Limited Production


...to our Desideratum Art Jewelry Whimsical Collection



.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Another Old Door from Bull Moose Hill



My musings from where we found it..........


The lilacs and wild cranberry bloom in the hedgerow...
along the gravel road...

Stones of the old foundation still lay stoically...
where they were carefully placed many long years ago...

The meadow blooms with rockets...
infusing the air with their clove-like spicy-ness...

...the bees buzz as they go about their routine...
as they always have...
happy and eager to light on every petal...


... the outlines of all the buildings still visible...
if you look carefully...
recognizing the squared off wild raspberry patches...


...and the air so warm... so quiet... so comforting...
we feel we could lie down where we stand...
and fall into a deep restful slumber...
with the meadow rising above our heads...
like a perfect little room...






This old door came from the same old tumble down house we found our little door at.

I always imagined the old property appeared like this homestead from the placement of the stone foundations...





...detail of the patina of the old tongue and groove boards... and the old blue paint caught in the crevices and under where the old door handle used to be...

.... no peeking though... the holes are covered by the hinges on the other side... I like to retain the history of the door by allowing the place where the handle use to be... to still be visible... to show its life...

...when we came across old beams we tried to put them to good use too... many old adze cuts are still visible and invite you to touch them... to remember a time when we all had to physically work so much harder than we do today... in our modern world...





The view from the sewing room side... of the old door...

...originally the door did not have the angles cut at the top... it was a sacrifice, we and it had to make to allow it to fit...

then to fill in the upper triangle of the frame casing... we found some beautiful patterned translucent glass ...




The view from the little bathroom side of the old door... on the second floor... under the slanted ceiling... painted white to help bounce the light...

... that side had been in bad shape anyway so the paint only improved it... I am not a person afraid to apply paint to wood, as we had to... to bring any semblance of harmony to the many, many old salvaged door and window moldings and casings from the multitude of delinquent structures we salvaged from and lugged home... I must say... it made them smell much better too!!





... with door open... a glance through the threshold from the little bathroom looking out to the sewing room... with mending, piling up on my stool...

This bathroom is totally an inside room... no walls are part of the exterior of the house... so we made windows and openings from which light can enter... so it feels light even when the doors are shut...
Later on in a further post I will show the other features of this little room... it has 2 doors and a special small arched window with 2 tiny doors on it that John painstakingly made from salvaged wainscoting and planks...

...it is another favourite of mine...

.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Let's Raise A Mug...



"Let's raise our voice...
Let's raise a flag...
Let's raise a ruckus...

Hummm.... on thinking it over...

Let's all sit down...
Let's take a break...
Let's raise a Mug!!!"



This mug is big... 4¼" across at the base... solid... a pleasure to hold in my hand... and a pleasure to cast my eyes upon...


It holds lots... a fabulous, huge mug of steaming coffee.... or a chilled, foaming mug of homemade brew... versatile in its simplicity... a pleasure to bring to my lips...






Hand-crafted... with care to... balance... proportion... function... color... design...



This mug has a wonderful large handle too... perfect for my hands to hold it very comfortably...




The actual mug that inspired me to do this watercolor has a muted earthy green glaze made by our Potter friend David Eastwood from Central Hampstead, New Brunswick.



I used varying washes of indigo... to indulge myself... in trying to do justice to a work of art our friend created...



approx. 5½" x 8" ...brush and watercolor washes on CP 140 lb. Arches WC paper

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Quote by Victor Hugo




"Invasions of Armies can be resisted

but not

Invasions of Ideas"





I have loved this quote... for so long, I can't remember....... I have had it posted in every studio space I have ever carved out for myself.....

It has such a visual presence......... They both... just keep marching on........







This page and detail are from a little book I did .... it is approx. 4" x 6½" ....made from
CP 140 lb WC paper with a circular window filled with a woven insert of its complementary color also in WC paper strips...

I used this page to represent this quote because... Blood is usually splattered when armies invade... and blood starts to flow when ideas invade......




Victor Hugo... 1802-1885... the most forceful, prolific and versatile of the French nineteenth century writers... his work includes romantic dramas... lyrical and satirical verse... political and other journalism... and several novels, the best known being "Les Miserables"...
Hugo was exiled from France, lived in the Channel Islands... returned to France in 1870... A great public figure until his death... his body lay in state under the Arc de Triomphe before being buried in the Pantheon...