Bloom Fall

Tis the season for the "bloom fall."  

I heard that phrase for the first time in a novel years ago....maybe they made it up....but it's a perfect name for what's going on right now. When there's even the slightest breeze...it rains crabapple blossoms. 

These are across the street at Sandy and Jim's.  I enjoy their crabapple from my kitchen window.

These caught my eye on our walk this morning....they weren't just the petals....the full blooms had fallen off.  Now that's a bloom fall!

Sometimes creative energy gets spent in the community rather than the studio.  One of my assignments as a condo association board member is pool committee chairman....and I've got a great group to work with. There's been a flurry of activity in the past few weeks as we get ready to open next week: we've rewritten the pool rules, and had new signs made, we had a furniture cleaning party, and I spray painted 5 metal tables. Today Patty helped me arrange the furniture and her attention to details that I might not have noticed paid off.  Paul and I have enjoyed the pool more that we thought.....so along with our community, we will reap the rewards of this creative energy.

Keeper Card

I used one of my little log cabin paper scrap blocks from the other day to make my keeper card for round 13 of our 4 x 6 exchange.  

I built up the edges around block right on the card. A little ripping and cutting...a little glueing and stitching...and very little measuring. I wanted it wonky and scrappy.

It was a quick project taking just a few minutes....just how we intended this exchange project to be.

Round 13 ✔

Tap Root

I sat outside on the patio into the evening as the sun was setting.....it was a delightful cool spring evening. Something bright red caught my eye in my little garden at the corner of the woods....I couldn't figure out what it could be.  

As I got closer I could see that it was the setting sun shining through the coral bell leaf and it was a spectacular color. I love when something unexpected happens like this that captures your attention.

This coral bell is a dark burgundy color....unless the setting sun is streaming through it...then it's bright cherry red!   

I spent all morning in my garden...it was a perfect gardening day.  I forgot to take a photo...but I had a whole nursery of plants I gave away to Dana and Anne...and that felt good.  I love to share plants. 

As I was tweaking and weeding I pulled up several of these oak tree shoots.  It was quite satisfying pulling them out with the long tap root that had already gone deep as the little sapling tried to settle in.  

I found the emerging seedlings to be quite fascinating......Mother Nature continues to amaze me. But I don't want oak trees growing everywhere....so they made their way into the woods to decompose.  That's a good thing too.

Then I spent some time this afternoon helping Sandy and Jim across the street with the spring clean-up in their garden.  I helped them put this garden in several years ago and most of the plants came from the parsonage in Lexington.  Like I said...I love sharing plants.  Sandy will add annuals along the front and then we'll finish spreading the mulch.  Their gardens are thriving....and pretty soon they'll be able to pay it forward and give plants to someone else for their new garden.  Perennials just keep on giving.

When I share my plants...people inherit all the textures and shades of green that I love.

Springtime In The Woods

I get pretty excited when the wildflowers in the woods start to appear....and every year I blog/brag about them.  So sorry for the repeat....I can't help myself.  Here's what I have blooming right now:

This is a sweet little golden seal.  There's just this one and it hasn't grown or spread....but it keeps showing up.

The woodland floor is covered with these little Star Flowers....and they even grow in the base of some of the tree trunks.

I introduced the Sweet Woodruff and it's doing well.  I love the foliage and the very sweet little flowers.

There are lots of these sweet little Canada Mayflowers spread around too.  

And the white Trillium I got from my sister Nancy is turning from white to pink as it starts to go by.

All of the woodland flowers are white but my Brunnera is a sweet little pop of blue in the little garden I put in at the corner of the woods. I do love springtime blooms in the woods....and there's more to come!

Log Cabin Scraps

Margie finished another 1000 piece puzzle.....the one was a challenge but she said it was fun. It's clear that red and yellow are prime packaging colors....adding to the challenge.  Both of us had memories of many of these things throughout our life....and Margie pointed out that some of them matched up with Emily's itty bitty things from yesterday's post.

When my parents would go out for the evening (which wasn't very often) as a treat we used to get Spaghetti-O's. Just for old times sake I tried them once as an adult....I don't know what we were thinking back then.  

And speaking of itty bitty things....I played with scraps again.....this time I glued them into a log cabin pattern.  This may be my springboard for my keeper 4 x 6 scrap quilt card this week....I almost forgot I need to do that.

The scrap project box....patiently waiting....not a lot of time for art these day.   It's a busy time of year.  

Itty Bitty Things

Paul and I have been amazed how quickly things have greened up and grown.  I love the variety of textures and shades of green in this backyard garden....with the little pops of purple and pink. The coral bell in the foreground is such a spectacular purple color! We've had good rain....and recently quite a bit of sun...and that equals happy gardens....and happy gardeners.  It's been a wonderful spring.

I got an unexpected late birthday package from Emily, my goddaughter....and it came wrapped in bright pink repurposed paper.  She has a great sense of humor....and her notes on the box....and in the box are always good for a chuckle. She's a gem!

Emily has been collecting these itty bitty things....and thought I would like them too. I do! The dime gives you a reference point for how itty bitty they really are. I'll have to come up with a clever way to display them.  

I grew up on a farm in dairy country....but still have fond memories of things my mom would make with Cool Whip. It seemed like such a "treat" at the time. My mom spent a lot of all of her days cooking for a big family and sometimes it was just easier to pop the top off rather than whip the cream.  

This was one of Emily's favorite itty bitty things...and it's one of mine too.

On Second Thought

This is a follow-up to my earlier post where I wished I could capture the whimsy of the magnolia bloom in a thumbnail sketch.  It will make more sense once you've read that post called It's a Wrap. 

I couldn't go to bed until I tried....I realized it didn't have to be perfect.....it just needed to capture the essence. This 10 minute effort will help me sleep better tonight.

On second thought....maybe I can pull it off....in my own clumsy way.

Dancing Magnolia

It's a Wrap

For reasons that are not important I'm not the biggest fan of magnolia trees.  But I'll have to admit I was quite smitten with the whimsy of these big floppy blooms that were just starting to go by.  The swoops, curls and shades of pink were just a delight.....they looked like they were dancing.

  And I do like the concept of small thumbnails.......and if I could pull it off I would sketch or paint close ups of these curvy blooms.  But I'm better at photo grids....so here are the thumbnails that were in my head as I stood there taking photos....while Paul patiently walked in circles.

The Mixed Media Thumbnail Sketching lessons wrapped up on Friday....but like most classes the real fun with a viewfinder is just beginning.  Tansy has given us a challenge project that she would like us to do....but I'm going to mull it over for a bit before I tackle it. In the meantime I'm sure I'll play around with a few other thumbnail type things.

I came away with lots of information and insights.  Tansy has a unique way of teaching and uses unusual exercises to make her points....and the last two were unexpected.  The first one was on abstraction. The initial round sketches were made while watching something moving like a babbling brook. I actually had a video that I took while I went through a car wash that I used.....yes....you heard that right....and it worked well for the exercise. 

While watching the video I used a round viewfinder to try and capture the lines and movement.  Then I used a smaller viewfinder on the first sketch to abstract out another part...then repeated that a couple times. My end product is a little iffy....but the point was received and I appreciated the exercise. 

Here's a still photo from the video....that's the best I can do. 

The final exercise was quite fascinating....and I want to repeat it when I have more time.  We were to walk a block we've never walked before looking for and doing quick sketches of shapes we decided on ahead of time.  I walked around a commercial block with lots of office buildings looking for window and door shapes...and round things.  I ended up looking at all the lines and grids on the faces of the buildings.....and round things led me to hubcaps. The next step was to take pieces and parts from those sketches and make little color swatches inspired by the shapes.  I hope to make more of just the different hubcap designs....there were so many interesting ones.

Lines, dots, and color...inspired by an office building....who would have thought!   Mixed Media Thumbnail Sketching...it's a wrap. Thanks Tansy!

Catch-Up

For some reason yesterday's post got flagged by blogger as breaking the rules.....so shortly after I posted it last evening they took it down.  Then early this morning after a review they reinstated it.  Go figure....nothing controversial or shady about paper scrap quilts.  So if you follow by email....today you may get two.  I haven't miss a day in a very long time.

Rain lily update...one bloom open...one close behind....and a tiny third coming too.  When it rains it pours....pardon the pun!  

Today I'm playing catch up on the 4 x 6 cards I've gotten from Becky and Brenda in the past few rounds. I'm a little behind in my sharing....but this weekly practice has been a wonderful thing for all of us so worth celebrating!

This actually is a birthday card from Becky....she's been playing with alcohol inks again.....just look at these crazy colors and shapes.

And this is her alcohol ink card from a round 12 in April...and if you look closely you'll find a couple tiny ladybugs. This one is rather exotic.

And I just got this sweet card last week for round 13.

Brenda was inspired by the children's book "In the Tall Tall Grass" for this cute round 12 card. 

And just today I got this one today Brenda called "nest." I had to smile at the long list of ingredients: distress oxide ink, Golden fluid acrylics, markers, brown kraft and packing paper, and gloss medium. So many textures....and so spring.  Thanks ladies! 

Scrap Quilts

I fell in love with this wabi-sabi tulip on our morning walk.  It's just so interesting.....especially against the blue forget-me-nots. 

And look what I have about to bloom....two rain lilies.  

 

Long time readers are all too familiar with my rain lilies....but for those of you who aren't.....this is a big deal.  I winter the bulbs over inside and the foliage dies back. I just pulled them out a week or so ago and started watering them.  They will eventually have foliage and bloom most of the summer....but these little guys wanted a head start.  I have both pink and white.

I have been quite inspired by Autumn Moon Art, an artist on Instagram and a self proclaimed "arting enabler." https://www.instagram.com/autumn_moon_art/

She makes collage quilts using her paper scraps....and that seemed right up my alley. She encourages you to not over think it....just cut up your scraps, glue and stitch.  She actually mostly used stamps that look like stitching because she wants them to be absolutely stress free and simple.  

I have bins and bins and bins of paper scraps and snippets.  This was my first experiment and I just grabbed what was on top....but I think it works OK and looks like spring.  There's a little bit of everything in there.

I added one of my watercolor motifs and turned this one into a Mother's Day card for Margie.

For round 13 of our 4 x 6 exchange I went with more simple scrappy quilts.  For Brenda's I pulled out scraps of blues, greens and purples....most of them watercolor experiments. 

I'm quite fond of this one....a very soothing palette.

The timing of Becky's card was when I made the color swatches for the thumbnail sketching class...so all her scraps came from those. I do love these little colorful swatch scraps and am looking forward to making more.

I think the black zig zag is too overpowering...I wish I would have done straight stitching  or even a blanket stitch around the edge....but otherwise I like it.  Becky should have gotten this one by now....and next week I'll make one to keep.