WINNING SUBMISSION AND NEW DIRECTIONS

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by backyardnotes in Art, Creative, Inspriation

Tags

Abstract painting, Art, Collage, Diana Sanford workshop, Empty seed packets, Garden poster contest, new work, West Seattle Garden Tour

The winning submission for the 2015 West Seattle Garden Tour!

I SUBMITTED THIS 18″ x 24″ COLLAGE WORK for the 2015 West Seattle Garden Tour poster in March and it was the winning selection! (And I received compensation!)

Some of the seed packet text shows through with this whimsical clematis blossom.

I have been saving empty seed packets for a few years thinking I would find a way to work them into a collage. I opened out, flattened and painted the seed packets with acrylic paint in flower and foliage colors then cut out the petal, leaf, root, bulb, and branch shapes to compose the picture above. It was a fun piece to create.

The framed art will be auctioned/raffled during the garden tour as part of the tour’s fundraising effort for local (West Seattle) charities.

It has been a good long while since my last post. Painting workshop, trip to Pinnacles National Park to see California Condors (which we saw quite close in flight) and painting for the past six weeks to get ready for 2 shows.

THE WORKSHOP: The first four days of April were spent at a pastel workshop lead by Diana Sanford. The focus was intuitive painting and abstract expression and was a blast! We spent seven to eight hours painting each day and I came away with stacks of paper that are/were foundations for new work. We painted with Sumi ink, gesso, and layered pastel over the top; we used unconventional ‘tools’ to paint with; we painted quick studies, long studies and ‘duets’ in which we painted with a partner. We even painted a group collaboration that was outstanding! I painted without expectation or intent and it was energizing and freeing.

Sumi ink, walnut ink, charcoal, gesso

Sumi ink, gesso, pastel (finished post workshop)

The finished group collaboration

So, now my work is heading off in new directions and will be featured in a group show next month. Exciting! More announcements next week…

30 DAY ART CHALLENGE–I DID IT!

03 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by backyardnotes in Art, Creative, December

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

30 Day Art Challenge, acrylic, Art, color pencil, Drawing, mixed media, painting, watercolor, works of art

FROM OCTOBER 17TH TO NOVEMBER 19TH I created 30 works of art, roughly one (or more) a day. It was a challenge and a blast! Tomorrow night as part of the Pioneer First Thursday ArtWalk, is the unveiling of the works of 110 artists and 3300 pieces of art! Check out some of the work here on their Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/30dayartchallenge. All of the work will be for sale tomorrow night through Saturday afternoon.

Here is a gallery of the work that I submitted. All work is on 8″ x 10″ canvas board. The work includes acrylic, watercolor (using watercolor ground for the first time), color pencil, mixed media, and oil pastel.

GLAMMING-UP AN OLD STEELCASE CHAIR

22 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by backyardnotes in Art, Creative, Fun in the Garden, Serendipity

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

art chair, creative, garden chair, garden project, metal chair, Steelcase chair

The finished chair

MY LATE FATHER-IN-LAW probably bought this (and at least one other) chair surplus some 40-50 years ago for his office. A no frills chair, perfect for a cement mason or laborer to sit on when waiting for a paycheck. Somehow, the groundskeeper managed to hang on to two of them after he took over the business and now one has a new life.

One of these chairs made its way to our house years ago and has been hanging out with the potting bench. As a testament to the quality of its overall construction, the chair has rusted only slightly and the seat and seat back material has held up well too, in the elements. Three months ago we found a second chair in a storage room where the office used to be and I decided to bring it home and dress it up for the garden rather than scrap it to the metal guy who parks just outside the transfer station.

1950’s (?) era Steelcase chair

I sanded the frame to get rid of the rust, removed the seat and seat back and then gave the chair 1 1⁄2 cans worth of Rustoleum’s 2X Ultra Cover spray paint; they have some great, vibrant, colors for outdoor use.

In the “spray booth”

I found some great oil cloth prints at Pacific Fabrics, wrapped the new fabric around the old and I have a great chair in the garden. This so much fun that I am going to do the second chair; I found a ladybug print vinyl that called out to me!

ART COLLABORATION PROJECTS–NEARLY FINISHED!

23 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by backyardnotes in Creative, Painting

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Art, collaboration, creative, group painting, painted pears, painting, pears

I BELIEVE THAT THE PEARS ARE NEARLY FINISHED! I may yet lighten the top portion, as to my mind it is still too similar to the forward pear and the lower background. Also, the yellow pear needs a little warming, rounding and shadowing at the bottom; it’s very close. When my piece is finished, then four of the the five paintings will be complete; only the arrangement needs finalizing. The Abstract and Laden Table collaborations are complete. I am eagerly looking forward to the next project (solo, that is).

Arrangement possibility #1

Arrangement possibility #2. The Swiss Chard remains unfinished at the point

The Abstract

The Laden Table

A SCHOOL BUS & RADISH TOPS

20 Friday Jun 2014

Posted by backyardnotes in Cooking & Eating, Creative, EAT!, Flowers, Harvest, Inspriation, Vegetable garden

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Asparagus, pesto, Radish tops, Radishes, school bus, school bus planter, Sockeye salmon, toy school bus

A FRIEND OF OURS IS RETIRING FROM SCHOOL BUS DRIVING TODAY. I wanted to find a little toy school bus at Goodwill. What the groundskeeper found instead was a BIG school bus toy with an open top that I immediately saw as a planter! After a few holes were drilled in the bottom for drainage, I added window screen mesh on the inside to keep the soil in. I added a few homemade stickers and plants and here it is. I think it’s adorable and I think our friend will too.

Our friend is a dog lover who fosters dogs.

ABOUT THE RADISH TOPS. I had intended to make this post yesterday after a prolonged hiatus of from the blog (too many other projects to deal with), but that bus planter was just too darn cute to leave out.

I picked some very nice radishes on Wednesday and the tops were too nice to toss into the compost. They had a slightly tart flavor and I thought they would make a nice ‘pesto’ type sauce.

I combined the radish tops with some aspargus spears and four or five garlic scapes in the food processor.

Garlic scapes and aparagus

Ready to purée

Add some olive oil and a little salt, pepper, and purée until smooth. Taste for seasoning. At this point it can be put up in small jars, topped with a little olive oil and frozen for later use or top with oil and store in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Cheese can be added just before using if you plan to use it on pasta in a more traditional pesto style.

I managed to fill a pint jar

We cooked a piece of Alaska sockeye salmon on the grill adding some of the sauce near the end of cooking.

Sockeye salmon with radish top pesto

Radish greens

Using radish tops was new for me. I knew they were not much different from most mustard greens other than the leaves being a bit fuzzy, so I thought: Why Not? It’s nice to figure out ways to get the maximum out of what I harvest from the garden. Maybe carrot tops will be next! How do you maximize your harvest?