Reminders of Summer

The last Monarch Butterfly of the summer: 

I will be taking a blogging break for an unknown period of time.  Thank you for all of your support. 

Is it possible to make a living by simply watching light?" - Terry Tempest Williams

"Is it possible to make a living by simply watching light? Monet did. Vermeer did. I believe Vincent did too. They painted light in order to witness the dance between revelation and concealment, exposure and darkness. "  - Terry Tempest Williams

 

 

The beauty of nature reflected in art is just another reminder of our need to protect it.

An interesting 'green' alternative to shopping is the 'Swap don't Shop' movement.  I heard about it through  The Nature Conservancy and find it inspiring.  This kind of movement is happening all around the country in all kinds of communities.  Swapping is a sustainable idea that will help our planet.  All kinds of things can be swapped, clothes are probably the most common (the average American throws 68lbs of clothing and textiles into the land fill EVERY YEAR!) but garden surplus, eggs, milk, art, dishes, tools, and many other items could be swapped.
So many of the choices we make have a major impact on the planet.  This means that there are Eco-friendly changes that we can make everyday that can have a lasting healthy effect.
Hosting a 'Swap don't Shop' party is one way to be an everyday environmentalist.

"The Universe is a Continuous Web. Touch it at any Point and the Whole Web Quivers." - Stanley Kunitz

The upcoming Autumn Equinox can be a time of reflection upon the year’s successes and failure and a moment of celebration of the harvest cycle.  This time of year reminds me to pause and look at the bigger picture of my life.  I feel this due to the changes I am making in my garden and how the changes seem to suggest a time of reflection.  I have been planting the winter garden, composting spent plants and planting cover crops.

 

I am also making this quilt from old clothes and material scraps.  All of them would have most likely gone into a land fill because they were so ripped up and old.  It is fun putting the different pieces together and composing a design.
Here are a couple close ups of different places on the quilt:

 

Some snow peas ready to be put in the garden:

 

my garden changing into winter mode:

 

"The garden is, in a sense, the cosmos in miniature, a condensation of the world that is open to your senses.  It doesn't end at the limits of your own parcel of land, or your own state, or your own nation."

- Stanley Kunitz

"....Because He Loved the Sky...." - Brenda Ueland

A book I go back to over and over again for support and inspiration is called, "If You Want to Write" by Brenda Ueland.  I think the title could be, "If You Want to Create Art of any kind."  I just substitute the word 'write' for 'art' when I read this book.  Here is a passage from this book:
The author writes......
".......the moment I read Van Gogh's letter I knew what art was, and the creative impulse. It is a feeling of love and enthusiasm for something, and in a direct, simple, passionate and true way, you try to show this beauty in things to others, by drawing it. And Van Gogh's little drawing on the cheap note paper was a work of art because he loved the sky and the frail lamppost against it so seriously that he made the drawing with the most exquisite conscientiousness and care. ”
- Brenda Ueland (from If Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit)

Perhaps anytime we do something from a place of love we are contributing 'art' to this fragile home we call earth.

Deciphering work composed in yarn and thread

I have been altering T-shirts recently, something I really enjoy doing.

I enjoy sitting outside and sewing by hand.  I have learned a lot from other artists' blogs.  One in particular comes to mind called: Electic-Meanderings  created by Deanna 7Trees.  Deanna's blog is filled with inspiration, how tos', and Deanna herself is one of the most encouraging people I have met in a long time.  I encourage you to visit her blog and become a 'follower' .

Shirts on my favorite rocking chair!

Much of the social history of early America has been lost to us precisely because women were expected to use needles rather than pens. Yet if textiles are in one sense an emblem of women’s oppression, they have also been an almost universal medium of female expression. If historians are to understand the lives of women in times past, they must not only cherish the Anne Bradstreets and Martha Ballards who mastered the mysterious ways of quill pens, they must also decipher work composed in yarn and thread.”

–Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

“We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.” E.B White

These are some small mixed media paintings I am selling at "Dino's" in Loch Lomond, CA.  Dino's is a wonderful Deli and market where you can get freshly made sandwiches, salads, drinks and much more.  Loch Lomond is in Northern California a beautiful pine tree filled rural area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living Jewels

 

I have taken time to really look at some of the amazing beetles around our home.  Their colors and patterns are stunning and inspiring for any artist.  I chanced across this book by Poul Beckmann called, "Living Jewels" which is full of beautiful photos of beetles.  I didn't know this but beetles have been called 'living jewels' due to their beauty.  Here are some images from Poul Beckmann's book:

 

 

Creating an Atmosphere

"Every person, from morning till evening, is making invisible forms in space by what he says.  He is creating invisible vibrations around him, and so he is creating an atmosphere."
-Hazrat Inayat Khan

May the colorful beauty of nature fill your heart

I am moved by all the colors around me, sunflowers, hummingbirds, sunrise and sunsets, pine trees, butterflys, honeybees.....the colors in this world are amazing.

"I thank you God for this most amazing day"

“I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.”
- ee Cummings

Take Your Busy Heart to the Forest

.

Take your busy heart to the art museum and the

chamber of commerce

but take it also to the forest.

The song you heard singing in the leaf when you

were a child

is singing still.

.

~ Mary Oliver

from Swan

Garden Art

I decided to make some paintings for one of our outside garden fences:

my loving garden art helper

Let's Start Our Days With Kindness

I rescued Raven when she was approximately a year old (perhaps a bit younger) and often wondered what she was like as a puppy.  This painting is one of my tributes to Raven and how I imagine her as a puppy!  She starts my days out with her love and kindness so I titled this painting, "Starting Our Days with Kindness."

Horses lend us the wings we lack.

The power, grace and beauty of a horse....what joy!

Rock Collecting

Raven and I went rock collecting:

The above image was taken after we had found the rocks we wanted.  Raven does actually bring rocks to me with the hopes that I will throw them for her to retreive!

These were a lot of fun to paint:

Inspired by Flowers

We are continuing to have an amazing array of blooming wildflowers this year.  Gazing at them often brings tears to my eyes.

"Gratefulness is heaven itself." - William Blake

I am grateful to be participating in the creative process....making some bird houses:

a small Luna moth painting:

another bird house:

A wonderful day!

"I am sure there is magic in everything" - Frances H. Burnett

Moths are magical creatures to me and they are appearing in my art!

White Moth, flutter off:
fly back into
my breast now
Quickly, my own soul!

- Wafu-

Won't you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you. - Richard B Sheridan

I picked one rose from my garden today.  Here is a photo of it in front of a painting I am currently working on:

Here are some images I painted inspired by the same rose bush:

Another photo of today's rose:

Love this quote from Abraham Lincoln:
"We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses."