garden interlude

June is rose season around here. Most of the roses are putting out their first flowers around the same time so it's a great time to go shopping and see what you're getting.

I've pulled out a few more big euphorbiums from this bed that died over the winter and the blank spaces seemed like they needed new roses. Last weekend was lovely and sunny (not that you'd know it from these gloomy photos from today) so me and the boy went shopping.

The top photos are of my own personal method of garden design: buy some pretty things that go together and then move the pots around until I like the effect :) I'll leave them in their pots and make sure I'm happy before I put them in the ground. I like making a composition out of the flowers and it feels very similar to putting together a collage - all the pieces are cut out and I just move them around until it all works (I hope).

The roses are (from top): Darcey Bussell (new), Eden, Rose de Rescht, Gertrude Jekyll, and Heritage.

pinhole Hawaii

Cathy mentioned pinhole photography a few months ago and I thought it sounded interesting but I can't really see myself taking photos with film. So as I was poking around looking at pinhole photos I saw something about digital pinhole photography which seems much more like my kind of thing - instant gratification. :) I tried making my own pinhole but it was not working that well so I gave up and bought a commercial version.

I hadn't had time to play with it before we went on vacation so I tried it out on waves and palm trees and such. I kind of love it and I'm going to see what else it can do now that we're back home.

little vacation!

We went to Hawaii with my sweetie's family last week. We got some good family time in - they all live two states away so we don't see them nearly often enough. I played with my new camera and lenses (although I must always add the disclaimer that I'm not a proper photographer). So I took pictures of fishes in tide pools (above)...

...little bitty crabs on the beach...

...and as required by law, I took many pictures of the sunset from the beach.

Of course, now I'm feeling all jet-laggy and weird so I should probably have another vacation to recover from this one, right? :)

tiny birds

It's that time of year again...the garden is growing out of control (including the weeds, unfortunately), there's a horse who needs exercising, and I have several sewing projects to put together for summer.

So there's no art in this post but am I apologizing? I am not. Things happen. It's ok. The only problem is that I tend to post here when I have art to show you so when I haven't been in the studio much I sort of feel like I have nothing to post. But today I am sharing with you some tiny little hummingbirds so I hope that will be ok :) I got a zoomier lens for my camera and I've been practicing on these little guys. Hummingbirds are so tiny I've never gotten a good picture of one before. They're all buzzing around looking for a fight so if you go out in my yard right now you're likely to be divebombed and chirped at within an inch of your life.

tattoo!

Not on me, though. Lovely Stephanie who wanted the tattoo design of magnolias has sent me photos of the finished tattoo (and an in-progress shot, ouch). I think it turned out pretty fabulous! Amber from Dana Tattoo in Cincinnati did the tattooing.

Thanks again to Stephanie for getting me involved in this project - designing a tattoo was new to me and a good learning experience in doing custom work :)

Greenwood-Phinney Art Walk

I've been doing prep work for the big Greenwood-Phinney Art Walk in Seattle the last few days. I thought I would bring some original pieces framed and also a few matted prints to accommodate a wider variety of budgets :)

The art walk is Friday, May 13th and Saturday, May 14th and I'll be at Alterations Fit 4 You at 7411 Greenwood Ave N.

I love hanging out and talking to people and especially talking about art, so I think it'll be fun! I'm hoping to sneak out for a minute and see some of the other artists, too :)

new member of the family!

Meet the new member of the family! This is My (short for Marigold, her registered name) and she just arrived this morning. She's not quite sure what she thinks about her big move just yet but she's settling in pretty well :)