turkey feathers

Gathering No Moss

Robins in the treetop, blossoms in the grass,

Green things a-growing,  everywhere you pass.

---Thomas Bailey Aldrich

 
Following a recent visit to the Oregon Garden, I've fallen into a rhythm of industrious contentment as the skies clear and the green things begin to grow once again. 

Time slows in the garden.  My mind quiets and my thoughts wander.  I move earth around with gloved hands; planting and pruning.  Pulling up weeds and putting in flowers.  A straw hat shading my eyes from the sun.

Rethinking the santolina, which has taken over an entire section of the herb garden.  To prune or to plunder...that is the question with it now.  Or shall I give it a new home somewhere else in the yard where it can wander without constraint.  Or complaint. Sometimes you bring a little something home in a 4" pot with vision and confidence, only to have it morph into something else entirely.  It was not the same variety I had planted before.  Of that I am certain.  Apparently it grew throughout the winter without any problem at all.  A reminder that winter was mild here.  Lovely though it is, it's tendency to swallow up everything around it prevails.  The bee balm is a paltry specimen now.  Sad and droopy from lack of nourishment and light.  I'm hoping a little effort will revive it.  

A bedding of bulbs is also in danger.  Finding new "homes" and places to plant them is foremost on my mind before construction on the new deck begins.  A rescue mission of sorts.   

 

A bouquet of colorful songbirds, swooping in and out of birdhouses and trees, add background music to the long peaceful hours spent puttering in the garden.  Don't ya just love this "high density" bird condo?  (Compliments of Oregon Garden).  Before you chop that tree to the ground, consider this garden feature as an alternative.  I wish I would've seen this idea before we had so many of our trees removed. 

On another acre of land, in another part of the woods, we find this.  Best to keep moving!  A rolling stone gathers no moss, as they say.  I'll be back with more garden wonders to share again soon.  Yay! Summer is here!

More Bloom

The little magnolia tree I planted a couple of years ago has charmed us with a few blooms this year.  Actually, it has bloomed once or twice, but with only one flower each time, so I had been reluctant to pick them.  But, this year is a different story, lots of blooms, and I could not resist.  The entire room is filled with the fragrance of summer.  And to think, only a short while ago I was only dreaming of them, as I stitched them up for the state flower quilt.

So, continuing on from the last post (June Bloom) about Helen, my art teacher and friend.  Now, all these years later, I still think about the sandpiper curtain.  Oh yes, Helen, as it turned out, was not only a gifted artist, but she was an avid stitcher who loved embroidery.  This came as a complete surprise to me.  One day, I was visiting her home, and saw an unusual curtain hanging in a small, oddly placed window above the stairway.  The strong coastal sunshine had been a problem for her, she explained, as it would stream into her studio making it difficult for her to work on her paintings.  She welcomed the light, but needed to diffuse it.  So she came up with an idea for a "curtain".  And not just any curtain.  No, her curtain was a work of art!  She'd taken white voile, or something similar, lightweight and sheer, and executed a border along the bottom depicting sandpipers in shadow applique.  Just layers of white on white.  The embroidered details were also done in white, and worked in various fancy stitches.  Wavy lines were chain-stitched to indicate the foamy water along the shoreline and clear seed beads were meticulously tacked in here and there to add sparkle to the water.  When the light shined through the curtain, it was just the most beautiful thing, with the tiny beads glimmering in the light like the sea upon the sand.  It was simply, exquisite.

Helen inspired me in many ways.  I was married on a hill between two ancient oak trees, overlooking the Pacific ocean, a favorite location that she had painted many times, and it pleased her to attend and take part in the festivities.  But that day, she did not look particularly well, although she insisted everything was fine.  A few weeks later, Escrow closed on our first home and we moved away from the coast and up to the foothills of suburbia, leaving my little "cottage by the sea" and my friend behind.  As I began embarking on a new path in life, Helen's was coming to an end.  She never mentioned her illness, probably not wanting to cast a shadow on my happiness.  It wasn't her style to impose herself in that way.  Without family, she left the bulk of her estate to the colleges she taught at, and scholarships are still being awarded in her honor to this day.  I have hung on to the few silk-screen paintings she gave me, and will always remember her fondly.  Especially that "curtain".

Unrelated exciting news...Hey, there's a stitchin' contest happening!  I am going to be one of the judges and prize givers along with a host of other wonderful folks.  Check it out over at the New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns group on flickr.  This event has been pulled together and organized by bookwormbethie AKA Beth.  So hop on board for some fun, creative stitching (and prizes!!)  to kick off the summer, starting June 20, 2012. 

June Bloom

This brings back memories!  It's a little watercolor I did in 1980, back when I was taking drawing and painting courses at Coastline Community College (and later at Orange Coast College) in the evenings after work.  I found those carefree classes a welcome distraction and a godsend during a difficult time in my life.  The instructor was Helen A. Prothers.  She was an amazing artist herself, having been a professional fashion illustrator for most of her adult life, and later did technical drawings for anatomy books.  Her passion for travel and adventure took her all around the world, filled her sketch books and influenced her colorful, detailed paintings; depictions of the favorite places she had visited.  Teaching these classes enhanced her spare time after "retirement" and kept her from being lonely, I think, for she never married and had no close family that I knew of.  Recently, I found this painting along with others, and the well-worn teaching manual she used.  It was at the bottom of a box of artwork and stuff I'd thought had been lost.  It was quite a thrill to see all this again.  And the teachings, with so many fun and informative lessons.  Lessons that can be shared with my daughters, who also like to dabble with brushes and paint. 

These paintings (and dozens more) were done as objects of study encompassing spherical forms, opaque fruits, conical shapes, wood grain, shiny textures, working out complementary and analogous colorations, veining of leaves, and various techniques.    

Often, as I fussed over a painting trying to achieve some sort of unattainable perfection, Helen would patiently come over and reassure me that things were going in the right direction and to just keep going.  She was a marvelous teacher and graciously shared all her tricks of the trade. I was grateful for that and learned a lot under her direction.  Being older and wiser, I think she enjoyed having a younger person to mentor.  One day, we ran into each other at the local market and discovered that we lived within walking distance of each other.  After that, we became neighborly friends, dropping in on one another from time to time.  She would show me her latest painting or an idea for one, inspired from the beets she'd pulled up from her garden that morning, or the mocking bird she saw sitting on a fencepost.  I was fascinated by her.  Helen could find inspiration anywhere, in anything and taught me how to see things that are often overlooked in the common everyday experience and turn it into art.  Hence, my little red watering can.  Not much on its own, but a worthy subject of study I suppose.  Funny that I should still possess both; the painting and the watering can, after all these years.  And...as it turns out, just the thing for my June Bonus designs.  Summer is right around the corner and I'm ready!