Creating gardens for pollinators and art

Fall is here with so many things to do.

My memories of Summer days spent digging in the dirt, planting seeds and watching my garden come to life are fading.  I loved all the bumblebees, swallowtails, pearl crescents, frittilaries, clearwing hummingbird moths, hummingbirds and wasps in varieties I hadn’t seen before tumble, crawl and fly around the garden.

A garden for pollinators, an artist and other wild visitors

Now my days are spent cutting back the Lobelia cardinalis flower stalks, finishing up the art that began in my sketchbook and cleaning up the studio and gardens for the Countryside Artisans Fall Studio Tour visitors.

I am enchanted by the seasonal changes, and love capturing some of it in my sketchbooks and then in that art hanging on the walls.

Hopefully all the many tasks associated with the upcoming Fall Studio Tour will still allow me to watch the Monarch Butterflies and other visitors to my garden.   Right now I am living in the moment, sunsets, fall color, and the good life as an artist in the agricultural reserve.

Summer to Fall Transition

I have no problem being present in the fall: Being outside, listening to the wind rustling leaves in the trees; bike rides; apples from the orchard; colorful leaves falling; collecting acorns, nuts and samaras; long walks with my dog; and trying to capture some of this in my art.

This leaf rubbing was created in a Greek restaurant (on the paper placemat) after a hike at Boundary Bridge with my buddy Melanie last fall.  I was so excited by all the trees we saw on the hike, I couldn’t resist rubbing the freshly collected leaves with color sticks.

The summer was great.   My days were filled with drawing and painting in my sketchbooks from the garden and from the car as i traveled south, north and to the midwest.  Taking walks and hikes, kayaking, working in the garden, and visiting with family and friends.

mixed media sketch

Now is the time to prepare for the Fall Studio Tour in less than 4 weeks, I can’t believe it is already upon us.  That deadline helps me focus on finishing art that can be put in a frame and setting the studio up for customers.  It is easy to be consumed with  finishing art, photographing art, framing art, social media, cleanup work in the studio and garden tasks, and all the clerical work.

As  I finish these essential tasks, the fall season is rich in color for painting, the mountain is calliing me for a hike, the dog wants a walk, and my new bike is sitting inside waiting to be taken out on the road.  I am lucky to have this life in the country, just hope I can work that studio tour list..

A hummingbird just flew nearby to drink from a late blooming Lobelia cardinalis, life is good when I can be present in these moments outside in nature.

Art is almost done for the Countryside Artisan Spring Studio Tour

Spring buds are bursting, the gardens are almost cleaned up, and the art is trying to move off the easel and into a frame.  I love this time of year outside, but I am inside many days trying to finish art for my open studio next week.  This drawing is a good example of how I spend my days.  He has been on the easel and then put away in my flat file before.  But this time I am determined to capture the view on West Harris Road, when you round a hill and there on the horizon is a beautiful horse peacefully eating the grass.

Art is a process I know, however I am just as impatient as I was when I started all those years ago.  I have several new pieces of art in process and they are destined to hang on my studio wall next weekend for the Spring Studio Tour.   Challenges are abundant when making art, and one of the hardest questions to answer: Is this art done?  Have I resolved the issues and found the spirit of this painting/drawing?

When one of my seasonal studio tours is upon me, the questions keep coming and it is difficult to know whether the work is done.   I try to slow my mind down and look closely, I move around the house and come upon the art by surprise to see what my reaction is to the drawing.  Sometimes this helps to focus my mind and ‘eye’.

Often the process is like the rest of life, when you want to be done and move on to something new, but a commitment is changing the experience.  Hoping to use this time to sign off on new art that has been on the easel for a while, even as I step back and question each piece.  Is it done?  Where is my eye led?  How do the colors and textures speak to each othe?

Making art most days, asking good questions, and hoping the art is speaking to me and my studio visitors next week.

Winter views of Sugarloaf and life

A reluctant writer, I hardly know when it is appropriate to share what’s going on as a mom, woman and an artist.  So this blog hardly ever gets updated.

Most days I am trying to capture the winter trees out my kitchen window, the changing colors of the mountain, and learning how to live with a son who is an Iraq veteran with PTSD.  Those sketches can take forever to finish, as the weather transforms my winter landscape.

It feels as if, it is the first time I have drawn this mountain view, every time I put pencil to paper.  Seasonal changes dramatically alter colors and forms, and that forces me to slow down and look.  Someday I will capture that feeling of being in this lively landscape.

Right now I am drawing this view as a meditative experience.  Getting lost in the purples and blue greys in winter trees, has a way of pulling my mind away from worrying about my Iraq Veteran son.  Grateful to have these compositional and drawing problems to solve, and wishing I could as easily help him heal his war wounds.

 

Hiking Sugarloaf Mountain to my Persimmon tree

I am a midwesterner at heart- loving the seasonal changes in woodland forests.  Last week I led a group of women from Chevy Chase, MD on a hike to the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain.  We were enveloped in the fall colors against Sugarloaf’s quartzite rocks.  Her trees are in the early stages of the fall burst of color.  Tupelo, Black Birch, Tulip Tree, Red Maple and Persimmon were glorious shades gold, crimson, citron and tangerine.

These women get their hands dirty working with soil, they are attuned to plant diversity and microhabitats.  So I shared tree ID clues and various habitat preferences, knowing they would be interested in how these plants adapt to their specific part of the forest.  Every time I lead a hike I learn something new about the mountain.  This time I was struck by the number of persimmons on the summit, we all got a chance to see and taste those amazing berries.  And for many on the hike their previous experiece with persimmon was the cultivated varieties in the grocery store.  I encouraged them to taste the ripe fruit and I think I have a few more converts to my favorite tree.

It was a wonderful day to be on Sugarloaf with kindred spirits.  Maybe if I finish work on a deadline in time today I can get back on the trail to my Persimmon Tree.

We are almost done spackling, painting, and cleaning up the Studio, after a big construction project.  These long awaited improvements have finally come to fruition.

A couple of years ago, an industrious groundhog tunneled his way into my studio, through the brick floor.  After cleaning up the mess, I knew the studio needed a solid, groundhog-proof floor.  Or as my brother describes it, I need an Animal Barrier.

This summer I started planning a new floor and I realized the building had a lot more openings
for insects and moisture.  So we plugged and patched gaps in the outer walls, installed drain tile, and a gutter.  After a few more bids I realized my studio savings account would not cover all the different contractors required to fix this.  So I called my little brother Steve and asked him if he would fly up from St. Louis, to pour the concrete ‘Animal Barrier’ we talked about when the groundhog visited the studio.

Steve arrived, my sweet husband took a week off and we went to work.  Amazing how many trips to Lowes and how much work involved in this project.  My brother can do just about anything involved in building, so he and Jim were cutting drywall for my new walls and ceiling in the 10 x 20 side of the studio and we went through a 25 pound bucket of drywall mud!  Then the new light fixtures and fan arrived, Steve installed them.  The big day was the concrete truck arrival.

Wheel barrows of heavy concrete passed from the driveway down the hill to the studio courtesy of Josh and J  and Steve was the finisher.  I had no idea concrete could be so complicated, after the initial pour and smoothing out, he waited and then very carefully created this beautiful smooth surface.

My little brother returned home and my husband and I are trying to finish the job before Studio Tour this Friday.  Artists dream about studio spaces, I have a dream work space thanks to my little brother Steve.

Old Pines & our mountain

 

I am attached to these old Pine trees that frame my view of Sugarloaf Mountain.   The subtle changes in color throughout the day are magical.  I will probably spend the rest of my life trying to capture this mountain/pine view.   This is today’s sketch.

Challenge: Being present, make art daily, gardening a little and not stressing over life.

I love watching all the insects hanging out.  Wishing I could stay in this moment.

Life has been a roller coaster these last months, as life as a mom overwhelmed everything else.  When my boys were young I imagined myself at this age with long days making art, reading with no regard for the time, spontaneous happenings, and not worrying obsessively about them in their 30’s.

However, worry and despair dominated these last 6 months. As our Iraq Vet son moved home.   We had some good days, when I could focus on the art, good books, and enjoy the life I have created.  There was joy in planning a wedding for my older son, and the actual wedding weekend was wonderful.  I won’t soon forget our rehearsal dinner evening, nor the beautiful wedding in Nashville surrounded by family, some of our friends, and his childhood, high school and college friends.

It is hard tho’ to stay in those moments, isn’t it?   If only I could block out fear and worry over the daily struggles of the Iraq vet son, and return to memories of the wedding son in Nashville.   Focusing on that, being present there.

That is my challenge now:  how do I live with the reality of life never being okay for my Iraq vet son, and not worry or stress over his difficulties?  I wish sometimes I were one of those women who can block out family difficulties and make art, be happy with friends, but I am not.

In the week following that glorious wedding, our Iraq Vet son relapsed and became angry and depressed as the VA crisis dominated the news, and despair grew over his day to day life.  That was the backdrop at home as I worked to prepare for 2 naturalist hikes I co-lead that first weekend home.  The following Tuesday I taught my final Art/Botany Class,  I was exhausted and blacked out (or fell asleep) while driving home.

The Police, Firemen, ER Doctors and the Ambulance EMT guys all said it should have been a fatality, and I was lucky to be alive.   It was a horrible accident, the impact was est. @ 45mph.  I hit a tree and guard rail head on, it folded then turned into a vertical spear eating the engine of my poor car.

After all the doctors, tests and the followup to a near fatal car crash, I am left wondering: How do I change my  head and heart?  How do I destress when my son is in crisis?  And how can I make art and live with a different mental/emotional approach to work deadlines as personal crisis develop at home?

These last few weeks, I am working in the garden, I am drawing plants, I am teaching, and I am slowing down.  My son has moved out, he lives with a friend now.  I am not sure how I will face the next  catastrophe he encounters, but I will try to let it be his problem and hope that I have given him enough guidance and support over all these years to be able to make good decisions.

Living in the moment right now on a beautiful June day, with my garden in full bloom.  Now to the studio…..

Art Gardening & Life Happenings

Summertime in my garden and studio is a daily commitment to get to the art, and not spend my hours weeding, transplanting and cleaning up.

Snow falling on Morningstar Studio

Snowfall, hibernation, reading, and loving winter.
I love the way this weather envelops me. Warm and bundled up with good books, sketch pads and hot tea, it is that time of the year when I am not juggling, garden chores, house chores, and studio time.
I am looking out my old, wavy glass windows, at the sun shining on a snowy landscape. Thinking of books I want to read and realizing this is my time to create, explore and make art!