Cleaning The Clutter Of My Life......Plus Some Art Card Designs

 Before I get to the clutter part of my life, I did make a couple of new art cards a while back.  The "Butterfly Garden" card above was created from the original painting below (with Chris's help cropping and sizing everything).  I'm very happy with the way this one turned out.

Chris had to do a bit more work on the "Bearded Iris Garden" card because the original painting below was a big square and he was trying to change the shape while keeping as much of the main subject as possible.  I would love to get these art cards (including all that I did before this) photographed and onto ETSY but I just don't think that is going to happen at this point.  Seems like too much to get done for now and this kind of thing can wait until the upcoming months.

With just over 2 months until we leave West Point, I have some clutter and garbage to remove from my life.  For me, the worst possible thing would be to not bother with it now and have the movers pack all my trash, with me having to throw it all away when I get to Orlando.  I'm trying to avoid that so I've been working in my messy studio above to go through everything, recycle what I can, throw away what I don't need and just organize what I'm taking with me to make it easier to pack.  I tackled the messiest part of the room this week, the area to the left of my desk that is actually not in this photo.  It is all clean, organized and ready to go....I was able to get rid of a ton of junk from this area.  Going through everything I found things I hadn't seen in years, things I wondered why I didn't throw away long ago and many items that gave me the "so that is where it has been all this time" moment.

Dudley of course kept me company through the whole thing and I think was standing there in awe of my finally having done the stuff I should have done a long time ago.  He by the way offered no help with this task what so ever but did stop long enough to pose for the camera.

Painting A Butterfly Garden

What has everyone on the east coast been doing these days, aside from dealing with hurricanes?  I cannot answer for everyone else but for me, I've been painting a butterfly garden on gallery canvas.  First though, let me thank my blogging friends who wrote to check on me and my family, it was very kind of you and I appreciated your concern and the time you took to write.  We came through the storm very well at our house, no damage at all, not even enough rain to flood the basement.  We were lucky. 

I know I sure needed a break from thinking about the hurricane so I've been busily painting away this week to finish my latest piece.  "Butterfly Garden" is painted on an 8" h x 24"l x 1 1/2" deep gallery canvas.

It is sometimes the perfect remedy for what is going on around me, things that I cannot control, like hurricanes for instance, to lose myself in a new creative endeavor. 

I have had a few people over the years ask me if I accept layaway for my paintings.  Yes, I do offer layaway and am happy to do so on any piece of artwork.  If you see something you like but would like to pay for it in smaller, more bite size pieces, feel free to contact me and I will tell you all about it.

Things are going well with our house in Orlando as well.  We just had the home inspection yesterday and all went very well.  I wanted to post some inside pictures as the current owners have done a really beautiful job on renovations.  The above is part of the master bath (this is the first time in my life I will ever have had a master bathroom) they installed a beautiful cabinet for the sink, granite counter tops and a lovely mirror.

 

 

 

The master bathroom shower above has gorgeous tile work and it is huge.  The kitchen has granite counters, stainless steel and totally refinished cabinets, with a lovely tile floor.  It is an eat in kitchen (also something I've never had before and am looking forward too) that part of the photo is off to a side we cannot see right now.  It will be fun to show more pictures when we move in months from now but I want to wait as the other parts of the house have the homeowner's decor and furnishings.  I will wait till we have painted and decorated as we would like, before I show the rest.

Spring & Summer Dreams....

What motivates and inspires you on a daily basis?? You know, the thing that gets your juices flowing and brings happiness to your days simply because it exists...... I know it is a different thing or concept for everyone but for me, it is my spring and summer garden. As spring seems to be inching closer each day now, I wanted to take a walk through my favorite garden photos, starting from spring and moving through summer. I look forward to each May because that is the month my beautiful Bearded Iris collection blooms....I have a lot of them and seeing them each day and cutting some for a vase in the house, always makes me happy.

Before my Bearded Irises bloom though, I have the pleasure of seeing my English Irises pop their cheerful heads up and surprise me with lovely blooms.

Each spring I look forward to the arrival of my Clematis. I have pink, deep purple and white!

Clematis buds bursting into life.....

A lovely example of some deep purple.....which just happens to be my favorite color in the world.

Around the front of my house, I'll start to plant my annuals as the fear of frost diminishes.

You might remember the wooden planters that my husband salvaged from a fence of ours that fell down a few years back. I had him keep the wood until I could think of what to do with it. I thought making planters from these wooden planks would be really cool, so that is what I had him do. The annuals have just been planted as well as the 3 flower carpet roses. The mosaic birdhouse is from the very talented artist Michelle Legler www.mosaicqueen.typepad.com .

In June I have my Lilies to look forward to. I enjoy them outside as well as cutting them to bring into house.

My backyard perennial garden.....you can see along the right hand side that my Hydrangeas are starting to form their buds, they will be thinking about blooming soon. The Flower Carpet Roses down in the front are full of color and the Lilies in the back row are just starting to bloom.

Some time has passed and now my Hydrangeas are in full bloom.

Pots hang from my back porch and go down each step of my back stairs leading to my garden and driveway area. If you think I might be laying on the ground to get this shot, you would be right. From this angle I can see the Coreopsis, Yarrow and Coneflowers in bloom.

From this photo I see my garden in the height of summer, in full bloom. The Carpet Roses up front are cascading over the curb...sometimes I have to trim them back as they can run pretty wild, but I love wild.....in the garden anyway. The Black Eyed Susans are in full bloom and the Lilies that looked so pretty a couple of months before have been ecliped by my tall perennial Hibiscus you can see all the way in the back. One of my favorites in the garden.....

A pink Hibiscus in full bloom.....

Last but not least, this sweet hummingbird that likes to visit my back porch. He and his friends love my Cascading Geraniums and no matter what I'm doing when they visit, I find myself dropping it and racing for the camera.

I hope you've enjoyed the walk through my spring and summer.....they will be here before we know it.

Cards, Cards & More Cards

This week I'm trying to return to my normal routine after my whirlwind trip out west and I'm also busy painting again, making new items for my ETSY shops and my website. I've been on an egg painting spree already this week, brought on by a custom egg order that I have at the moment......but I'll show egg art in another post, on another day. For now I've been making card sets from vintage ceiling tin paintings and canvas pieces as well. I especially love the 3-D effect that the cards made from ceiling tin paintings have, I love the way the detail of the tin shows up on the cards.

I'm slowing adding these card sets to my ETSY shop... http://www.artfulcreations.etsy.com/ and they will be coming soon to my website. Until next time.......

Bloomin' In The Garden

Lots of new things bloomin' in the garden but I have to say, the most exciting picture I've taken recently was this gorgeous dragonfly above. I happened to be outside with the camera and just saw this little guy. I hardly ever see dragonflies never mind get a photograph of one. He landed on my Bearded Iris leaves and I knew I had very little time to get the picture I wanted. First I clicked away and came up with two, horrible and blurry photos, I was in a frantic rush...lots of cursing as well....then, one perfect, close up photo and just in time too because he flew away right after that.

My Perennial Hibiscus are blooming (all the way in the back) and the Black Eyed Susans as well.

I have 4 different varieties of Hibiscus, the lovely and delicate white/pink above.

A very pretty and soft pink that you see in these two photos........

I also have a lovely deep red but it hasn't started blooming yet.

Ah, the beautiful mauve color is one of my favorites. The show stopper of my summer garden has to be the Perennial Hibiscus, I look forward to their blooms each year.

Of course, Black Eyed Susans are such a carefree and wonderful flower....great for bringing in the house. A great staple in every garden.

Last but certainly not least, the Hydrangeas are still going strong and providing lots of happy colors.

What is bloomin' in your garden?????

Flowers Bloomin' In The Garden

My orange Cone Flowers just started opening this week and they look so pretty. I found this variety in a local nursery last year and snatched them right up.

My Lamb's Ear is now in full blooom as well and is always full of bees these days.

The Coreopsis went from thinking about blooming to bursting into full color.

The Lamb's Ear nestled right next to some Hydrangeas that just started blooming as well.

The Lilies are still in full swing and some new colors opened up recently. Some lovely pink and yellow blooms have been emerging.

A very striking bright orange Lily.

Some red/orange blooms.

I had some visitors the other day, this little bird couple decided to sit and rest in my Geranium and Vinca Vine hanging pots. Maybe they wanted to look out over the garden for a while.