A Walk Around the Yard

June bloom!!  Color abounds!!!  I start out the back door encountering shades of pink, the Goatsbeard is especially lovely.

The Oak Leaf Hydrangea is in full bloom.

 There are banks of Rhododendren.

St. John's Wart is one of my favorite yellow flowers, I love the way it spills over the rocks.

The Balloon Flower is quite showy this year. 

The Lavender is just now starting to bloom - soon to fill a niche with its lovely lavender blooms and scent.

Who wouldn't smile at the bright orange of the Butterfly Weed?

And of course the Daylilies which grow in such rich profusion, closing up overnight and opening to greet the sun each day.

Thanks over and over again to my husband Tom who has planted and tended all these lovelies.

"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light." - Theodore Roethke

Making a Mess

Its been a long time since I last painted on fabric -- back in my book art days in fact.  But I've begun a new project and the cloth and the paints are back out on my work table.

This is fun!  Mixing acrylics with water, trying to get just the right mix - not too thin, not too thick.  Playing with colors 'does it need a bit more orange?' 'does it need less white?

Wetting the fabric so the paint will soak in easily and then going at it - brush in hand wildly spreading so there aren't too many sections of stiff paint.  A wash is what I'm looking for so it means moving quickly over and over, sometimes just a touch sometime several layers.

"All that is necessary to paint well is to be sincere." - Maurice Denis

Along the Parkway

The Blueridge Parkway never disappoints.  Walking in these blue hazed mountains is a softening interlude in an otherwise busy life.  These hills are very old and have developed a soft look - densely green and standing stolidly, firmly in their place.

This dead tree stood out graphically with a backdrop of so much green.

The Mountain Laurel were in bloom - their delicate shades of pink making a break from the green of the leaves surrounding it.

A Flame Azalea is always such a wonder - standing out so vividly.

"How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains." - John Muir

Gathering Moonbeams

Continuing my long love affair with the moon!

For ever so long none of us had actually been to the moon and so it remained a bit of a mystery sending light down upon the earth in the middle of the night.  Has seeing pictures of the first person to set foot on earth taken away its magic?  Not for me -- I still look up at a full moon feeling that it is shining just for me (but I gladly share it with everyone else).  While science and discovery can tell me all the nitty-gritty about the moon I'll continue to gather moonbeams on a full moon night.

"Moonlight is sculpture." - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Trinkets and Doo-Dads

I am 'addicted' to trinkets!  I can hardly pass a possible future embellishment without grabbing it up and putting it into my stash.  These treasures give me endless inspiration and often create something almost on their own -- I'm just the hands that they pass through.

I thank all of those who have created and packaged these bits of magic. I have to admit that my stash is a lot larger than shown here, this are just a very small  sample of the buttons, bells, and wonderful doo-dads that reside here.  I love them all!

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk." - Thomas Edison