cool, green and shady

after a week of rain and cool temperatures

things are really looking lush in my garden

the huge siberian elm
has bloomed early
casting a lovely shadow on the back lawn


my woodland garden at the back
is getting lots more sun
now that the cherry tree is gone
hopefully the shade plants won't mind
the extra sun



even "beanie" seems to "fit" in
trying to hide under the bird bath

encaustic class

today was all about trying a new color palette

and then applying them in a different order

above three boards

using taupe, sage green, blue and gold

using the heat gun and a palette knife

at the same time

to move the wax and mix the colors

sort of like frosting a on a cake

i use crumpled up wax paper on parts

of the warm wax to texture it

and rubbed in oil paint in other parts

i also added chunks of the gold oil stick

this canvas i painted blue first and then

completely covered it with gold

and tried the same technique

this canvas was gold first

then the blue and green on top

and finally gold powder mixed with oil paint

when heated

it created

an interesting

crackle/marbling effect

paris statue

on our first day in paris

( it seem like a long time ago )

we wondered around our neighbourhood

( for eight hours)

going through my photos i found several of

a statue we found that day

it is two bronze statues

that have been sliced into several pieces and

then rejoined together

i'm sure carmi told me the name but

for the life of me i can not remember

i tried googling it and nothing

right now i wish i could split myself into 2 or 4

so i could get to all the things i want to get done

a second brain would be nice too!!!

the back was just as interesting

this large bass was just one of the items

the base

the side

springtime

no matter what

i'm up by 6am and in the garden

i have a lot to catching up to do

i got way behind while in paris

it's really starting to look good

most of the weeds are out

and i've done some rearranging

splitting and new plantings

all i need is some cedar mulch

since i have lots of shade plants

they bloom early

may is the best month in my garden

hopefully it will warm up so

i can get more work done later today

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some of my shade loving plants

astilbe, brunnera, coral bells, foamy bells,

bleeding hearts, ferns, solomon's seal,

corydalis, hostas, clematis, rhododendron,

lady's mantle, lungwort, periwinkle and hydrangea

encaustic class

it's been 2 months since my last class

it was good to be back

i really wasn't sure what to do today

so my teacher suggested working with

the heat gun and a palette knife

to create texture

it was fun just playing

with no real goal in mind

other than to see what can happen!!

two detail areas

on the left i added white oil paint right out

of the tube and then heated it up

cool crackle effect

on the right i got more of a marbling effect

on the second board

i practiced the same technique

adding a few more colours

i can't wait 'til next week to experiment some more!

paris street grunge or art?

as i wondered the streets of paris

i managed to use my little camera

for my favorite -- grunge shots

there was tons of stuff to shoot

above are a few of my favorite

several stencils, funny plaster faces ,

rusted and painted doors and

paper covered drain pipes everywhere!

in french so they will make great overlays in ps

a peeling billboard in the subway

and my reflection in a window covered in graffiti

-------
i still haven't gone throught all of my photos
but i know i will have months of fun
playing with them in ps

artist spotlight

i'm so honoured to have been chosen

by lorrie grainger abdo

for her "artist spotlight interview" series

lorrie found me through

one world one heart

i love the blog world!!

it has been a wonderful source of inspiration

and i have met so many creative and generous people

thanks lorrie

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above

one of the many postcards i found in paris