What you don't see

Have you ever stopped in your tracks when looking at a breathtaking garden or dreamy piece of art and ask, "What is it?!" What is it about this particular garden, or art piece that has me awestruck?  And I think the answer lies in what you don't see.

What you don't see is each layer intrinsically applied to canvas or landscape.  You didn't see the inspiration before the artists hand placed the first brush stroke to canvas or spade that first broke earth nor each dedicated and successive layer that took time maybe years to create, to shape the thing.

What meets your eye is on the surface, the culmination of technique and artistry.  but what you ecstatically feel  is the glorious wonderment in knowing that what you are looking at goes way beyond the surface.  I've been loving the wonderment of these two lately.

Juliette Crane, a sweet artist who shares an intimate look into her process of creating Ladybird.  In sharing this process she brings into view these hidden layers until the moment a piece feels finished.  I feel the depth of her work, don't you?  

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Teresa is a Rosarian ( a lover of rose antiquity) ! She too is an artist whose canvas is her garden. I stroll through  her garden regularly by way of video on her blog, The Garden Diary.   As a fellow gardener, I know intimately the many layers of compost, mulch and soil amendments that go into creating the foundation for the palette of colorful blooms and foliage creatively arranged in the garden portrait.

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Here's whats inspiring me in the garden recently, Eggplant!  Not because I particularly like eggplant on my plate. But I  love it's silky smooth feel, ever lovely egg shape and it's deep purple color.  I'm also smitten with it's lavender blossoms.

Are you enjoying the culmination of something you began years ago or just started yesterday?  Are you perfecting a craft or embarking on a new project? I hope so!

Art Nook

 I thought I would share with you a little glimpse into a sweet little space I called dibs on.  It's quite small, a little nook under the eaves of our small cottage.  But it's all mine!  I've not had near the time to play here, at least  not as much as my heart would have it.  And if it weren't for June being our busiest month in the way of birthday greetings needing to go out, I would be desperate to find any time at all. Times like these, I get all wonky. I need to be here, to make and do.

Pens, paper, paints, sewing machine, bits of inspiration and a cozy shawl.  I feel all Tasha Tudor when I quiet myself here.

I'll often open the little window that looks down towards Panther Creek, even in winter, just so I can hear the creek's soothing melody.  In the evening I'll light a candle that sits on the windowsill, a one small beacon of light shining into the forest darkness. Here, in these still moments, my soul is full wide open to creative impulse. Do you have a special place, just your own? I'd love to hear all about it!

 While in my little nook recently I was unexpectedly and oddly inspired by the mail. I noticed the colorful patterned insides of business envelopes I had gotten. The bills  however did nothing for me! ;) and then I came up with this humdinger of an idea.


A little snip, flip and bit of red stitching up two sides and I had a handful of new pretty recycled envelopes. And a small quick creative boost for fortification during these busy days.


Summer is almost fully here. I'm sure many of you are pretty much full steam ahead with over-brimming schedules, summer plans, and with a creative tank near Empty. 


From one friend to another, if this is your situation too, let me offer you a bit of refreshment to get you through. 

• Kelly Rae Roberts. Kelly Rae's collages are amazing. Try not to be captured by her long necked ladies looking inquisitively.
• Robin Luciano Beaty.  Robin's encaustic art has me smitten.  I guess I love the added dynamic of using wax, heat gun, hammer, and a torch?, grrr...
• Dana Tanamachi.  I have an infinite love for typography. Dana takes it back to black and white, and school all over with her phenomenal chalk board art. 

~*wishing you moments of pure creative joy*~

Queenly pursuits

In my realm I am Queen Doodley Do. There is not one paper scrap around this place that doesn't bear my signet. My queenly flourish graces envelopes, notepaper, newspaper, grocery receipts, you name it. It is by royal decree that I doodle swirly, curly lines in the shapes of the alphabet, hearts, flowers, leaves and the like.

Even the neighbors mail delivered mistakenly to my cottage palace bears the seal of queenly authenticity with my scrawled, Delivered To Wrong Address embellished with flounce and flourish, my mark.

But I have discovered another Queen Doodley Do. Her kingdom is renowned. Her doodles are extraordinary and the commoners hail her work.

I present you
Queen Jessica.

And strangely enough there is a common thread, a quirky quality that resonates in our dual Queendoms. Queen Jessica Doyle in this excerpt about her doodle called Cathedral said:


"I drew the pen marker drawing inside a Fabriano Quadrato Artist Journal on the 23rd of December while thinking about skyscrapers and how humans are stacked one on top of the other within them and how it’s better to live on the upper most floors where the street noise is faint and water and sewer pipes are not continuously flowing within the walls."

This would explain why living in the uppermost kingdom IS as one may say, just ducky.

Queenly Post Script: Did I mention that I doodle compulsively. And that if a pen, paper and me are in close proximity of one another, there is trouble. I even doodle on stuff in the Doctors office.

Sorry, Dr. Erickson.

Wallpaper

Wallpaper. Either you love it, or you don't. I lean to both. By necessity, according to my noggin at least, the walls of Panther Creek Cottage must be white. And white is flexible. There are a myriad of shades in white. It's in the tint.
But that's another topic, and I digress.

Suffice it to say, when life in the gray wooded winter of the Pacific Northwest happens 9 dadgum months out of the year, well, the light reflective quality of white paint is a must. I reckon a white painted wall as big piece of artist canvas begging to be used. Hence wallpaper.

It can be the frugal homemaker's answer to art. Can't afford the price on an original? Maybe an artist's work in the form of wallpaper would be the answer. After all wallpaper has been used for centuries in beautifying the home. And there is some awesome work by talented artists available in wallpaper. Crazy cool! And more way cool is that wallpaper is sometimes available in samples. I could feasibly purchase a few pieces, mat and frame them, viola! How does your creative juice flow? Mine swirled over the work of Shanan Campanaro, and her nature influenced watercolor wallpaper through her shop Eskayel. I am smitten with Bear In Mind. But I was equally won over by Katie Deedy of Grow House Grow. Why? Because every piece has a story, either her own, or a historical figure that inspired her creation. I related instantly to her Christopher in Glenn, and children climbing trees. It reflects our life here at Panther Creek Cottage
and I could see a bit of it on my walls.

But I have come up with a different approach to my ho hum white painted walls, and have commissioned artists (of sorts,and varying ages)
to help me in my home beautifying endeavors.

They have complied.

Art coutesty of Ethan(12), Madeline(11), Gable(9), Alissa(8), Anna-Mae(6),Wyatt(3), and future artist Samuel((6mo.)

Visitors will often stand and admire my wallpaper.Their smiles make me smile.
A mixed media inspired use of graphite, watercolor, texture and crayola!
Some have pages and require handling. I like that tactile approach.

And always, there is a story.

Re-purposed

It's no secret around here, that I like red. All shades of red. But it's the rusty, bricky, oldy red that really floats my boat. I'll reserve the conversation that this is an age related ailment for another time. It's also known that I have a penchant for re-purposing things, recycling, upcycling, whatever.

See, there is just too much dadgum rusty metal, wire, rakes, nuts, bolts, chains and OLD TRUCKS in the country. And when you live on a 100 year old farm like ours, you can be sure there are plenty of nicely aged pieces to choose from.

I've come to appreciate the varying hues, character, and stages that a little weather and age will impart to a miscellaneous hunk of metal. So much so that if I spot some anywhere. Even at the cemetery (sorry Jules), I swipe it. Don't get worked up. It was laying alongside a ditch, and no, there were no birth and death dates on it. Anywhere. okay?

So while you're deciding whether or not I'm still your friend. Check out my address.
Rusty wire numbers, check. Old rusty battery cover, check check.

P.S. True friends brake for rusty stuff. And cough up trunk space in a flash.