Studiology

Show Time

October is my month, a deadline, a theme, and a purpose. My goal every year for my show month is to have 20 new pieces and I made it to 19. The show is in the gallery I manage and in the space as you enter the door. Who ever operates as manager is allowed to hang their art in this prime piece of real estate in a gallery that houses 24 other artists. Over the years I have covered various themes; dreams, sea, circus, travelers, and saints (with sinners). This year it's fairy tale with a focus on Alice in Wonderland. The real excitement for me is to see it all come together, when every piece is hung on the wall. 

But of course there is nothing like seeing it in person and taking it all in. The show will be there for the month with a reception on Saturday, October 16th, from 3 to 5. To help you understand, I am showing some process photographs, taken in the studio as early as January when I began the real building of various pieces. Alice falling took the longest because of challenges in the process. It began with a frame, Styrofoam, aluminum wrap, and a coffee can. The roots are rolled up paper held together with wall paper paste. The final layer was paper mache and mulberry paper. 

This masks begin as a simple plastic form and is modified with cardboard, bits and pieces of things and covered in paper mache with tissue paper as the last layer. I used some clay, beads, and a glass eye  and like the others, there is a wall hanger so it can hang like a piece of art, or be worn to a party.

Rabbits rule and are made of various materials. I'm extremely happy with this one with the background painted in an abstract pattern. 

With each show I learn something new and this show was filled with new techniques. Possibly my favorite was bending wire and then coating it with paste to harden. The process allowed me to create vines and filigree additions. Jack in the Beanstalk was really good for this and the little pea pods dangly loosely.  

The Mad Hatter's hands were also made this way as he holds his tea cup.

The piece de resistance is my crazy March Hare mask. He should be worn with a large wig and a crazy outfit. I painted bravely and it scared me. But it worked.

As one final note, this is as colorful a show as my circus themed year. I humbly believe it's a real joy to behold and something that will bring a smile to your face. 

 

 

Slipping

The month of September slipped by, slipped under, and fell out of sight. Although I remember it well as the month of too many tomatoes, too many Birdie walks, a lot of work and a tight show deadline. 

As for the tomatoes, I planted late, June 5th to be exact. With the hottest summer ever, it was not a good thing and the plants sulked. Every Saturday morning was a visit to the local farmer's market to buy heirloom tomatoes at $4. a lb., and they weren't nearly as tasty as the varieties I had planted, all 51 plants. Then came the last week of  August and all hell broke loose. The kitchen table was topped with at least 30 tomatoes a day, sometimes 50. I was determined that not a one was going to get away from me, so I froze salsa nearly everyday. I use the recipe in Craig LeHoullier's book with a few modifications. That salsa is then used to make huevo's rancheros for breakfast, which are much better with my own tomatoes, particularly the yellow varieties. The recipe is simple and here is mine:

6 large tomatoes (deskinned and cut into chunks)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 to 2 scallions - diced

1 Poblano Ancho pepper - diced

teaspoon of salt

Place all ingredients in blender and puree

fresh ground pepper top the eggs after they have been placed in the hot salsa

The first thing I do is crisp up corn tortillias in olive oil, remove. Pour in the salsa, a bit more than you think because it thickens as moisture steams away. Drop in the eggs, ground pepper on top, cook the eggs as you prefer and serve up. Lately I break up the tortilla before adding the sauce and eggs to make eating easier. 

My favorite yellow and orange tomato varieties are 'Lillians', 'Sweet Sue', and 'Kellogg's Breakfast'. A salsa with just these is sweet and very, very tasty. The fruit is full with small seed pockets, so slicing is like cutting into a melon, there's a lot of meat.

If anything, there is a lesson to be learned in planting late, it's good for a second crop and as October has arrived, it's nearly over. 

The arrival of September did see a bit of relief from heat and a return of rain. The hardy cyclamen popped, cool season perennials perked up, the weather has been magnificent as we turn the calendar to October. The gardens I work in really responded to all of my hard work.

And not to bore you again with my night garden, but my enormous Brugmansia 'Frosty Pink' had over 200 blooms one night. As cool nights move in the show ends, but it was a very fun summer! At one point there were 5 sphinx moths here to cavort and entertain. 

Lastly, Birdie is well, such a sweet girl but still a crazy nose driven beast on a leash. The show is up, and I look forward to October. I hope you are well.

Down the Rabbit Hole

I think we are all falling down a rabbit hole of one sort or another, caught in a voyage or an escape. For myself it's been a delightful escape into fantasy and fairy tale, all happening in my small studio to prepare for the fall show of the same title. I have shared a bit of the rabbit builds and now I can share some of the other characters, all slated to be for sale from October 1st to the 31st at Art A La Carte Gallery in Occoquan, Va. A "Meet the Artist" evening is scheduled for Saturday, October 16th from 3 to 5 and I'm sure there will be discussion on how things were built. 

These first 2 are in boxes that rotate, so Little Red Riding Hood becomes the Big Bad Wolf and the crazy March Hare becomes the White Rabbit.

Knowing the title, there has to be a Mad Hatter, in this case we've caught him on a tea break.

And just finished, the piece that is quite literally the fall down the rabbit hole, Alice and the White Rabbit. Her skirts are made of mulberry paper, layer after layer of treated mulberry paper.

This last piece was started in January and measures 34 inches tall and 18 inches wide. The tree began as a coffee can, the roots are rolled up paper treated with wall paper paste and covered with many layers of paper Mache. The core is Styrofoam, foil, and some cardboard. The painting literally took weeks as I swung back and forth on low and highlights. As mixed media as any one object can be, this was a real stretch for me, a project that left me with more questions than answers but ended up just as I imagined it would.  So look at your calendars, take some time to come see these and many more in October.

 

 

 

Summer Battles

As summer thins so may the gardeners resolve. In a climate with four seasons, the battle of maintaining waivers after the heat of July and August. The results leave many annual weeds free to bandy about and great battles are lost in a short time. A younger gardener may not feel or even know the challenge, they are armed with energy and a positive outlook, or so it seems as I look over areas of my garden that have been overtaken with a layered sea of morning glory. How did these seeds travel so far? Birds and/or ants may be culprits, dropped from a distance, no evil intent or lack of respect. 

One morning glory, or maybe all, were brought to the garden on purpose. The cardinal climber was a favorite for its spider-like leaves and small red flowers. Now it cavorts with others, scrambling up everything. Hummingbirds love it and my surrender to the battle always comes in August when I feel like the hummingbirds need it and I'm too tired to continue. 

A particularly aggressive morning glory, Ipomoea acuminata was an experiment while I still had the nursery. Deep purple flowers on a hostile vine quickly led me to discontinue growing it. Alas it followed me home, some small seed tucked in with something else. I have managed to eradicate it, or it became the soft blue of 'Heavenly Blue', the vine that may have swallowed sleeping beauty whole as she slept the summer away. On a positive note, who needs to tie up tomatoes when you have morning glory?

The one annual weed that may be the end of me is mulberry weed or Fatoua villosa. New in the scheme of things, a pest from Japan that is spreading to every state and many continents in record speed. I'm sure it's entry into my garden came from something I purchased; a few seeds is all it takes. Capable of flowering with only three leaves, by late summer it may be two feet tall and loaded with minute flowers and seed heads. Easy to pull but alarming in its coverage, a word of caution, if you are pulling the plant check your hands where there will certainly be remnant seeds (you may be moving it around). Hand pulling is something that must begin early and continue nonstop, a chore that seems impossible. One method to thwart mulberry weed is to lay newspaper (5-6 layers) on the ground and top with wood chips. In areas that are void of spring bulbs; under shrubs or flower border edges, cardboard will last longer, also topped with mulch or wood chips. Similar to other warm season weeds, the seeds will be viable for many years, so be ready to relayer or patch where they sprout anew. In my own garden I have targeted areas where I will newspaper this fall in an attempt to diminish the population.

At this point I find it hard to believe I will finish the battle of annual weeds versus me. Other vengeful players are the perennial vines like oriental bittersweet, Japanese honeysuckle, and ampelopsis which are a battle of another sort.

Ah but the zinnias are lovely and my tuberose are blooming - I'll take heart that it was worth it and wait for cooler days and a new energy.

Rabbits

In October I will once again open a show and this year the theme and title is "Down the Rabbit Hole". I began in January to design pieces and begin the build process. The obsession with rabbits has been pretty bad, I have made them from tissue with paper and then wire with clay. I believe the count is 12 so far. The real challenge was to make the perfect rabbit for the scene with Alice falling down the rabbit hole with a rabbit below her that doesn't look like he's looking up her skirt. A realization that caught me mid-rabbit making as a big mistake. 

The best rabbits are created with a wire armature or skeleton, then covered with foil, and finally covered with clay to sand and paint. The idea of using foil is for building up the body without using just clay, which is expensive. I've gotten pretty good with these wire armatures, and am finally excited about my last rabbit, he is perfect. 

The process of finding the right rabbit design began with simple drawings which helped tremendously. Initial bunnies were badly postured, he had to look like he was falling.

The body is sanded (after the clay hardens), the jacket is not and a pocket will have a pocket watch falling out. The size was also important, not as big as Alice and good with the scale of the piece, which is very large.  

Next Saturday, the 21st of August, I will be giving a demonstration with my rabbits (the process and the paint techniques) at the gallery in Occoquan from 5 to 7 PM. If you are at all interested in sculpting with epoxy clay or painting with layers on 3D objects, stop by and see how I do it. 

The gallery is Art A La Carte in the historic district of Occoquan, Virginia at 310 Mill Street. 

Weekend Getaway

With Covid restrictions and a sister that lives relatively far away, I had not seen her in almost 2 years. So it was time to go on a road trip and enjoy a weekend in Wytheville, Virginia, a drive of 4 hours on a good day. All 3 of us had a blast, it was so good to be together again. The Chautauqua Festival was happening all weekend with music, art, and food. Hot air balloons were scheduled to launch both days but the wind kept them down. Needless to say, there was still plenty going on.

This sister, the youngest lives in town and has a beautiful property in Bland County. We visited her farm where she has setup a she shed, complete with solar power, rain barrels and a place to shoot target practice. 

I am not fond of shooting but learned something from the experience. Unable to wink my left eye but totally right handed, I am a pretty good shot using my left eye. That winking thing, it was telling me something. 

Leslie was really good!

There is also a large barn on the property which she cleaned up and had doors made. Paths are mowed so you can walk the fields.

Her property is next to the Jefferson National Forest with a nearby Appalachian trail path. The creeks were low but still beautiful. The plant life there is incredible. Cucumber magnolia (Magnolia acuminata), striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum), and numerous perennials!

There was live music every night at the park, bluegrass and country. The Gate 10 band and Tony Jackson played (Friday and Saturday), both were totally enjoyable! We finished off the weekend with a little felting, making gnomes to be exact. Mine is on the left, Leslie's middle and Kim's right.

It was so good to be back with family once again. It had been too long.

 

Shoe Sanctum

I've begun a journey into shoe art, specifically shoe assemblage art. Part of an online class, another trip into obscure art but definitely a fun one. My first shoe is finished and I'm on to more. Finding the right shoe is a big part of the undertaking, the funkier the shoe, the more entertaining the venture. So I present "Shoe Sanctum", and the initial paint step with the rusting technique. I wanted the finished shoe to look like it was made of metal. 

And may this serve as a request for your funky, (I'm done with it) shoes.  

Changes in Horticulture

Recently I pulled out some old books, gardening books by some of my favorite authors. Going as far back as Louise Beebe Wilder and her brilliant prose in the 1930's, to Pamela Harper's book "Designing with Perennials", published in 1991, Henry Mitchell in 1992, or "Elements of Garden Design" by Joe Eck in 1995. These are brilliant publications which grounded me. Even as I revisit the pages, I find the sources for references that built my knowledge. Some of Henry Mitchell's Washington Post articles bookmark a page and I laugh at his masterly use of personal stories and wordsmithing.

The trends were clear, gardening was for beauty. The model for much of this were the large garden borders of Great Britain, layered sweeps of color. It was also the source of most of our gardening books; American garden writers took a while to come into their own. Keeping with the trends I started my nursery. The public wanted colorful flowers, anything new, and long blooming.

That story began more than forty years ago, my nursery closed more than fifteen years ago, and things have changed. The book collection I have now is different. Titles like "A New Garden Ethic" (Benjamin Vogt), "Planting in a Post-Wild-World" (Thomas Rainer and Claudia West), or Doug Tallamy's smart books like "Nature's Best Hope" squeeze next to "Color for your Garden".

Full circle, my profession is still horticulture or grounds maintenance. There is the continuing aspect of beauty and surely the higher learning courses are still formulated around ornament. But something else is happening. Science is infiltrating every aspect of our horticultural world. From the relationship with mycorrhizal fungi, the need for erosion remediation, and research on the decline of birds and animals, one needs only watch the news to see how our climate has changed and believe these changes will and are affecting us.

To follow horticulture in today's world involves understanding how to improve sediment oxidation, or better filter water using plants. The new science is finding that the tiniest connectors are linked to the health of plants from a moss to a giant oak. Soil science is exploding with new research on how to use plants to clean soil of contaminants and understand the relationship between fungi and the insects that inhabit the ground.

The old questions "What will bloom all summer?" are slowly replaced with "how to feed the monarchs", "Which tree provides the most food for migrating birds?", and "How do I increase the health of my soil?". The geeky nerd in me is excited and we need this. The gardeners need to do more than plant pretty flowers because we are the closest link to nature's connections. We see and understand more than most and we can help.

Some simple ways to start;
only use organic fertilizers
look for "peat free" potting soils
plant native plants
let caterpillars eat your plants - they feed the birds
teach your children and grandchildren

Grandkids

A full 2 weekends in a row were spent with the grandchildren, which was a blast. They are of various ages that are fun to watch and interact with. Still rambunctious and sometimes in disagreement about things,  but inquisitive and responsive to ideas. During the fourth of July we learned about the great Harry Houdini, so there were some exercises involving tie-up and escape. Quinn excelled at the tie-up game as he figured out that if you bent your legs and spread them apart, the rope was never tight. 

Fireworks were simple but fun, just a few on the farm and a late bedtime. We all have dogs that panic over the noise, although you can't avoid the new houses that surround the farm and their fireworks. It's become very noisy!

Felicity was also able to target shoot with her Cricket rifle that was bought for her before she was born, it was decided that she is finally old enough to give it a try. Like so many other things, she excelled.

Her birthday was the next weekend and her mother staged it as a garden party. Perfect! We made another dish garden, since the 3 of them were so successful with one built a year ago, we created another.

You can see the training of a small branch tied with a string and pebble to force it to grow down (on the left). 

Fairy Gardens are ideal for children, they should all have at least 1. 

I ordered a flower arrangement for the occasion, built by the ever so talented Wilson. It was a huge hit, glorious in every way.

And so ended the birthday party for a special granddaughter that is growing up so fast. I'm a very grateful grandmother!

Hot

The days have been challenging with the blasting heat. In defense I head out early to take advantage of cooler temperatures. Sunrise is currently at 5:48 and I arrive at work at 6:30. The first rays of sun send a single ray into the lower garden by 7 AM and I love to watch it move into that space. One of the first kisses of light hit a large, antique birdbath.

As a sunken garden this space can function as a hot spot in summer and a frost pocket in winter. It's good to finish my work there and head to high ground before the temperatures rise. This year will mark my 15th year at Oak Hill and I have come to know the garden well. My first early walk is quiet so I can find where our deer culprit is, maybe eating a lily, or the buds on our ancient crinum. Today he was busted, and my banshee screams may keep him away for awhile (not likely). 

In personal news, I bought a little car. The truck I drive is great but the mileage was slipping up on me, so I decided to stop using it as much and take my spiffy car for most trips. A big savings on gas since my last fill-up on the truck was $70. compared to $30. in the car. It has been a very long time since I've driven a car, much longer since I've had a small car, so this is fun and exciting. The research involved something that could fit a bucket of tools and some flats of plants plus my new favorite 6 foot collinear hoe. A hatchback was my goal with good mileage and decent value after many miles. Luckily my son works at Adesa, the huge wholesale auto auction house and he has his hands on all sorts of cars and trucks and he was a big help in narrowing down the choice (sadly they are very strict on who can buy there, so no, that was not my source). My new ride is a VW Golf GTI, sweet as can be, with a few nice frills. 

She should have a name, but I've never named my vehicles. Suggestions are welcome.