Studiology

Groundhog Day

Groundhog day has become a ridiculous excuse for predicting spring. With so much publicity and a groundhog that has camera flashes coming at him from every direction, we are supposed to acknowledge that he saw his shadow? Yeah right! 

Better for me are the signs in the garden. Indeed the show has begun. My snowdrops are beginning to bloom and my winter aconite is bright and cheery.

These flowering bulbs are coined as "Stress Avoiders".  One of my favorite garden lectures is on survival strategies for plants and in this analogy, the stress they are avoiding is heat and drought. The early flowering bulbs come up when there is plenty of moisture in the ground and flower with little competition for pollination, ensuring their success. 

This will be the topic of my next free lecture on Saturday, February 9th at Merrifield Garden Center, the Gainesville, Virginia location. The lecture starts at 10:00 and you will learn so much on how plants strategize to survive which helps you plan and plant. The lecture is titled "Perennials with Personality" ,and believe me, when it comes to personality, some of them have a real attitude!

Steampunkin

Both Linda Carlson and myself taught a steampunk class at The Center for the Arts in Manassas this weekend. For those of you that don't know what steampunk is check out this link. It has become very popular, not only in fashion but also in the ways that gadgets can be altered. Think leather, chain, watch parts, gears and you get the picture.

 This image from the Steampunk Tribune illustrates the style. Sort of a cross between Victorian and modern times. I love the look and its become easier and easier to accessorize as more and more craft stores have started to carry trinkets to suit the genre.

In class we worked on night lights and altering a paper mache torso to punk it out. Night lights have many possibilities, I am working on one at the studio and can't wait to finish it. Here are a few shots from the class.

Our next class on the subject is May 11th and it's working with the outfits and backdrops to create steampunk photographs. I'm sure it will be a hoot!

Chilling

My snowdrops may actually be retracting into the ground, teens and even single digits have arrived, something most of us don't care for but it's good news, especially for the gardener. Seeds, perennials, biennials, trees and shrubs have chilling requirements.  Peonies are just one example, they need 400 chill hours in order to resprout, grow and flower. Chill hours are determined by the amount of time that temperatures are below 45 and above 32 degrees. The longer the chill, the more a plant sleeps, which equates to more flowers when spring arrives. If chill hours have not been met, seeds may not sprout, biennials may not produce flowers and some perennials won't even wake-up from dormancy. This is the reason you can't grow hostas in Florida, herbaceous peonies in Louisiana or tulips in Southern California (they have to be pre-chilled).

There is another benefit though, one that will put a big smile on your face. Bug deaths. Ticks and their relatives, the chigger, will die! Stink bugs can't handle it either, but we would need a return to the ice age to really put a dent in them. They have made it into the New England states and have been found as far north as Ontario, Canada.

But it's the chiggers that were so bad last year. I almost gave up walking the dog. Anyone that worked outside knows what I'm talking about. So when I go to bed at night and get all comfy in my layers of blankets I think about the chiggers. Adios little chiggers, adios!

Storybook Characters

It's January and I have time on my side. As a seasonal employee, winter has its benefits, if you call being unemployed a benefit. But anyway... I decided awhile back that I would try and get some art work into magazines this year. I looked at my favorite magazines and started working on deadlines. I put up a special calender to remind me and made some folders to start getting organized. The first deadline is for Somerset Magazine. You make a piece of mixed media art that focuses on a storybook character. Since I have a studio with lights and equipment for photography AND I've been working with models for years, I thought "how hard can this be?".

Since some of my friends are also seasonal employees, a regular meeting of art critiquing was set up so that we could help each other do our projects better. Linda Carlson is working on melted plastic bags and tyvek. You can melt them in very artful ways and then paint, sew, or collage with them. They have been beautiful, yes imagine beauty in melted plastic bags. Holley is working on felting and gourds. Both have made great strides, in just 2 weeks they have accomplished a lot. I am still plodding along with my storybook characters and everyone agrees, I made a hard choice. I do have hundreds and hundreds of photographs of beautiful models. I don't have any of flying carpets, I have the perfect photograph of Jasmine from Alladin- potentially. I don't have any of  cabins in the woods, skylines with lots of chimneys or huntsman. See where I'm going here?

I am improvising, hopefully not to the point where no one knows where I'm going. I am sharing 3 with you. You should know who they are and since this is mixed media, these are only digital files, I will print and add more. There will be a mirror cut from suitable papers and potentially more text added, maybe a skyline of chimneys made from paper cut-outs. 

I am open to suggestions. Or maybe you want to pose for a storybook character? Remember, I need a huntsman. I could also use dalmations (maybe 100 of them), a charming prince, a glass slipper, a horse (any color), and 3 bears.

 

Tribe of 10 Update

A week ago I let you know about the attacks on my guineafowl by an owl. Today I want to update you on their status. Apparently they read my blogs :)

The guineas moved into the chicken coop with the chickens to sleep at night. It's certainly not been a smooth and easy move, but they did it on their own. I'm amazed. Out of 10, not all of them go in, but 9 do and the one sleeps in a tree above. Not the same 9 go in, but it's much better than it was. If the owl is still coming, there is no way it can get in the coop. A roof and 2 gates keep things out, birds in.

In the morning, when I release the birds, it's a fiasco! Certain ones can't come out of the gate before others. We have 1 that's pearl colored in the group, she is Pearl #5, the beta of the group, but don't back her in a corner! So the pecking order becomes very obvious when everyones in close quarters. The chickens are a little put out but they sleep together, side by side. The guineas can fly out on their own, so after they fuss and carry on, they leave the coop and go back to wandering all day. It's working out pretty good, considering the alternative. 

Pea Soup Fog Photography

When you learn photography, or even take a lot of photographs, you eventually learn that it's not what is in the picture, it is what you avoid or leave out.  So when a heavy fog moves in, or a nice blanket of snow arrives, it's time to take out the camera. Suddenly its quite easy to leave things out, nature has done it for you. So with these last 2 days of fog, the camera has been out. On a good foggy day, you want that pea soup stuff and no wind, which we had Sunday morning. It was wow!

I like to use these simple photographs as layers for others. The bare branches of winter or the drippy inflorescence of grasses are perfect for layering. Compositionally you want to keep the elements or subjects in the photograph separate. If you put them in a layer folder or texture folder on your computer, they can be used over and over again. I use Adobe Photoshop and for blending the images and I use the blending option "mulitply".

Here are examples of the simple stuff. 

I layered these with some other photographs to produce these:

The photograph above is a swipe of celosia flowers, I moved the camera as I was taking the picture. The celosia becomes one of the layers with the branches.

 A photograph of a granite rock with branches added.

One layer is a photograph of ice at the edge of a pond, with the grass laid over.

Remember the fly from Longwood? 

So the next time there's thick fog, get out your camera, and keep it simple.

A Stranger in These Parts

For the last 2 months I have not been sleeping well. Neither have the guineas. They are being hunted by night, something is actually getting into bed with them. Something is joining them in their roosting tree with only one thing in mind, dinner. Never before have I had this happen and I guess I've been lucky. The first night it happened, all kinds of commotion in the yard at 3 in the morning. Guineas were yelling and flying out of their tree. Duke, the protective yellow Labrador ran into the night to see what was causing all of the commotion. I pointed at their roosting tree and waited for him to catch the scent of something, a raccoon, a gray fox, something, there was no scent.

Meanwhile the guineas are on the ground, some gathered at the house where I had the light on. Others stayed on the ground in the dark. I have learned that they are basically blind at night, they will just sit and stay quiet. You can actually trip over them, they won't move. Not a good plan because now they really are fodder for a fox. So this started happening with crazy regularity. Every other night. It went on for a month. Sometimes it would be 2:00 AM, sometimes 6, but pretty much every other night. I looked on the internet for what it might be, raccoon, mink or gray fox, but I suspected an owl.

One day the guineas decided to roost in another tree.  At this point they had lost one with a small pile of feathers in the yard as a reminder. To their credit, and everyone will tell you, guineas are not smart, the tree they chose was a cryptomeria, a Japanese Cedar. This wonderful evergreen is denser than the white pine they left, in a less windy place, and right outside my bedroom window.  I gotta tell you, I was so proud that they actually realized that a move would help.

So we slept for about a week, until..... IT'S BACK!  At this point I had gotten used to the yelling at night, I mean I would always run out to see if I could stop a killing, but I knew I would not be able to bring them in the house. Guineas do what guineas will do. I would go back to sleep, it was out of my hands. Keeping the outside lights on all night helped a little. In the mornings I would do my count. What was 11 had become 10. We have remained steady at 10. 

So 4 nights ago, the ruckus broke out at 6:00 AM. It took me awhile to grab slippers and coat but I saw it, the owl was silhouetted against the sky as it flew away. I couldn't tell exactly what kind of owl, but my money is on great horned. I am sure that neither barn or barred owl could take a guinea. Even a red tailed hawk can't lift them. And believe me, they try, right after they slit their throat. I've seen it. So I was right about the culprit, it will be a long winter with this guy hunting them. A friend just told me that a great horned owl carried off a friends Jack Russel terrior! I started parking my truck so it is aimed at the tree and I hit my unlock door button from the key ring in my bedroom to put light onto the tree. 

 I know the owl can't fly through and pick them off, it has to get them to fly out in a panic before it can grab one. So when I caused it to fly away, it was still in the tree next to the cryptomeria, waiting, just waiting. So stay tuned, we will see if 10 can survive this habitual hunter. And please, no comments on how tired I look.

Photography for Beginners

Next Saturday, January 12th, I will hold a photography class for beginners, those of you with a new (or old) DSLR camera. I teach the class by explaining the different layers of a camera. First off - the outside with its many numbers and letters, buttons and symbols. They are all there to help make your photography better. Next comes the lens, how to change them or understand when you need a different lens, if you even do.

Then comes the camera's menu, which is like an endless variety of choices, it goes on and on and on.  Things like AEB and Active D-Lighting, what do they mean??

We will talk about managing your files and making minor adjustments too. I end the class with fun stuff, things you can do to make the whole photography thing a real blast. 

The class runs from 10-4 with a break for lunch (on your own). It will be held at The Center for the Arts in Manassas, VA. Here is a direct link to the class:

https://secure.center-for-the-arts.org/registration/viewclass.aspx?id=DigP-3 

Be sure and bring your camera, lenses and manual. The manual is very important, so please don't forget it. 

Cold Frames

In early November of 2012 some spinach and lettuce was sown in cold frames at Oak Hill. The cold frames had nice cement sides and old custom made class panels for the top. Unused for many, many years, old soil was taken out, the class panels cleaned up and a new layer of compost put down. Now, about 10 weeks later, we have a nice crop of lettuce and spinach coming along. This has turned out to be such a successful undertaking, I again wonder why more of us don't do this. We live in the perfect climate to grow cold crops in winter. A little protection is all that's needed. 

I have grown lettuce in little more than a cold frame made of strawbale sides with a glass cover for the top. Not only can spinach and lettuce be grown with ease, but also spring onions, beets, kohlrabi, kale, cabbage and violas, which make great additions to any salad. A few cool season plants also benefit from a covering for winter so you can continue to harvest, these could include French sorrel, chives, parsley (although it barely needs covering), rosemary and cardoon. Might I add that the sight of such lush greenery is so rewarding. The taste even better!