Studiology

Studio Work

I've had the pleasure of working with model Ariel in the studio, twice this year. As a model she is beautiful, creative, and professional. Linda Carlson and I share the studio and we photograph together, each of us with a concept of a theme, usually in preparation for a show. We plot out the background colors, wardrobe and makeup. There's a prop room there with heaps of tulle, various fabrics, and all kinds of hats, masks and gloves. Sometimes I feel like we're playing pin-up girl. Here are a few of my recent photographs.

Most of these are not the finished product, I will work with them, translating the image to a surface and finish that suits it. All in preparation for the big show, you know, the one that's in 129 days. 

Howdy

A few of you know that I have a studio where I work on assemblage art and keep my collection of doll heads. I sometimes call my doll head collection "my spiritual advisors" and really miss when I don't see them for awhile. The other day I was working in that wonderful space and turned to get something from my shelf and realized that there was a new doll head, one that was staring at me, which gave me a real jump!

If you ignore the two creepy ones sitting up, you will notice the open jawed, new addition. Turns out it's the Howdy Doody ventriloquist doll head, a real gem. After getting over my shock, I pulled him out and gave him a prominent shelf space with the others.

I called a couple of people that might have put him there and everyone denied it. So, to the kind soul that gifted me this lovely doll head - Thank-you. You gave me a real fright and who knew that something so simple could do that? But I love him! 

Daylily Fun

I recently visited Enid Adams of The Plains, Virginia to see her daylily seedlings. It was high season for daylilies and Enid and her husband are working towards quality hybrids with unique colors, high bud count and good branching. Best of all, Enid is breeding for daylilies that look good with summer flowering perennials, think height, spidery flowers and clear lavenders with yellow throats. 

This is a "class of 2011" seedling. As these young daylilies flower, decisions are made as to their strenghts and weaknesses which allows for further breeding to improve any faults. It's a long process, taking years to develop a good base line of seedling daylilies and it certainly helps to have a directive. Enid is very focused on pure colors and as an artist and gardener she is highly qualified to see and interpret color harmonies in the garden in summer. 

She had also divided her garden into color groupings, again helpful in understanding the summer color palette. Her warm garden had some lovely tiger lilies, bumping shoulders with yellow and orange daylilies.

Some really gorgeous clumps of Lilium 'Black Beauty' were attracting swallowtail butterflies. This particular lily is a hybrid with L. henyri which has a very attractive and distinctive, star-like green throat, clearly evident in its offspring. 

Her small trees and shrubs are pruned to allow the maximum amount of light to reach the seedlings and perennials. I loved how she had pruned her vitex.

 When I worked with Margo Reed at Windy Hill, I saw first hand how long and arduous the process was to come up with just one daylily that is worthy for market. I love the direction Enid and her husband are taking, to me it's exactly how a daylily hybridizer should be thinking, just how good does that daylily look with a summer flowering crape myrtle or coneflower?

Garden Inspiration

Another trip to Pennsylvania with my favorite stops; Longwood Gardens, Chanticleer Gardens and Terrain Nursery, left me for a hankering to change things in the garden.  Not just changes in my garden, but Oak Hill and Merrifield Gardens where I am able to mix up a nice display with containers (which I did, thank-you very much). 

Chanticleer was chock full of interesting plant mixes and new (to me) plants. At the edge of the parking lot was this beautiful Queen Anne's Lace with reddish flowers. A new seed strain, this one is Daucus carota 'Dara'.

 I searched the internet, unable to find an American source for the seed, but heads up, this is one of several new colors coming our way.

If you like kale, particularly Redbor kale, take a look at this massive display.  Now we were there on a 98 degree day, which makes for a pretty strong kale/cabbage odor.

But it was still pretty, really pretty.

The gardens around the house were especially inspirational, and I was so happy to see bronze fennel in many locations.

The outdoor room always has a container with water and floating plant clippings, which are replaced every 4 days. On this particular day there were white mandevilla flowers, variegated manihot leaves (tapioca plant)  and Hydrangea aspera flowers.

In the areas around the ruins there are beautiful expanses of sporobolus grass and echinacea is moving in. At this point it's just a bit here and there, which I love.

Longwood Gardens was a quick stop and I hadn't been since last September. I can't wait to go back and spend more time but I did see that they extended their trail beds, or plantings of new annuals.

Plants of the same type are planted together and you can compare them side by side to decide which ones are doing better or what you might like more. It's certainly not a new idea, but in true Longwood Gardens style, they do it very well.

Terrain Nursery is always so wonderful and as one person described it, "they have swank". Yes, indeed they do.

 Terrariums and miniature gardens were well represented and I certainly left with a few new ideas.

A trip to inspire was just what I needed and it certainly worked.

 

Hydrangeas Continued

I recently cut some flowers from a lacecap hydrangea, one that was left over when I closed the nursery. Nothing was done to alter the color, which is a gorgeous deep blue. I am uncertain as to which hydrangea it is but suspect it might be 'Tokyo Delight'. 

I have spent some time at the studio working just with natural light to create some photographs to use for transferring to cracked plaster. The hydrangeas have never been better and they're so darned photogenic. 

In December of this year I will be a featured artist at the Lorton Workhouse with the big reception on December 14th. I know it's a long way off, but there's lots of work behind a big show, lots and lots of work. Official hanging is in 140 days away, and yes, there is a count down on my calender, and I might be reminding you. 

Buzzed

Recently I liberated a lilac tree from a wild grape vine. Removing a large vine can be easy work, tug and then pull at the base, chances are it will come out and what seemed like a big job boils down to a large heap of leaves with little effort. As I finished up I noticed a beautiful caterpillar on the trunk of the lilac. Research on the web that night told me it was an Abbott's sphinx caterpillar and it's sole source of food was the grape vine I had removed. Fortunately I was able to find it the next morning and move it to a location with lots of grape vine. Another lesson in gardening, observe and question what you see, in this case it saved the very thing I found so fascinating. 

Last week came the dead heading or removal of flowers on lamb's ears, the old fashioned (very high maintenance) Stachys byzantina. In the thick of a very large patch I heard a bee buzzing. Now I'm used to the sound of bees buzzing and pretty good at knowing when to back off. Buzzing is usually a passing sound, a bee or beetle on its way to nectar and/or pollen. This day it was persistent and sounded like it was aimed at me. It turned out to be a yellow jacket look alike but with a wider abdomen, a wool carder bee, specifically a male wool carder bee that was buzzing me to defend his territory and keep me away from his ladies. A European bee, first seen in New York in 1963, it hails from the same places the honey bee comes from, they cohabitate in the wilds of Europe. The wool carder bee is named from the females habit of harvesting fur from the leaves (carding) which she uses to line her nest. The nest is in tubes or ends of hollow sticks. A solitary bee, the male will defend the patch of lamb's ear, buzzing all who pass and only allowing his ladies to enter mating with them as they collect nectar and fur. It was my first time to notice them and it's probably the first time they have been in the garden, since the "big attitude" buzzing was hard to ignore. I understand they can also be found on catmint or Nepeta x faassenii.

 

The flower stalks remained, I am letting the wool carder bees be obsessive with their lamb's ears, eventually they will move on and I can continue with my work.  Another lesson in observation, little bee with big attitude doesn't sting.

Summer Rains in July

It's unusual for us to have any regularity when it comes to summer rains, and even though we are just barely into the official start of summer, we've had a tropical pattern with rain almost every day. I can see the many ways it has helped my garden and my gardening. Pulling weeds is a joy, that is if you like the roots to come out intact. And what gardener doesn't want that, it's like a badge of honor or a high kicking score!

My Lilium 'Yelloween' has reached a new official height, 85 inches. Yes, that's over 7 feet.

 The hydrangeas are more beautiful than ever, especially the mopheads and lacecaps. The Hydrangea paniculatas are budded and they swell with each rain, so next month should be spectacular as the Pee Gee hydrangeas come into flower.

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July folks, 2013 is turning out pretty good.