Studiology

Winter and Spring Presentations for 2014

I have a few lectures lined up for 2014. Listed below are details, some of the websites have not been updated yet, so links will be added as they become available:

January 11, 2014

Center for the Arts, Manassas, Virginia

"Understanding and Using your DSLR camera"     Full/no more registrations

10-4 with a break for lunch

This class is for the budding photographer that has moved up to a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera. The link above will take you to the Center for the Arts website for registration. I will be covering the various issues associated with digital photography. Some examples of topics I cover are white balance, ISO, understanding the histogram and file formats. Feel free to email me if you have any questions ([email protected]).

January 26, 2014

Green Spring Gardens, Alexandria, Virginia

"Quest for the Best"

1:30-3:00

If you've ever been curious about plant names and their association with the collectors, you will love this lecture. I follow a timeline that begins in  1637 with John Tradescant and move up to modern times with more recent explorers and their stories and connections. It's a real interconnected world with daring twists.  

February 1, 2014

Merrifield Gardens, Gainesville location

"Garden Design"

10:00

This free lecture is about the power of mass or heavier plant material and its relationship to other plants in the scheme of your landscape design. I will talk about creating a natural flow in your garden space, helping you plan placement for shrubs as well as perennials and annuals.

March 1, 2014

Merrifield Gardens, Fair Oaks Location 

"Perennials with Personality"

10:00

This is currently my favorite lecture, and it's free! If you are gardening with perennials this is a must. I help you understand the various ways perennials interact by breaking them down into categories based on growth. Once you understand this simple concept, it will be easier to put them together and plan for their maintenance. 

March 22, 2014

Merrifield Gardens, Merrifield or Gallows location

10:00

"Photographing Flowers"

No boring lecture here, I include some really fun, artistic tips for photographing your gardens and flowers throughout the year. Just in time for the spring explosion. No fee.

March 29, 2014

Virginia Tech, The Hahn Horticulture Garden

"Garden Flow"

time and address will be added

When it comes to garden design, this is my favorite lecture. I have spent years trying to understand the concept of mobility in a garden space. Part welcome, part curiosity, I've collected the many variables that move the visitor or gardener along when they step into your garden.

 

The Princess

Christmas was spent with my daughter's family, which is home to little Miss Felicity. At 2, she is not completely aware of the whole Christmas thing, but certainly happy to have new toys to play with. Truth be told, it's overwhelming. First on the agenda was putting on the little princess gowns.

Her dad was a big help with the wardrobe and jewelry. There were a few changes in the day, like more princess gowns.

Eventually her old toys made her happy, like her little animal collection. She sang as she played, perfectly content in toyland.

Our darling princess granddaughter finally had to nap, sleep is always a good thing when things seem overwhelming.

Merry, Happy to Everyone

Christmas is not an eternal event at all, but a piece of one's home that one carries in one's heart.  

Freya Stark   

                                                                                                                                               

Another Year, Another Show

Many thanks to everyone that came out to the reception. It was a hopping night, with swing dancing and live music upstairs and a band downstairs in W16. I was told that 350 people came through and at one point it was very crowded. 

Holley did a great job with the table, little lights and a beautiful arrangement of flowers. Homemade cookies, salmon, chicken salad and fruit punch made for a delicious spread. I was happy to see lots of friends, some I have not seen in a very long time. Also met a few new ones. 

The show is there till January 5th. 

In Case you Forgot

Tomorrow night is my featured artist reception at the Lorton Workhouse, just a little friendly reminder, nag, nag, nag. Holley is bringing delicious food and beverage, which she always does in high style.

When you come, plan on visiting the many buildings, it's an easy walk under the arches, where you will stay dry, find handmade art at great prices, and lots of warmth and laughter. The glass studios, the ceramic studios, wood working, it just goes on and on. The museum in building 9 has been expanded, so it's worth a visit too. 

My reception will be in building 16 from 6 to 9. This show, titled "Solitude", hangs until January 5th. There are several plaster transfers (no easy feat), a few wood transfers, acrylic transfers, and quite a bit of encaustic. Several pieces are three dimensional. 

Icing

I, like so many other photographers, found the ice storm and snow to be great for photo opps. Just a step out the door revealed a winter wonderland. Here's a few from yesterday and today.

 

Risky Business

It may not officially be winter, but the weather says otherwise. Cold, freezing nights would not be your typical time to flower, but our native witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana does. I have a very large plant in my garden and it begins to flower at the end of October, beginning of November. The yellow flowers are very fragrant (on warm days) and they arrive as the leaves are falling. This fall has not been kind, temperature wise, with numerous freezing nights and plunging temps tonight, going down into the teens. Despite that, there are still a few flowers hanging on, this 10th day of December. 

I've done a bit of research, trying to understand why a plant might make it so difficult for itself. I completely understand the "out of season" bloom cycle, which attracts desperate pollinators, but it seems that Hamamelis virginiana takes more risks, call it the Evel Knievel of shrubs. For one, its pollen is largely self-incompatible, which means you need more than 1 for pollination. My large shrub has only 1 seed pod from last year. Each seed pod contains 2 seeds, which take a full year to mature, at which time it opens on a warm day, launching the seed up to 30 feet away so seedlings have to find their own resources. 

Even as the flowers have been on the plant for a little over a month, and some have been pollinated, the actual process of growing or expanding into a seed pod will not happen till spring. Any seeds that mature will be ready to fly come late fall, as new flowers are opening. 

This lack of self procreation seems to have botanists a little baffled too. Especially when there are plenty in the wild. Our Hamamelis virginiana (I call it ours because it's named after Virginia), grows from Canada to Northern Florida. It's 1 of 2 witch hazels native to North America. If you do any hiking in Shenandoah National Park, you will find it in many locations. But, it's the only one that blooms at such a bad time (even counting the other 2 species from China and Japan). One theory is that it flowers after Hamamelis vernalis, a more southern native in order to remain distinct. Kind of like the nice guy - no, you go... NO, you go...

In our recent ice storm, I photographed the frozen flowers. Encapsulated in ice, they are actually protected in a holding pattern of 32 degrees. 

Witch hazel in an amazing shrub, medicinally speaking. The bark and leaves make an astringent, give relief from bug bites and can be used in tea to stop internal bleeding, OR give relief from hemorrhoids. As a strong tea (use bark or twigs), it can be used as a wash over poison ivy, a folk remedy that I was unaware of. 

The name witch hazel comes from the Old English work wiche which means pliant or bendable. Used by dowsers to find underground water when looking for well sites, some still use this method today. 

taken October 28th

I have this particular witch hazel because it was supposed to be H. 'Arnold's Promise', one of the earliest spring flowering hybrids. When it finally flowered (I bought it as a very small cutting), I was disappointed but over the years I've come to appreciate it, flowering when nothing else does and clearly up for the challenge. Not sure I'd have a garden without it now.

Winter, it's almost here..

I really enjoy my winter months, it's finally time to relax and enjoy some artistic projects. Since I am a seasonal employee, winter is MY time. Last year I submitted a few things to magazines, none have been published so far, but a few are being held for future consideration. I am considering that again, have my eye on some March submission deadlines. 

What I did do is sign up for an on-line journal class. It's titled "Book of the Night", which appealed to me. Most of the pages will be black, kind of a backwards approach, working up from black. The class is taught by Juliana Coles, who was in my first Michael DeMeng workshop in New Orleans. She was always carrying around her sketch book, which I found very intriguing. She is a fantastic artist! Her workshops are called Extreme Visual Journalism, and I know I'm in for a real twist, this is something I have never done. 

I have been hunting and gathering, always the first stage of any art project. Bought the books that will be altered. 

I was looking for a spiral bound book that was not too big but had a rigid cover. The class also asks you to get a book of poetry, sadly there's no such item in my house. Until today.

I want to work small, you learn faster that way, so I also bought a couple of old books called Little Journeys. They were inexpensive, but really cool. Bound by string, we'll see how much I decide to alter (ruin?) them. 

I've already started playing with paper to understand the coating pages part. You know there are lots of questions, like "What kind of medium works best?", or "How do you keep them from sticking together?". 

Maybe the most exciting part is I've also signed up for Michael DeMeng's "Punk Fiction" workshop, which will be assemblage work, but with a book (inside and out). So between journaling and assemblage, this will be a very interesting winter. 

A winter that might be well recorded. 

Day Zero

The show is up! All 36 pieces and I want to thank Linda and Holley for their help, things went very smoothly. The reception is December 14th, from 6 to 9, the show officially opens this Wednesday, December the 4th and runs till January 4th. Here is a link to the Lorton Workhouse if you are looking for directions and hours. The show is in W16, the first building on the right (on campus).

I also have 2 pieces with spinning centers, one of which is titled "Happy Honey Bee" which includes some of their favorite flowers.

 "She Ruled with Four Sight", has 4 versions of the center figure, just spin.

I am in great company, Leesa Woodard's show hangs next to mine and it's really beautiful. Her title "Haint Blue Path" is a fascinating topic for a show, check out this link, to learn more about the term and color.