The Garden Report - Week 1

We have been eating our own salad since Easter - at first we were afraid we were overpicking, and now I'm a bit worried we won't be able to keep up with it. Local friends, shoot me an email if you would like a little salad delivery - two kinds of lettuce, one spinach. 

 The beans are coming in slowly it seems, but blossoming. Hope this is ok.

 Apparently someone (somebunny) is enjoying our strawberries whilst we wait for them to ripen?

 The parsley came back full force.

And most exciting - I have 10 figs! I have some research to do because I have no idea when/how they ripen, when to harvest, etc., but they are growing and beautiful! (Look at those leaves just calling out to be drawn!)

That's week 1! xo

Painting - Post 4 - almost done!

Well, I still have to paint the sides and seal it, but I think I'm calling it done! All morning I've had a little Count on my shoulder (as in the Count, from Sesame Street) saying, "One! Corinne has finally finished ONE large painting, ah - ah - ah -ah..."

And indeed I think I have. xo

Painting - Post 3

 

Just popping in with a quick update about the evolution of this painting. xo

Painting: Day 2

Still working on this painting following the teaching of Flora Bowley. Here I added contrast - white and the darkest brown I have.

 Next, I added translucent paint that I just fingerpainted and then sprayed with water throughout the canvas.

Next I painted some imagery, with one goal being NOT to think about the finished product. I painted lots of leaves, inspired by my black-eyed-susans that are returning in force this year (to my delight).

 The next step was to work with what is working. I "cheated" a bit here and went back to my agenda because regardless of what this painting looks like, it's going in the dining room. And my vision for this painting was that it would have a bowl...so I picked the baby blue in the middle as what was working the best and sketched out a bowl and some over-sized echinacea as my images. This process has been so great for me - I will definitely do this again and stay true to this step next time with no agenda.

Thanks for checking in! xo

No excuses

Good morning! Well, I've been hesitant to share this here for fear of being the-girl-who-cried-we're-moving! but we have put our house on the market. That is what has kept me away from this space. We've been spring cleaning steroid style. Right now our house looks great, closets are great, but drawers and basement bins are closed-but-really-cluttered. So we have plenty of work to do still. If we actually get to it, well that will be a miracle!

We tried to sell our house two years ago and did not get one offer (not even a lowball) so we're optimistic but realistic too about our expectations. We'd love to downsize a bit and move closer to our kids' schools...we'll see...

Today I'm painting. I've read so many books about painting and so many blogs. It's time to just stop reading about it and get to doing it. I'm following a process here by Flora Bowley, and definitely in the "doubting" stage. Why oh why is paint dripping well liked? I just hate it but dripping paint seems to be everywhere. I tried it (to not be closed minded) and I'm guessing I'll be painting over the drips before this painting is done. I still think it is just ug.lee. I still have to add some white and black elements and then I'm done for today.

Since my blogging has slowed, I've decided to start posting once-weekly about my garden. I just love gardening and I think it will help us to chronicle progress, failures and all the in-between. We planted three fruit trees last year, so I'm looking forward to nurturing them this year too. Copying this weekly post idea from the amazing sisters at Duo Fiberworks.

It's cold in the midwest - hard to believe we were swimming just two weeks ago! Happy Tuesday! xo

Easter Monday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I've been away from blogland. Lots going on - not much of it interesting. Will check in tomorrow, but wanted to post some Easter pics. Hope you had a lovely Easter/Passover/Spring weekend! xo