This blog started with small daily paintings then changed to a more personal sharing of projects, events and photos. Enjoy!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

A White Iris

I don't think we've ever had a white iris come up since we've lived here, which is about 17 years.  We've always had a small patch of light purple irises, never a white.  My granddaughter says the fairies have been working on our flowers and I think she's right!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

A Crown of Roses (No Thorns)

At an earth day festival, we made this rose crown.  My granddaughter braided long lengths of rattan, then wove the rose stems into the braiding.  Not surprisingly, she chose all roses. 

Monday, April 16, 2012

Pots of Pebbles





I took my finished pots to Montana De Oro, to a little beach that I've renamed amber cove.  Shiny hard pebbles of amber are all over the beach--in all shades from almost clear to very very dark.  I filled two pots of amber, then the others with what colors I could find: small white sandstones, hard black stones, soft orange sandstones, smoothed and rounded deep blue pieces of muscle shells, white sea-glass, and green (which was the hardest color to find) I used a combination of hard stones and sea-glass and still couldn't fill the container with green.
Somehow I felt that filling the pots with colorful beach stones would complete the making of them, even though I'll most likely empty them.  And sorting through the small treasures in the warm sand is such a pleasure, I felt I just had to do this!  

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Saturday, April 7, 2012

More Pots

I'm having fun making more of these little pots from eucalyptus seed pods.  The colors are rubbed in using sour grass flowers for yellow, grass and miner's lettuce for green, nasturtium flowers for orange and for the purple lid I used a combination of ceanothus and a few plum leaves.  A vice holds the pods steady while I cut the tops off--this gives the pots a wider opening, then I scrape, file and sand them smooth--this takes awhile.  What also takes awhile is setting in the toothpick tightly and finding beads that also fit tightly onto the pick for the closing.  My closing design is not that great, since I'm the only one here who can close them--(they work well for me, so maybe they'll all be mine!)
My granddaughter and I collected little rocks, washed glass, amber and shells at a beach.  Now, my desire is to collect more little treasures from the beach and assign a pot to hold whites, glass, blacks, greens, ambers...I need more pots!