Archives for category: art

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A while back I made one of these little dioramas that looks to me like a photograph I might have taken back in my landscape painting days. The bottom is layered, as nature would be with growth including dill and a sprig of new-growth andromeda — as nature would not be, but you get the idea. The central focus is on newly unfurled spring ferns. There are overhanging ‘branches’ of bleeding heart and what sky doesn’t need an etoile? Now that I’ve put this little piece together, I’m regretting that I harvested so few ferns at this stage of development. I love the sparseness of them but I guess I’ll have to wait until next spring to reap the benefits of that experience. All varieties of my ferns are now either fully open and robust or getting there fast.

This will probably be the last new piece to be packed up and headed to the Providence Artisan’s Market at Lippett Park this Saturday. The experts tell us the weather will be perfect!

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For this simple composition of Fringed Bleeding Heart, Fern, and Sweet Woodruff, I created the illusion of a violet mat which is actually a graphic composed of a simple octagon filled with color and surrounded by lines of varying widths and shades.

Although the lovely flowers on my Bleeding Heart are mostly gone, I can work with the foliage for the whole season as long as I harvest judiciously.

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Let’s treat this like a newspaper photo but with plants instead of people– Front Row Left to Right; Fern, Sweet Woodruff, Yellow Archangel, Sweet Woodruff Second Row: Dill, Fern, Sweet Woodruff, Fern, Dill
Back Row: Sweet Woodruff, Fern, Fern, Azalea, Ivy, Dill.

(Photo bombers in sky: Sweet Woodruff)

Meet the plants in person at Lippett Park in Providence next Saturday or check into my Etsy shop.

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I don’t know what it is about graph paper, but I’ve always loved it. In school, I used it for note-taking. It’s also great when you hit a wall trying to solve the Times acrostic puzzle and need to start from scratch. So why not use a graph paper design to lay out some pretty foliage? I started with some individual fronds from my giant ferns and added some more delicate specimens to balance out the composition. They include Sweet Woodruff, new growth Andromeda and a single sprig of Candytuft.

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For my pressed botanical art, I usually disassemble sprigs of Sweet Woodruff so I can make perfect little wagon-wheel whorls and folded leaves that work well as sepals for my fantasy flowers or shrubbery in my stylized landscapes. This time, I went the traditional route for pressing botanicals, and kept the whole sprigs intact. The central sprig — largest of the three — had a small white flower at the tip which I replaced with a folded rose petal.

Waiting eagerly for more roses to bloom. Meanwhile this little piece is the latest addition to my Etsy inventory. Hoping for drier weather than is now predicted so I can set up shop in Lippett Park in Providence on Saturday as part of the Providence Artisan’s Market.

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When I wasn’t tending my display this weekend at beautiful Lippett Park in Providence, I turned my attention to some sweet little landscapes. I wanted to depict three different times of day and was tempted to use identical plants and placements, but my ADD wouldn’t hear of it, so the foliage differs from image-to-image. Some ferns, Andromeda, Sweet Woodruff, Columbine and even Raspberry.

I think it’s time to go abstract tomorrow.

I put them up on Etsy and Pinterest. Why not?

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Even though it is outside of the oval that forms the focal point of this composition, I think the Foam Flower leaf steals the show. It is placed against text which reads ” Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it – Confucius”

See it in my Etsy shop or visit me at the Providence Artisan’s Market at Lippett Park on Saturday.
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This week I’m getting ready to show lots of my botanicals at the Providence Artisan’s Market which forms part of the larger Providence Farmer’s Market at Lippitt Park. If you haven’t been and live within driving distance, give it a try. It’s one of the best anywhere short of Union Square in Manhattan. I’ll have about 40 pieces on display including this simple arrangement of Fern, Fringed Bleeding Heart, Yellow Archangel, Maple, and a trio of Sweet Woodruff ‘stars’. I used just a blush of color in the background and divided the image with a crossed ribbon graphic.

While I pass the week making more botanicals and waiting for the weather to heat up I’ll tuck this into my Etsy shop.

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The background graphic above which these three bubbles of maple leaves float is a quote by Albert Schweitzer: “Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.”

See my other botanicals in my Etsy shop.

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This is one of those days when I wish I had a graphics coach by my side. I’m sure there must be a shorter way to line up shapes perfectly than the one I use. Anyway, once it was done I got right to work on a companion piece which will have the same grey background and different colors in the ovals and outlines.

Meanwhile, my Andromeda is in its next phase — putting out new leaves which will eventually turn green but, right now, are a clear orangey gold. I can’t wait to see how they press! My Sweet Woodruff will be fresh and vibrant all season so I can harvest and process it at my leisure.