While I’m in the mood to organize I’ve lined up some of my winter azalea leaves. I love their little apostrophe shapes. For a little extra interest I’ve added just a touch of pastel color at the stem end of each leaf. While I’m busy de-constructing my plants, buds are forming and my azalea will be in full vibrant bloom in just a couple of months. I’m already working on a companion piece for this one which I’ll put in my shop as soon as it’s ready.
With a fresh batch of dill ready it seemed like a good time to re-visit the world beneath the sea. Who are we to say we’ve seen it all? My fish are, once again azalea and euonymus — both so easy to work with. I wish I could say the same for the dill although I’m becoming an expert with tweezers and I find the non-business end of a paintbrush works as a great tamper without getting in trouble with the adhesive. This one will join two others in my shop. See them framed there. Actually, until the frame goes on you never know — something new could pop up.
Gardening doesn’t come to a halt just because snow covers the ground. I have houseplants that stay indoors year round but not many. Most of them summer on my deck. I gave my parlor palm a little pruning several weeks ago with a selfish motive in mind. Here is the first result. I have several more fronds in process, but the plant continues to flourish so it’s win-win during the dormant season.
See more in my Etsy shop, My Stonington Garden.
P.S. The little guy at the bottom of this piece is a snippet from my Andromeda tree which is still lying on its side having been felled by the blizzard of ’13. A master gardener from the University of Rhode Island has advised that I wait until spring and hope it springs back. Fingers crossed.
Somethimes you feel like pastel; sometimes you don’t. This sample of Mexican Feather Grass is a bit fuller than most of my specimens so I decided it could hold up to some bolder colors. See a similar pair with more subtle colors in my Etsy shop.
While this beautiful grass with its ethereal feel lends itself to simple presentations, mounting it can be tricky. For most botanicals, I use an acid free, diluted white glue which I apply with a brush. Not possible with Mexican feather grass — Nassella tenuissima. The threadlike strands that hold the slightly heavier seed pods easily become tangled and bunched-up if disturbed. As a result, I must use a spray adhesive while holding the stem aloft and then mount it in one try. Careful work with tweezers allows for minor adjustments, then — voila — success or back to the drawing board with fresh graphics and fresh grass. This one cooperated sweetly.
If you’d like to see more, I have a different series of these listed at my Etsy shop at http://alturl.com/mk23o
Right now my gardens are covered by two feet of snow from the “Blizzard of 2013” How optimistic of the media to assume the worst is over in that way. The only casualty in my garden was my beautiful and very old Euonymous fortunei. It’s lying in its side pinned to the earth by heavy snow. We are holding out just a little hope that we can right it when the snow melts, but I see my garden through rose-colored glasses sometimes.
All I can do right now is make the best of it. The little flower bud clusters may or may not press well, but with the buds removed, the flower drupes make great little “trees” to support other types of leaves. Meanwhile, the Andromeda is evergreen so the little leaf rosettes which resemble Schefflera may just be candidates for pressing as well. Time will tell.
One truth about the creative process is that as new ideas evolve old ones — even the best old ones — can fall into the shadows. Mindful of this, I have tried to keep all of the threads of this work growing even as new ones develop. I think of my pieces as either ‘straight botanicals’– meaning that, aside from providing the right background to compliment the plant, I keep myself out of the equation — or as botanical compositions.
Within the second category are a lot of sub-categories. For instance, some of my more contemporary graphics– especially those I use to support light grasses — are meant as the focal point of the composition with the grasses serving as enhancement only.
When I incorporate poetry or other text, on the other hand, I present it in a way that allows it to disappear into the background on first inspection. Check out some examples at my etsy shop by the same name as my blog.
My Stonington Garden 
