My friends in and around Stonington can see some of my pieces at Frills Gallery in Watch Hill. (It’s the white building with a front porch as you first enter town) This is a companion piece to one I made recently. The colors have changed and I’ve used different plants — fringed Bleeding Heart for the ‘tall trees’ and ferns and a Foam Flower leaf for the underbrush. A crazy little Bellflower hugs the beach.
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?
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.
Just when I thought my supply of pressed ferns from last year’s garden was finally depleted, I was walking the perimeter of my little property and found these brave winter survivors hiding under a hydragea. They were thriving there and none the worse for wear despite all the snow that fell in Stonington this winter. I could hardly wait the two weeks it took to get them prepared for a botanical collage. I have more waiting in the wings so watch for more in the coming days. In order to enhance their visibility against the ‘night’ sky, I mounted three of them with the lighter back of the frond showing. To see more of this growing body of pressed botanical work, click here.
I enjoyed the process of designing yesterday’s Mexican Feather Grass collage so much that I thought it was worthy of a series. Two down and probably two more to go. A grouping of four would be nice. The possible color combinations are endless. Unfortunately, the supply of pressed grass — at least for the moment — is not.
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.
My Stonington Garden 
