Adventures in Art, Product Design, Home Decor, Cooking, and Gardening
After two days of torrential rain, the sun finally made an appearance and filled my garden with gorgeous light. Everything looks so green and lush.
After the dark skies cleared, this huge sun-lit cloud formation took my breath away. How gorgeous are these clouds?
In other news, after a two-week hiatus to focus on yard clean-up and home remodeling tasks, I finally started a new painting this evening. Check back later this week to see the finished painting. What’s new in your neck of the woods?
Now here’s a castle fit a king–King Frodo, that is. And speaking of Frodo, he should be emerging from his long winter nap in April and climbing my deck stairs to enjoy his evening meals. This cute Big Top Toad Castle from grandinroad.com will offer Frodo a shady spot to escape the harsh summer sun. I can’t wait for Frodo to make his first appearance and grab some photos of him. He’s been hanging out on my deck for 10 years now and I’ve grown quite fond of him. Here’s hoping that he’ll be back again this year.
A little elbow grease, some major sweating (the heat has been unbearable in our area), power washing, deck staining, a bit of shopping and assembling of furniture, and I’m finally ready to do the tangerine tango on my deck–as soon as my table arrives, that is. It’s the last item remaining and it’s scheduled to arrive this week. I can’t wait to pull everything together and enjoy dinner on my freshly redecorated deck–and to share photos with you. In the meantime, I’ll just have to share photos of my little pal, Piggy. He likes to be the star of the show.
He really knows how to distract me from my photo sessions. He’s so darn adorable.
Giant red hibiscus. Hummingbirds can’t resist these enormous blooms that I planted outside my studio windows. That way I can enjoy the flowers and the fleeting beauty of hummingbirds feeding on them while I paint.
Velvety red calla lilies. These bulbs proved to be too tempting for the rabbits living in my garden. They dug many of them up last fall and ate them for dinner. This fall I’ll plant them in greater numbers so hopefully there will be plenty for the rabbits and for me.
Purple pansies. I planted pansies three years ago and haven’t planted them since. They keep reseeding themselves, often times in places that I wouldn’t necessarily choose, but I’ll take them wherever they grow.
My purple crepe myrtle trees are almost ready to bloom. I have three of them and definitely need more. I’ll post photos when the show begins. I see some potential watercolor paintings in my future. I don’t enjoy the physical act of gardening, but I so enjoy the fruits of my labor. Happy gardening.
Spring is just around the corner so I’ve already started planning my next porch makeover. I love creating a comfy and colorful place to sit back and relax and enjoy a good book or magazine. And what better place to inject with lots of color than the front porch? This year I’m thinking of tulips–bright red and yellow tulips on a carpet of green like this fabulous outdoor run from Grandinroad:
It’s so fun and colorful that I just had to have it. So I ordered two of them–one for each side of my wraparound porch. My new rugs arrived this week and I can’t wait to roll them out on my porch. Next weekend my mother and I are planning a shopping trip to find some fabulous pillows and accessories to complement these fun rugs. And I’ll also have to make a run to the paint store so I can paint the porch furniture in fun colors to match.
Decorating the porch has become an obsession of mine. My porch furniture has been painted every color of the rainbow over the past few years. Come to think of it, so has the interior of my house (more on that later). Hand me a paint brush or a can of spray paint and I’m a happy girl.
So, while I’m off searching for fun items to create a tulip-themed porch, I thought I’d give you a peek at some of the colorful porches I’ve created in seasons past. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed creating them.