Painting Pink Hydrangeas With Eastside Art Group

Welcome Dear Readers.  I am so happy that you stopped by.  My garden gate is always open for you to come in and sit and relax with a cup of tea while I share with you the inspirations for my art. This year I was invited to join a talented and joyful group of local artists - Eastside Art Group -the talents of the artists are many and varied from Jewelry Making , Metal Smiting  Gourd Art, Graphic Art, Print Making, Photoshop Art, Arts and Crafts, Painting Techniques and  Sewing -  just to mention a few.  Each month we take turns meeting at the home of one of the artists for a fun day of creating. The host artist teaches the group and shares one of her special talents. 

The group chose to learn to paint pink 'hydrangeas when it was my turn to host. Let's join Bentley, My Studio Assistant, in the garden to gather some pink Hydrangeas to paint.

Now let's join Bentley in the studio to show you how it was set up for  the class.

I have a very large garage with a window and lots of storage space - it also has a very high ceiling and lot of great light and finished dry wall on the walls.  I faux painted the  floor  and it makes a fabulous art studio as I can open the doors for more light if necessary.

I use the old vintage ladder to display flowers and objects that I am painting. The umbrella is used at art shows and I love leaving it up in my studio - it creates the feel of a flower market.

 My painting in progress:

I was too busy to take photos of the completed paintings - everyone did a fabulous job painting.  I was so proud of the outcome  - especially as this was the first time for me to teach  painting techniques to adults. Thank you to  Jacki Long for taking  some photos of the 'works in progress" that I am sharing below:

This is my completed painting - I only wish I had photos of the students completed works as they were wonderful.  I had so much fun teaching the class that I am seriously considering  teaching more classes at my studio!!!  Stay tuned.

Thank you for stopping by,  I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, comments, e-mails, and those of you who follow my blog.  Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see me paint something or if you might be interested in taking an art class on painting techniques from me if I decide to teach more classes.



                                                  A friend loveth at all times."  Proverbs

Sunflowers - Here .... There. . .Everywhere

Welcome dear Readers.  I am so happy that you stopped by.  My garden gate is always open for you to come in and sit with a cup of tea and relax for a few minutes in my garden while I share with you the inspirations for my art.

Recently I was driving around the neighborhood and noticed how many Sunflowers and bright yellow flowers were blooming.  I was so taken with the bright yellow and red flowers growing on a picket fence that I stopped and took a photo.  

The owner came out and I introduced myself and gave her my business card so she would not think I was a "stalker".  She said lots of people do the same thing and asked me if I would like a bouquet -
of course I said yes and she picked me a bouquet and gave it to me in a charming little jelly jar.  

Even though I set out on my neighborhood "drive-by" looking for Sunflowers I decided to go to the nursery to look for this charming plant - YEAH - I found two  containers of them and learned that  they are Gaillardia - Gallo Orange.  The same plant that grew around my Grandparents Beach Cottage at Wrightsville Beach, N.C. where my family spent our glorious Summers. I loved picking bouquets of them for the table and the flower brought back many fond memories.

Bentley, my helpful Studio Assistant, immediately checked out our new pots of Gaillardia!

By this time of year there is no room left to plant them in the garden so I planted them in pots until next Spring.

These are not Sunflowers, but I thought they were so cheerful I threw them in to show you my neighbor's pretty yellow flowers.

                                              Next year I want to plant a few of the tall multi -flower Sunflowers like my neighbor's flowers.

This year I bought some mini Sunflowers in containers and placed them around my garden for color.

I hate to throw away flowers when they reach their prime and put the old Sunflower blooms in a basket in the garden for a little more color. I was inspired to paint a basket of Sunflowers and started composing my work.

The Geraniums outside my kitchen door are in their glory and I decided to add two pots of Geraniums to the painting along with the basket of old Sunflower blooms.

This is one of my favorite photos of Bentley smelling the Geraniums and I am sharing it again this year.

 I also added my red scissors and some Lavender and a little pot of white flowers.

                                                             Here is the finished painting.

Thank you for stopping by.  I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, comments, e-mails and those of you who follow my blog.  As I mentioned previously, I am getting ready to have knee replacement surgery in July and may not be posting as frequently. If you check in and I have not posted that is the reason - my plan is to keep posting once a week - but there may be times when it is every other week so please keep checking in.

Have a lovely week.   Blessings,   Erin

                               "He hath made every thing beautiful in his time."   Ecclesiastes 3:41`

Flags In My Garden

Welcome.  I am so glad that you stopped by.  My garden gate is always open for you to come in and sit with a cup of tea and relax  in the garden..  Memorial Day is the day I like to decorate my garden with flags as my little way to say thank you to those who courageously gave their lives and to those who are bravely fighting today to secure our Freedoms both here and abroad.

Please  join Bentley, My Studio Assistant, and me in the garden for a little thank you celebration for our military.  (My knee surgery is not scheduled until July and in the meantime I am learning to get around in my garden with a cane and/or walker so we can get out of my studio and back into the garden).

I like to change the pillows around from year to year to add interest in the garden and this year I am using the red ones. My garden is so small that I just keep moving things around so you don't have to look at the same things all the time!!! The Geraniums are in full glory and I love the pops of red.

The rugs are old and worn and too worn to use inside - I have used  them in my garden during the Spring and Summer for 4 or 5 years - just wash them when they get dirty - I think they are wool and am not sure where I got them as they are so old.

                                Bentley is looking to see if a cookie crumb was left over from our tea party !!!

I hope you don't get tired of seeing my blue vintage Rocket bicycle - I change it around from season to season and it is a fixture in my tiny garden.

I love the old wooden flag and every year it gets a little more weathered - I keep moving it around in the garden and like it best on the picket fence.

The vine with red flowers is a Mandevilla - I have one on each side of the trellis and they are both planted in pots.  

\

Thank you for stopping by.  I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, comments, e-mails and those of you who follow my blog.  Thank you for your kind words to me about my upcoming knee surgery.  I received so many e-mails from you asking about Balboa Island and if I would show more photos of the charming cottages.  The answer is YES -it is also one of my favorite places and I am so lucky to live less than two miles away-  I will do another drive-by with Bentley and take my camera  so we can share with you on another post.

Have a lovely week.   Blessings,  Erin



"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness."  Galatians 5:22