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Sunday, October 26, 2014

Creating Vintage Autumn Garden Charm

Welcome.  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.  This is where I share with you my love for painting, gardening and photography as well  the inspirations for my art and  my cottage garden with the assistance of  Bentley, my studio assistant. Sometimes we leave my garden and go on field trips together to visit other gardens, charming shops, etc. or I share with you the fun art projects my Eastside Art Group creates.

This time last year I was invited to be a Contributing Editor to the lifestyle on line magazine Southern Guide to Life.  The column is "California Gardening with a Southern Accent" and my autumn article "Creating Vintage Autumn Charm".is about  how with just a little time, using inexpensive items or re-purposings items that you already have can turn your sometimes drab fall garden into a vibrant and stunning display that sings Autumn.  The article can be found at  www.southernguidetolife.com.  


Let's join Bentley in the garden and we will share a few of the vintage items in the garden that were re-purposed to add fall color after I wrote the article.



                      A weathered crow sits on top of an old metal basket filled with pumpkins.


                                  The crow was the inspiration for the little autumn paintings.


Fall leaves and berries add color to a vintage  watering can and the simple addition of a colorful pumpkin sitting on top of an old zinc pot adds whimsy.




                          Pumpkins and colorful leaves add color to a vintage coke bottle container.


               
                                   Vintage birdhouses and colorful pots of Mums scream colorful Fall.



You can see lots of other ideas in my article at www.southernguidetolife.com


Thank you for stopping by.  I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, e-mails, comments and those following my blog.  I will be away  next week attending a 3 day oil painting workshop and hope to be able to share some photos of the workshop with you when I return.

Have a lovely week.  Blessings, Erin


                                       "For the Lord gives wisdom."   Proverbs 2:6



Thursday, October 16, 2014

Join Me for My Fall Garden Tour


Welcome.  I am so happy that you stopped by.  You are invited to come into my garden and have a cup of apple spice tea and stroll around my garden for a little fall garden tour.

Bentley,  My Garden Assistant,  is waiting to show you around.



The side garden is narrow and divided up into rooms.  As you open the gate you walk into the "English Cottage" room with pea gravel and old iron furniture. I use mirrors to add reflection and make the garden appear bigger than it is.  The pillows change frequently - I use anything with yellows, red, gold and oranges in the fall.



This is a bright corner to paint!



My side garden is long and narrow and I like to add vertical touches using an old vintage ladder.

I bought this green shelf years ago at a flea market during the rain and paid $5.00 for it as the vendor did not want to pack it back up in the rain!




I am constantly relocating the signs and the old red wagon and it is used for many things.



Love using my vintage watering cans to display fall colors.
          

                           The scarecrow and scarecrone act as autumn greeters in the "English Cottage" garden as you approach the red front door.









The red front door overlooks the seating area.

I use old worn rugs in the garden to add a little warmth during the fall months - most of my pillows are indoor/outdoor fabric and stay out year round. 







The blue table and chairs are at the back of the garden - for some reason the blue that I had custom mixed  does not photograph very well.



Another mirror reflects the length of the garden.


Old rag rugs add color and warmth during the autumn months.




The little potting table is "where it all happens" and where I store pots and fertilizer for the container plants.











Old wooden boxes make charming planters - I put plastic in the bottom and place small pots directly into the box.  

I bought the adorable china boot at our local garden shop - it was marked down to $5.00


I am always on the look out for old zink and galvanized metal containers to use as planters.


My kitchen patio gets  lots of morning sun and is a lovely space to have tea.  I grow herbs and vegetables in pots in this area.

I am a "flea market junkie" and love finding old vintage finds to place around the garden - I can't resist birdhouses and watering cans!

Thank you for stopping by.  I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, e--mails, comments and those who follow my blog.  I am going to take a little blog break to work on some coastal cottage paintings and will be back in a few weeks.

Have a lovely week.  Blessings, Erin

" Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."  Mark  11:24




Thursday, October 9, 2014

Pumpkins , Geraniumns and Eastside Artists

Welcome.  I am so happy that you stopped by.  Today my studio is open for you to come in while I share with you our Eastside Art Group meeting at my studio.  Our group is made up of 8 very talented and diverse artists who get together once a month to teach and share their talents with each other.  I  geared my October class to "getting on our Fall whimsy" by painting Fall or various subjects on small canvases.

Bentley, my Studio Assistant, is in the studio waiting to greet you.



The studio is all set up and ready to start painting and creating.


Examples of Fall paintings were set for inspiration for anyone who wanted to paint Fall. 





We enjoyed breakfast treats and tea while visiting and getting caught up with each other before we started painting.  Jacki Long shared with us a beautiful true story about being compared to a Geranium flower by her mentor and long time  martial arts instructor Demura Semsei.  Among her many talents, she is an artist, designer, teacher, and long time martial arts artist. "One day she walked into Sensei's office and he said "you're like that flower and pointed to a Geranium."  She said but that is a Geranium with the same intonation as if a weed."  " Yes you are like a Geranium he said"  She said " Sensei can't I be a Rose or Orchid or Tulip?" " No you are like a Geranium - she was crushed as she wanted to   be something elegant or beautiful.  Then Sensei said "no"  they are good - they don't need a lot of attention and they bloom easy."  And so she was a Geranium.

I loved Jacki's story about how she became a Geranium and how she ended up loving being compared to a Geranium. I felt it was ironic that I planned to demonstrate painting a Geranium and also used Geranium napkins with our breakfast snacks.  I mentioned this to Jacki and told her how I loved Geraniums and have lots of them in my garden and that they are Bentley's favorite flower to sniff in the garden.



Creating and Painting!








Jacki decided to create mixed media collages on her mini canvases and used a piece of one of the Geranium napkins on her collage. She blogged about  being a Geranium on her blog www.jackilong.blogspot.com where you can read all about it.

I borrowed some of her photos of her collages - "Geranium Girl" to share with you.








Libby Williamson shared  some of her beautiful fabric and free motion stitching art with us.  Libby is owner of Blue Denim Designs and is an artist and teacher.  She sells her scarves and home accessories and  teaches at Dragonfly Shops & Gardens.  She can be reached at www.dragonflyshopsandgardens.com

Unfortunately I did not take photos of all of her beautiful art.  I took the photos below off her Facebook page to share with you!

I pulled this picture off Libby's  Facebook page to share with you.


Marilyn Gallas is a fabulous photographer, artist, mixed media and collage artist and is an expert in Photoshop and Lightroom. She also created a "Geranium Girl" using a tear of the napkin and painted the face with a credit card. She has a wonderful creative blog and you can see more of her art work and stunning photographs at www.hrt2hrt4mike.blogspot.com

Marilyn and I both painted  whimsical crows wearing  their party finery.  Marilyn's is the one with a turquoise background.


I experimented with adding texture to my mini canvases by painting on burlap on the one in the middle and the right to create the look of an old fashion tapestry.


Rooster painted on burlap.







Our group was smaller than usual as two members were on a trip to Paris and two were unable to attend.  Usually we don't take time for a relaxing lunch, however, with a smaller group we  decided to eat lunch and relax in my garden where Geraniums are still blooming along side of the pumpkins and Fall flowers. 




Bentley was eager to join us for lunch in the garden and spent most of the day in the studio trying to get up onto everyone's lap!



Thank you for stopping by.  I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, e-mails, comments and those who follow my blog.

Have a lovely week.  Blessings,  Erin


"The effect of righteousness will be peace."  Isaiah 32:17