Flower Shoppe Inspirations

Welcome. 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 while I share with you the inspirations behind my art. Each week I am always on the lookout for something to paint. . . this time of year not much in the way of inspiration is growing in my garden . I purchased a beautiful bouquet of "growers special" flowers from Home Depot for $5.97. They are lovely fragrant Flox and 3 large blue Hydrangeas. Let's go into the garden so Bentley my Studio Assistant can show you the flowers.

The same day I received an e-mail from one of my blogging friends, Sandra of the Veranda House, and guess what - she sent me a beautiful photo taken outside of a charming Flower Shoppe in San Francisco. She felt the colors were in my palette and would be fun for me to paint.


Finding inspiration . . . . . .

The flower shoppe flowers. I love that the flowers are not arranged and are spilling out of the buckets . . . I want to paint mine like that.

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I have a few pink Cosmos growing and added them to some "faux" Cosmos flowers for a touch of pink shown in the Flower Shoppe photograph.

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Sandra's lovely photographs were the inspiration for the Flower Shoppe painting . . . I added yellow Sunflowers, pink Cosmos, lavender Flox and blue Hydrangeas to match the colors in her photographs.

"Flower Shoppe"

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also". Matthew 6:21

Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you and read and cherish each and every comment you leave. I sincerely appreciate your visits, comments 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 special. I have had lots of requests to paint a Spring welcome garden sign and am thinking we can paint one together.

Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin

Painting Pansies and a Vintge Cloche

Welcome. 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 fr my art. I have so many pretty pansies this year in my garden I decided to try drying some so I can enjoy their delightful little faces throughout the year. Of course I enjoy painting them all year. Now that they are blooming I want to re- purpose this painting with a vintage inspired cloche and add more pansies to the artwork.

I started off painting out the bowl of pink roses, flower pots and pansy seed packets.

Let's join Bentley, my helpful studio assistant, in the garden, and look for pansy inspirations to add to the re- purposed painting.

Finding inspiration . . . . . .

Did you know that painting pansies was a favorite pastime of the Victorian ladies? I love to envision the ladies who painted them so long ago spending an afternoon chatting and painting pansies while drinking a cup of tea. My cloche is a reproduction of a Victoria cloche and I love to put a little pot of pansies in it to paint and imagine that I am painting with the Victorian ladies whileI drinking a cup of tea.

I brought pansies in from the garden and set them up on a table in front of the window to paint. I ended up not using the terra cotta pot and instead used a blue and white tea pot and cup as you will see below.

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"As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field." Psalm 103:15

I like the shape of the yellow pot and decided to put it in the painting.

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The blue and white tea pot and cup ended up in the painting.

The completed re-purposed painting with added yellow pansies, yellow pot and blue and white tea pot and cup. I like to bounce one color around the painting to bring a feelingof harmony - in this case I used yellow. I also painted out the garden background and added a view with a blue sky and ocean with sailboats.

Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, comments and those of you who follow my blog. I read and cherish each comment and will stop by to visit you as time allows.

I have had so many request to paint pansies this time of year that I will probably paint more of them next week. This is a great time to paint and enjoy pansies since they are in full bloom in Southern California. I hope you are not tired of seeing them . . . Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see me paint something special in addition to pansies.

Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin

Touches of Yellow and Red

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 hot tea while I share with you the inspirations behind my art. Last year I decided to add touches of yellow and red to my garden for a little more punch and loved the new colors. I have been experimenting using yellow and red on some small paintings of my vintage bicycle that can be attached to gift baskets for a Spring fundraiser for one of our local charities that my son and I support. The little paintings make charming additions to hang on a picket fence or front door of a cottage and are good size (8X10) to attach to the raffle gift baskets.

Bentley, my Studio Assistant, is exploring the garden looking for Winter touches of yellow and red to show you.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the new issue of the fabulous Flea Market Gardens magazine . . . . only to find . . . . a photo of my vintage bicycle taken last year after I added the touches of yellow and red. Just the inspiration I was looking for.

I was so honored that the magazine also featured my garden in a delightful article called "Cottage Style" that was beautifully written by Deb Wiley and photographed by Mark Lohman. Deb gives lots of great tips in her article about creating a cottage style garden with flowers and color and tells how to get the look. The magazine is filled with ideas on creating gardens with flea market finds, bargain ideas, garden re-dos, cottage whimsy and lighting up shade areas in your garden. I hope the magazine is the first of many issues as it is filled with great ideas for those of us who love rust, re purposing, recycling, and reusing flea market finds.

The photo below of my old blue bird house was also taken last year when I added yellow and

red (it was not in the magazine).

Even though my garden is in the "winter stage" I have yellow and red primroses and

yellow pansies.

Winter color can also be added to your garden with a colorful garden sign.

Color can also be added with the addition of a little red chair planter.

More bunches of yellow Sunflowers from Trader Joe's at $3.98 a bunch add much needed Winter color.

My red garden boots always add a punch of red - I leave them in the garden for color when I am not wearing them.

I can't resist hanging a bunch of Sunflowers in an old flea market red tin to add a touch of Winter color to my garden.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

Thank you for stopping by and thank you to all of you who sent me e-mails telling me that my vintage bicycle and garden were in the fabulous new Flea Market Gardens magazine. . I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, comments and those who follow my blog. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see me paint something special.

Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin

Blue and Yellow Inspirations

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 while I share with you the inspirations behind my art. We are having more beautiful warm weather in California this weekend - the sky is blue and I have some beautiful Sunflowers I got from Trader Joe's for $3.98 a bunch. Let's go into the garden to what Bentley, my Studio Assistant, has found for us.

Every year I like to re purpose various rooms using items I already have - keeping in mind my favorite quote about re purposing . . . . "it's not what you don't have, but what you do with what you do have". This year I want to paint a small painting to go in my guest bedroom with a seaside . . cottage garden feeling and use the blue and white bedding from another bedroom to give the room a new look. Let's go see what we can find . . . .

Finding inspiration . . . . .

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I want the painting to be in harmony with the same feeling as the large painting over the bed.

With a seaside cottage garden feel . . . .

And with a piece of my "signature" blue and white china.

The completed painting with Sunflowers, red Roses, lavender plant and pot of Primroses from my garden, a garden book and a cup of tea.

"But let all who take refuge in you rejoice:let them sing for joy." Psalm 5:11

Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, comments and those of you who are following my blog. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see me paint something special. I have requests for more Pansies and a Spring Garden Sign with a rabbit.

Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin