bee creative

I meant to...

"I meant to do my work today, But a brown bird sang in the apple-tree, and a butterfly flitted across the field, and all the leaves were calling me."  -Richard De Gallienne

I meant to finish things today.  The closest I came was making some tomato sauce and dehydrating a variety of fruits and vegetables.   Not any of these pictured though!  These plus a few beans, some cucumbers, and some corn are the fruits and veggies for the week.  All local (most of this is from the farmer's market), all organic.   Also made some apricot-hazelnut biscotti.

Mostly I napped and read and day-dreamed.  Some day's just need to be that way.

made by...

I picked up the rock at the beach, the flower pattern created by the base of a barnacle caught my eye.  I also love the holes that were being formed.  What I've been surprised by is by how comfortably this rock fits into the palm of my hand.  Thinking about texture and the "rightness" of something. 

The plaque was made by a local family that designs and casts them. 

Two flowers, one made by nature and one made by humankind. 

saving seeds and meteor showers

One of my projects for this year is to save seeds from plants that I've grown from seed.  I've got a start with beans and peas.  I also have some tomatoes and a sample of the zucchini that I want to save seed from.  Following in the footsteps of my grandfather who saved many of his own seeds.  

I suppose I could have saved this potato as a seed potato (it's a little small for that though) but I ended up using it to stamp my own meteor shower on one of my rain painted cloths.  Doubt I'll see the one tonight. 

rain painting results

This is the piece of fabric I started with here.  It's pretty muted.

 

This is the piece of fabric I had wiped off the spoon I was dripping paint with (the darkest spot on the lower right hand corner) and then had placed underneath the top piece.  The rain pushed most of the paint down through the top layer and on to the second piece of fabric.  It was raining quite hard.  The grain of the wood on the porch actually created a pattern on the bottom piece of fabric. 

I'll be doing this again. 

what if raindrops became a paintbrush?

Briar Rose and Lola are not happy that my staycation is over.  Not at all. 

 

Following through on a what if:  What if I dribbled fabric paint or dye on fabric and then put it out in the rain?  It's out getting wet right now.  I wonder if the slugs and snails will help blend the paint a bit too? 

housecleaning, organizing, nesting

I've spent the last couple days working on trying to wrap up my big projects for the week, painting the living room walls, putting more red paint on the floor, and reorganizing the living room.  It' not quite done (a little more red paint to go and a lot more organizing), but it's live-able.  Thinking a lot about how the spaces we live in and work in affect our ability to be creative.... 

postcard for day five and six

Playing with filters on the computer again...

unrolling bundles

Pulled the bundles out and unwrapped them.   These are strips of wool + leaves from various plants+water with sage or eucalyptus leaves +heat from the sun, soaked for about a week.   I suspect I might have had more dramatic results if I was more patient and had waited longer, but I love them! 

 

My favorite parts are the edges where the twine was wrapped, the outside edges of the fabric and the resists where the leaves were.  Made me think about experimenting with leave shapes and not being as concerned with the dye abilities of the leaves themselves.  More what ifs to explore. 

The eucalyptus has a distinct pink tinge to it.  It wasn't there the first couple days that I soaked the leaves, the fabric seemed to start picking up the color after about three days.  I really don't know what I'm doing, not following any sort of directions.  My inspiration though is from here. 

postcards: day four

Today was built of homemaking and gardening (this flower is gooseneck loosestrife).

I've been felting some of the rocks I collected.  I like the way the felted rocks feel; solid and weighty, soft texture over hard.  The abalone shell is one that was harvested about 40 years ago by my father or one of my uncles.   As I've moved things around to make way for painting, I've been thinking a lot about the things we keep, items that we value, about how we feather our nests....

postcard: day three

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel  your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." Kahlil Gibran

Funny that I found the Gibran quote today after I left the beach.  It was in the new book I picked up today, Green Guide for Artists by Karen Michel (and gee there are some inspiring people mentioned in that book!).  Not only did I go wading in the afternoon but there was a nice stiff breeze in the morning so I pulled the pony tail holder out of my hair.  

I didn't find any starfish on the beach but I did find some great rocks, a nice handful of beach glass, a few other treasures, and a whole lot of peace.  Couldn't help but wonder what if seaweed would work as a dye plant? 

Thanks everyone for the recent comments, book recommendations, and links.  They are great!