Fading Hosta Leaves

We were blessed with an unexpectedly nice day yesterday! 

The weather people had called for yet another day of rain, but instead we had mostly sunny skies with a warm 60 degree breeze.  What a treat!

After the Packer game we headed outside to do some raking, and I was intrigued with the lovely mounds of fading hosta leaves.  They have gone through several light frosts, and their color is slowly draining away.  The dark grass doesn't really show it, but some of the leaves are actually translucent! 

I'm thinking of what kind of botanical collage I can make with them... Any ideas?

A celebration in the trees...

I like everything about making Autumn Leaf Cards.

From tramping in the woods searching for the perfect autumn leaves with my family, to pressing them in the Microfleur, and then spreading the colorful leaves out on the table and enjoying the riot of color before I adhere them onto handmade paper.

God certainly thought of a great way to celebrate the end of a glorious summer - by throwing a bright and colorful party in the trees. I am always amazed.

Unframed Fern on "Free-Form" Handmade Paper

My Elizabeth's Flowers  website re-construction is happily over, and I'm back to doing what I love best - and here's proof.  This is an unframed pressed fern picture from the  Northwoods of Wisconsin, near Three Lakes.  The finely cut fern is beautiful in itself, but I decided to combined it with a highly textured "free-form" piece of my handmade paper, which really seems to compliment the orderly structure of the pressed fern. 

If you look closely, you can see that the edges of the handmade paper are very irregular, and the texture itself has an unruly look as well.   I really am pleased with this combination.

No better place to be...

Beginning this Friday, most Friday mornings will find me here, at the very picturesque Northwind Perennial Farm, near Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Well known Chicago garden designer J. Siegel describes Northwind as being:

"...exceptional on many levels. They sell & promote unusual plants with a nod to natives, their lovely staff knows a lot about their products, and the place is so well-conceived and arranged, that people visit just for the charming experience."

Northwind isn't just your average nursery; they sell over 400 different perennials, and feature a number of amazing showcase perennial gardens, not to mention a very tempting garden shop in a centuries old barn as well.

I will be participating in their Friday morning farmer's market (9:00 - 12 noon) , from now until the end of August, selling my pressed flower cards and botanical art. I can't imagine a better place to spend a few hours each week - I only hope I don't spend all my earnings there!

Graceful Leaves

Due to life in general, this is the picture I had intended for last Friday's "You frame it Friday" picture.

Now, if you think a picture comprised of two skinny leaves is far from intriguing, that's ok. Those feelings are perfectly normal. Feel free to click elsewhere, but please come back on Friday when I post one of my more traditional pressed flower pictures.

For the rest of you, aren't these leaves beautiful? They are from the understory from the north woods of Wisconsin, picked the very afternoon before the season ending hard frost. Each leaf was growing directly out of the ground underneath the tall pines, and the leaves reminded me of single Solomon's Seal leaves. Up close I can see the pretty delicate veining in the leaves. The graceful stems are a reddish brown. I wish I know exactly what they were.

These graceful leaves have been mounted on my handmade paper, and sealed with UV resistant polymers. They are matted in a white acid-free mat, and are ready to be framed on an 8 x 10" frame.

...on a wing and a prayer...

"Leaf Mates," is in California this morning along with three of my other botanical collages, at the request of Ryan Garrett Fine Art Consulting. They asked me to overnight them a sample of my work for a presentation they are giving today for a client opening up a new Montage Hotel in Park City, Utah.

I was initially caught off guard but essentially very honored by their request, and I'm hopeful that something good will come out of it. At the very least, I've learned how important it is to be ready to talk about your art, as well as write about your art in a moment's notice. Gratefully this is something that was already on my radar screen, thanks to what I've been learning from Alyson Stanfield's new book, I'd rather be in the Studio.

I wish I could be a fly on the wall at that presentation today. I would love to know what the consultants are saying about my work (are they using my words?) how they are presenting it, and what the initial reaction of their client will be.

Gifts for Gardeners

I am thrilled and honored to be among the Botanical Art sites chosen in Kathy Purdy’s article on “Gifts for Gardeners”

Kathy writes the very informative “Cold weather Gardening Blog” as well as a new blog entitled “Blogging Art and Practice which contains good information for those of us still trying to get the hang of blogging.

Kathy is also an accomplished photographer and the beautiful flower pictures on her gardening blog transport me right back to my garden in July. That’s a great place to be this time of year in Wisconsin!