July Garden

We've had lots of rainy, stormy weather lately but this morning was glorious and can be summed up in two words: sunshine and bees.

It is so nice to see all of the activity and life in the garden at this point in the season. I feel weirdly proud that the bees like my garden and spend so much time in it. The bees aren't the only ones who are busy. I've been trying to garden every morning when the weather has cooperated. A couple of weeks ago, I figured out that if I spend two to three hours working in the garden each morning that, at the end of two weeks, I will have managed to work in each of my flower beds. So that's been my morning routine. I get up, make myself coffee and head outside. I paint inside in the afternoons when it's too hot to be outdoors.

All gardeners know that a weeded garden is only a theory. I am not foolishly expecting to have a perfect garden nor do I want one. I just want to feel less embarrassed about its state if we have visitors and to be able to to sit in a chair occasionally and admire it instead of feeling like I need to jump up and fix something right away.

This morning I pruned and weeded the back perennial bed. It's looking pretty full and lush. However, the end of the bed that extends beyond the right side of the photo is going to need work. It has become shadier and shadier in the past few years to the point that I've lost some of the plants. My oriental poppies are gone among others. It's hard to lose things but gardens tell us what they need and the right end of this particular bed is crying out for shade-loving plants. I may divide some astilbe and hostas from other parts of the garden and move them here this autumn.

Speaking of hostas, they are blooming in the front yard and were looking absolutely gorgeous this morning. These are 'Francee'.

Other favourites from my garden tour this morning include my Summer Snowflake viburnum (Viburnum plicatum) and a stunningly beautiful poppy.

The vegetable garden is also bursting with colour at the moment including this blue borage plant that reseeded from last year. The warm colours in the background come from ripening tomatoes, squash blossoms and nasturtiums. It's exciting to see so much happening at once but not everything is thriving. This morning I discovered that my hot pepper plant has wilted and my eggplant is struggling a little. In a garden, nothing is static which provides both its pleasure and ongoing challenges.

"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature."  Alfred Austin

Sunny Days and Seashells

I didn't realize how very attractive sunflowers were to bees until two sunflowers seeded themselves near our back door this summer. I feed sunflowers seeds to the birds in our backyard so there are usually a few self-seeded sunflower gifts throughout the garden. These ones however are so close to the house that they provide the opportunity for close observation. As I have been going in and out of the door in the past few days, it is rare that I don't see at least one bee on the sunflowers.

Our garden has frequent bee visitors which makes me happy since I know that their population has been declining in past years mostly likely due to pesticide use, specifically neonicotinoids. In our garden, the bee magnets this year were bee balm (of course), lavender, salvia and the sunflowers.

While I love seeing bees everywhere, there is something particularly happy about seeing one on a sunflower. They look like they were made for each other.

Speaking of busy bees, I have been busy painting a series of small seashell paintings. I am painting three sets of three. If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen their progress. I am now working on the last one. I love painting natural objects. I love the challenge of observing an object closely and conveying the detail while still maintaining a painterly look. 

The creation of this series is a bit of a story. I did the first three paintings two years ago after I received a gorgeous gift of shells from my Australian artist friend, Cindy Lane. I was experimenting with different papers at the time (I love doing that) and each trio of shells was painted on a different paper. 

That was great as an experiment but it meant that the three paintings didn't really work as a set to be sold together because of the different weight and textures of the papers. So I decided (with some encouragement from my daughter Emma) to paint three sets of three. Threes abound. I used Arches 140 hot-pressed paper, BFK Rives 280 gsm and Arches 300 lb hot-pressed paper. The shells I have used as my references for the paintings are a mix of the Australian shells I received from Cindy, ones I have collected on past visits to Maine and a piece of mother of pearl that was a gift from my friend Sonia in France.

While my favourite brush for just about any painting is my Isabey No 8 brush, these small paintings have had me using my 3, 1 and 00 brushes! Each painting is taking me several hours and sometimes more than one day. Each little shell, because there are no two exactly alike, presents its own challenges. I'll post a photo of the paintings once they are completely finished.

Pause and Enjoy

More than a week since my last post. Oh my. My sister-in-law emailed me today to ask if everything was okay as I hadn't posted in a week and she reads my blog on her lunch hour. Nice to know I'm missed. ♥

Yes, everything's okay but where did the time go? Bits and pieces:  getting used to back-to-school routines, dentist appointment for me (yuck), insomnia (yuck again), weeding the garden (I will win!), some new prints for my shop (here's one...I really like how it turned out).

And then there were new photos of some items for my shop (Christmas cards, yes already), walks with Meeko, a new painting, a visit with a wonderful friend drinking rosé slushies on the back porch (I left the rosé in the freezer too long but I plan to make this 'mistake' again), cool evenings and surprisingly hot, humid days.

Nothing all that earth shattering but the time went quickly and when I look back, I am happy with the week (maybe not the dentist and insomnia part).  Well actually if I'm being truthful, due to the dentist appointment which led to the insomnia, I saw the most beautiful crescent moon with Venus shining just to its left in the wee hours one morning. Silver linings.

Here's the painting I worked on this morning (still in progress but almost finished):

Based on these wonderful tomatoes from my garden:

Aren't they beautiful? Two of my pepper-shaped Opalka tomatoes decided that they destined for each other.

I thought of adding the heart-shaped rocks and berry and acorn pairs to the painting, but I'm liking the tomatoes on their own.

My garden is certainly showing the changing seasons. There is more green, some brown, less blooms. I like this time of year in the garden:  less boisterous, more subtle.

Picea abies 'nidiformis' - Bird nest spruce with dew drops

Grass and other weeds in the backyard with dew drops.

The garden is still beautiful and has about a month and a half before it goes to sleep. I was glad I spent all of the time weeding in the front yard. It looks so much better. Now I need to spend a day or two weeding in the back or maybe not. The weeds look pretty nice with the dew drops on them.

Meeko adores this time of year too. He enjoys walking on the days with cooler temperatures and just loves the smells in the air. When he goes out the back door, he pauses and sticks his nose straight up as if to drink in the lovely smells of the changing seasons. He spent hours lying beside me while I weeded in the garden, enjoying our companionship and the changing seasons. We should all take moments to pause and enjoy too. ♥