A Rainy Day is a Studio Day

It rained all night and it is supposed to rain all day. It's good for the garden. I love the scent and find the sound comforting. It also means I have no excuse not to spend the day in my studio. I started cleaning it yesterday and need to continue my work. I am so tempted just to clear a spot in the middle of the mess and start a new painting but I know a cleaner, safer (yes, it got that bad) workspace would be the best thing.

I took these photos from the shelter of the back door this morning. I love how you can see the rain in the photos! Do you see the diagonal streaks?

The last painting I did was a commission. The customer requested two flowers of significance to her family but left the approach and composition entirely up to me. I couldn't ask for a more pleasant experience. Still, I am looking forward to doing a painting of my own choice. Plus, I have several watercolors from past months that are almost finished and are still waiting for final touches. I also have frames for some of my original watercolours that I need to assemble. I have new prints to create. Oh boy. So much to do. But first a clean studio.

I opened the screen door for Meeko to go out this morning and he immediately sat down. For the moment, he'd rather look at the rain than be in it. Maybe he'll join me in my studio later for moral support.

"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain." 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

❤  ❤  ❤  ❤  ❤

Raindrops in the Garden

We had a huge heat wave the past week. So unusual for September. We are on our way to more reasonable temperatures thanks to a big storm yesterday. Today, there was a beautiful light rain in the morning. I decided to go on a walk with Meeko without an umbrella in order to literally soak it in. So lovely and refreshing.

Afterwards,  I toured the back garden and was able to capture some of the raindrop magic with my camera.

Chloé went back to school this past Tuesday. Emma is settling into life in residence and beginning her first year at university. We miss her day-to-day presence but love seeing how happy she is. As for me, I am finally back in the studio. I posted a couple of photos of my current painting in progress on Instagram and Facebook. 

I am thankful that cooler days ahead will allow me to take Meeko for longer walks. (He hates the heat!) I'm also glad that my head is full of a million things that I would like to paint. This time of year always feels like the beginning of the year to me. Even though my own school days are long behind me, my inner calendar still seems to follow the scholastic year. I feel that for all of us here, whether resuming familiar routines or tackling new challenges, this new year is full of promise. 

1) Nasturtium leaves 2) Highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) 3) Sunflower 4) Spindle wood (Euonymus europaeus) 5) Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) 6) Nasturtium leaves 7) Japanese anemone 8) Bee on Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'

Leaves and The Sound of Music

When I was working on getting ready for my arts and crafts show, I had a moment of panic. I thought 'Oh no! I am going to miss all of the autumn leaves.'  Well, I didn't miss them all but there sure are a lot of them falling today. The wind is quite strong. It makes me a little sad to see the trees starting to look bare and the leaves all piled on the ground.

On Thursday, the weather kept changing. It was raining and then it wasn't. Back and forth. Meeko doesn't enjoy the rain so much any more. When he was a puppy, he didn't mind any kind of weather. So I waited for a gap in the rain to go for a walk with him. When I got out on our front steps, I had to run back in for my camera. The leaves on the front porch all had these gorgeous, big fat water droplets on them. It was a moment of magic.

As I was taking these photos, I found myself singing out loud. I was singing 'My Favorite Things' from the Sound of Music. Isn't that funny? (And what do the neighbors think, I wonder?)  Raindrops on leaves might not be raindrops on roses but, to me, they are just as beautiful.

That last photo is my favorite.

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I am celebrating an anniversary this weekend. Today is the 2nd anniversary of my shop opening on Etsy! It feels longer than that somehow. To show my thanks to all of my customers and supporters, I am offering 20% off today and tomorrow on anything in my shop (October 20th and 21st). Just use the coupon code 2THANKYOU at checkout.

❤ A big thank you to you all! ❤

Pretty in Pink

Photos taken this week come with raindrops, no extra charge.  Today's colour for the Poppytalk Summer Colours collection is pink. I am very fond of pink in the garden, although you won't find very much of it in my house.

The photo above is of the efflorescence of my Cotinus 'Grace' bush. It looks like a soft pink cloud lately. I've included the photo of this Oriental poppy below in a previous blog post but I'm publishing it horizontal this time. I no longer have any idea of which way is the right way up for it. :)

The false mallow (sidalcea) looked beautiful this morning. This particular one is called 'Party Girl' and I'm thinking she put on her best ruffles when she got up today because she knew it was Poppytalk's pink day. 

Chloé has been quite enthusiastic about Summer Colours week and I had trouble getting the camera out of her hands yesterday.  She took the photo below as well as the one of Meeko. (She took some others that I will include in Red day on Thursday and Blue day on Friday.)

The photo below is of a sweet little strawberry blossom in the square-foot garden. This is an all-season plant that produces strawberries (a small handful at a time) for the entire summer.

And my final photo is one I took a few months ago, but I thought its beautiful soft pink tones would fit perfectly in today's coloured theme: pink-toned rocks with a beautiful hand-dyed scarf that I bought from Margie.

Because I am downloading my photos from Flickr this week rather than from my computer, the vertical shots are less wide than the horizontal ones.  In the past I've made both the horizontal and vertical shots the same width as my column.  I'm curious if anyone noticed, first of all, or has a preference one way over the other.

Colour My Monday Green

It is a holiday weekend here in Quebec. The 24th of June is Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day. We spent part of the weekend in Trois-Rivières to celebrate the 88th birthday of my husband's mother. I took lots of photos of my brother and sister-in-law's pretty garden that I will post later this week.

Today and for the next four days, I have decided to participate in Poppytalk's Summer Colours week. I've been inspired to take part by friends Margie and Sonia. Today's colour is green and it was a real treat to wander around the garden to take photos this morning after a night of rain. 

I love June as the garden always really starts to thrive at this point in the growing season.  Our family has done a fair bit of growing in June and early July as well. We have so many birthdays packed into a five-week period. Emma's birthday is on June 1st, her cousin Erica on June 2nd, my brother-in-law Jean on June 10th, my grandmother Edie (deceased) on June 16th, my brother Bob on June 17th, my grandfather Eric (deceased) on June 21, my mother-in-law Margeurite on June 25, my sister Karen on June 30th, me on July 1st and Chloé on July 7th. Isn't that crazy?

Here's a simple yet elegant arrangement of herbs, leaves and flowers gathered during my garden walk this morning.

Peonies, Poppies and Pea Gravel

This week so far, we've had intense heat, rain and cold.  I'm glad I took some photos of the Oriental poppies and peonies before the rain yesterday, because some of them have definitely suffered since.  I cut some peonies today to put in a vase, as the weight of the rain broke their stems.

But despite certain tolls in the garden, it really is starting to feel more like summer. Emma and Chloé finished their classes last Friday. Now they only go in on days they have exams.

I have to work extra hard to accomplish things in the studio between acting as taxi driver, pool lifeguard and lunch monitor.  Aside from those extra daily duties now, I really find my focus goes out the window as soon as others are in the house. I have to work on that.

Here's a little tour of my garden this week (some pre- and some post-rain):

'Kansas' Peony

The peonies bowing down to the turtle were the ones I had to cut. Note the lovely Meeko-proof irrigation sculpture.

Peony 'Duchesse de Nemours'

Oriental Poppy 'Princess Victoria Louise' behind a Meeko-proof fence

Poppy smushed by the rain, not Meeko

This would be the perfect reading spot if the bench wasn't so darn uncomfortable.
It's hard to find weather-proof garden furniture that's comfy.

I built this pea gravel pathway just before we got Meeko two years ago. I had visions of Meeko running back and forth on this path, playing fetch with me and dutifully avoiding my flower beds. Little did I know that he would be claiming the whole back yard and all of its contents as his kingdom.

"None of the stories Kathleen tells about me are true."

Grey and Green

Grey and green. That seems like a good summary of the past week. The weather is definitely grey (gray if you prefer) and cold and wet.  It's the kind of weather that slows everyone's pace.  Mine for sure.  I wasn't idle at all but my days moved slowly. I'm feeling a little computer fatigue too. So much effort sometimes with hard to recognize results.

The natural world is waking up around me. Slowly and surely, there is more green and bits of colour all around.  I brought my camera on my walk with Meeko yesterday, as I had seen wildflowers the day before. I almost walked right past them as everything was tightly closed. Even the plants miss the sunlight.

It's not just me. Even Meeko looks like he's in a pensive mood. Mind you, I don't spend as much time thinking about robins, seagulls, dog biscuits and squirrels as he does.

When Chloé was little, I sometimes called her Mademoiselle Mélasse (Miss Molasses) as she had a slow way of doing things.  I think I would carry that name well too sometimes. I am slow and deliberate in my thinking and my artwork. I have been working on a painting this week, slowly but happily.  Here's a little peek at a corner of it.

"Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help."

May Sarton