Garden 2012 no 12

Garden 2012 no 12

Yesterday I said I intended to spend the day in the garden. It didn’t quite work out that way. The weather wasn’t good and I still had a bit of clearing away to do after the decorating.
When I did eventually get out there, every thing looked so overgrown I didn’t know quite where to start, and so instead of getting stuck in weeding, digging, tidying etc………..I decided it was time to have a bit of a harvest.

I’ve emptied out all three potato barrels, harvested the potatoes, mixed the compost with chicken manure pellets and then refilled the potato barrels ready for the next seed potatoes. I now have three trays of new potatoes drying out on my windowsill over night ready to be packed in paper bags and stored.

I harvested as many broad beans as I could see, what I didn’t eat tonight are packed away in the freezer. I also took some salad and spinach for use over the next day or so.

There is still one rhubarb pie left in the fridge made from the rhubarb I harvested last week. Todays rhubarb was cleaned, cut and packed away in the freezer.

And this is what I will be harvesting tomorrow, white currants………delicious and it looks as if I have a bit of a bumper crop this year.

A Question;
Does any one know if I can use some of the very tiny potatoes that I dug up today as seed potatoes for next time??

Decorating; Another room finished

It’s finished, I’ve been working non stop and finally, late this evening, my new studio/ guest room was finished.  There are a couple of little things I need to get help with, the curtain pole needs screwing back onto the wall properly and the new ventilation grill above the door needs to be screwed into place. Apart from that…………..it’s complete.

Mr and Mrs Scarecrow stand on top of the shelf unit guarding the spider plants. They were a lucky find in the pound store, they cost just £1.00 each and are intended as garden ornaments, but I rather like them looking down on me.

Another lucky find were these curtains, they are heavy linen with tab tops and tie backs and bought from the Heart Foundation charity shop for just £10.00. The embroidered edge runs from top to bottom of the curtain.

It’s quite a big room which is why it can double up as a guest room and a studio for me to paint in.  The wallpaper, another find in the pound store, is beige with a hint of peach. It has a grain effect and a slight sheen which looks quite pretty once hung on the wall. For £1.00 per roll it’s not bad. I wanted a plain paper because I intend to hang some of my paintings on the wall and as you can see, there is plenty of empty wall for me to start filling.

I bought the patchwork quilt from a charity shop a while ago and thought it went well with the rest of the room. It a beautiful quilt, very large when not folded back and well worth the £15.00 I paid for it.

This big old built in cupboard used to have a door but I had the door taken off and bought this bead curtain to use instead. The cupboard tends to get very damp with lots of condensation especially in the winter and I thought taking the door off and letting the air circulate would help get rid of the damp problem.

And these are my aloe vera plants lined up in the window. I’m thinking of buying one very large pot and planting them all together, I thought it would be a bit of a centrepiece.

Moving round the room here is the linen covered shelf unit and behind that, my work table. I love those chairs. I rescued them from being thrown out. They are old fashioned school chairs used by the teacher in times gone by, they were destined for the tip before I intervened and bought them home.  The rather exotic orange animal print table covers are made from wipe clean material bought for £3.99 per metre. 1 ½ metres was enough for my work table and the low TV/ DVD table.

And some of the paintings I’m going to hang on the wall.

And that’s my decorating for a while. I’m going to spend a couple of days catching up in the garden and then my daughter is staying for the weekend because it’s her birthday. Once she leaves, I’ll take a few days, maybe a week to potter about in my garden, and then its onto the hallway……….but that will be a quick and easy piece of decorating compared to what I've just done.

Art Sunday; De Chirico

Art Sunday; Giorgio de Chirico

This has been a very ‘surreal’ week for me, rain, rain, and more rain,  intermittent with days that are hot, humid and overcast.

With utter disregard to the weather the grandchildren spend their days out playing and reappear when hungry. They’ve made friends with the local children, oh if only life remained that simple.
My decorating is progressing nicely; I’ve come to a stop now until I persuade someone to take a cupboard door off for me. Most things I tackle myself but this door is beyond me, the hinges are welded into place with 50+ years worth of paint and I need the door off before I can sort out the door frame and then paper around the door.
Apart from this ‘cupboard door’ area and the middle bit of the ceiling, the room is finished, I just need to reassemble it and find some suitable curtains.

I’m not always that taken with surrealist work, but this I like. I like the rich earthy colours, the ambers and reds, the deep yellows and the hint of sunlight. I also like the architectural subject matter, these surreal street scenes devoid of people appeal to me.
Although; I’m not sure if they appeal to me because I’m a bit obsessive about architecture, or because I like the lack of people.

Giorgio de Chirico
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Giorgio de Chirico July 10, 1888 – November 20, 1978) was a Greek-born Italian artist. In the years before World War I, he founded the scuola metafisica art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. After 1919 he became interested in traditional painting techniques, and worked in a neoclassical or neo-Baroque style, while frequently revisiting the metaphysical themes of his earlier work.

Read more on Giorgio de Chirico from wikipeadia here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_de_Chirico

Biography of Giorgio De Chirico

Giorgio De Chirico was born on 10th July 1888 in Volos, the capital of Thessaly (Greece). His father Evaristo was an engineer and his mother, Gemma Cervetto, a noblewoman of Genoese origin. Two years later in Athens, his brother Andrea was born. Andrea adopted the pseudonym of Alberto Savinio in his work as a writer and musician.
During this time Giorgio, whose father always supported his passion for art, took his first drawing lessons with the Greek painter Mavrudis. And it was in Athens that De Chirico realized his first painting, entitled "Still Life with Lemons (Natura morta con limoni)". In 1906, following the death of his father, the De Chirico family moved to Germany where Giorgio attended the Academy of Fine Arts and came into contact with German artistic, literary and philosophical culture.

He read Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Weininger, continued studying the Ancients and studied the art of Arnold Böcklin.

Read more of the biography here

http://www.italica.rai.it/eng/principal/topics/bio/dechirico.htm

I found this a lovely description of his work;

Melancholy and Mystery of a Street, 1914

'Here a desolate street has been captured bathed in that particular kind of afternoon sun in Autumn when all appears as if in limbo. It is not yet sunset, but it is clear the day will soon end. Long shadows accentuate every texture and movement. The ethereal light seems almost tangible, giving the world the appearance of a dream, and in the dark shadows night has already come.
In this eerie space something profound has or will take place, but we are not privy to that scene. This is an empty stage. We are shown the street soon after or just before an unseen dramatic event. The threatening shadow of a statue, out of sight, draws towards it a girl - also appearing as little more than an emanation. The box on wheels, with its shadowy interior, seems to indicate entrapment, further emphasising the sense of impending tragedy.
The imposing facade of a dark building dominates the foreground while an extended white wall on the left gives the illusion of depth, an exaggerated perspective foreshortening the vanishing point, creating an ominous sense of unreality, of sur-reality through spacial distortion. Each arch seems as if an eye, silently staring into the claustrophobic space. As De Chirico explains visiting Versailles, "Everything gazed at me with mysterious, questioning eyes. And then I realised that every corner of the palace, every column, every window possessed a spirit, an impenetrable soul."
In this unsettling, haunting work, Giorgio De Chirico, a founder of the Pittura Metafisica (Metaphysical Painting) style, a forerunner to Surrealism, presents the very concept of the street as it being dense in history and in possibility, in melancholy and in mystery. Any banal empty street, in this light, could be seen as sinister and yet disturbingly beautiful.

Overall, I think I like this work, and even if I didn't, anyone who reads ( and understands )  Schopenauer, Nietzsche has to be admired.

Art Sunday Marcia Baldwin

Art Sunday; MARCIA BALDWIN

It took me a while today but here I am. We had a brief window of sunshine this weekend, it lasted from Saturday morning all the way through to Sunday afternoon, and obviously I had to take the rare opportunity to spend some time in the garden. The granddaughter continued operation snail hunt and the grandson was away with his friends doing what ever it is that 11 year old boys do. And now the grandchildren are back to their mothers and the weather has resumed its usual torrential downpour.
Apparently the rain is set to last until at least Thursday, I’m so glad I decided to spend a much time as possible in the garden this weekend.

Finally I have time to think about Art Sunday……………and I’m devoid of ideas. I messed about on the net, I googled this and googled that and eventually came across this lady.
Her work is so vibrant, so colourful, so cheerful, so full of joy, I just had to post. This reminds me of all the wonderful, warm, sunny days we have had in other, less wet summers.

This is what the artist says about herself

         
''My name is Marcia Baldwin and I am a full time professional artist specializing in Oil Paintings.

I love large formats and brilliant color. My true passion is color theory and design and how compositions can play an emotional role in the viewer. Art has always been a passion of mine.
I knew from a very early age that art was going to be a strong influence in my life and that I wanted to know as much about art as I could possibly learn.
I still strive to learn something new every day.

It takes practice and patience to be a full time artist and I am finally able to devote one hundred percent of my professional life to my studio work.  After many years working in and around art, making a living as an advertising designer, art teacher, art consultant, photographic artisan and many other niches.

I finally opened my art studio to the dedication of purely fine art. I am a trained artist, receiving a BFA and a MFA in the seventies and eighties, respectively.
I loved the years I put forth to formal art training.

It is invigorating to be around people with that same passion to learning and exploring the creative and problem solving side of your personality.
The people who share this passion greatly influence your though patterns about your art work.
It is really great to see the different outcomes from the various people when working on a creative project.
We are all looking at the same thing, painting or sculpting or drawing, but each individual will see it a little different and the creation of beautiful works, each individually unique.
It is truly amazing.

 For myself, I love oil painting. I love animals and flowers and nature itself.
I believe that I was given a talent by God to share His beauty about the world through the use of paint and canvas.
I try to relate the love of nature and His Blessings through my art.
I hope that the collectors of my work can be touched in some way to Stop and Smell the Roses for a moment and reflect on the joy and beauty that has been given to us each day.

I live in a very beautiful state, working and living on the shores of a lake surrounded by huge tall pine trees and stately southern live oaks. Nature is bountiful. Foxes play and romp across my front lawn. Squirrels and birds hop from one feeder to the next. Wildflowers and flowering trees such as redbuds and dogwood are a blanket of beauty through undergrowth among the trees. It is truly a blessing that I have been given this time to work in my art studio and be surrounded with this serenity. I hope that the passion I have for art and the passion I have to share natures beauty is reflected in my work.''

And this is her web site

http://marciabaldwin.artspan.com/mbr_bio.php#.T_Cr1ZGhkY4