September 2, 2022 Weekly Musings

Featured image: Trumpets in the Garden

I guess I could call myself a gardener. Why? Because I feel the garden is such a creative, artistic environment, and gardens reflect the individual who creates them.

I create my garden like I create my paintings by organizing spaces, little islands of surprise and color and scent. Each time I walk past an island of phlox of lilies I am filled with delight over their sweet scents.

I believe that my love of the garden reflects my personal life and the way that I want to live. With my gardens I share my love for the natural beauty and passion to create. Whenever someone visits the studio, rarely do they not mention the gardens. They ask,”You did all this?” My reply always is that I created it. And if I remember I add that the gardens reflect my vision for my life, my love, belief in creativity, and my respect for all things natural and of nature.
I trust the ways of nature and the natural.

 Featured image: Jitterbug Iris

There is a chill in the air this morning.  The new phlox seems to be taking it nicely.  This is the first time that I have planted phlox in the garden and I love the motley space that they present with their magenta, pink, white and coral. I love to smell their fragrance every time I walk by them. Also new to the garden this year are red bee balm plants and magenta cone flowers. These pinks and purples, reds, whites and coral add contrast to the black-eyed Susan’s which weave through the lilies and iris.  

My newly planted daisies have finished blooming for the season.  Sad as they are such a happy hopeful flower.  They were intermingled with the Russian iris plants which bloom in the spring with a glorious purple blue.  I am wondering if I should put some phlox there to have a continued color throughout the spring and summer seasons.  

The milkweed plants are doing great – as you know I had tons of caterpillars on them.  The batch I planted last year is interesting. The batch that I ordered online had the caterpillars and the batch I picked up from the local grower had none.  They say that the caterpillars are picky about which milkweed plant they eat.  I guess that proves the point.

Featured image: My Name Is Inky

How do you as an artist visualize the future?  Even if you are an older person like myself there is always a future to visualize. As an artist, I visualize the future for my work and for myself.  There is always a future until there are no tomorrows. 

My life and my work is a hybrid of today, yesterday, many yesterdays, and the possibility of tomorrow and many tomorrows. All are combinations of constraint and spontaneity.  I enjoy the spontaneity the most. So, it is obvious that my future is always filled with spontaneity, freedom and a tiny dash of reason mixed in.

Featured image: Cedar Roots Along the Shore

Art’s spirit, the concept of art throughout history, and art’s passion throughout art’s passionate history - have recognizably met with the dictates of reason. Art and reason met when it was time to shift the direction that reason was heading.

Featured image: Ms Pileated

Abundant perches
Queenie tree; safe havens
baby birds nesting
singing their songs
music Box Queenie

I love watching the birds who
appear and disappear in Queenie.
spiders weaving their webs in her
catching sunlight. Mosses
climbing on her north face.
And soft sweet wind music
dances through her.