Grand Finale II (for the Lilies)

The "big red lily" patch blew me away when it shot up to over 6' tall this summer and THEN began to bloom. To me, these blooms aren't really as pretty as some of the white and pink lilies, but I have no idea what it's called and have never grown Oriental lilies this tall before.

So this is the second installment of our finale for lilies here this summer. If you missed part one, go down to the next post.

Thank goodness I got these photos done before a huge rain storm moved in this morning...and stuck around all day. I wonder how many inches it added up to? Soon, I'll probably be talking about our 8' tall corn!

Grand Finale (for the Lilies)

This is the climax of the Oriental Lily season for this year. And since the oriental lilies are the last to bloom here, it's the winding down of the 2009 lily season here at WillOaks Farm. I've been shooting images for a few days now, and saving them up for a few nice collections to be posted over the next couple of days.

I feel very special right now, in that the perfume of these lilies, wafting onto my deck, is just lovely. Tonight, the air is warm and moist, a "just past" full moon is rising, and then there's the fragrance of lilies.....you get the picture!

Tying up Some Loose Ends

Well, Thursday is as good a day as any, I suppose, to tidy up some loose ends and overdue items.

There's a full moon rising, for better or for worse, and I happened to have my camera and be near a fence post to give it a try because it took a full 1 second exposure--nearly impossible to do hand held, but after about 8 tries, one came out to be sort of interesting. I liked the way the clouds blurred, but the outline of the moon was fairly sharp.

I meant to thank Theresa of Theresa's Treasures for featuring my piece in her blog last week. Not sure if it was coincidence or what, but that bracelet sold over the weekend, which was just wonderful!! And although I'm all for buying wearable art for ones' self when ever possible, keep in mind that these kinds of things also make unique gifts--often, one of a kind gifts--and I mention this because that bracelet and a couple of pairs of coordinated earrings are about to be a special birthday present for one lucky wife!!

I have become an "ArtFire Maven!" What's that, you ask? It's a pool of artists who review new features, check new ideas, help tweak this fabulous site for shopping for unique gifts, original hand made items, and cool art materials as Artfire grows beyond its' beta mode and gets into high gear in anticipation of the holiday season (oh my, did I just say "holiday" in August?? Woe is me...) I'll be sharing more info about the evolution of Artfire as new things are in place. I opened my shop there back in January, as a charter member, and although it doesn't get quite the traffic as Etsy does yet...things are improving there for both the artists AND the shoppers all the time, stay tuned!

And finally, last but not least, a huge hunk of gratitude to my own collection of Entrecard "top droppers" on my blog for July! Be sure to drop in on all of these fine blogs who honored my blog with lots of regular visits last month (and Thank You to any and all of my visitors! I'm honored that you take a few minutes to drop by and check more "chapters" in "Behind the Gallery View.")

Dropper # of drops Let's Jump Together 31 Photography by KML 31 Split Rock Ranch 31 Frugal Healthy Choices 31 PJ's Prose 31 Computer Aid 31 Guitarbench.com 31 My gypsygoods 31 Doocci.com 31 Coming Back to Life 31

Rain Clouds or Rain Butt?

The past few weeks, several collisions of hot and cold air gave us some amazing storms here in the Midwest. In this sequence, a really heavy storm darkened the sky while we were pruning some trees and we quickly gathered the tools and took cover. The wind just exploded around us right after I took the top photo and we later heard that a tornado was spotted just northwest of the farm, but no damage was done, thankfully!

So thanks to intermittent rain showers, gardens and planters are still thriving, despite the cooler than average nights. But when the rains fail us, especially for watering planters and window boxes, a couple of "rain butts" capture the water that falls on the garage roof and keep it for later. Then, a handy spigot is used to fill the trusty old watering cans.

On another note, I wish my cat, Red, could take a few lessons from "Daisy the Curly Cat" about cooperating with my photo efforts. In the sequence I made chasing him around the deck, he deliberately avoided looking at me and my camera, not even once!! And he's not shy at all...just stubborn, I think, and not in the mood for the camera. Little stinker....

Garden + Studio III

And last in this series, although certainly not the least, a trio of bracelets that incorporate one of my favorite colors...and a beautiful stone that exhibits it. It's tough to name this color: greenish yellow, yellowish green, wasabi, lemon-lime, peridot, other names? But between some of the jades and a stone referred to as 'Peridot Jasper' I can indulge in mixing it up with black and white and natural leathers.

The white stones are referred to as 'Snow Quartz' and touches of Bali silver are used as a textural detail, but the emphasis was intended to be on the wonderful fresh greenish yellow/yellowish green color. For a change, I did get these into my Etsy shop BEFORE I posted this!

Gardens + Studio II

A few more examples of the "Knot Bracelets" series (new working title...too clever?) The pale, greenish yellow jade is NOT strung on leather or linen but rather, jade beads alternate with embossed Thai silver tubes (with round beads in between to act as ball bearings) on sturdy Accuflex wire.

A collection of rutilated quartz lozenges in different muted, natural colors, is captured on knotted multiple strands of natural leather. I couldn't quite match this one with a plant or flower image this time around! However, for me it is reminiscent of a creek bed or the tide's edge when water darkens the stones to bring out lots of soft colors.

And finally, soft natural rose quartz beads in several different shapes on knotted pink leather with a kissing cousin of rose and cream quartz beads captured on knotted brown leather. For me, these soft pinks with just a touch of contrast provided by the dyed leather, reminded me of some of the pink flowers I've enjoyed in the garden the past few weeks.

These pieces, and a few others in this series, will soon be available in my Etsy shop, just in case you're interested in a closer look!

Garden + Studio

(red marble, glass beads, waxed Irish linen, sterling silver, faceted onyx)

(faceted jade, black leather, sterling silver)

A new series of multi-strand bracelets have come together here in the studio, just as the warmest weather calls for sleeveless tops.

Knotted leather or knotted Irish linen is used to make the structure and many different semi precious stones are threaded on the leather or linen to slide between the knots. These two examples, plus 5 other versions of this style of bracelet will be available in my Etsy shop soon...I hope to post them on Sunday and Monday of this week, if all goes as planned. And the first 3 are now posted--click on the photos for more information!

More "Garden + Studio" collages will be coming over the next few days. Thanks for dropping by!