Enchanting Emerald Green

While I was thinking about "green" I came across this collage I made a few years ago, with samples of some of the many shades of green that grow at WillOaks Farm.  I decided that for some of us, tired of looking at white snow and gritty melting scenes, it might be a soothing, hopeful image!

Emerald green was a "Pantone Color of the year" in 2013.  I wasn't too sure how popular this might be, but since I just love green in ALL her glorious moods, I went ahead and used the color in a few pieces last year.

This year, I came across a box labeled "St. Patrick's Day" in my studio (I'm still unpacking and organizing things here.)  Inside, I found a small collection of bits with that deep, emerald green that I think is perfectly perfect....in my imagination.  So the following collection, to honor my idea of the Irish and the Emerald Isle, came together.

Around the same time, I realized that I have a small collection of clip-on earring findings--parts I've used over the years for some of my customers by request because they do not have pierced ears.  I decided to try a few, and will try to remember to add this variation to other earrings that I make in the "drop style" because I just haven't been organized enough to DO this until now.

So St. Patrick's Day is March 17, which is a few weeks away.  If you know anyone looking for jewelry to mark the occasion, or need a gift to commemorate it, please consider browsing my studio on Etsy.  This link (click here) will narrow your looking to things I have made up in the "emerald green" color of green.

Other shades of green, which is a color I adore and use often, can be searched in my studio via the "local search" box on page one of my studio, using the lower box.  Or you can use this link to "just" look at 4 pages of pieces that use some kind of green.

And I'm not the only one here that loves green!  I've discovered a way to help my cats continue their transition to being mostly indoor cats by helping them get access to "good greens."  It's wheat grass!  I found a local grocery here the sells lovely growing pots of this grass for $2.99.  We make this last for just about 2 weeks, and maybe it's one of the reasons my cats don't bother all the house plants I tend?  This grass plant is much tastier (and probably safer, too!)  The only down side is when they really "need" the grass, eat a lot, then turn around and upchuck (& I hope to find it and clean it up before I step in it)...but that's just cats for you.  The good, the bad and the icky =D

Have a great weekend, everyone and thanks for dropping by!

Spring is Springing

 It continues to be a long, lush Spring around here.  Things are blooming and many fruits are forming, including mulberries, chokecherries, raspberries and more.  I made the collage above to juxtapose a collection of the textures that different plants are showing now as buds and flowers blanket limbs and branches.

 A week ago, I collaborated with 3 other families to resurrect my father's vegetable garden.  In years past, I had edged two of the three plots with a mix of perennials, shrubs and bulbs, but left the center square free for ever changing vegetable crops.  A mix of seedlings and seeds are finally installed!  Heavy on cole crops, and plenty of beans, peas, lettuce and much more to pick and use in due time.

 A trio of salmon pink oriental poppies have bloomed for me for many years now and I'm just fascinated with these flowers and with the striking seed pods they become when mature.  They are part of the "border" that surrounds two of the vegetable patches.

Finally, one of the best surprises so far this Spring:  a number of my tractor tire planters have self-seeded with snap dragons!!  I was so happy to just discover this, as I'd been searching in vain for seed starts for the larger, taller snapdragon plants.  I guess they aren't in fashion this year as I could find NONE at any of the numerous garden places I checked.  And then, a few days ago I finally took a closer look to see about weeding and preparing these planters that mark the road back into the campground.  Lo and behold, numerous, vigorous seedlings from plants here in years past had grown all on their own!  Good thing too, because I've never had much luck trying to start these from seeds, but good old Ma' Nature had no problem getting these guys started all by herself, no help needed.

So the past weekend, a good part of the transplanting, putting in seeds, general pruning and clearing weeds, etc. was all almost completed around WillOaks Farm and Campground.  Everything is happening so late this year but am hoping the "better late than never" holds true....to be continued!  Meanwhile, bone weary, long days, tons of work to do all in between running a campground that seems to get busier every week.  Yep, things are very busy around here!

Peony Season

You thought lilacs smelled divine?  There are certain varieties of peonies in bloom here now that seem to perfume the whole farm!  Another brief, glorious, seasonal event as my collection of peony bushes bursts into bloom--a bit later than usual due to the cold spring, but welcomed in the landscape and wonderful to cut for bold, fragrant bouquets to bring indoors.

I love this form--and also have it in deep ruby and bi-color pink, but white has little fragrance.

This variety seems to have the most fragrance (and the most ants!)

 

I remember when we first moved to this farm when I was quite young, and as was typical of many farm houses, a large bed here, devoted to peonies, was memorable.  At some point, it disappeared from the landscape.  When I moved back to take care of my dad in 2003, I brought numerous plants from Iowa, including a few that are heirloom varieties.  If the big storms currently moving through our area this evening haven't destroyed the look of some of the bigger, brighter bushes, I hope I can photograph and post a few more views soon.

Anyone else enjoying peonies this month?  Thanks for dropping by!

Droughts and Heat Advisories

I can't believe I'm still struggling to pack and move in this heat, but yes, I am.  In fits and starts; in bits and pieces.  A few hours a day but I'm becoming hopeful that it's beginning to add up.  My goal is to have both Dad's house and my rented sculpture studio emptied by the end of July--two weeks to go.  And once everything is under my "new roof" then the process of making sense of it all will begin, but hoping without so much pressure or heat....

So my blog has been neglected and I'm chagrined to admit that I was just de-listed by Project Wonderful so going forward, no one can post those ads here anymore.  I took the PW windows down as they seemed to be emptily mocking me.  Somewhere down the road, when I'm operating on all cylinders once again, maybe I can rev up my blog, it's traffic, and it's Project Wonderful spot.  But for now, I'm not very focused here as there are simply too few of me and too few hours in any given day....

But I've got some interesting photos to share here.  I found a couple of gems in the midst of this not too attractive heat wave and drought we continue to endure.

 The ephemeral pond on the farm is the new home this year for a pair of Sandhill Cranes and their new youngster.

Here's a closer look-so glad this water didn't evaporate yet!

Grass is mostly brown and dormant BUT the weeds hang on.  I've never seen a Canadian Thistle this small, put out only one blossom, but it has popped up during our break from mowing.

We still get together for food and weekend family fun, but are very careful about campfires these days.

And Dakota really, really likes the food her cousin Bella gets...and really likes the visit, too!

Stay cool!

Wordless Wednesday Autumn Walk

Wordless Wednesday

Snow, Blow and now, 40 Below

As I made my way, shoveling all the way, to see how the front yard and my car had come through the blizzard that moved in last night, I noted the lovely drifts in the front yard.....and then, looked to my right. OMG!! The net effect of the wind coming around the corner of the house made a drift even tall than my car. It will be blowing again tonight...but this time, bringing a windchill predicted to be very dangerous and well below zero. And then can we start Spring? Pretty Please?

The Gray Season Moves In...

Shorter days, longer nights, gray skies, cold rain, foggy weather, gloaming vestige. So many shades of silky, pearly, subtle gray...

...better to express that touch of depression that can settle in than to succumb to it...besides, gray is so beautiful!

"Stormy Season"
And with those images in my head and thoughts in my mind, I ranged near and far over the Etsy catalogs, searching for things that helped portray this mood, these feelings of grayness. In the final form, "Stormy Season" was born and my quest for making treasuries for expressions of moods and feelings takes another step....


On another note, the (mostly) black cat Mariah survived another Halloween just fine, thank you. She didn't even hop on a broom or do anything wild or crazy. Fearsome Dakota protected her from any misfortune....

A final word, on this fine Tuesday, November 2....
REMEMBER TO GO VOTE--IT'S YOUR PATRIOTIC DUTY
(and you can't complain unless you do ;-)

Samhain, Summer's End, Halloween

No blasphemy intended, but I'm not a fan of the secular Halloween holiday and celebration. The pagan roots, however, I find fascinating. As someone who grew up in the rural, agricultural middle west where the seasons of weather and work still determine much of the rhythm of life, I find a kinship with older harvest celebrations.

I did love running wild after dark on Halloween as a kid. I swear I would howl at the moon and felt the very near presence of spirits, so well explained in this Wikipedia description below, which I lifted from their pages. I stripped out the footnotes, but please follow this link for more depth to this lovely overview of the holiday (holy day.)

Samhain is a Gaelic festival held on October 31–November 1. The Irish name Samhain is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end" A harvest festival with ancient roots in Celtic polytheism, it was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and continued to be celebrated in late medieval times. Due to its date it became associated with the Christian festival All Saints' Day, and greatly influenced modern celebration of Halloween.

Samhain marked the end of the harvest, the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half". It was traditionally celebrated over the course of several days. Many scholars believe that it was the beginning of the Celtic year. It has some elements of a festival of the dead. The Gaels believed that the border between this world and the otherworld became thin on Samhain; because some animals and plants were dying, it thus allowed the dead to reach back through the veil that separated them from the living. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.

The Gaelic custom of wearing costumes and masks, was an attempt to copy the spirits or placate them. In Scotland the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white. Samhnag — turnips which were hollowed-out and carved with faces to make lanterns — were also used to ward off harmful spirits.

The Gaelic festival became associated with the Christian All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, and has hugely influenced the secular customs now connected with Halloween, a name first attested in the 16th century as a Scottish shortening of the fullerAll-Hallows-Even.

Samhain continues to be celebrated as a religious festival by some Neopagans.

Please visit here for the source of my story reprinted here. It's been illustrated with my photos taken over time around the WillOaks Farm and Campground. Want to see more artists' Halloween blog celebrations? The master list for this Blogfire carnival will be posted here later on 10-28-10.

Enjoy your holiday! Celebrate the end of the season and the harvest. And don't eat too much candy!

New Direction, Inspiration, & a Treasury

Readers of my blog know how, when I can, I like to show sources for ideas that I use, things that I find inspiration in. For example, for a few years now, I've explored the use of red pearls. So last year I was finally able to backtrack a bit, and take very pretty photos of an autumn crab apple tree. Then I juxtaposed these images with the pieces I had been making that were inspired by this really typical (around here) seasonal sight.

It's not usually a straight line from the inspiration to the inspired project, however. This summer, for probably a month or more now, I've been experimenting with this really beautiful, heavy, artisan made and dyed silk fiber which I've been combining with dyed quartz beads. I love this silk even as I learn the best ways to use it. Quartz beads are one of my favorites because they are semi-translucent and seem to hold very vivid dye colors or can be very beautiful in their natural states. This material is very hard and resists any kind of damage. Plus, to me, they sometimes speak of berries & cherries, especially in shades of reds, pinks and purples.

But these new pieces, as exciting as I find them and as promising as they appear to be, are not quite finished yet. There are some challenges of the best ways to finish these for looks and wear-ability...so that's why there are still errant threads showing in spots and why they aren't in my shops yet, as they continue to be refined. Problems of the best way to close them so that the length can be adjusted, etc. have yet to be solved in ways that I'm sure about...so more experiments still need to be done.

But these details aside, I was out taking photos around WillOaks Farm a few days ago and I stumbled upon these amazing berry-filled bushes. At first, I was puzzled about what they could be. Then I realized they are actually a pretty bad "invader" around here called "honeysuckle" that threatens to overwhelm native bushes. To its credit, besides these amazing glowing red berries, in the late spring & early summer honeysuckle has small trumpet shaped flowers that the seasonal hummingbirds just flock to....

And now, I've learned that their autumn appearance is just stunning, and so it was really exciting to bring these new images back to my studio and see the correlation with my new autumn pieces in progress here.


Meanwhile, over on Artfire, a new program has begun, similar to Etsy, where artists can curate and assemble collections with different themes drawing upon the different shops on Artfire.

Below is the most recent one I've been fortunate to be included in and the artist who curated it titled it "Roses and Olives." She later told me that my bracelet here, of a similar title, had been the original inspiration for her collection, which was very flattering!

Roses and Olives was curated by ImaginaryRelics on Artfire. The name of her shop alludes to surprises you will find there. Do take a look, but I'll give you a hint. She is making the artifacts of an imaginary history, working in a current genre known as "steampunk." Now I know you're curious....so do click her link to look closer, and also click on the treasury to take a closer look at her collection and the artists included in it.

One other new thing I meant to mention--are any of you using Tumblr yet? I just found it and have a whole new page going. I actually like it better than Twitter, it's much more photo friendly, but don't take my word for it...go take a peek yourself! Follow me and then, I can find you, too! http://willoaksstudio.tumblr.com/

Thanks for dropping by!

News & Notes

Open Heart Pendant, 2009 (sold)

new Open Heart earrings to coordinate with pendant
private commission

Lots of things are always happening here at the old WillOaks Campground and last week included quite a nice surprise. My jewelry business rarely intersects with my campground duties, but a couple of campers (& friends) who had stayed with us last year showed up. They had purchased a couple of my one-of-a-kind neck pieces last year and decided that coordinated earrings were going to be their next order.

I really enjoyed seeing my older piece again. The "Open Heart" pendant was a part of a larger series of pieces that I had made in early 2009 and it was challenging, but a lot of fun, to create this pair of earrings to go with it.

With Fall coming, my Made With Silk line will soon feature richer, darker colors

Mille fiori (thousand flower) glass is a personal favorite that I've used different ways in my
pieces and this fall, a new bracelet features this mixed with bright crystals in multi-colors

My friend also decided to pick up some new pieces to wear this fall and winter. Above is a coordinated long silk and pearl piece, in shades of dark blue, with coordinated earrings. A cuff style bracelet in colorful Mille Fiori glass that's been strung on fine black leather is a piece she chose to add for just that welcome shot of bright color during the shorter, darker days coming now. I've just finished coordinated earrings that will be mailed to her tomorrow.

And then, I asked her to model a few of my other new pieces for photos, including this new bracelet in red and black that I call "Wild Thing." I showed this piece in last week's Wordless Wednesday all stretched out and it's posted in my shop now.

So just a few other quick notes regarding my Wordless Wednesday post yesterday. Yes, I have driven the Ford tractor that I showed, Grace. I bought it about 6 years ago from a local guy who is very good at fixing and restoring these "antique" but working machines. But the reason it's all cleaned up for this photo is it's going up for sale. You see, we just bought a bigger, more powerful Massey Ferguson tractor, slightly younger (1966) with a Front Loader, which will be a huge addition to what we can do around the farm as far as improvements go.

And the drawing I showed yesterday was by my young nephew who visited me, together with his little sister, over the past weekend/early week. The campground is such a fun place for kids that I was pleased and surprised when these two slowed down enough to really get into using their art supplies. And I was very happy with the pieces they made to leave with Aunt Karen!

Wordless Wednesday

Tractor by Ford (1947)

Painting by Trenton (2010)

just a few random bits of my life