Still Some Flowers Out There

Fall is my favorite time of year to work in the garden. I love the crisp feel to the air, the smell of the leaves, the special quality of the light in the bright blue sky. it's nice to tidy up the garden, and put it to bed, with a whole winter to dream about how next year's garden is going to be so much better. It takes a lot of optimism to be a gardener!

While working outside today, I got to enjoy the brightly colored mums that the Curly One brought home from Gove Farm. Personally, I love the dark red mums, but the bright orange ones look really nice against our dark brown house.

 

The last perennial to blossom in my garden is this pale peach mum, which is just starting to blossom. The bees have to work a lot harder to find flowers now.

 

These two were sharing (briefly) till one moved on to a neighboring flower.

 

 

This fall,  we've had one of those mini-miracles that gardens can provide. Many years ago I bought an Electric Blue Sage plant. Two years ago it stopped blossoming, and seemed to have died off. When my husband moved a tree this year, this plant sprouted up next to it. I thought it was yet another Butterfly Weed, which is plentiful in my garden, and told him he could just pull it out. Luckily, he never got around to doing that, and look what happened! Definitely NOT an orange Butterfly Weed! A gorgeous Electric Blue Sage.  I love, love, love this color! Keeping my fingers crossed that it will survive the winter.

 

There are also some annuals still blooming their little hearts out, but the frost predicted for the end of the week will probably be the end of them. After that, the garden color will come from some tiny crabapples.

 

For a short while, that is, until the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks eat them all up.  Next they'll eat the hawthorn berries, and finally the viburnum berries. But by then, it will be time to start watching for crocuses, and the new garden season will be starting. I can hardly wait. I have plans, and next year's garden is going to be amazing! Just wait and see.

 

Making Messes

Hi, everybun! We have noticed an unfortunate turn of events on the interwebs lately, with Human Beans trying to embarrass their Bunny Overlords, this page being a prime example.  Clearly, you have all taken leave of what little sense you Beans have. Perhaps you should spend some time reacquainting yourself with the True Order of the Universe over at Disapproving Rabbits.

 

Which isn't to say that we can't make a mess if we want to, but around here, the biggest mess-maker is Mom! But maybe she can tell you about her latest adventure. I'll be back later. 

           -Jensen

 

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OK. First, welcome to Thumper S. Thompson. It is an honor to have a journalist of your stature reading our humble blog! Second, from the comments on my last post, it sounds like a lot of you have the tickle of the beginnings of an art journaling bug. I hope you jump in, and give it a try. It's always fun to be a kid again.

 

Which brings us back to mess-making! Yesterday I had my Gelli Arts printing plate out again.  I love this thing! I only needed one print, but by the end of the afternoon, I had this.

 

 

Some of these were printed more than once, and some still need some additional color. About 1/3 are wonderful. Here are a few that I like.  This first one has a print from the "wrong" side of a stencil across it.

 

On this one, I stamped and stenciled on top of left-over color on the plate.

 

The Curly One and I both like this one best.

 

By adding color on top of white, I even managed to get some pastels. I have a secret love of pastels, even though most of my artwork and quilts end up in deep colors.

 

Now, to choose one to do a LifeBook project on. This could take a while....

 

 

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I'm back, but not for long. While Mom is lost in her paint daydreams, I think I'm going to head on over to Harrington's place. I feel like a party, and he's always ready to party!

 

 

 

 See you all later, Buns and Beans.

          -Jensen the WonderDog (that's what Mom calls me, I have no idea why.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art Journaling On Monday

You may have seen it around the webs. Over the last few years, art journaling has become quite a hot topic (you can find some basics here). I wasn't that interested to start with. All the examples that I saw were way beyond my fledgling art abilities, and the participants seemed extremely serious and earnest about their journal work, with lots of large social and spiritual subjects being addressed.

Then, my life started to change. The last year and a half have seen a transition, from one phase of my life to another. I've had a lot of decisions to make, and stuff to deal with, both my own, and my larger family. Early in this phase, I started keeping an art journal to help me cope. I was very formal about it, setting aside specific time for it, meditating first, trying to delve deep into the issues at hand. It was helpful, but I just couldn't keep it going.

Since that first effort, I have taken several art courses, in person, and on-line. Although I'm not all the way there yet, I've gotten more comfortable with paint, and drawing, and maybe even with myself. I'm not a formal, organized person, and that's just the way it is (you may have noticed that!). There is hardly a piece of paper around here that doesn't end up with doodles on it. This includes newspapers, bills, grocery lists, Yahtzee score sheets, everything.  With the painting classes, I am always finding myself with extra, unused paint on my palette that I hate to see go to waste. So, I've been creating a new art journal, and this is some of the stuff that is going into it.

1. Doodles on scraps of paper
2. Leftover paint
3. Pictures that I find inspirational
4. Quotes
5. My own writing
6. Lists
7. Sketches for other projects

And over the top, more painting, drawing, writing, a little of everything. It's going to travel with me, sit with me in front of the Patriot's games on TV, spend time on the kitchen counter, and probably get coffee and spaghetti sauce stains on it. And it's going to be fun. I still have a lot of adjustiments to make in my life, some easy, some not. But I intend to keep having fun in my art journal along the way.

Here is a recent page, that started with leftover paint. In the smears I saw an angel, so I invited her to come forward.

 

I'm not much of a glitter person, but her wings seemed to need some. Now, of course, there is glitter everywhere! And below, you can see the facing page. Definitely not formal, but fun! If you are wondering about the tape, it's because the pages of this mixed-media notebook have perforations, and when I get the pages really wet, they tend to want to separate. That's OK, because it gives me a chance to play with some of the cool tapes that are on the market these days.

 

I know that there are some very creative and talented people who read this blog. Have you ever tried art journaling? What did you think of it? How has your style developed over time? If you haven't tried it, I encourage you to grab a grocery list, and start doodling some fun!

Dropping In...

to say a quick "Hello!" Sorry we've been away so long. Mom was away doing family things, and Dad was keeping an eye on us. He doesn't give us as much freedom as Mom does. We didn't even get to go to Speedy's birthday party! Dad said no closet shenanigans while Mom was gone. Don't worry, though. We got revenge. Somebunny pulled Dad's jacket through the gate and ate it, followed by dessert of the Curly One's jeans. Hah! That will show them!

 

If Mom gets her act together, we'll see you bright and early on Monday morning. Don't hold your breathe, though. I mean, a weekend is a very long time to not breathe. And besides that, Mom rarely gets her act together anymore. Have a great weekend, everybun!

 

Buttercup and Jensen

 

PS. Happy Late Birthday, Speedy! Glad you had a good one, Sweetheart.