Forest Spirit
Monday, June 24th, 2019
Forest Spirit, 12 x 12 inches acrylics on canvas, frame unnecessary
Change
Friday, June 21st, 2019
Change, a change for me and also a change of seasons, 12 x 12 inches acrylics on canvas, frame unnecessary. Signed on the side so as to not intrude on the composition.
Bachelor’s Buttons
Thursday, June 13th, 2019
Bachelor’s Buttons, 12W X 12H x 1D inches acrylics on canvas. Frame unnecessary.
Gale Creek
Wednesday, June 12th, 2019
Gale Creek, 12 x 12 inches acrylics on canvas, frame unnecessary. 2nd entry for the Square Foot Show, Bismark, ND August 6th-30th, 2019
Double Daisies
Wednesday, June 5th, 2019
Double Daisies, 12 x 12 acrylics on canvas, frame unnecessary. Entry for the Square Foot show in Bismark, ND in August. There is still another month to paint more to choose 2 entries from.
Artavita Contest finalist
Saturday, June 1st, 2019
This piece was a finalist in the Artavita competition for the front and back covers of the International Contemporary Masters Volume 13, June 2019.
Winter Forest: Dogwood, 14H x 20W inches watercolors on 140 lb cold pressed, 21H x 26″ framed size. In the beautiful, organized chaos of a winter forest in Pacific Northwest, rain brings out the subtleties, in particular the red branches of wild Dogwood complimented by the surreal green colors of moss on every tree.
First Snow 03 – finished commission
Friday, November 9th, 2018
First Snow 03 – 01 replicated – finished commission
Queen Anne’s Lace, watercolors
Friday, August 10th, 2018
Queen Anne’s Lace, 14H x 20W inches watercolors on paper
Lilies at Butchart Gardens, BC
Sunday, August 5th, 2018
Lilies at the Butchart Gardens, Victoria BC, 18H x 24W inches graphite on 140 lb cold pressed premium. Detail image:
Decorative vine balls
Monday, July 30th, 2018
Tidying up the garden mid-season, the periwinkle benefit from an aggressive cut-back, so these decorative balls were made with the vines that would otherwise end up in the yard waste bin. These vine balls can be created any size and the larger ones don’t require much more effort than the small. Tomato cages prop up larger balls perfectly if you don’t have hooks. Inexpensive solar lights were removed from the stakes and snuggled into the top of each woven ball where they emit a peaceful glow at night.
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How to create: use fresh periwinkle vines stripped of leaves. Dried vines are difficult to work with, and even soaking does not reconstitute them satisfactorily, so plan to make balls the same day vines are harvested.
Make a loose wreath, wire-wrapped at opposite ends. Pull out 1/4 of the vines from the main section to each side, wrapping centers with wire. You will then have 2 wreaths interlocked. Continue adding and weaving in extra groups of vines in a symmetrical fashion. Keep pulling smaller groups of vines together until the ball is compact, constantly judging and defining the shape.
Like anything made by hand, the first stages are most difficult and may seem like a chaotic mess, but stick with it and you’ll be happy you did.
Tips: 1) 24 gauge florist wire is most finger-friendly 2) the solar lights don’t sufficiently recharge if dropped inside so are placed on top where they still show off shapes nicely in the dark. 3) Virginia Creeper is excellent for this except it irritates the skin, so check into that if experimenting with other materials. 4) don’t use blackberry vines.
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