...and one color. Isn't the red on the amaranth intense? It's as red as a poinsettia.
At this point in the season, the garden is pretty much fending for itself. Though it's overgrown in areas, it is reseeding and doing it's thing. Coreopsis and cosmos are blooming again and the Jerusalem artichoke flowers resemble sunflowers. Seeing flowers this late is refreshing. And lettuces, garlic, endive, dill, and sugar snaps have also popped up. The garden keeps on giving.
Photos from a walk around the neighborhood on this late Sunday afternoon. The color is beginning. Have I said before that Autumn is my favorite? I think I have.
For dinner tonight I think we'll have shiitake and wild rice risotto (leftovers), roasted butternut squash, homemade rolls (from a batch I froze), and purple pole beans that we just discovered are giving a bumper crop. (Sometimes I don't like to cook too much on Sundays.) And we'll probably watch the last episode of Longmire on Netflix; we've been really into that series. After we finish that, I'm not sure what we'll watch next. Any recommendations?
from top to bottom & left to right:
We brought in one of my new canvases. I wanted to see it on the wall, and in turn, will hopefully figure out what it needs to be completed. I like seeing it in our home and I like painting big! / A little pear tree that we planted last year gave us two pears this season. / A sketchbook entry from Monday. / Part of our shiitake harvest. Needless to say we've been giving some away, eating lots, and also drying some for winter. / Snack of local apple with cinnamon, agave drizzle, and dried cranberries. Yum. / Our Taos vacation book! I'm very pleased with how it turned out. / Jack on the table, not minding his manners, but he thinks he is. / A thrift store find, a basket for cat toys. I never have luck finding good baskets, but I like this one.
August came and went and now we're already in the middle of September. Not sure how that happened. To sum things up in a nut shell, below are a few highlights from around here.
During the month of August I was very pleased to show my work in the new beautiful Lawrence Public Library. Sometimes I like to just meander the perimeter of the library interior, and peruse the shelves. I always check out what's available in the new releases. I just finished reading "The Invention of Wings" by Sue Monk Kidd and enjoyed it.
A couple weeks ago we went to Wichita so I could see Lisa again, who was back in town for festivities at the Ulrich Museum. It really was a nice evening, of which I took zero photos. Sometimes I like to just be, you know? The next day, Matt and I stopped at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve on the drive back to Lawrence. We walked a trail that we hadn't before, in hopes of spotting bison. And we did! From a distance, which is preferable when they are free range. In the fourth image of the slideshow above you might see them, the black dots in the distance.
Along the drive to Atchison, KS.
Here I am mixing paint for the spinner art project. (Photo by Atchison Public Library.)
Bubble wrap printing.
On Monday I went to the Atchison Public Library to do a workshop representing the LAC Arts-Based Preschool. It was a sweet group of young children and their families. They were celebrating International Dot Day so I took activities incorporating dots and circles. I think everyone had a fun time; I know I did.
A beautiful morning in the preschool garden and playground.
Teaching is underway. We're spending a lot of time outdoors in this pleasant September weather. When we're not painting with cars, or playing with homemade playdough, or hammering golf tees into styrofoam, you'll find us out observing caterpillars turning into butterflies, praying mantis, tree frogs, doing box turtle races, and of course, digging in the sand.
Lately I've been putting together a photo book for Matt and I, a collection of photos from our New Mexico vacation this past June. I just ordered it this morning and am really excited to have it in my hands.
And now the signs of autumn. We notice the sun setting earlier as we take our evening walks/bike rides; dinners with garden butternut squash roasted and drizzled with agave nectar and cinnamon; oak trees full of acorns; blue September skies; delicious farmer's market apples; cooler nights and wishing we had a fire pit. Autumn is my favorite.
And oh, for local folks, I'm offering a couple photo session package specials through November. Learn more about those here. Thanks!
Transferring the drawing to the canvas, using a grid. Old school methods still work.
A new glass palette, table sized. I'm so glad I got this bigger palette to work on these paintings!
The first layer is painted.
January 1, 2014. On page one in my sketchbook I wrote, "let's go big, let's do this big." Yesterday I began one of three large linen canvases that are 5x5 feet. That is LARGE for me. I'm excited to not only be working at this scale, but also to be doing something I set out to do. Slowly I've been working towards this goal this year, completing the four 2x3 footers, which I've shared three of here, and here, and here. Is this the next step to even larger? Who knows!
Usually on a painting I'll work from scratch, without a pre-planned drawing or sketch. But sometimes I alter my own rules or routines. Since I've been interested in blowing up my sketchbook entries I have begun this painting with an entry from the end of June. I scanned and printed it out and then marked with a grid to transfer to the canvas. Doing the grid really took me back to my high school days.
And I'm reading a book that is in every art student arsenal but somehow, unless I completely blocked it from memory, I never read. Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. This morning I started "the morning pages" excercise.
With all this, I'm setting myself up for a productive, focused, and creative time in the studio before I begin teaching again in one month.
