Artist Spotlight – Nature’s Canvas

I purchased this lovely piece of artwork before I started my Artist Spotlight Series of blog posts. I was very pleased that the artist included a sticker with her business name, Nature’s Canvas, and web address on the back of the piece so that I could share her work with you all this time after I had acquired it. I have a few other previously purchased, original pieces of artwork that I will have to add to this series of posts going forward.

I found this wonderfully framed and artfully done feather painting at the Indian Market in Arlington, TX a few years back. I had seen feather paintings for a couple of years at this event and had admired many pieces. A couple of things that set Lori’s work, and especially this piece, apart from the others I had seen was the skill in depicting the animals she painted, the lovely pairing of feathers, leather, etc. that complemented the painted feather and the wonderful matting of the artwork.

While Lori was the artist behind the painting and composition of the embellished feather, it was her husband that created the wonderful, complex mats that set off her artwork beautifully. I am glad that this artist and her husband ventured to the DFW Metroplex from Kansas to participate in that particular show so that I could see their work.

Design This - A Green Necklace

One day I wore a pair of earrings that included a gold and a green czech glass bead that caught the attention of a friend of mine. After talking with her for a while, I found out what caught her eye was the green in the bead and that she was interested in getting a necklace that included one or more green beads and was more of a pendant and chain style than being a totally beaded necklace.

I happened to have a variety of green or partially green beads. I pulled together all that I had and showed them to my friend. She picked out a couple of shapes of a green and white gemstone bead and liked my light green jade beads as well. Based on the shapes and colors of beads that she picked, I mocked up a "Y" style necklace using antiqued brass tone findings that I thought complemented the two bead colors. It used more beads than a pure pendant necklace but still maintained the lighter feel of one. (The first photo shows the components I used in the necklace mock up.)

My friend loved the vintage feel of the design so I completed the construction of the necklace, except for the length. Since she had been unsure how long she wanted the necklace to be, I let her hold it up in front of a mirror and adjust it until she liked the length. After adding the clasp to make the finished necklace match that length, I delivered it to my happy customer. After wearing it for a while and receiving many compliments, she decided that she would prefer to have the necklace shortened a little bit. I took care of this for her and it was the perfect accessory for the dress that she had in mind to pair it with when she started the custom order process.

If you have an outfit that you are looking for just the right jewelry to compliment it, contact me to see if I have the supplies to make it happen for you.

Summer Color - Hummingbird Bush

Native south and west of the DFW area all the way to northern Mexico, Hummingbird Bush has adapted well in my garden. Or rather my current plant has adapted well. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the first place I planted one didn't have perfect drainage.

One winter it was especially wet and cold. The next spring I was about to rip out my sad, dead looking hummingbird bush when I found a little tiny sprout coming up at the base of one part of the trunk. It re-established a shrub and I was left to wonder if the wet or the cold or the combination caused the almost complete demise of a healthy hummingbird bush. I had my answer after the next soggy spell that we had when my shrub "gave up the ghost".

What I learned from my first plant and my current one is that hummingbird bushes do not tolerate "wet feet". You can kill them, blackfoot daisies and some of the other wonderful drought tolerant plants recommended for North Central Texas by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center by letting their roots sit in wet soil for too long. (Note: the plant list on the link above has plants for a variety of circumstances, some more drought tolerant than others.) Here in my zone 8a, North Texas garden I did have some dieback on the tips of some of the branches of my current shrub this past, harsher than normal, winter. However now that the heat of summer has arrived it is fully leafed out and beginning to bloom.

If you are looking for something that will bloom for you during hot, dry weather, this small deciduous shrub may be just what you are looking for. It doesn't get started blooming until the heat of summer gets cranked up. It needs at least a half day of direct sunlight to bloom well. Don't put it somewhere that you water often or where it has poor drainage. My current shrub is planted about half way up the back of my waterfall's berm and does not receive supplemental watering now that it is established.

Several plants may have the common name "Hummingbird Bush", so you should also know this plant is known as "Flame Acanthus" or Anisacanthus quadrifidus.

In addition to being very drought tolerant, Hummingbird bush lives up to its name and attracts and provides nectar for hummingbirds. If this sounds like the plant for you, give it a try.

Thanks for the Treasuries - June 2014

Two Etsians let me know that they had featured some of my items in treasuries during June. Three June Etsy treasuries, that treasury makers let me know about, included one of my creations. One item was featured in two different treasuries. You can see a collage below of my items from EDCCollective that were featured during June. (Click on the collage to see a larger view.)

I really appreciate being featured by the treasury makers. To thank them, I have listed below a link to the Etsy sellers that let me know they had featured some of my items, as well as an item from their shop that I like.

Enjoy window shopping and please click on the links of anything that catches your eye.

GirlieGals
Girlie Gals offers you sparkle and shine, in the form of handmade jewelry, at affordable prices.


TheYellowRoses
This shop owner handcrafts her rag dolls, stuffed animals and mosaics with love & great care!

Design This – Fanciful Wedding Card

Last year a couple of friends, that were responsible for getting together a large group of friends to vacation together in the Galapagos Islands, were to get married shortly after the trip. Unfortunately we would not be able to attend their wedding but wanted to come up with something memorable for them. My husband and I decided that a fanciful custom wedding card to hold a gift card would be fun. I looked forward to putting my photographic art skills to the test.

Luckily while we were on our trip, I asked each of the soon to be marrieds what their favorite critter was on the islands. She answered, “sea lion” and he answered, “Sally Lightfoot crab”. I poured over my 1K plus photos from the trip to find the right ones to put together. I decided a beach wedding, with our friend’s animal favorites as stand-ins, was what I wanted to do. I started with one of my sea lion on a beach photos. The Sally Lightfoot crab that I liked best was looking the wrong way but luckily that is not a big thing to overcome using the digital manipulation I use to create my photographic art. I cut out the crab and added it to my base image. (As with all of the separate components of the image, I altered each one to give them the same look before bringing them together, in order to achieve cohesiveness within the final image.)

Now, what to add in the way of attire that would say “wedding”? I decided a garland of flowers for the bride would be lovely. I cropped two different blossoms out of a picture of one of the native plants that was flowering and created the sea lion’s garland. I was stumped for something to use for the groom from our trip. I finally decided that I needed a top hat, so off to a party store I went. I found a great hat that I photographed at what looked like the proper perspective for the orientation of the crab in the image I was building. Once the pieces were in place in the image it was time to pen and print the sentiment for inside the card and print the beach wedding scene on the front.


If you are a fan of a critter from the Galapagos Islands and if I have a photo of it, I’d be happy to create a piece of photographic art for you. So far, other than the beach wedding scene the only image I have worked up to add to my photographic art offerings is the image that I used for the profile picture for the facebook page I created for our trip. That one sold as a matted 8x10 during the Happy Holidays Gift Store last year. I hope to have more created in time for this year's store.

Learn to Identify Invasive Plants

So many of the plants I grew up around or even some relatively newly introduced adapted species in the nursery trade that have characteristics that I like have unfortunately become troublesome invasive species. These include trees, shrubs and even grasses that have been introduced to the landscape trade or for livestock forage because they appeared to solve a problem, thrive across a variety of gardening zones or just looked pretty. Unfortunately many are now displacing not only native plants but endangering native fauna as well. I have previously written about some of these. Search this blog in the sidebar for “invasive” to find previous posts.

There are a lot of great online resources such as this list of central Texas invasives that will help you identify non-native invasives that may be in your area too. If you are in Texas, the Invaders of Texas program has on-demand online training and has a couple of in person workshops scheduled for later this year that should help you learn to identify invasives as well. For those of you in the DFW area, mark your calendars for a workshop in Arlington on September 27, 2014.

In addition to learning to recognize, avoid and help eliminate invasive species you can help stop the spread of invasives by using caution when adding new plants to your landscape or learning to manage some that you may have so they don’t leave your garden. There are many non-native hybrids available for purchase that have been developed that do not set seed and therefore can’t be distributed to other areas by the wildlife that visit your garden. I have a tree form wisteria that I maintain. I grew up around these lovely plants and am very fond of their spring blooms so I take the time needed to keep it pruned to tree form in a size that allows me to clip off all developing seed pods so it can’t spread.

Many invasive species identification resources such as the one above give alternative, similar native plant suggestions for you to plant if you are unable to find a sterile hybrid or won’t be able to otherwise keep a plant from potentially escaping your gardens. The local flora and fauna will appreciate your efforts to become informed gardeners.

Bald Mountain – “Rock Ridge” at Brick & Mortar Locations

Black and white or color, which do you like better? Ansel Adams preferred black and white. For me it depends on the image. I have a Jacobean lily image that I like much better in the high contrast black and white version than the original color one. The judges picking the finalists for the photo contest sponsored by the Arlington Museum of Art earlier this year preferred my black and white version over the color submission of my “Rock Ridge” image. Cynthia, the owner of Potager’s Other Stuff, favored the color version (so do I) and added it to my ready to hang photographic art images that I have on consignment at her establishment.

You can probably pick a favorite from the images in this blog, however if you want to see them in person to

get a better feel for my framed photos than you can from photos of photos, you can see them in downtown Arlington. My black and white “Rock Ridge” image that was a finalist in the aforementioned photo contest will hang in the rooftop gallery at the Arlington Museum of Art for the duration of the Ansel Adams exhibit (through August 3, 2014). My color photo can be found at Potager’s Other Stuff until it finds a home (no end date currently scheduled). While you are there you may also find my “Dressed for Drinks”, “Keys Close-Up” and “Center Stage” framed and gallery wrapped canvas photographic art prints.

Stay tuned to this blog or like my Eclectic Design Choices facebook page to keep up with other places you can see my work in person.