Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue- "I've got the blues"

Good morning all- it was my turn to come up with this week's challenge for Inspiration Avenue and I chose "I've Got the Blues" for my theme. I liked all the possibilities that it suggested! Anyway, my plan or rather my highly ambitious plan :) was to do a new painting. Then I ended up buying 30 pounds of strawberries and 40 pounds of peaches to can for the farmer's market......between the canning and the fact that it was the last week of school with events for each child; I got one hour of painting done this week! SO, for my entry I'm using the reference for my painting- it's a picture of a German bearded iris that I took in my mother's garden.

And for those of you who are curious about my new painting, here's what I have so far:

Sorry for the poor quality of the image- my daughter borrowed my camera again and I have NO idea what she did to the light settings!  Anyway, I'm hoping to finish it this week and get on a more balanced schedule with painting and canning and having Summertime fun with the kids- I might even manage to have a relatively clean house throughout the process!

Cheers and to those of you who are Americans, have a great holiday weekend!

Stephanie

Take a look at my beautiful present!

One of my favorite blogs I found on One World, One Heart was Creative Whispers by Laura Haviland.  I've been following her ever since.  She creates the most wonderful art dolls with stamping, painting and collage- I LOVE them!  In fact I featured her work in a prior blog post HERE.  Anyway, she recently created this doll that I loved so much, I asked if I could buy it, and she wouldn't accept payment but sent it to me in the mail instead.  I love, love, LOVE the colors in this- I AM a purple girl, and of course cats are close to my heart too!  I have this prominently displayed on my desk and it makes me smile each time I see it.  Laura is working on getting an Etsy shop up and running, and when she does, I'll be sure to blog about it.
Cheers!
Stephanie

Interlude- Original Acrylic Painting featuring Peony and Iris

Good morning- I finished my new painting on Thursday and this is the first chance I've had to blog about it.  So here you go, it features the relationship between a Festiva Maxima peony and a budding Savannah Sunset iris with a dramatic play of shadows and light to make up the background.  For information and pictures, check it out at my Etsy shop.

Cheers,
Stephanie

Mealor Family Farms- It's All About the Berries, Baby!

Since my family is once again participating the Decatur Organic Farmer's Market- my Dad and brother have an organic farm where they're growing hundreds of tomatoes, leeks, garlic, squash and more...and I'm once again spending tons of time creating prepared foods!  It's a good thing I love baking!

So, I thought I'd better start including our doins' and goings on with the market here on my blog or it might be a reaaaallly long time before you hear from me again!.  There is simply no way to take that much time out of painting and continue to be able producing art at a regular pace!   It's ok though- this is really important to me too:)
So, anywhoo- what *I've* been doing for the market......Bill and I pretty much grow veggies and herbs for our own personal use, and since Ben and my Dad pretty much produce mainly veggies, what *I* do is buy fresh local organic seasonal fruits and transform them into tarts, preserves, mini cheesecakesglazed with said preservesand compotes. 
Last fall, they were very popular, and I was CRAZY busy with it- we generally could sell as much as I could produce which is a good thing, but does tend to add chaos to an already busy life.....because I had a show coming up, and the growing season was pretty much over, we decided to take the winter off.  But now that it's spring, here we are again!
Right now strawberries are in season, so that's what I'm working with.........

   Carmelized Strawberry Preserves, Peppered Balsamic Strawberry preserves, Fresh Strawberry Tarts, Strawberry Rhubarb Tarts and Mini-Cheesecakes glazed with- you guessed it strawberry preserves!  I feel a little like Bubba-Gump's shrimp factory from Forest Gump...anyone besides me remember that movie?

Oh and lest anyone think I'm not painting at all, here's a WIP of my new painting with my muse who decided to pose with said painting!  I actually took this picture on Monday- now I'm almost done and hopefully I'll have time to finish today and post final images tomorrow.....lord willin' and the creeks don't rise as they say around here ;D
cheers,
Stephanie

Art me in the Garden-

Since it's been a while since I last posted pictures of my garden, I thought I'd write a quick post with updates.....our first bluebird babies fledged on Mother's Day, which I thought was a wonderful unexpected gift!  And wouldn't you know it, the Daddy Bluebird was back on the house that same day strutting his stuff to start another brood!  I say, "GO big Blue, GO!" 

Right now, mostly what's blooming is the roses and foxgloves.  The last of my azaleas, called "Conversation Piece" started their show earlier this week, and the hydrageas are just starting to show some color.  The Bee Balm and Black & Blue Salvia are well on their way too.  In the veggie garden, we spied our first baby 'mater and bell peppers yesterday.  We also have beans, habeneros, squash, cucumbers and tons of herbs.  I'm feeling VERY bountiful!

So, here are a few pictures or your viewing pleasure.  I'll apologise in advance for the poor quality- Caroline borrowed my camera this week and I don't know what she did to the settings, but they're not nearly as sharp as usual- definitely NO paintings from this batch, lol!

My Annabelle hydrangea- I do have to admit that I prefer old fashioned flowers like this....

Bill built this arbor for my birthday present from my design for my birthday present (yes, I KNOW I'm SO lucky!) BTW; I found the windows that are built into the base on the side of the road- Gotta LOVE free antiques!

One of my foxgloves, I'm not sure why it bloomed such a pale pink- but Isure hope it re-seeds!

Conversation Piece Azaleas- BTW, that's a real window that I spray painted with Mirror Paint and Bill hung on the wall for me- the hay rack was last year's birthday pressie- yes, I know, lucky......

These roses are SO much more beautiful in real life- they are "Jude the Obscure" and the adirondack chair?  Another roadside find......:D  I picked it up because the seat was broken- I love using this kind of thing for supports.

Cinco de Mayo rosa and MORE Foxglove with Bee Balm marching along.  Did I mention that I have a kind of thing about Fogloves....?

Side path to my front garden, the lady banks rose is just finishing up...

I think that's enough for now, I know I get carried away when it comes to my garden, I can't help it!  I just want to cram as much in as I can......but now, I have to start working on my contribution to our family farm stand at the organic market- I do preserves, tartlets and cut flowers.  I've been canning strawberries ALL week, and let's just say that it'll be a while before I want to eat another one....

TTFN,

Stephanie

New Treasury- I Like Coffee, I Like Tea......

Good morning, I just wanted to share a new treasury that I got this morning.

I chose "What's your morning cuppa" as my theme......

1. Photogenic Gallery  2. Elizabeth Graff  3. Pole Star  4. Charlotte's Collection

5. Thea Molly 6. Magpie Mine 7. Flourish Lifestyle  8. Lightwork

9. Leah Ashley 10. Robin Maria Pedrero 11. Julie B Creative 12. Ms. BsDesigns

13. Jamieribisi 14. Caperleetpapote 15. Hammelman Art 16. Corinadotdash

Have a great day!  BTW, I'm almost done with my new painting, I'll probably post pictures of it tomorrow; always assuming that all goes well ;)

Cheers,

Stephanie

on Being a Mother......

Happy Mother's Day- I thought I'd share some artists whose work speaks to me on being a mother......

"She of Trees" by Carla Lovato

Custom Portraiture by Studio Nest

Theotokos by Coysmirk

"Maternity" by Elena Diadenko-Hunter

I couldn't resist including one of my drawings- no, it's not for sale- it was a baby gift for my brother when his son, Porter was born four years ago......

So, happy Mother's Day to all, whether you are Mothers or daughters, it's still a special day!

Cheers,

Stephanie