Room With a View

I’m getting close to being done. I had hoped to finish by the end of this week, and if nothing unexpected pops up to demand my attention, I just might make it! Well, except for the grouting – that I might not get to until next week anyway (since nice weather is predicted for the end of this week, I’ll be OUTSIDE!)

And if you wonder what I’ll be doing outside when the weather dries up – take a look at the “mosaic” patio I’m working on. It’s just rocks pulled up out of the ground around the property that are laid in a crazy paving style (opus palladianum – ha!). In between I’ll plant creeping thyme, turkish speedwell and native mosses (grout!). I hate for you to see all the nasty leaves from last year lying around, but until a bit of undergrowth in the forest begins to come up and trap the leaves there, they will just blow back in. Besides, it is only March, and the plants could use the blanket for awhile yet.

Art or Zen or Pure Practicality?

Yesterday was the second day in a row of sunshine and warmth after 6 very wet weeks. The holiday weekend was over and company had gone home, so the plan was to get back in the studio and work on the iris mosaic, but I just couldn’t let the sunshine go to waste. So I weeded the vegetable garden, ripped out the bolted spinach and mustard, and finished the stone steps up the hill.

I started installing the steps before the rains set in after about 2 years of thinking about doing it. Our driveway is quite a ways below the front yard, and the slope between the two was un-navigable for anyone without mountain goat DNA (I might mention here that I probably have some, since I can do it). Anyway, I used the cut and fill method and used stone collected from the yard and garden, and put in steps up from the drive to the front walk. Some of these stones probably weighed far more than I should have been carrying, but there was so much satisfaction in doing it myself, that I really didn’t want help (although my brother-in-law and my son did bring me a few). It started out as a purely practical thing to do – I wanted steps, I’d better build some. But once I started it, it became more of a Zen thing – choosing the proper stone for each spot, carving out the dirt to accept the stone without rocking underfoot. It was a very meditative process. And when it was done and I stepped back to look at it, it was beautiful. The stones compliment the rustic fence at the top of the hill perfectly. Yesterday was definitely not a wasted day!

Here are the most recent postcards I have received in the mail art exchange. The sender of the blank one said that the art is in the damage that the postal machines would cause to the cardstock in transit. Apparently the USPS declined to participate. Whatever.

If you would like to see all of the postcards that have been received by the participants, check out the Flickr group.

Adrift again...or When Good Mosaics Go Bad

True to form, I have set aside the dragonfly mosaic for a time. I'm quite tired of looking at it, for one thing, and for another, I've identified a couple of things that I think need some adjustment. I really need to go back and take care of those little things before moving forward with it, since they may affect some of the remainder, but I don't wanna. So it's on the bench patiently waiting it's next at bat.

In the meantime, I have decided to start a series. I always thought I would never do a series, simply because I get bored too easily. I would expect each piece to be similar enough to the last (in order to keep some sort of coherence) that I wouldn't be able to stick with it past about one and a half pieces. But for some reason, I have decided to throw reason to the wind and give it a go. The series will be called Garden Divas, and each will feature a different flower. You know the type - the ones that scream for attention for a short time then disappear, never to be seen again til next year. The first one is Iris chrysographes, the black iris.