Art Journal Page 9/30/13

Well, it happened. Summer ended. A few weeks ago I know I was getting impatient with the heat and being all "when will this ever eeeennnnndddd?" As soon as my friend's wedding was over, the rain fell. And fell, and fell. Before the wedding it was a cool 20C. After the wedding, it dropped to 10C. 

Here I am, still painting butterflies in some artistic form of denial.

Hello, Desk. We meet again. 

There is supposed to be some kind of windstorm happening (I am skeptical), and so the blueberries and the calamondin are huddled together inside where it's not gusty. The calamondin improved so much this year - I've never seen so many leaves on it! It's hard to believe that it was once the size of the shorter blueberry. 

Grass Box Update

The birdseed made a couple of different grasses, a cushy uniform short grass and a speedy tall grass! The cats recognize that it isn't much of an "eating" grass so here Maggie is watching me trim it with scissors! 

Milo is feeling the cool softness against his pink toes.

One errant sunflower seed grew into this. I have no idea what kind of sunflower it is, but it will probably turn into nothing, this late into the year and in such small a box! 

Garden Update - Grass Box

Since the nasturtiums died, I bought a bag of finch birdseed at the dollar store, soaked it in water overnight and then tossed it all into the planter boxes. My cats are apartment cats so I thought maybe they'd like a grassy place to sit on the patio. 

People grow grass from birdseed by accident, I wondered how difficult would it be to grow it on purpose?

This is a photo of Milo on the box less than a week later! 

Ode to Nasturtiums

Currently: 

Wandering through this doodle painting and wondering when the fire in my spine will go out. Also, I emptied a bag of sand outside and it was TOO MUCH SAND and it is very obvious that someone left a pile of sand right next to a "no dumping" sign and tried to bury it in leaves in the dark at 1am and I'm worrying about what to do with the second bag of sand I've got hiding in the trunk of my car, and it's annoying that I find things like this to worry about when I'm pretty sure no one cares about freaking SAND.

Garden News:

The black aphids have taken over the first wave of nasturtiums and it's gross. I just learned that they are meant to be sacrificial plants that divert all of the awful stuff away from the "real" plants. Well I guess it's good to know the fruit trees will be happy in their schaudenfreude.

Nastis: you are real, you are loved.

Vacation & Garden

My workplace has closed down for a couple of weeks and so I have been given the lovely gift of time. Time is something I tend to waste if given lots of it. And yesterday we finally got the Netflix which will only allow me to waste more of it! This morning I watched Ghost Cat. 

No, really. 

I wonder how many embarrassing movies I will be able to stuff into today?

Today is the last chance for a little while for me to do anything creative before sending off into the mountains alone, to visit with family. Yesterday I practiced a little highway driving and nearly had a heart attack because the highway has changed significantly. But I survived the short trip and so did the car. When I came back, I found such delight in this year's balcony garden. This is the greenest it's ever been for such a black thumb like me. I only hope it isn't dust by the time I return home on monday - eep!

It's my goal to leave for a long weekend but not disrupt my blogging schedule too much! So today, if I get away from the Netflix, will be full of cleaning, videotaping and painting. Who am I kidding?

Look who has come back from the dead! Mini Rose #3 has tiny little mini leaves!  The one rose bloom is the only flower out there so far... but the young green is so revitalizing. I see small buds forming on the nasturtiums and I hope they survive my absense! 

Perhaps I am taking these photos before I leave in case something happens and they don't make it. Proof that once, my balcony was green and wonderful. Maggie has been spending very long days and evenings out there just watching the leaves sway back and forth. We plants are happy plants. 

Journal Covers & Garden

This weekend I'm doing a private workshop so I'm trying out some easy cover layouts to use with the Gelli Arts plate! I started out with two layers of colour, then a white layer (with a word written into it), then a bit of collage. Other than the printing plate, I'm trying to use items that most people would have around the house - basic acrylic paint, scrap paper, pencil crayon. That's it!

If anyone remembers the balcony garden, here's an update:

Another super wet year, so the tomato has been growing pretty slowly! I think it will keep going though.

Blueberry is still very much alive (and lively)!



Clovers are happy!



Strawberries are VERY happy, and soooo tall!

100% success rate for the nasturtium seeds. I don't usually grow from seed because I'm not that good, but these ones are looking pretty happy! I planted them a bit late so they have to catch up. 

The mini roses are still alive somehow (except for #3 but he may still come around from the ground up, who knows) but they will probably not have a great year. 

Balcony Garden - April 2013

I'm not very good at gardening at all, so I feel super self-conscious when out on the balcony, fussing away. I often wonder if the many people who can see me are shaking their heads and wondering what new plant I'm going to kill this year? Are you also a black thumb? There are a few plants which seem impossible to kill.

Tomatoes are good! That is, they generally survive the summer. Sometimes I will get some tiny, undersized tomatoes and they taste so incredibly sweet that going back to flavourless grocery store tomatoes is awfully depressing. I try to keep an eye out for "patio" tomatoes, because that can only help me, right?

Strawberries are also a winner. For me, they are the easiest thing to grow. I haven't lost a single one! And sometimes they multiply! If my balcony is covered with nothing but strawberries I think I would be okay with that. 

This is last year's clover. I thought it died. That would have been embarrassing. Yes, I can even kill weeds. This guy is actually starting to perk up after lots of water. I actually cut him in half since I considered him a lost cause but he's looking way better now. 

Here's another perennial that I can't keep alive. What. Most 4" mini roses are actually four roses in one container. Two of them came back last year, and this year, they both turned into sticks. I don't know why I'm so terrible with them. One of this year's roses is already dying, but it hardly had any roots to begin with so no mystery there! 

Well it's more like "baby" chard, because I put them in such small containers. I've already eaten some and it was yummy. 

For a super duper risk-taking adventure, I have a blueberry! Aaah! I already have him in the wrong shape of container (way to go, me). From what I hear, they need other blueberry plants to make fruit, so if this one survives next year, I can find him a buddy. I have to pinch all of his flowers off, anyway. Fingers crossed. 

Other friends: hopefully some nasturtiums (another weed I can't keep alive) and cat grass for the kittehs. And somehow the calamondin is still alive after three years! Not well, mind you, but alive! 

Future updates will likely be grim. Though I have a good feeling about this one. 

In actual art news, the two little wood paintings are listed in the shop!