Monday, June 30, 2008

June 30, 2008

Photo by Sharon Lee: Tomato Seedlings


As I've stated a few posts ago I am waiting for some $$$ until I can buy some stretchers to start my next painting. Of course I could paint on a scrap of masonite or piece of metal but I'm using this opportunity to catch up on my gardening. My goal with gardening is to plant most of my fruits and vegetables until the cold wins out (sometime in December-January. Then it's back to grocery store produce. Of course a garden is not complete without an assortment of pretty things including flowering grasses, water, flowers, trees, hedges.

Today was warm and overcast a perfect day for gardening. It has been raining in the evenings for the past few weeks and as a result the soil is nice and moist and the weeds (with the exception of Jerusalem Artichokes and Burdock) pull out fairly easily. My plan of attack when I have gardening time is to weed and/or plant a flower bed, a couple of veggie beds, some front yard-wood area clean up and an odd chore or two. Today I weeded strawberries (yes I munch on a few while working), weed lettuce bed, cold frame and a flower bed. There's a few holes in the flower bed where I'm inclined to plant some more veggies or herbs (dill and peppers perhaps). Today I also dug and planted a pickle cucumber bed.

While gardening may not seem to be appropriate for life as an artist it is indeed a source for artistic inspiration. When I think of gardening artists I always think of Monet whose love of gardens is obvious in his paintings.

Gardens are another way of artistic expression. They contain textures, colors and positive and negative spaces. I like to think of gardens as living sculptures

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