Archive for July, 2010
drying peppers
garden to table
right now our pepper plants are covered in bright red peppers. i love to dry them so i can eat them throughout the year. my favorite way is to make a garland and hang them in the kitchen. all you need to do is take an embroidery needle and some twine or yarn and strand them through the green part of the pepper. you instantly have a sweet little garland and in a few weeks……some dried peppers!
a simple stitch
instant inspiration
i get inspiration from little things like this. when i was taking photos at maureen’s house i saw this detail on her back porch. when we live in an age where we go out and buy something new every time something breaks, it is refreshing to see some simple DIY patch working.
drawing flowers
in the country
my dreams of flower abundance are finally coming true, so now it’s time to get drawing! mainly, it’s a lot of looking and studying and making mental notes about each kind of flower; how are the petals shaped? what kind of veins do the leaves have? how do the leaves come off the stem? lots of studying, and then some drawing. flower portraits on paper, then watercolors, then plates… from studying beauty comes creating beauty – everyday.
shotgun beauty
homes and habitats
i visited my friend maureen the other day and took some pics of her little shotgun, which sits between two other shotgun-style houses in normaltown. the house, built in the 1920s, is part of only two native shotgun clusters in athens, and has gone through several different incarnations over the decades. maureen rented it for a couple of years before taking ownership in 2005, when she added on a big bedroom/sitting room and a cozy screened back porch. in 2007 she painted the house to match the beautyberries, and i can’t imagine it any other color.
maureen’s home has a little bit of everything tucked away in its own special place. everywhere you turn there’s a new vignette, featuring a different local artist and another treasure. every square inch of her home is filled with beautiful objects and patterns, all reflected in the many vintage mirrors placed around the house to catch the light.
there are some homes that i visit that are so expressive of Athens and the south. this one in particular does just that: it feels like it belongs here. in creating this place, in provided delight for all who pass and all who enter, maureen has joined the ranks of the local artists whose work she so values. the little shotgun that houses all those creations is itself a work of art, an athens treasure. enjoy!
this is a painting of maureen’s front porch by mary porter. she has done 2 paintings of maureen’s back porch and 3 of her front.
a vintage r.wood piece is home to some lily pads
the beautyberry shotgun is reflected in the mirrors that hang from the trees.
