Collage of Curiosities No. 3
The heat has settled in all too comfortably here in Florida. The glaze of windows sweats with a fog of perspiration when I wake up obscuring the view to my ready-to-wilt garden. I long to be outside but, other than my very warm morning runs and keeping the outside animals cool, I’m relegated to my cave of a temporary studio where I’ve been creating a new painting collection.
I’ve always intended for this large work to speak to the heightened sense of awe I feel when out in nature, but, as I’ve been stuck inside, a sense of longing has crept into the work. I realize how much I need outdoors. Anyone else feel this way?
While the collection won’t be fully revealed until the start of Autumn, you can get a glimpse of one of my favorite details below and a peek at what else I’ve been doing this month.
Tell me in the, what’s been the highlight of your summer or, has it been a quiet one full of small, sweet moments?
My summer reading so far. Listed from top to bottom,
The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Bittersweet by Susan Cain
Life in the Studio by Frances Palmer
Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainier and Claudia West
Discovering Dahlias by Erin Benzakien
Highgrove: An English Country Garden by H.R.H. Prince of Wales and Bunny Guinness
McAlpine: Romantic Modernism by Bobby McAlpine
Not pictured:
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
Go As a River by Shelley Read
A Break Out dinnerplate Dahlia blooming in my garden. It doesn’t have the characteristic pinky center here because the temperatures have soared so high here in Florida. I’m lucky they’re even living.
Detail of a Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly in one of the larger paintings from my upcoming collection.
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One of our seven cats Tiggy lounging on our bed.
An in-progress look at one of my sketchbook pages.
Kenny and I mid-flight on our way up to Virginia Beach Fourth of July week to spend time with family.
We had a period of, what seemed like, non-stop severe thunderstorms. Once it finally subsided certain areas on the property were absolutely carpeted with mushrooms, some of which I’d never seen before.
If you can identify this specimen please comment below!
Among all of the rain, our chicken run was smashed in half by a forty-foot oak tree. Miraculously all of my ladies and their gent survived the endeavor, no worse for wear.
For a few weekends Kenny, myself, and my father-in-law labored to build them a new run complete, with a cedar tree roost made from a victim of Hurricane Sally’s winds in 2020.
We have plans to build them a new run this fall. Stay tuned.
Another project from this summer. Recovering our dining chairs. These beauties had two layers of fabric stapled to them (one of them is in the picture to the left) along with some very stiff fleece cushion that felt more like sitting on a brick. Kenny and I recovered these one Sunday with brand-new foam cushions and fabric from a bolt I’ve been hanging on to for years. They now sit like a dream.
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More inspiration
Collage of Curiosities No.1
Collage of curiosities No.2
Botanical Fine Art Prints