Constantly Evolving

Song - Changes by David Bowie

Back in 1996 we purchased our home and this is what the garden looked like at the time.  But Mr. B and I could see the "bones" of the property and fell in love. So the guy working in the yard then is the same gardener working in our yard today.  Every time I ask him to move something that he put in twenty years ago, he just shakes his head and laughs.

Once the yard was cleared of ivy & pyracantha we began to plan.  And gardens are constantly evolving because hey trees grow and a once sunny patch becomes shady so the plants that used to thrive in the sunshine, now need to be changed out.

This week we are tearing out the plants in our "island" (it's not really an island, more of a peninsula). It became a beautiful rose garden but it has seen better days and is a little too busy for my taste now.  As I searched through photos to show you the before and after, I realized that I rarely took photos of the island because it was not a beautiful focal point.  Yes I enjoyed the individual roses, most of which were David Austin fragrant English roses but I failed to enjoy them in a mass.

I kept eight of my favorite ones to replant elsewhere and closed my eyes and tossed the rest.  As we pulled the plants away from the stone wall we realized that the wall has begun to lean over time and needs to be restacked.

This is the corner where the island meets the vegetable patch and was fairly straight three years ago.

Two more Japanese Maples will be planted in the back, the stone wall rebuilt and raised higher at the bottom, a fountain will be placed where that stake is and the rest of the area will be filled in with white Iceberg roses so it will feel cleaner and less chaotic.

I'll keep you posted as long as my gardener isn't laughing too hard at my changes!

"Nothing happens unless something is moved."  

--Albert Einstein

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

Song - Changes by David Bowie

In 2013 I painted a rather large canvas (30 x 40) for a show I was having with a group a artist friends that I paint with - Bay Area Studio Artists or BASA. The show was titled "Shades of California" and I painted a beach scene from my beloved Lake Tahoe.

  However, I made the umbrella RED! I thought at the time that it added a snap of color!

......And it was used for the Marketing of our show.



I never liked the painting and I couldn't put my finger on why - other than the colors of the water were too intense and maybe everything was too saturated? It was not calming like I feel when I am on this beach.

 I changed the water and made the stripes of the umbrella more defined.  Still no.....

So I have had it stored in a back room but often wondered what I could do to improve this painting.

Move forward to 2016 - last week.  I was getting ready for an upcoming show in Danville at Chow and I thought about a painting for their large wall.

 I began to work with the photo of the painting in PhotoShop.  I changed that awful purple-blue of the shadows from the chairs, removed the flip-flops (because it always made me wonder where that person went to?), and I lowered the horizon.  Better.....but.......

 Then I decided the umbrella was too stiff and needed a slight breeze.....so I changed the shape. Mmmm.....still not working.

 I changed it to blue, then taupe and finally solid white.  Better but not feeling light and breezy!

Then yesterday morning I noticed our white canvas umbrellas on the back deck and snapped a photo.  I could see the colors coming through the under part of it as well as the changes in the fabric as it moved from post to post.  I also received a catalog the day before with a selection of umbrellas so I combined my backyard photo and the catalog stripes and here it is...............

 I added the hint of a turquoise line at the horizon and poof! So soothing....

 I feel so much better.  It was a tough challenge but I stuck with it and am very happy with how it turned out.  Time to give it a title.....

"Remember…. The entrance to the sanctuary is in you." - Rumi

Dreams be dreams...

"When you change your choices, your circumstances change.

Small steps have a big impact.

Miracles happen regularly."

– Morgana Rae

Endings and Beginnings....

Yup....2012 is almost upon us!

For me, this last week has been one for reflecting on what transpired during 2011. 

All of it...the good, the bad and the in between are equally important because they are all teachers in this journey we call "life"!

I have also thought about what changes I hope to see in my life in 2012.  Not huge, drastic transitions but small steps that lead to bigger, more permanent change.  Some of these shifts are very obvious and others need a little deeper thought.


 

Just now while adjusting a load of laundry in the washing machine, my son asked why it was "clonking and moving like it was....what makes it do that?"

I replied "I placed a rug in that load and now the machine is out of balance."

Mmmm....what was my one little word for 2012?   Balance.

Made me think about things, even laundry, going out of balance and how other things need to overcompensate for that lopsided and wobbly part of life.

 

Today is a cold,
gray day
and a good one
for meditating
on what is in
& out of balance
in my life.

 

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”—Mary Oliver