Coneflower petals go their own way, making them a garden fav.
The inspiration for my work comes from nature, and because I live in a city, it's in the form of gardens. Watching flowers as they begin to bloom, you can sometimes see a change in as little as an hour. I only notice this when I'm weeding. I'm not sitting and watching. I relish the colors and textures in my neighbors' gardens. I'm always surprised by the beauty I didn't see when selecting plants for my yard, much like the "ah ha" moments I experience when a customer chooses unexpected colors for a project.
Some of the images I’ve snapped on my morning walks this summer. I don’t like the heat so I’m out early.
And I love sexy. Not the salaciousness you experience watching a women's volleyball game, where they turn the athletes into objects to ogle, but the sensuality nature offers when we take the time to look. How flawlessly the universe arranges the center of a sunflower or the perfect unwinding of a fern leaf. The soft, beautiful curves of a vine or how the angles of a tree branch create resting places for birds and squirrels and for us to rest our eyes. Gnarly trees are trés sexy, as are the strange bulges some trees develop. There's one on the tree outside our kitchen window that I've been watching change and grow over the years. All this has led to a new series of vases I can't wait to show you. But it’ll have to wait till next week. When I got to the studio Wednesday morning the kiln had a relay issue and didn’t make it to temperature.
My yard’s sexy bulging tree. Left is the view from the deck and right is the view from the dinning room table through the window and screen.