The Garden of Pink Shadows

green

flower pot close up, originally uploaded by melissamh.

I didn't write in all week.. where have the days gone?! I think I spent the first half of the week trying to stay cool and the second half of the week trying to get everything done I didn't do in the first half!

Today I did two things I rarely do.. I went for a pedicure by myself - usually if I have a pedicure I go with one or both of my daughters and it's something special.. like Mother's Day. But today I just felt like doing it. I went for hot pink polish this time. Then I had to return something at the mall, stopped by the Clinique counter for some astringent and ended up having a full make up makeover! I haven't done that in years.

The woman who did it, Cindy, was a lot of fun. I normally don't wear much eye make up so she wouldn't let me look while she did it. And I did say WOW! when she was done and I could look. Blue eye shadow?!? I haven't worn blue eye shadow since.. I don't know when. The '80s? (the 70's?) But I admit it looked good.. Today's blue eye shadow is a bit different from 20 years ago.. So I bought it. My husband hasn't noticed. My daughters probably will the minute they see me!

So I've got pink toes and blue eyelids. So colorful.

And yet.. this week's color is supposed to be GREEN. I haven't been taking or posting any photos this week, but here is another of my Photoshop watercolor effects on a close up of my pot of pink geraniums with white snapdragons and verigated green vinca vine. The end result is pretty much green!

another hot one

pink geranium close up, originally uploaded by melissamh.

95 at the moment, but it's the humidity that's really bad. You step outside and it feels like a sauna.. Tho every now and then there's a wonderful hot breeze that feels almost tropical. The high school was dismissed at 10:30 this morning due to an air conditioning malfunction!

My plants seem to be doing well tho. I took some photos this afternoon and then (inside in the air conditioning!) fooled around with some photoshop watercolor effects. I've been working on the zine layout and since my theme is flowers I thought I might do something with some of my photos.

Little Holly still seems to be feeling the heat but (knock on wood) her tummy seems better today. I started off this day making a poached chicken breast for her at 7 a.m.! She's asleep on my lap right now tho and feels like a furry heating pad.. just what I need. At least she smells good. She got herself so covered with dirt yesterday in a crazy moment of frenetic chipmunk chasing (the chipmunk went into a drainage pipe and she tried to dig it out! no chipmunks were harmed!) that I had to carry her at arms length into the kitchen and give her a bath in the sink.

Making a grilled chicken ceaser salad for dinner tonight and fruit salad and cookies (store bought) for dessert. I bought a cherry pitter and a new tart pan at the mall yesterday but will not be doing any baking until things cool down a bit!

red cup

red cup, originally uploaded by melissamh.

Well, I am not finishing up Red Week very well.. The heatwave has hit us here in CT.. it's almost 90 and not noon yet. Yesterday was bad and we lost internet and the phone service for a good deal of the day. I've been trying to clean the house, water the plants and get dressed in to cool clothes early, before it gets bad.. then lay low midday! Tho E. wants to go to the mall today. At least it should be cool there.

Typepad also does not seem to be functioning.. I had a few red photos to upload and it doesn't seem to be happening, so I'll just end Red Week with this shot of my favorite red Starbucks latte mug. (I wish now that I had gotten the green and blue ones too!)

Poor Holly (the dog) isn't feeling well.. the heat's getting to her I guess and she has tummy problems.

I know some of you have been trying to get in touch with me about submissions for Erraticus. I think I've replied to anybody who wrote. I will look over all the submissions in the next few days and get back to everyone, so if you haven't heard from me don't panic! But if you don't get an email from me by Wednesday or Thursday, please write to me again (at mmhubbell @ earthlink . net). It's possible that when my internet was down mail was being returned.

Hopefully after tomorrow the weather will be slightly cooler, and everything - including me - will be functioning better!

more red...

I just love geraniums - always have since my grandmother had them in stoneware pots on her patio in Old Saybrook. Then on a trip to Spain when I was in art school, I saw courtyards full of geraniums flowering wildly on all the balconies - it was lovely..

I picked up this beautiful red geranium (I have pinks and hot pink ones too!) at the grocery store the other night.. We've been having some beautiful plants for sale there this year. I also picked up a bag of fresh cherries. Aren't they just gorgeous?

Red - Day 2

No time for a photo shoot today, so I took a look for red in my Flickr sets - and I SAW SOME! It's funny.. over the years (ok, and maybe those years have gone back to my early boxes of 64 Crayolas!) I have been very aware of, and amused and inspired by my (as I like to call it) capricious color sense. Whether it is the seasons, a holiday, a new slant of the sunlight, or maybe something I saw in a magazine the colors I'm drawn to and like to surround myself in, change throughout the year. Sometimes it's predictable (orange in October) sometimes not (orange, right now in early June is suddenly a favorite and I see it everywhere!)

At top is a collage I did in January (not usually a big red time for me because I'm sick of it after Christmas!) That is actually Golden's Quinacridone Red with possibly some Quinacridone Crimson and Pyrrole Red Light. If you have not had the joy of spreading Golden liquid acrylic paints across some dampened watercolor paper, you really owe it to yourself to do so. Liquid happiness. I did several mixed media collages in January in the color scheme.

Above is the front door of a beautiful old colonial house here in Ridgefield which I photographed last autumn. It is the painter, J. Alden Weir's house that he built next to his own, for his daughter Dorothy. Wouldn't you love that front door to be your own? Especially in autumn? Or at Christmas time? (see, in my silly color caprice I'm always asking myself - what wuld be the best color for a house all year round?? I love those mustard color colonials in autumn - but in summer? blah!)

And here is a page from my art journal, last July. Well, July is an obvious time to love red (actually on second thought that red house would look pretty cool in mid summer red, white and blue, huh?) I do love those old kids picture dictionaries and children's book with the (what do they call it?) four color process? Where everything is either, red, yellow, blue or black or combinations of those inks. It is such a happy, carefree look. Love that red lobster too!

But right now.. it seems to be hot pink and orange that's doing it for me!

Call for Flower Art..!

I am looking for big, bold, flower themed art for the summer issue of Erraticus Zine. If you have an image you would like to submit to the gallery, please email it to me at mmhubbell at earthlink . net. If you have an article or how to you'd like to submit, that would be great too! (unfortunately I cannot give complimentary copies of the zine to gallery artists, but anyone who has an article or how-to published will get one!) I will need hi res (300 dpi) images for print but you can send me a low res one for submission if you prefer, or email me with a link to your online gallery where I can see or download the image.

This image is from the cover of Fabric Jewelry by Teresa Searle - isn't it great?

I Saw Red - Day 1!

Sadie Olive had the fun idea to start an "I Saw Red" photo theme for this week, June 2nd - 8th. Many many folks have joined (click on this link to see the list of their blogs!) - the idea being to take photos of RED things in your home and daily life and upload them to your blog for the week. There is even a Flickr group here.

I'm afraid I have a bit of an upset tummy today.. (I think I may have "overindulged myself" - as Paula Dean says! - with delicious Cheddar Broccoli Quiche over the last couple of days. Andy was going to grill hot dogs and my tummy was already not feeling great so I thought I'd finish off the quiche.. bad idea maybe.. I should have just had a hot dog perhaps!) so... my photo shoot for today was a bit limited, just a few RED things around my studio..

The top photo is a gorgeous piece of Sari fabric a friend sent me years ago which I use as a (sort of) curtain on one of my studio windows.. I love when it blows in the breeze, as it is above. Not great for a focused photo but beautiful rich color and golden stitching.. The second photo is, obviously, a button jar - Bonne Maman Strawberry preserves (my favorite) filled with, well.. mostly pink buttons - and a few German bird letter cards (these will be in my Etsy shop soon!)
Next down is my RED ribbon drawer.. As I'm sure I have mentioned here before, I have a little set of Ikea wooden drawers where I keep my assorted bits of ribbon and trim sorted out by color. The red drawer segues into orange and yellow a bit.. (pink has its own drawer!) And above is one of my sweetest things.. This little red spotted deer.. I bought him at a little shop in Edgertown on Martha's Vineyard, right by the ferry to Chappaquiddick where we used to stay every summer when I was first married. Little Mr. Deer has a broken antler now, sadly, but he is still, well.. dear!

I'll be bringing you more RED things this week and will hopefully stray a bit farther soon (ooh.. just glanced out my window at the RED house down the block!) Go check out the other I Saw Red photos in blogland!

just a brief hello..!

What a gorgeous day! It's sunny, warm but breezy and cool.. I love it. Unfortunately I've been inside most of the day working away on my SL projects which I'm afraid are going to be a bit late. Did not make the p.o. today but I'll be going there first thing tomorrow.


Here's a little peek at one of my projects.. You'll have to wait until October to see the rest! But you can enjoy a photo of little miss Holly out on the deck with me enjoying one of my breaks from work! We did take a few brief walks, but as you can see Holly is pining to go farther!


And a not very great peek at some of my flowers on the back deck! That's oregano in the very foreground which I used a bit of in dinner last night - how nice to have some fresh homegrown herbs again! That's spearmint in the background, and I have basil in another pot.

Hopefully I'll have time for some better photos and more interesting writing tomorrow!

Meet Miss Violet Bird

I know I said I was going to wait until next week... but I couldn't resist going ahead and listing this new pretty, purple Bird on a Swing in my Etsy shop today. Her name is Miss Violet and I think she's rather sweet. (or, "tweet" as someone commented on my last swinging birdie! :-)

If you would like her to be your very own, you can find her here.. (but hurry before she flies off to somebody else!)

Yesterday was quite a day.. Sara's college graduation was really something but I will write about it in more detail once I get the photos from our photographer (my husband...!)



Here's another picture of Miss Violet showing off her lovely new tail feathers.. (sadly, she was missing her original tail.. so.. I gave her extensions!

Busy day..

A few more peeks inside my studio... Aren't these fun plates? They are of Andy Warhol butterflies (obviously!) and were only $1.95 each from CB2 - so of course I had to get all four! I gave two of them to my daughters and will keep one in the studio, maybe one in the downstairs bathroom (which is blue and green and black).

Last night we went to the Awards Ceremony at Emily's High School where she received and award for excellence in Algebra since she has (amazingly enough) and A+ average. Our family is usually not big math geniuses so it's even more impressive!

And today... is Sara's graduation from Community College where she took her first two years of college and finished an Associates Degree in Communications. She actually finished in December but graduates in the Spring with everyone else. The sun keeps going in and out and I have my fingers crossed since it is an outdoor ceremony. It's only 49 degrees right now though! Hopefully it will warm up a bit.


Thanks for all the nice comments on my Bird on a Swing yesterday! Yes, there will be more, and yes, they will be available in my Etsy Shop, probably mid week next week. I'll let you know. If anyone has any tips on where to get more vintage or vintage looking birds, please let me know. I took a look at the birds last time I was at Michael's but I wasn't too thrilled with any of them.

Ok.. lots to do! See you soon!