New Life for a Vintage Poppy Brooch

 In a cute antique store in Deep River CT (while I was out shaking off the winter blues this past weekend), I stumbled upon this adorable vintage Oriental poppy brooch. The colors are fantastic, all fiery, orangy-reds and bright greens contrasted with the black seeds. JUST THE THING to get me in a Spring frame of mind. The price was right, so home it went with me. Now, what to do with it?

Nothing against brooches, but they do have a bit of an image problem these days, reminding some of their grandmothers' stodgy fashion statements of days gone by (that is, if you have/had a stodgy grandmother. I happen to know many grandmothers who are amazingly stylish and cutting edge).  Plus, "brooch" - what a strange, funny word. What's up with that?

 I really felt this beauty needed a little updating however, something to bring it out of the past, but still acknowledge it's timelessness. So I ripped apart an old charm bracelet that had seen better days itself,  and with a few adjustments and the addition of a chain, I now have a really great necklace.

Now I'm inspired - time to raid the jewelry box and see what else I can re-purpose! And most importantly, no brooches were harmed in this process. It can still be worn the "old-fashioned" way (but the same can't be said for the charm bracelet, unfortunately(!)

Blizzards and Creativity (or Lack Thereof)

It's been about a week and a half since the Great Blizzard of 2013. Thirty-six inches later, the remnants remain; great mounds of snow in parking lots (that no doubt may still be there in April, I shudder to think); lawns still hidden from sight beneath great white blankets.  My ancient azalea shrub brought to it's knees under the weight of the drifts. There is hope however; alternating freeze and thaw cycles have melted a good amount (at least on the relatively flat surfaces).
House-bound for four days last week, unable to go to work for two days due to un-plowed streets, you would have thought it would have been a creative bonanza; a free-for-all with paintings and illustrations and photos flying off the drawing table and computer screen. Not so much. Blizzard paralysis set in. Well, that and alternating hours of shoveling, and shoveling again, and did I mention shoveling? You get the idea.
So I am trying my best to get motivated  to ignite that creative spark. This past weekend, we visited the Winter Carnivale in quaint Chester CT, which featured ice sculptures and chili cook-offs, art galleries and a tractor parade(!). It was below freezing all day, with biting winds, but you know what? We had fun. They know how to do it there in Chester:
http://www.visit-chester.com/major_annual_events/Winter_Carnivale.html
There is something to be said for embracing the cold; enough of hibernating and playing a waiting game with the weather. The cliche of "life's too short" is begrudgingly true; Spring and another year closer to death (just making sure you're paying attention) will be here before you know it. Oh yeah, and with Spring comes new projects, like building that fence around the vegetable garden to keep out our favorite little buddy Mr. Groundhog.  Can't wait. No, really. I'm not kidding.

In the Holiday Spirit . . . Really?

So I started my holiday decorating this past weekend; somewhat of a first for me to start so early . . . I usually let Dec. 1st mark the start of the season. I tell myself that I like to keep the holidays separate from one another, letting Halloween stretch into the first week of November, then Thanksgiving gets it's proper due well before Christmas gets going. But this separation is just a fallacy, as noted by the many Halloween-themed ornaments hung from our tree each year (I do love my Halloween)!

But this year's different. Trick or Treat was delayed to Nov. 10th due to Hurricane Sandy and an early snowstorm, so Halloween lost some of it's luster this year. Sad - I didn't even trot out the bewitching table display. Thanksgiving was very nice, spent with friends, but with Bill being a self-proclaimed Christmas-in-July person, I couldn't deny him his decorations a moment longer.

 

So here's a few snapshots of some of our decorations. I like to make little scenes from our assortment of vintage and other decorations;  in this case, size doesn't matter.  Tiny polar bears dwarfed by giant Christmas children mailing letters to Santa? Sure!  Mini elves astride a monstrous moose? Why not,  I say.

The elves are particularly disturbing, but fascinating at the same time. There seemed to have been a time (late fifites?) when plastic scary-faced elves ruled. They appear to be making a come back these days, what with elves on shelves, elves portrayed by Will Ferrell (I know what you're thinking, but this movie is now a classic in our house. Really,. OK, so it's no Lincoln, but we watch it every year. Of course, we watch Tod Browning's Freaks every year too, so you take your chances with our movie recommendations).  Anyway, elves in small doses can be a good thing.

 So, I hope to share more of our Christmas decorations in the coming weeks. Let the games begin! We're just getting started:-)

Greeting Cards Are Here!!!!

The first shipment of my original greeting cards have arrived - I'm so excited!!!! They feature both ink and pencil drawings of dogs and some of my digital art featuring flowers and autumn images of gourds and pumpkins.

I will be selling these greeting cards at the Stratford Fall Festival, held in Stratford, CT on the Paradise Green on Saturday, October 6th from 10:00am to 6:00pm. I will once again also be drawing pet portraits, and Bill will be doing his fabulous caricatures of people and pets at the event, which benefits S.T.A.R.S., the Stratford Animal Rescue Society. There will be tons of vendors, and lots of stuff for both pets and their owners to partake, including live music, costume contests,  a photo contest, etc. If you live in the area, and love animals, it's really an event not to be missed. Be sure to stop by our tent!

If you are not able to make the event, but would like to purchase any of these cards, they are available (as well as many other items, with new updates frequently) in our online store:

http://www.zazzle.com/artstoreproducts

As always, thank for your support:-)

Groundhog Day All Over Again . . .

Speaking of pests in the garden, we have another new arrival this summer - a groundhog. Some weeks back, I went out to the garden to harvest some squash, only to find our Swiss chard looking like a lawn mower had run it over. It was eaten to the ground. Upon further inspection, the collards looked pretty pitiful too, chewed down to the stems. My first thought was deer. Granted, we live in a suburban neighborhood, but we are bordered by a large golf course, and patches of woods. I have seen deer within a block of our house, so I figured it's only a matter of time.
The next day, the squash itself was untouched, but their leaves were definitely nibbled upon. And the cherry tomatoes had been smacked around, dropping some to the ground, little teethmarks as evidence. This was no deer.
By the third day, Bill was keeping a lookout (with camera in-hand) to see if anything ventured out during the day. AHA! It didn't take long. In bright daylight, there he was. I answered the phone at work; it was Bill. "We have a beaver!" he excitedly tells me. There is a road about a mile away called Beaver Dam Road, so it is a possibility, I thought. "Look at his tail - is it furry or flat?" I tell  him. He tells me it's hard to tell, but he's got photographic evidence.

Only The Tomato Plants Are Hanging On . . .

That night, we review the picture, consult with a friend, and still can't ascertain for sure if it's a beaver or a groundhog. Whatever it is, it's HUGE. Further sightings over the next few days make us pretty certain it is a groundhog. A very happy groundhog, cavorting in the backyard at all hours, no doubt rejoicing at the all-you-can-eat-buffet he has stumbled upon. He's really cute, you know, so it's hard to hold a grudge. We tried fox urine granules, supposedly a sure-fire way to deter them. It appeared he never met a fox he didn't like, because he was back the very next day, chomping away. Only our appearance coming out the door deters him; he scampers away to wherever it is he lives and awaits his next chance to dine.
 Now a few weeks later, the squash is gone, the kale gone, the cucumber vines died as a result of his indiscriminate digging. Only the tomatoes are hanging in there.
Looks like a fence (complete with chicken wire and sunk into the ground) is on the drawing board for next year's garden project. I suppose we're lucky; we made it four years without any major pest damage. Hopefully we won't be re-living groundhog day again next summer.

The Heartbreak of Bagworms

 This has been a somewhat strange summer in the garden; hotter than usual, and it has brought it's share of pests not seen before. Back in July, one of my neighbor's beautiful arborvitae started to decline quite rapidly.  Around the same time, I noticed some very small pinecone-like objects hanging off said arborvitae, seemingly spinning in the wind, almost like little Christmas ornaments, made of the very leaves themselves. Knowing these trees don't generate pinecones, I did some research. Sure enough, a quick search of the internet revealed the problem - bagworms.
The little "bags" that I saw actually contain these caterpillars, hanging from the branches by their own silk threads. This pest can quickly decimate an arborvitae, as it has done here. This is the first time I've seen this pest. It can also affect junipers and pines. Often, it will concentrate on one plant, leaving others in close vicinity somewhat untouched.
In July I applied the organic, biological control BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) which is a bacteruim known to kill the caterpillars, but which is safe for birds, animals and other insects which are not caterpillars (be careful near known butterfly colonies, as it will kill them). It appeared most had died after the application (as the spinning I noticed earlier was not the wind, but their own wriggling - nasty!), but short of hand-picking all of the "ornaments" off the tree, there is still the threat of a new infestation next year. This is because when allowed to mature and drop to the ground, each of the bags can contain literally hundreds of offspring for next year's crop.

Here is a close-up of the bags themselves. The best time to spray BT is before they get larger than a half or three-quarter inches long (even better, in May - June, before they appear). These have matured to a length of almost two inches long. At this point (Aug/Sept), the only control is to hand-pick them off the trees.
The jury's out on whether this arborvitae will survive; the others adjacent to it only had small infestations, so they have a good chance, especially with an application of BT next spring before they are attacked again. So if you're out in your garden, and see these bags, start pulling them off. It's recommended that you burn them, but I'm not a big fan of fires in the garden(!). So I just dropped mine in a bucket of water laced with organic insecticidal soap. Good riddance, bagworms! Hope I don't see you next year!

The "Gang of Seven"

Here's the latest pet portrait I've had the pleasure to create; one of my most ambitious yet! It was a surprise birthday gift from a husband to his wife comprising of all the pets they've shared their lives with together. A few reasons why this one was so successful - I was given plenty of nice, clear source photos to work from, and given a background story of each of the pets, so I had an idea of their personality as I created the composition. It's so important when commissioning a portrait to provide a variety of pictures best representing your pet.  Of course, these guys were all so adorable, it's hard to go wrong:-)
I was also pleased to be able to draw so many cats; as I live in a kitty household myself, I don't get to draw them enough! The mediums used were ink and inktense color pencils, my favorite go-tos these days.  As you can see, pet portraits don't just have to represent one or two pets; what a lovely idea to combine all the pets you've owned in a lasting keepsake for years to come.