Our Evening Walk

The sun is setting as we take our evening walk.

Beautiful paths are cut through the grasses in the field behind the churchyard.

It's quiet. The crickets and grasshoppers are bouncing around.

The temperature is just right. A perfect way to end the day.

Watercolor 101 | Be Fearless

It would be easy for me to say,
"Follow steps one through ten and voila! You have a painting!"

Only paint by numbers works like that. I can share the basics but the rest is in your hands.

You have to fearlessly jump in and start somewhere.
I'm doing just that with a series of new paintings.

Actually, these are not watercolors. I'm using gouache and only gouache.
I've never done this before.

The paint is so rich and saturated with pigment. It feels different to me.

I have a brand new palette of  bright, bold colors and I'm just diving in.

Looking through some old painting notes, I had scrawled the words: paradise and parrots.

It was enough to get me started. I still love my soft greys and muted palette,

but I wanted to step away from my go-to colors and try something new.

I have no idea if these paintings will fully develop into something.

I'm not in any rush. I'm just enjoying the journey.

I hope you will too! 

Golly Bard Wallpaper

 I have been obsessed with surface patterns for a very long time. 

Yes, I had a Laura Ashley phase in middle school too.

I wore her sun dresses and my bedroom was decorated with the Nutmeg Collection.

Wallpaper, drapery, bedding, lampshades, you name it, I had it all.

My room was very coordinated. Tres early eighties.

I looked into making my own line of wallpaper when I graduated from college as a printmaker. 

Screen printing was the only option at that time and it still is how most wallpapers are printed.

Even though I found a boutique printer, it was too costly to do a small run of custom wallpapers. 

Fast forward twenty years and I haven't let go of the idea. 

It has taken a while, but now with so much technology at our fingertips, 

with great services and resources like Spoonflower, it is all finally possible.

It's truly a dream come true for me. Take a peek if you have a chance!

My Cottage Garden | September

It has been entirely too long since my last post. Last week was a little chaotic but I'm back!

I walked around my cottage garden yesterday, observing the autumn changes.

The seed heads on the clematis look like crazy, feathery mop tops.

The chives put out a bomb with clear intentions to propagate.

And while I have been a little quiet lately, I'm working on sewing some seeds of my own.

First up, I'm pleased to be a part of Poppytalk Handmade's Indie Love Market this month.

Take a peek if you have a chance! So happy to be include with such super artists and makers.

For the last year I've been part of a beta test group with Spoonflower and 

some exciting things are on the horizon. More about that tomorrow.

Have a great week all!

A Naturalist Bent

Having fun styling my prints with a naturalist bent.

More pictures on flickr. Have a great weekend all!

Golly Bard Editions | Woodland Prints

New Woodland Prints in my shop today.

Take a peek if you have a moment!

Interview | 91 Magazine

So honored to be featured in the Autumn 2012 issue of 91 Magazine,

A beautiful online quarterly published by Patchwork Harmony.

Take a peek at 91! Each page is more lovely than the next.

Happy Happy Friday

Birdie and Cowboy wish you a very happy Friday!

More fabulous pictures of these two cheeky pups on flickr.

Have a great weekend.

Hello September

Hello September! It's lovely to see you again.

I've been enjoying my walks in the early morning and evening.

Late summer wild flowers have popped up all over the fields.

Swallowtails and the ever so elusive hummingbird clearwing moths flutter all around the thistles.

 You'll just have to imagine it because a good picture was impossible, they move so fast!

***

You still have until Tuesday to enter my GIVEAWAY in the post below.

One lucky person will receive a print from my new Woodland Collection.