Eric’s Uncle Hugh and Aunt Nora are having a baby in a couple of months, and I recently made them a gift to put in the baby’s room.
I went with really subtle tones because I didn’t know what the nursery was going to look like. Here are a few close ups.
I’m really excited to meet my newest cousin Shannon! She is blessed already to have such fun and loving parents. :)
My parents celebrated their anniversary on May 22nd. Thirty-Six Years!
They were on a month long road trip around the time of their anniversary, so Harmony and I built them a little garden while they were gone. I wish I had a before picture, but I’ll just tell you that there wasn’t much there. Weeds had overtaken the spot, but I want to clarify that this does not reflect on my parents’ ability to garden. My dad actually has an amazing garden, but didn’t have the time to get to this one spot. My mom loves birds and this is where they all gather, so we knew it would be a good gift for both of them to fix this space up. Here it is:
We wanted to leave that middle mulched spot clear so that it could be walked on when the bird feeders need to be refilled. On the left is a rock garden.
We planted some Easter Bonnets, Silver Leaf, and Hen and Chicks. The rocks and moss were found in the woods behind my parent’s house.
Harmony made a cool little trail out of moss from the woods and old branches from my parent’s yard.
We built a little rock wall and put some vine-y plants on the edge, along with a butterfly plant, and some ferns transplanted from the woods.
I built a little rock mosaic behind the ferns so the backdrop wouldn’t be dirt.
This garden is right next to a brick patio where we often eat outside in the summer, and my mom’s desk is right behind that window. When everything starts filling in, I think it will look really great!
We surprised my parents with the garden when they got home from their road trip. They LOVE it! My dad said it’s the best gift we could have gotten them, which made us feel really good. They are such awesome parents and I am so blessed to have them! Here’s to many more anniversaries!
“What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9
Minion and I decided to go on a hike in Nixon Park. Nixon is one of my favorite places to go, but I can’t tell you why. It’s not the grandest, most impressive park, but there is so much beauty to be seen. It’s where Eric and I got engaged. I bring my camera whenever I go there hoping to photograph something that will inspire a painting. You would not believe how many times a day I look at something and think “that would be a cool painting.”
Here are a few of the photos that I took there:
This one is my favorite. This is a Piebald deer. I had never seen one or even heard of one until I saw this doe. I have a feeling she’ll be showing up in a lot of my work.
We also found a turtle, but it didn’t come out to play.
Check out these leaves! I love how the light is filtering through them.
The underside of these leaves was an awesome silvery color. I wonder how difficult it would be to mix that color.
This next picture is when I turned to Harmony and said: “Wow! Look at that huge bed of sperm! ACK! I mean FERNS. FERNS!” Awkward!
These flowers fell from the trees and were all over the ground. What are they?
I look for inspiration everywhere I go, but there is nothing new under the sun. Anything that I create is a mere imitation of God’s creation. And a very poor imitation at that. It may be cheesy to say, but being outside is better than any gallery.
