art + photography

all posts related to artwork I’ve created, or photography

Social Saturday | March 5 (Winter Again!)

galvanized metal quanset surrounded by trees covered in white frost

And here I am again with more winter photos even though I just posted some on Tuesday…however I woke up this morning and was greeting with this beautiful sight, so of course I had to take my camera out to capture it! I never tire of seeing a beautiful frost. Do you get frost where you live?

a line of spruce trees covered in frost

I haven’t done a “lately” post for a while, so here are some things I’ve been up to.

What I’ve been reading– The “Daughters of Fortune” series by Judith Pella. I received this set for Christmas, though it took forever to arrive (bought from Thrift Books) so I just started reading it now. It’s one of my favourite book series, set in WWII.

branches covered in large white snowflakes and frost silhouetted against a blue sky

What I’ve been watching– I just found out about this movie “Sabina, Tortured For Christ: The Nazi Years”. I wasn’t familiar with Sabina Wurmbrand at all, so it was really fascinating to watch this part of her life. It is available to watch for free this weekend (March 4-6) here. All you have to do is register.

row of graineries in different colours of grey, blue and red covered in snow

What I’m thankful for– The fact that I am feeling much better after being sick for several weeks. It’s so nice to get back into the swing of things- work, sewing and other projects. Even just giving your bedroom a good sweep and dusting feels good when you haven’t been able to do it for a while. It’s crazy how much things pile up when you’re stuck in bed!

seed cone and a pine tree covered in snow and silhouetted against the blue sky

What I’ve been making– My mom and I started painting a storage cabinet in January, but then put it on hold once I got sick. It is our first time using milk paint, and I’ve been quite enjoying it. Now we just have to oil it and then we’re done. I am hoping to finally finish it today! Have you ever tried milk paint?

snow covered road lined with frosty trees

What I’ve been eating– This recipe went viral last year, so probably everyone has tried the Tomato Feta Pasta, but if you haven’t yet, you really should. I used this recipe from The Daily Connoisseur”. Since we didn’t have enough fresh tomatoes, I used some diced canned tomatoes, and it turned out just as good!

branches covered in sparkling white frost against a blue sky

What I’ve been working on: Adding a bunch of my artwork to my shops! I have started re-listing pieces on my Poshmark Shop, and some will make their way to my Art Shop too. I decided not to renew my contract with the art gallery in town, so all of the pieces that I was showing there will be making their way to the shops in the coming weeks.

Well, that’s what I have going on right now. What plans do you have for this weekend? Whatever you do, I hope it is a good one!

a view of a valley with trees and an old gas tank in the foreground covered with snow

Snow Softly Sifting Down

mugo pine needles covered in heavy snowfall

The snow is softly sifting down outside my window, and it looks like a perfect picture postcard. The calendar might say March, but the it’s still winter out there. Before the weather changes to warmer days, though, I had better share these photos. It’s just a small mix of scenes from the past couple of months, that I’ve taken on warmer days when I’ve ventured out for some fresh, cold, air!

What is the weather like where you are at? 

chickadee silhouetted against a cloudy sky

abandoned buildings and trees against a cloudy sky and covered with snowfall

shadows through the trees slanting across the snow drifts

mugo pine needles green against a backdrop of snow

a gravel country road covered in snow and trees with bare branches against the sky

At The End of Summer

A little shed overgrown with a virginnia creeper vine turning bright red

We are well past Summer now and into the late days of Fall, but I still wanted to share these photos from last month, chronicling the changing of seasons.

Oak leaves changing yellow and seeds from a hollyhock

Oak leaves have such an interesting shape. On the right, hollyhock seeds plant themselves for next year.

sunflowers

The cheeriest of garden flowers! We let the large seed heads dry out, so the birds can enjoy them.

brussel sprout leaves

We tried growing brussel’s sprouts this year for the first time. They didn’t taste very good, but at least the plants looked marvellous.

yellow zucchini and orange tomatoes

We had much better luck with these delicious yellow zucchinis and tomatoes!

pink hydrangea

Our hydrangeas don’t get very big, but they are still quite pretty.

cosmos blooms and yarrow

cosmos bloom with a bee sitting on top

So are these cosmos and yarrow blooms, and this one friendly little bee.

the last rose of summer

The last rose of summer, that lasted very well even past the first couple of frosts.

sunset

Sunset through the golden leaves.

wood stack ready for winter

The wood is all stacked and ready for winter nights. I’m thinking it’s about time we started making fires in our fireplace again…it’s starting to feel like the changing of the seasons again.

After the Rain

pink ruffled flowers with raindrops on them

We’ve had such a hot, dry summer with heat wave after heat wave. I don’t love hot weather, so I was very happy when we had a nice cloudy day recently with a good rain. Unfortunately, it’s been so dry that the rain didn’t make much of a difference to the water table, and we really could do with several days in a row of a steady, soaking rain…but at least we had that small reprieve. And when it had finished raining and the clouds had passed, there were millions of diamonds left behind frosting each and every petal.

dark purple blue pansy covered in rain drops

astilbe and a burgundy daylily

Astilbe and a Burgundy Daylily

rose mallow with rain drops on the petals

Pink Mallow or Lavatera

rose mallow and german statice flowers in the garden

Mallow and German Statice

pale periwinkle blue delphinium flower

Delphinium

sedum and daylily covered in rain droplets

Sedum and Orange and Yellow Daylily

pink climbing rose

John Cabot climbing rose

Some New Old Artwork

starry sky painting in a mat

Well, I vanished there for a little bit…but I have been busy while I’ve been gone! I rediscovered some of my watercolour pieces from a couple of years ago that I never completed or developed and decided that now was a good time to finish them up.

I’ve also been taking new product photos for my shop and have slowly been adding and updating the pieces in both my Poshmark and Artyologist Shops.

straw hat and mountains original paintings

These two originals are now available here or here. They come with an 8×10 white mat, so they are ready to pop into a frame. I think that the straw hat illustration would be perfect for a dressing room/area or a little girls’ room!

I’ve also got four new card designs in my Society 6 shop.

hello and many thanks cards

A simple “Hello” card for any occasion. And I liked the hearts from my Valentine collection, and thought that a thank-you card would be another nice option.

hat and sunglasses cards

The straw hat also makes a cute little “thinking of you” card. And finally these retro white sunglasses! I painted this for a “summer” prompt on Instagram a few years ago, and thought it would be a perfect “congratulations” card. I can see this one being good for a graduation or maybe even a wedding.

That’s all for today. I hope to be back with some more new posts, but we’ve had such a heat wave lately, and now smoke from the forest fires, so it makes taking photos rather difficult, unfortunately. I hope you have been enjoying your summer and that you have a great weekend!