Lots to Do!!

 

Well this is a partial explanantion as to why I haven't had a minute to post a new blog. The siren song of gardening is calling with all its attendant demands on my time. You have to go to nurseries and garden centers (and local plant sales) to buy the plants with which to fill borders and containers. Then you have to keep them happy until you plant them. And you have to shuffle them from outdoors to indoors when there's danger of  freeze. Which there was! In May! And not early May! Lots of things I would have considered hardy got zapped: young leaves on a Tiger's Eye Sumac, many of the young shoots on the garpe vines, Casa Blanca lily stalks... pretty depressing! So every day, I lugged all those tender plants pictured above in and out of my studio... 

And as if that weren't enough to keep an actively gardening artist busy I also had two shows to prepare for. One show, "The NO Show" I actually helped plan/organize and "curate" against all my best instincts. I've always vowed to never avail myself to the other side of the artistic process as producing art shows can be a thankless and punishing process. But NO!! It's been great! Artist chosen were well-behaved and actually got their work to us and set up of the show went swimmingly. A pleasant surprise!! Thank you Jim (*1) and Megan!

Oh no! There's plants everywhere!! Even hiding under my studio table! Aaaaaauuughhh!!! Anyway, I was also asked to show at another space at the end of June so I had to clean up the studio to accomodate the curator- move over plant life!

(*1) The concept for The NO Show came about because our friend Jim was frequently bemoaning his inability to say NO to people who came to his shop with requests for repairs and the like. I kiddingly gave him the assignment to create a large NO out of metal and put it on the lawn in front of his studio. A few years passed with me periodically reminding him to make the damned NO. One day while visiting him, we started riffing on how saying NO was a good thing and how many of us artists say "YES" to donations and things we really didn't want to do... which led to The NO Show. It's a good way to liberate yourself from always saying yes.