I lovecolor

This was a challenge that was set forth by a friend and artist-to create something and post it on a blog. I didn't exactly comply with the challenge, but it did get my juices flowing, and set me to the task of organizing my silk ribbons that I have been creating and buying. I just love the colors together, and in person they are even more luscious. They will be used to make my funky tassels with fibers and beads. I love making these so much that it is hard for me to stop!
One of these days I am going to figure out how to do my blog posts a little better. Maybe if I did it more often I would get better at it, kind of like everything in life. Practice really does make one better at all things. Speaking of color, I couldn't help taking this photo of the most gorgeous beet salad, enjoyed in Vancouver BC at Rain City Grill, one of my favorite restaurants in the city. In fact, it was so good we ate there twice in two days! The red and yellow swaths of color are beet puree. So artistic and delicious.
This looks like Paris, but it is really the artful displays at the Hollywood Farmer's market in Portland. Sort of like the before and after of beets.
I couldn't pass up a photo of this sign on the door of a Victoria coffee shop. It just made me want to go inside and meet those people who welcomed time travelers...

This is a window that I saw at a great art supply store in Victoria, BC and I love the sentiment. It made me think of the next class I am teaching on glass painting. Yes, we should all unleash our inner artist! As hard as it is to call yourself and artist, what do you have to lose? Believe me, no one will check on your artist's credentials.
I am loving Fall, as I do every year, once I get over missing Summer. These leaves remind me of going to visit my dad in the building where he taught chemistry .Every Fall they would turn the most gorgeous colors of pinks and reds and I would collect handfuls of them. I still can't resist picking up fall leaves.
These knobby, strange pumpkins seem so beautiful to me for their subtle colors, so unlike the big orange globes we associate with Fall. I love them for their imperfections and would like to try to grow them.
At the same farmer's market I saw these big squash, equally beautiful, but was stumped by the elongated variety. Does anyone know what they are called?

fall

Golden days

As the days turn cool and fallish, I take advantage of the opportunity to sketch outside a bit longer, and Lusher Farm in Lake Oswego is always a favorite place to draw, as there is such bounty at this time of year. There are scarecrows and pumpkins getting round and orange in the sun.
These are some of the gourds that I recently purchased especially to draw. Each one is unique and delightful and provide endless possibilities for sketching.I love those bumpy things and look forward to Fall when they are plentiful. I won't say cheap, as I paid $3 for one especially unique gourd, but most of them were 33 cents at Uncle Paul's , my favorite produce outlet.
A sketch from Paris at a lovely little restaurant in St Paul village. This was a typical dessert called quatre quarte,essentially a pound cake which was served with homemade applesauce.
Hmmm. This sounds so good that I think I should make some soon.
Even though I have been to this part of Paris many times before, I had never visited St Paul village, a charming collection of antique shops and restaurants. It feels like it is a long way from the bustle of the Marais.
This watercolor was done by one of my students in my Artful Journal class that I taught last week at the Art and Soul retreat. I was so pleased and impressed that she would dive right into her new journal. She obviously is a skilled watercolorist and will, no doubt, fill her journal with lovely paintings as I hope all my students will.
Every student made a gorgeous journal to be proud of ! Here is a small sampling of their creations. My favorite part of every class is getting to see all the journals displayed together. I hope they are all put to use and become filled with stories and drawings of lives well lived.

The wedding

If you don't like hearing about other people's weddings, stop reading right now. But this happens to be a very special wedding for me, as it was the marriage of our son Matthew and his wife(!) Rita. So, while doing wedding flowers is my business, it is a little different when it is your own child getting married. Rita had the vision, and I just tried to carry it out as best as I could. Pink, red and orange were our colors, can you tell? And lanterns, we had to have lanterns! My niece Isabella who is a florist and wedding planner extraordinaire in Menlo Park came to help, thank goodness. As did my sister and lots of other friends and family.
Dahlias and roses were our flowers of choice, and thankfully the weather and my growers co-operated. We had an abundance of these beautiful flowers, one of my current favorites for Fall weddings. Isabella put together the centerpieces, as I walked around in a daze.
This is the beautiful and elegant Rita, my new daughter in law, and her dog Abby who walked down the aisle with her. Of course they were the star attractions!
Did you like the lanterns the first time? Well, here they are again! My sister strung each one
of these one the light strands. What a trooper.
Here is the wedding structure that I created. We were going for the "Indian wedding" theme. This was the most challenging, yet ultimately, most satisfying component for me.
We had beautiful weather, perhaps the last really warm weekend of the year. Just the kind of weather that I ordered!