Styling Collage Photography

It's not what you have

 it's how you arrange them.

It's not how expensive the items are

it's about texture and color.

That is pretty much the rules I use

when it comes to styling collage photography.

These are my two photographs from Instagram

I love how art is in everything around us.

Both of these photgraphs were taken with my iphone 4.

You have to love the iphone...easy to carry and usually

always with me wherever I'm at.

We were very, very fortunate that we didn't lose

our electricity during Hurricane Sandy.

There were a few flickers and I waited up a good

bit during the night waiting to light candles while

the wind roared outside.

I feel bad for all of the others who had extensive damage.

Schools were cancelled for two days and many

business offices were closed as well.

Connecting up with Common Ground Linky Party

Photography and Plants

I love textures in plants and weathered wood.

I love photography and my iphone

comes in handy outside when the lighting

is just right. Not that I wouldn't love

a fabulous, expensive camera, but I can 

have fun with my phone during the wait

(long wait) for a nice camera.  

Fall has arrived and we were bundled up today.

A frost will soon hit us and I don't think it will

be unexpectedly.  Can hardly believe summer

is over outside, but summer will live inside

for the next nine months.

I've been trying to sneak in some artwork.

My schedule is filled to the brim, but it's

always rewarding to paint. Maybe I can share

those next time.

Keep warm. 

Christmas Westie Dog in Cool Holiday Colors

Christmas colors in cool tones. While I was weeding amongst august moon (lime green) hostas and african hibiscus (red/plum) the other day I marveled at the colors. It was Christmas colors in warm tones and 98 degree weather. I came in and used those colors in this painting but in totally cool tones. You don't see any yellows in westie, just cool shadows. Red colors can either be warm reds or cool reds. We gardeners work with colors all of the time. Sometimes to amazing achievements and other times a few disappointments, but we learn from each combination we try. Too much fertilizer can almost change a flower color from warm to cool or vice versa. Amazing. (Really gardening is the hardest art of all.)

Westie's other eye is hid from view because of the lush hair and head turned just so. Plus all westies love to roll around and fluff up their facial hair to the max!

We love to dress westies in red for the holidays. The great part about red is it's for both boys and girl westies dogs. And it stands for L_O_V_E.

For sale on ebay titled, HAPPY IN RED.

Shabby Pink Cottage July Flowers

It can still look like England outside even in this heat wave of 100+ degrees. These soft pink/plum flowers are blooming now. Love the colors of this one over many other ones!

Doesn't this mallow, or hibiscus, remind you of raspberry ice cream?





It's paired up with Monet Moments, a bright pink lobelia. This one is to be much hardier for us than most. I love it up against the weathered gray fence.

Our World is Blue, Pink and a spot of Green

Our world has been various shades of blue and white outside the last 2 weeks. Blue ground and blue sky and a ring of pink clouds ruffling the two together. Schools were closed for 9 days and just resumed late yesterday.

Inside it's pink and white. I've been under the weather and these roses and gardening magazines have helped. Most of the time I had only one eye open. And that was only now and then.

The deer are the best snow removers. There is this little spot near the old spring where the grass is lush and green still under the snow. (They've since eaten it to the quick.) There is eight deer that come every morning and afternoon and paw away the snow to eat the grass. They are adding more green color to our blue and white outdoor world. Most all of our boxwoods are still covered in snow which is their saving grace from the deer.

SHABBY CHIC Frida Kahlo Valentine Hearts Painting

My new Frida painting has those soft colors in it that we love Shabby Chic for. Especially the Shabby Chic sheets...the tiniest little soft pink roses sprinkled generously about on the white clouds of cotton. If you look closely Frida's bodice has some of those roses on it. Handpainted.

The pink heart swing is like a dream...who would want to sit on the dull black and gray ones when you can sit swing on this one for the romantics. Frida has yummy chocolate valentines, a red, rich-fragrant rose in her hair, fresh air whistling by her cheeks and a bluebird perched on her toe! That is love!

This cute heart painting is up for grabs on ebay today. And I think I have had chocolate myself every day for the last week which was around for grabs. That just comes from painting valentines and standing in lines at stores and of course, I love it.

Primitive Frida Kahlo Self Portrait Dolls Painting

Triple vision right after double vision. This is a new painting I did today of our favorite folk artist Frida Kahlo. I wanted rich, warm saturated colors. Something that had a hint of valentine in, but nice to display all year long. Also I wanted them to hold something that Frida loved to add symbolism.

At first I was going to have it all warm colors--this is where an artist starts to make intelligent changes while painting--but I didn't want an all green parrot because I had already wanted a warm green for the background. So he is a little blue and a little green and I then I went back and added some blue to the ribbon of the first Frida. Even contrast. Harmony.

A little bit (very small amount) of cool colors can set off a rich, juicy painting and make it look even more lush. Normally your eye always goes to red in a painting, but in this case since everything is warm colors your eye goes to the tiny cool colors! Where did your eye look first when you glanced at this painting?

This one is titled appropriately, "ME, MYSELF, AND I." It is up for you on ebay now. Stay tuned for more original art!

Daily Oil Painting Abstract Westie Dog

The snow is all but gone in the shadows. I am painting a group of westie dogs in an realist, impressonist style with abstract backgrounds. The colors I am just picking out by my moods and surroundings. So how does this work? Well, there is not much science involved luckily.


We stirred up banana bread and added grated orange rind to the batter. That is the color combination of the abstract squares. The green and blue I brought in from outside. The purple is from the clouds shining on the lowering sun. But really the puppy is the beautiful part of the painting!

These smaller oil paintings are less expensive than the larger ones and they are a great size to collect and make small groupings of them. Look for more. This one is on ebay for grabs now.

A Walk in the Garden Foliage & Cuttings

This cool 49 degree chill makes for brisk walking unless you are looking at perennials and shrubs. Then I dawdle a bit. I picked a few leaves and cuttings to bring inside. Rather holiday colors---the burgundy foliage and evergreens that I love. Burgundy and lime green are very catchy colors.

From bottom left moving clockwise in the ABOVE photo is euphorbia, hydrangea leaf, ruby fringeflower cutting, yew cutting, purple sage, bugbane, cedar cutting, coral bells leaf, cypress cutting.

I didn't bring in all the burgundies. That way I can flutter around, from plant to shrub, and gather another little "foliage bouquet" on my next walk. Why don't we wear foliage boutonieres? Or carry foliage nosegays?

After I took the picture I put them on the tablecloth and the red made the green color pop out. This is what every gardener does...walks around with leaves to match or contrast foliage. Some designers do it in their head, but it's so much better to actually walk around outside holding up leaves and comparing in the garden while the leaves fall like confetti on you and the woodpecker keeps a steady beat. The squirrels chitter-chatter and scramble up trees that no longer hide them.

Somehow in the fall the squirrels think the gardens are theirs! That is when our westie doggy boy is inside the house. They keep a very low profile when he is running with his nose to the ground. The ground that is still waiting for more tulip and daffodil bulbs to be planted...sigh

November Tree Colors

Can the words "peaceful" and "hot" stand together in a title? They do define this peaceful country setting with the firey hot colors. The great part about fall is when the grass is still green, the tree leaves are red/orange and the weather is in the 60's and 70's during the day. Nice!

Pyracantha Red-Plum Fall Colors

Going outside and seeing the plants and their beautiful colors in the fall helps artists see some of the best color combinations! I continue to learn everyday and I keep taking pictures to help me remember the colors. The berries of the pyracantha shrub are red and orange now. The birds will feed on the plump orange lanterns during the winter. The plum color of the "mardi gras"abelia leaves and the orange pumpkin sitting there...luscious!


On the other side the blue-gray gravel tempers the colors, but it is still a nice contrast.

Why I like pyracantha also called the firethorn bush is because it is evergreen. Two, it has white flowers in the spring and these beautiful berries in the fall/winter. Birds can make their nests in it and be safe from the hawks. We have plenty of those in the country.

Yay for evergreens! Sometimes we don't appreciate them enough til everything else dies down. These are the bones of the garden.......and look the color, too!