Do you remember the beautiful gardens I had at Summerhill? I do. I’m reminded of them every day when I look out the windows of our new house and see nothing but a sea of mud in every direction. The contrast to the views I had last spring is hard to ignore. I remember the […]
Category: Gardening
Floral Watercolor Monograms – Part 1
We all know the challenge of trying to find a gift for the person who has everything. How do you find something that’s personal, useful, beautiful, and/or different from anything they already have? Well, here’s a great idea that I came up with for my mother and sister this past Christmas. This project was inspired […]
Three-View Rhododendron Sketch
It’s been a great year for rhododendrons here where I live in western Pennsylvania. FYI – The oranges & grape jelly on the bird feeder post are for the Baltimore orioles These bushes are right outside my kitchen window, so I get to enjoy these glorious blooms over the course of two weeks or so […]
Summerhill Sketching Hits the Road! (+ Corn & Basil Tart Recipe)
Every month I host “Sketching at Summerhill” here at my house. It offers an opportunity for my creative friends to get together, learn a little something, paint a bit, and enjoy some fun and fellowship away from the daily grind. I love having everyone come to my home in the summertime when the flowers are […]
Sunflowers!
10″ x 8″, ink & watercolor on 140 lb. watercolor paper I plant a packet of mixed sunflower seeds in my garden every summer. I water them, weed them, and prop them up when a storm blows through. I don’t harvest the seeds to eat or to fill our bird feeders. The birds usually cling […]
Blue Hydrangeas
My hydrangeas barely bloomed at all this year. The winter of 2014 was so harsh that every one of my hydrangea bushes died back, and it took all summer for them to recover and reach any size at all. Two of them began to blossom around the end of August and are now covered with […]
September Garden
With the cooler days we’re having now, I was feeling a little sad to see summer on its way out. I really enjoy all the flowering shrubs and perennials that brighten up our yard in the summertime, and I’m just not ready to say goodbye to them yet. Then I started looking a little closer […]
75 Day Sketch Challenge: Days 74-75
At last! The final two days of my 75 Day Sketch challenge! I thought it would be a good idea to draw some of the summer flowers on our patio before the first frost nips them. These “Wave” petunias are my favorite. They’ve flourished throughout the summer, and are still thriving, despite the cooler fall […]
75 Day Sketch Challenge: Day 30
Despite our current drought conditions, my garden is thriving. I’ve been watering it every few days, and that seems to have helped. I have loads of ripe cucumbers, green peppers, and eggplants, and the tomatoes are just starting to turn red. The sweet corn is finally ripening, and the raccoons haven’t wiped it out yet. […]
75 Day Sketch Challenge: Days 28-29
Whew! It’s been a busy week. I finished up my first Sketchbook Journaling class, which I was teaching here at home, on Thursday, and today I started a new one at our local public library. Seems there’s a lot of interest in learning how to sketch – that makes me happy. I want others to […]
