Lately? Obsessed with Sunflowers...

"For tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun....." ~The Beatles~

I really love sunflowers! It's the first time that I've grown them. A few of these pictures are from my neighbor's roof top garden plot of sunflowers in bloom, mine are the ones that are in bud.

This one reminds me of that "Body Snatchers" movie!

These came out very surreal! From my iPhone using Hipstamatic app. A very low humidity day!

These are not photoshopped or enhanced, see the bee?

Two bees on this one!

If you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit. If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)

Out and About

I LOVE taking pictures everywhere I go with my trusty iPhone. I actually drive my friends or family kind of nuts because I stop all of the time to take photographs of things that catch my eye or spark my interest.

I take pictures for reference for future designs, of color combinations, of unique shapes, and sometimes of funny things and people ;)



Window of "Pinkberry", Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"PinkBerry", Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts 

"Urban Outfitters" neato window display

"Urban Outfitters", Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts

LOVE the colors here, buoys in an alley in Rockport, Massachusetts

Felted purse at a shop in Rockport, Massachusetts. MY kind of flowers!

Felted purse at a shop in Rockport, Massachusetts. Thought these were cool shapes, a lot like my designs.

If you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit. If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)

Up on the Roof.....

I moved to the lovely city of Providence, RI last year, and I am really enjoying the city lifestyle once again. I love the fact that I can walk to dinner, to the train, and also to the mall (a big "yay" for Nordstrom's). I am an avid gardener, and I was a bit lost after the move, due to the fact that I had to give away and sell my vast orchid collection. *sniff, sniff*  But I was pleasantly surprised when I found that 1. I have enough light in my northern exposure windows to grow a few orchids. 2. They have a garden club in my building, with a space on top of the parking garage for some raised bed garden plots. Yay!

This is just 5 WEEKS or so along, planted May 1. Still can't believe the growth!

That's my building. It's an old foundry converted to really cool loft style spaces. I love it!

Someone's allium. Not sure what it is? This one might be garlic.

Cornflower (Bachelor Button) and daisy from another plot.

My dahlias. So gorgeous! I didn't enhance the colors either!

How can you not love daisies?

I already have a few tomatoes that are over 2 inches in diameter. Psyched! I've planted lots of herbs for cooking, a clematis, which will bloom in a week or so, and of course, catnip for the kitties.

I love taking photos of many things, but flowers and plants always seem to fascinate me the most. Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me, it doesn't matter what season it is, and I'll always be her most passionate student.

I'm also constantly amazed at the quality of the photos that my little iPhone4 takes. The flower pics were all taken using Hipstamatic app.

Oh, and if you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography from here, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit. If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)

"Shapes around us"

  One of the lessons that I learned from "The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design" e-course is that you can find inspiration in virtually anything. I kind of already knew that, based on my experience in the jewelry industry and designing, but it was so much fun all over again to experience looking at common shapes in simple objects and getting downright GIDDY. Yep. Giddy.

   It was great fun walking around downtown Providence, RI taking pictures of architecture, bricks, old paint, anything that caught my eye.  You'll never look at manholes the same way again! I also found all kinds of nifty things inside of my house to photograph as well.  I used my iPhone 4 to take all of the pictures via "Hipstamatic" app, one of the coolest apps around for anyone that's into digital photography. Most if not all were taken using John S lens and Kodot XGrizzled film.

  Spirals. That thingie in the lower left corner is a pod of Cascade dish soap. Lol.  I love incorporating spiral shapes and details in my work.

Mosaics. The top right is from an exhibition of Dale Chihuly's fantastic glass works at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from last summer. Navajo blankets!  A whole wonderful and colorful wall of them! He collected them as inspiration for patterns in his creations.

Oh yeah, and if you haven't guessed yet, I like bright, bold, and cheerful colors :)  I enjoy going to garden centers and annoying whomever I am with by obsessively taking pictures of flowers. I especially enjoy sketching and drawing flower shapes and themes.

These are "hens and chicks" (Sempervivum tectorum) from Blithewold Gardens, in their small but fabulous greenhouse.

  I'm not the best writer, and I figure that I can post a lot of photos and my own artwork to fill in a lot of the blanks.  Haha.  Right?  And a big ooops, I didn't even post any pics from Providence.  Next time!

  Tata for now, more photos to come...

  Oh, and if you want to Pinterest any of my artwork or photography, please attach a link to this blog and give me credit.  If you don't, I will find you and hurt you ;)