HERB STAMPS

HERB STAMPS

Herb stamp stationery-looks like a watercolor painting

I love the idea of using herbs and flowers as personal logos for my stationary. I am especially pleased that I can walk out into my garden here at Woodloft and collect my own herbs for this project. Now is a good time for harvesting special herbs, flowers or other patterned plants This idea comes from Laura Bethmann, author of Nature Printing with Herbs, Fruits and Flowers. Laura says, “The only materials required are a stamp pad and a leaf.”

Materials used for stamping

This is so very simple to do. This is a great project for the kids or grandkids to do. Lay a leaf with the underside down on a sponge stamp pad. You do this because the veins are more prevalent on the underside and will pick up the ink better. I used sage, parsley and geranium plants.

Leaf placed face up on sponge stamping pad

Next you use a piece of plastic wrap and press down with it till ink seems to be penetrating.

Ink filled leaf ready for stamping

Finally, you lift the leaf from the stamp pad and press onto the paper of your choice. You can use a newspaper for this. I think these are quite beautiful. They remind me of a lacy water color painting. It might be fun to try printing the leaves onto material. I’m not sure if the dye would take and I don’t think it would be washable.

Pressing the herbs onto stationery with newspaper

Looks just like a magical water color painting

I’ll be giving you more tips on what to do with your herbs now that it is early fall and they will soon be gone.

Addendum, December 2, 2009: Cory Trusty at Aquarian Bath (http://aquarianbath.blogspot.com/2009/12/herbal-aesthetics-decemeber-blog-party.html) is having a December "Blogparty" that included this post among the blog posts she wanted her readers to enjoy. Please click the preceding link to join in the party!

MOSAIC FACES

MOSAIC FACES

Mosaic lady, "Truthseeker"

As you can probably tell, I love to use faces in my art. I have spent much of my life drawing, sculpting, batiking, quilting frescoing and painting them. I am now in the process of learning how to mosaic faces. This I find very challenging.

Painted face, "Lady of the Labyrinth"

Quilted face, "Gypsy Woman Journal"

Batiked face

Large fresco titled "Angels of Love, Strength and Wisdom"

Smaller fresco face

While in Italy a few years ago, I took pictures of intriguing faces of all kinds that were hand crafted in mosaic.

I love the close-up of the eye

Many mosaics are placed above doors in Italy

This mosaic was located in an alcove

I viewed this one in Venice

I have purchased several books and I’m ready to give this a go. Unfortunately, I find that when I start new projects, I throw myself into them and I don’t complete just one. I find that I must make several. It’s sort of like I am hoping each one will be better and different and will lead me to a new series I can present to viewers at the market or my galleries. For awhile, Woodloft, my home, will be inundated with mosaic faces. Then, before long, I’ll be off on another tangent and creating a new series.

Glass nipper and stained glass

Sculpted face

Even though I love sculpting, making mosaic faces offers me a new and exciting challenge. I will be putting the clay down for awhile and throwing myself once again into glass!

I’ve got a good start on "Truthseeker." I’ll be sure to post a picture of my mosaic lady, when finished.

OLD FASHIONED SWEET AND SOUR COLESLAW

OLD FASHIONED SWEET AND SOUR COLESLAW

Old Fashioned Sweet and Sour Coleslaw

If you are looking for an easy coleslaw dish to act as an accompaniment to a main dish for your Labor Day barbeque, (or any other occasion) this recipe is for you. I have made the Old Fashioned Coleslaw numerous times and everyone loves it. The recipe takes only minutes to prepare.

I usually double for a large gathering.

HERBS: NOW IS THE THYME!

HERBS: NOW IS THE THYME!

Parsley, basil majoram

The season is here. It’s herb gathering/harvesting time. September is the month to start drying all those herbs you have grown and used all summer. This is what I do: I harvest my bay leaves, oregano, thyme and majoram and other herbs. I place them in brown sandwich bags and put those bags in my car. The herbs dry inside the warmth of the car. The car smells wonderful during the drying and when I open the bags a day later, they are completely dry and have retained a lot of their color. Now I place the herbs in a sealed container for winter’s use. I appreciate the bay leaves the most in the dead of winter since they are so expensive when bought at that time. I use my bay leaves for soups and pasta sauces.

Herbs ready to be placed into brown bags

It is almost time to bring in the plants that I have placed outside for the summer. I’m talking about those big houseplants. This is what I do: I place a bulb of garlic inside the soil of each plant. The insects that might be abiding there will be repelled by the garlic and flee the plant. After two days, I then bring the plant inside, knowing the bugs have left.

Garlic being placed into plant's soil

I love my basil plants. I grow as much as the grounds at Woodloft, (my home) will allow. I harvest the leaves and place them alternately in a glass jar with parmesan cheese. I place it in the freezer for the winter. When opened in January, it is like summer in a jar. I use the combination in pastas and salads.They also make a great winter gift.

Layered basil and parmesan cheese

Now is also the time to plant garlic. If you plant garlic in the fall, it will be ready for an early spring harvest. All that you have to do is to plant several whole garlic bulbs about 2” underground and cover with soil. This year, I ended up with a huge number of small garlic bulbs. I was disappointed until I tasted them. Wow! They were strong and pungent. The smaller the bulb, the more flavor. I’d show you a picture, but we ate them all!

All these ideas are tried and true. (by me) More herb tips soon.




Hope you enjoyed these early fall garden tips.

A LIVELY DAY AT THE MARKET

A LIVELY DAY AT THE MARKET

Eric Fitzpatrick

The Roanoke Farmers market was humming with activity last Saturday. Eric Fitzpatrick, a popular fine artist who lives in Roanoke, presented an on site class for several students. What a setting! There is a diversity of people and market attractions such as the kettle corn vendor, the homemade ice cream vendor, farmers, artists and historic buildings that the students were bound to find excellent subjects to paint.

Upside-Down Picnic

Eric's friend, Dave Urano, is getting ready for a wonderful picnic at Eric's house. Hope he likes his wine upside down! Eric is an artist after my own heart. He is not afraid to live his art. He and I both have what are probably the most unusual cars in all of Roanoke. We also believe in surrounding our homes with as much art as we can cram into them. And who wants usual cars and homes? Not artists!

Eric can be contacted at (540) 345-7887 or Fitzpatrick-art.com

Art demonstation

Saturday was also the day of the Center in the Square Gallery art demonstration. Several artists spent the day showing hundreds of people the method by which they create. Greg Ballou demonstrated his technique by bending, lifting and actually lying under his work as he assembled his mixed media paintings.

Greg Ballou

Sal Corral spent the day showing how he creates such bright, colorful paintings. He worked on an oversized canvas most of the day and amazed his viewers by allowing the images to come alive before their very eyes. Sal will be leaving soon for London, where he will continue his art studies.

Sal Corral

Janet Wimmer

Mary Tousman

I was there, too!

Merideth Entingh

Ric Stump

We have three new artists joining the gallery. Welcome Viki, Marie and Elane.

Viki Quinn with her sculpture "Penthouses In Who-Ville"

Marie Gobbie Levine

Elane Watson and founder of gallery, Deborah Goglia

Food was also plentiful on the market on Saturday. 202 Restaurant offered their “Sidewalk Paella” and Horizon restaurant presented their usual sumptuous lunch menu.

Lunch from Horizon restaurant

More good food with art will be available Thursday night when our gallery joins forces with several others in the area for the monthly “Art by Night.” Participants wander from one gallery to the other, enjoying great art and refreshments absolutely free. There is also a free limo provided for the evening. We look forward to seeing everyone this Thursday, September 3rd, from 5:00 – 9:00 PM. Gee, that's tomorrow night. I’d better start making the two cheesecake flans I'll be bringing! See you there!

HOMESTEAD HORSEWOMAN

GODDESS CEREMONIAL NECKLACES

“Homestead HorseWoman”

Judy Bechtold

I met Judy Bechtold a few months ago while tending my booth at the farmers’ market in Roanoke. Judy told me that she had moved recently to Roanoke from Richmond. Before she moved to Richmond a few years ago, she had lived in Tallahassee, Florida for thirty years with her beloved husband, Steve. After she lost Steve to cancer, she joined her daughter’s family in their move to Virginia. She has already become a valued addition to the Roanoke community, working as a school speech therapist and as a therapeutic horse leader/side walker at Healing Strides of Virginia (www.healingstridesofva.org).

Judy, third from left, with her horse Tony

Judy grew up on Hoosier Homestead Farm, a pastoral piece of Indiana that has been in her family for eight generations. Her farmer father and grandfather encouraged a love of horses in Judy and her five sisters from an early age. Along with her mother, a mid-western farm wife who could cook or sew just about any item of food or clothing family members needed, they taught the girls the value of hard work and discipline. Those lessons undoubtedly helped provide Judy and her sisters with the values that enabled them all to graduate from Purdue University.

Judy, second from left, riding with the "All Girl Mounted Horse Patrol"

I’m finding Judy has a great sense of humor. She arrived at a drumming ceremony I had a month ago wearing a comical ‘bat hat’ that she created for the occasion. My home, Woodloft, has a small bat population and she wanted to be sure none of them landed in her hair. When Judy asked me to create a custom necklace for her, she asked me to incorporate a few particularly meaningful keepsakes she had collected over the years. Below, are the items she gave me to work with.

Sterling horse

Angel heart

Sterling feather

Small bird

Dolphin pendant

I added pau abalone shell pieces in recognition of Judy’s journey to New Zealand, itself a symbol of her many interesting travels. I also added a nautilus in acknowledgment of her long-time residency near the ocean in Florida.

Pau Abalone

I’ve enjoyed learning about Judy’s life and working on her necklace. I wasn’t sure if I could pull all those items together in one piece, but I believe it worked out very nicely. I hope she agrees.

Homestead Horsewoman

Below is the scroll I wrote to go with Judy’s necklace.

Homestead HorseWoman

A galloping horse is the central element in your Goddess Ceremonial Necklace, Judy, because of your lifelong involvement with these graceful animals. From Janie, your first pony, to Tony and the other horses of your youth, to the therapeutic riding mounts of your adult life, horses have been a constant presence in your life. Horses represent a source of power and freedom for you as they have to many people throughout history. Through your work in therapeutic riding, in turn, you have given some of this power and freedom to handicapped individuals: a little bit more power over their lives, and a little bit more freedom from their limitations.

The angel with the ruby heart has many meanings for you. First, it signifies your faith. It also symbolizes the spiritual guides you have encountered throughout your life. At least as importantly as these, however, and perhaps even more, it signifies the extraordinary bond of love among you, your sisters, and the other members of your family.

The two feathers are symbolic of the glowing hawk feather you found in Tallahassee and had incorporated into a Lakota-made dream catcher. Found shortly after your beloved sister, Alice, passed, you embraced the original as a spiritual message from her – and so the feathers on your necklace serve as an affirmation of that reassurance.

The bird over the head of “Homestead HorseWoman” signifies the totemic birds – hawk, bluebird and hummingbird – which have played such a significant role in your life. It also symbolizes your love of bird watching, a pastime you avidly share with your grandchildren.

Turquoise is one of your favorite colors and stones, and so, of course, it is included in your necklace. Historically, people of many cultures have reputed the stone to bring prosperity, health, or good fortune to the owner. May it confer all of these on you, Judy.

The two representative sea mammals forming the large heart at the bottom of your necklace are reminders your multiple encounters with dolphins, and your embrace of the dolphin spirit of "a carefree sense of adventure” coupled with “unselfconscious playfulness". Taken together with the horse and the bird, these dolphins also represent your love for the natural world and your efforts through the years to take ever better care of “Mother Earth.”

The paua abalone shell pieces are a token your trip to New Zealand. They also serve as a more general reminder of your many journeys and your belief that we should always “live in the Now.”

~ Cheryl Dolby~