Tag: flowers

Head on down to the Ferry Building!

On By Barbara StroudIn TRAVEL4 Comments

Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA

I took this photo years ago at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, CA. Have you been there? If you’re in San Fran, I highly suggest it. It’s a feast for your eyes! I’m not kidding, so many wonderful things, fresh food, drink, you name it! Here is a list of VENDORS. I’m not sure if the flower place is still there or not, it was magical! I could picture us living there, going to the Ferry Building each weekend for fresh flowers and produce… well, except for the $$PRICE$$ of living in San Francisco… oh well, I’m happy with my life here in Charleston, and the fact that Trader Joe’s, EarthFare and Whole Foods are close by!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Shirley Novak!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist3 Comments


ShirleyNovak PurePaletteZinnias SG

NOTE: Yep, it’s me again, making changes to the way this blog looks…  

Well now that we’ve had a tease of warm weather I’m loving all these bright happy flower paintings! Not that we go lacking for sunshine in the winter, but these are just so happy! I love Shirley’s use of color, how each compliments the next so nicely. Bright, happy and they feel as if they’re moving… dancing perhaps!

Shirley shows her work here in Charleston, SC at the Sylvan Gallery, so if you’re in the area be sure to stop by and check it out, otherwise her website is fantastic!

Read a blip about Shirley from her website, (I LOVE the Calvin Coolidge quote below, ha ha), what a fabulous write up… I love this!

Dscn0350.jpg (726764 bytes)Sometimes I think of myself as Shirley Poppy Seed.  I love to harvest poppy seed, their seed pods are like a salt shaker and one of my childhood joys was shaking poppy seed out of their pods.  I am still a child in this way, last year I harvested about three pounds of Shirley Poppy seeds, that is approximately three million seeds.  I love to share my seeds with fellow gardeners.  As I am writing this it is late May and my first Shirley Poppies are bursting into bloom.  The Iceland Poppies start their bloom in mid April and bloom best in cooler weather, but will bloom from April thru November.  Deadheading is the necessary element in continuing their bloom for so many months.I guess I have always been “garden mad” as the British say.  As a child I loved to go to the nursery to buy plants and then bring them home, and create a flower bed and then water it to death.  So painting flowers is just natural to my being.  Color, intense and delicate color harmony, has always moved me emotionally.  My love of flowers and love of color are the passions that drove me to be come a painter.  Like Claude Monet said  ” I  perhaps owe it to flowers for having become a painter”.  Since childhood the voice has been loud and clear telling me I must paint.a flock of poppies.jpg (109074 bytes)I painted regularly thru most of my youth and young adulthood, and less often during my daughter Natalie’s childhood.  In the early 1990’s I could finally focus on my need to paint.  I took several painting workshops and knew that I could become a professional if I worked persistently and patiently.  This quote from Calvin Coolidge speaks to this…”Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.  Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.  The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”alley_hollyhocks-ouray.jpg (73335 bytes)By the mid 1990’s I was ready to risk everything in order to make painting my life.  In 1996 I left my life in California and headed to Colorado to study with one of my workshop teachers, Len Chmiel.  I sold a terrific house in a pastoral setting with ponds, creek, 100 yr old trees and views of the White Mountains.  I lightened my load of material objects by 2/3, shed my old skin, stepped outside of myself, let go of the outcome and let the universe handle the details of my future.    This was January of ’96, I arrived in Denver in a snow storm.  I moved into an apartment and enrolled in classes at the Art Students League with a firm belief I would be OK.  I must have taken this quote from Thoreau to heart; “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams… live the life you’ve imagined”.  Joseph Campbell’s words also gave me confidence during this transitional period of my life.  Especially these; “Follow your bliss and doors will open for you”.  During these years many doors were opened to me, many opportunities and amazing people came into my life.During the next year I studied with Len Chmiel on a private basis, and also took classes at the Art Students League with Mark Daily.  Mark Daily taught his classes to “paint what you love, and let your work become known for this”.  For me it was easy to know what I should paint, loving flowers and color all my life.  I’ve always been drawn to country gardens and the old fashioned flowers, and decided I had to learn to paint them.In August of ’96 I took an outdoor painting workshop in Aspen, Colorado.  This is where I met my husband Ralph Oberg.  Ralph is a very successful landscape and wildlife artist.  We had so much in common, we discovered very quickly spending lots of time together was easy, comfortable and natural.  Ralph has spent his life hiking and painting the Rocky  Mountains west and has a deep love of the wilderness.  During the first two years of our time together we made numerous painting trips to most of his favorite mountain ranges.  I loved getting to know his world and seeing so much of the western United States, and getting to paint my way through it.  We were married in December of 1997 and the next year in May we bought property in southwestern Colorado and built a house and studio.  I have been double digging flower beds at every opportunity since.  The last three years have been spent building our garden.  Ralph has constructed rose arbors, and laid our rock walks and terraces out of Blue Stone, while I have been building the soil structure in our numerous flower beds and filling them with perennials.  I have really worked hard and this year it is starting to feel like an established garden.We had a garden cottage built for me to paint in and use as a potting shed.  We designed her after some of the adorable New England cottages we saw on a recent trip through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine,  We named her ‘Poppy Cottage’,  she makes a great garden studio.I love reading about the passion Claude Monet had for his garden.  Pissarro and Van Gogh were also avid gardeners.  My garden gives me great joy and countless ideas for paintings.  Each year I let nature have her way and let seedlings sprout in new places and in combinations I wouldn’t have thought of.  There are always delightful surprises in every corner of my garden.What I try to do with paint is recreate the joy I experience in my subjects; the flowers that I grow, and the wildflowers in mountain meadows.  This quote from Joseph Campbell, “The function of art is to reveal the radiance running through all things”, suggests why I have such strong emotional responses to our natural world.I took plenty of time to develop my process and my way with paint so that I could ‘sing my own song’.  I wanted to honor these quotes I happened across “The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are” and” What I do is me, for that I came”.  This was frightening much of the way and still is at times.  Something inside of me keeps telling me to stay on this path.  When I am at the easel I try to let the experience happen without forcing anything, and without judgment or negativity.  Painting is a huge gift to my life.  I love to encourage friends to give it a try, I believe we are all creative at our core.  I love helping friends reconnect with their inner child and helping them experience the gift that painting is to me. Click HERE to read more!Catch you back here tomorrow!

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…

On By Barbara StroudIn THOUGHTSLeave a comment

Have A Beautiful Day!

I swear spring has sprung! We’re supposed to have mid to upper 70 degree temps today, crazy for JANUARY! Did I say January!? Get out and enjoy the beauty, it’s all around you!

This photo was taken last May… a peony… my absolute all time FAVORITE flower! Their simply elegant beauty is stunning! We can’t grow them here in Charleston, SC, but Harris Teeter carries them, thank goodness!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Cynthia Reid!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist4 Comments

Cynthia Reid FlowerMosaic AddisonArt

Flower Mosaic by Cynthia Reid / Image: AddisonArt.com

How’s this to brighten up a dreary day? I love these nice bright colors, it’s so happy! We can’t complain here in Charleston, SC about gloomy weather… we had a day of rain, which was so nice… an all day gentle rain. I happen to love those kinds of days, but from what I can gather I’m some sort of anomaly when it comes to weather… I hear others say WHERE IS THE SUN after a day or two of clouds… I say WHERE ARE THE CLOUDS, hee hee… Fall, Winter and the beginning of spring are what we live for here in Charleston…

Here’s a blip about Cynthia from the Addison Art Gallery website:

Cynthia Reid left a successful career as a physician to pursue a passion for painting that had consistently increased while she was practicing medicine. Her interest in art began when she was young and painted with her paternal grandparents, both of whom were oil painters. 

An avid gardener, Cynthia finds inspiration in gardens and in travels throughout the U.S. and Canada. Some of her paintings, especially those featuring poppy fields and lily ponds, reflect scenes from recent trips to France.

In working with oil paints, Cynthia uses a palette knife technique to juxtapose complementary, vibrant colors to recreate the joy, beauty, and textures of the natural world. She believes that painting is about trusting her intuition and the process, while being open to the unpredictable. Her contemporary impressionist style keeps mystery in the painting.

A member of the American Impressionist Society and Oil Painters of America, she has studied with Kevin Macpherson and abstract expressionist, Josh Goldberg.
Artist’s Statement
I paint because I have a passion for expressing the beauty of the natural world. Using a palette knife and oil paints allows me to capture that beauty by recreating nature’s varying textures, color, and movement. These three elements are seen in my recent works — bold sunflowers, vibrant poppies, dancing irises, and waterscapes.

My intention is that each painting allows the viewer to enjoy a sense of being in a particular place. I believe that the viewer completes every work of art and want my paintings to start a conversation.

Now THAT is a love of art! Stop by the Addison Art Gallery website to view more of Cynthia’s work, or stop by Cynthia’s website to see more great work!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

A Walk Downtown… (Charleston, SC)

On By Barbara StroudIn HOME4 Comments

How stately is this? Magnificent. Prestigious. Oh, Charleston is full of the most beautiful architecture dating back hundreds of years. Whenever I’m downtown I think what a wonderful city this would be to visit while on vacation… summer could prove a little humid for me, but it’s beautiful nonetheless! Everywhere you look there is a photo to be taken. So if you live here, grab your camera and head out! If you visit Charleston, bring extra batteries and a big memory card!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Photo: Azalea’s in Charleston… Happy Spring!

On By Barbara StroudIn HOME, THOUGHTSLeave a comment

H A P P Y  S P R I N G ! Can you believe it’s SPRING already?? Time flies… I mean it’s whizzing by at such a pace I can barely believe it… Maybe because it’s been like spring in Charleston most of the winter. It still comes as a shock that today is the first day of spring, or should I say… one season closer to summer, ahhh! Like those of you in cool climates dread winter, I dread summer… here’s hoping that this will be an unusually cool summer (woohoo! That hasn’t happened since 1989 when I moved here, but winter has never been so mild either, so… there’s hope)!

It’s a beautiful time here in Charleston, everything is blooming. It seems that everyone has azaleas, and the street is lined in pink blooms. Very pretty indeed!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

From me to you… Happy Valentine’s Day!

On By Barbara StroudIn THOUGHTS2 Comments

A little something from me to you… H A P P Y V A L E N T I N E S D A Y !! What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? Ahhh, the dreaded question for many? Fred and I typically stay in… we save going out to a nice restaurant when we can savor it and not be rushed through it… Flowers… Crazy prices for Valentine’s Day… we usually have something on our table (beautiful “winter” tulips from Whole Foods right now, gorgeous!) – and trust me… I need candy like I need a hole in my head (ok, another really creepy saying…)… so we’ll undoubtedly whip up some fantastic dinner… (last year it was filet mignon, mushrooms, baked potato, hmmm, that’s what I’m remembering anyhow),and have a wonderful Valentine’s Day… but then again, we always manage to have a great time no matter where we go or what we do. Life is what you make it! Or as a card says that my mom sent to me a while back… LIFE’S SHORT… PICK THE FLOWERS!

Enjoy your day!

Did you realize that Valentine’s Day has been celebrated since at least the 1600’s? Get out! Interesting about the history… read HERE…

And a quick I L O V E Y O U F R E D ! I am a very lucky Valentine!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured artist… Sandra Baggette!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist2 Comments
Image: SandraBaggette.com
Sandra Baggette is a wonderful artist, friend and such an interesting person! Over the years we have collected many paintings, but Sandra’s was our very first “original”. I remember it like it was yesterday but it was over 20 years ago… it was an art show in Mt. Pleasant where channel 2 is located. The painting was a  fabulous watercolor of all these gorgeous flowers, it was AMAZING! We went on to collect several more of Sandra’s and during that time she became a good friend. Sandra truly is the neatest person. She has a fabulous studio located in Port Royal, SC. If you’re in the area you must check it out… info is on her website which is also very nice… Her use of color is stunning. No drab paintings from Sandra! The painting above is entitled SPARKLING SUNLIT BOUQUET…
Here’s a blip about Sandra from her website:
A “painterly colorist” working in oils, Sandra blends what she sees and feels to share a lifelong enthusiasm for color and flowers Her passion for nature and vibrant colors is clearly demonstrated in her first book,
Sandra Baggette: Painting What I Love , a collection of recent works published in 2011.

 In 1988, Sandra established the Garden Studio Gallery in Port Royal, SC to pursue her passions for painting and gardening. This peaceful environment, rich with colorful patterns created by flowers and sunshine, is a constant source of inspiration for her paintings. 

Studies throughout the United States and abroad have played an important role in Sandra’s artistic development. Her travels in Italy and France, where she enjoyed the privilege of painting in Monet’s gardens and studied a variety of Impressionist masters, and the stirring sights of Hong Kong, Bermuda, Hawaii, and other locales have helped her grow as an artist and fueled her desire to move in new directions. Sandra continues to paint primarily in oils and to learn from nationally recognized instructors at the Scottsdale Artist School in Arizona and workshops throughout the United States. In 2010, she had the rare opportunity to take an oil painting class with acclaimed artist and instructor, Charles Reid. S. Burkett Kaiser, Ovanes Beberian, and Gay Faulkenberry, all students of Sergei Bongart, a Russian Impressionist whom Sandra admires, have also been some of her favorite instructors. 

Recent participation in the Clemson University Master Gardeners and Lowcountry Institute at Spring Island programs has deepened Sandra’s knowledge and appreciation of nature and gardening in ways that will enhance her work. Membership in the Lowcountry Plein Air Society affords her excellent opportunities to paint and learn with fellow artists in picturesque outdoor locations. She has also benefitted from participating in the Plein Air Painters of America Paint Outs in Bennington, VT and Old Lyme, CT. 

An award-winning artist, Sandra has exhibited in over 100 juried shows in the United States.Juan Logan awarded a Merit award to Sandra’s Seasonal Inspirations Series at Piccolo Spoleto Arts Festival 2011. .Zinnias and Melonswas accepted into the Hilton Head Art League 2009 National Juried Show, judged by Craig Srebnik. Among the Flowers won First Place in the Lowcountry Plein Air Society Competition judged by Jack Morris. Roses and Sweetgrass Baskets and The Arrangement were chosen for the 2009 South Carolina State Fair Fine Art Exhibit. In 2008, her oil paintings received two awards from Tom Lynch at the 48th Annual Beaufort Art Association’s Spring Exhibit and an Award of Merit from Jonathan Green at the Piccolo Spoleto Arts Festival.
Affiliations 
Lowcountry Plein Air Society; South Carolina Watermedia Society; Beaufort Art Association; Arts Council of Northern Beaufort County; and Oil Painters of America Associate. 

If you’re in Charleston, SC you will see Sandra at Marion Square each year during the Piccolo Spoleto Arts Festival! Catch you back here tomorrow!

The magnificent homes on the West Bluff, Mackinac Island, MI

On By Barbara StroudIn TRAVELLeave a comment
Magnificent homes on the West Bluff, Mackinac Island, MI

I know I said the East Bluff was my favorite… but… the West Bluff is also my favorite. These homes are impeccable and pristinely maintained, and that can’t be an easy (or cheap) job. It takes a lot of love to keep them looking like they do. The flowers are breathtaking. These are homes to be proud of for sure (as are many on Mackinac Island!). Ironically one of my favorite homes is the second from the left in the photo, the smaller one (which truly isn’t a small house, the others are just very large). It’s the sweetest home I’ve ever seen with a view that’s to die for. I would love to live in this house year round…. Ah, a nice dream for sure! On my Mac I can double click on the image to enlarge… hopefully PC users have that same capability… its nice to be able to see it a little closer! If you ever get a chance to visit Mackinac Island, MI I highly suggest it, it will be unlike anywhere you’ve ever visited in your life!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Happy May Day!

On By Barbara StroudIn HOMELeave a comment
Image: skiptomylou.wordpress.com

HAPPY MAY DAY! If you’re one of the lucky people you will open your door this morning and there will be a pretty cone of flowers tied with ribbon around your door knob. What a neat thing to do for someone… hey, if you’re up early, run out and pick a few flowers, wrap the stems in foil or something with a wet paper towel to keep them fresh, and tie it with a ribbon on your neighbors door… boy, will they ever be surprised!

Catch you back here tomorrow! If you get a chance check out my photo blog at http://almostdailypic.wordpress.com !