Halifax Public Gardens chapter one

I've been wanting to share these pictures with you since I took them last Saturday when we visited the Halifax Public Gardens for the first time. I have so many that I will have to do it in at least 2 installments. When Wally asked me later that evening what my favourite part of the day was, I knew it was this old established parkland.

 What a perfect day for it.

Although we came in the back way, I thought I'd show you the main entrance gates that appear to be closing us out but were actually open at the sides.

There were four of these folk art style painted cast iron medallions on the gate.

Fanciful grillwork cover for a lamp post.

Wally in an atypical tourist mood as we pass through the gates.

This is our view as we came in through from the back of the park.

The fountain was quite classical, almost funny in its joyful references of the past.

the starlings enjoyed it too, splashing about.

Delightful old trees. This one is a chestnut.

a huge pond that created the most tranquil setting

lilies at the ponds edge

and the ducks that didn't seem to know they were wild

Detail from the photo above

and another detail from the same photo

Ok, I may as well warn you, there will be more ducks

what is it about these gentle creatures?

I find them fascinating in every way: their plumage, their shape, the colour,

their manner, their little duckie voices

I was thrilled to get these abstracted reflections with the ducks

They were so eager for handouts that they gave me and my slow exposure camera lots of "photo op's"

There were a surprising amount of fish in the water

creating a soft edge wake. See how the water breaks before her?

The reflections really jazzed up this peaceful scene

a duck's paradise

 Eventually they tired of us and went to browse among the reeds 

Before I close this segment of our trip to the Halifax Public Gardens and this incredibly beautiful pond, I was surprised by Wally's story that this lighthouse that sits on its own little island was made by his grandfather many many years ago. It's so nice to see how well it is maintained. In fact there are other small models of buildings throughout the grounds. I'll share one with you next time.

How sweet to have a thread of continuity through all the decades-

and what a little maintenance can do.

flower time

We thought we would have our lilies blooming in early June, but they're only just showing signs that they are ready to pop.

 In the meantime our flower pots are quite lush with petunias and lobelia, and more but,

 you know me, I'm always forgetting the names.

It's usually too hot to sit here on the back deck til the shade comes round late afternoon.

That's when a bowl of finger picking fruit, a glass of cold tisane and a pleasant read are perfection.

As one leaves the back porch there is a small garden on the southeast side of Wally's homemade composter where the echinacea we though we'd lost in the hurricane 2 weeks ago has survived.

How fascinated I always am by the fibonacci spiral that is so easily seen in the seed head of the famous coneflower (echinacea)

 

This image is borrowed from Wikipedia where it clearly shows the simple formula for making a spiral:

3+5=8  8+5=13  13+8=21 and so on

Even I, who suffers around numbers, understands this as each successive square is the size of the combined squares that precede it, the spiral arc-ing to the opposite corner.

Even the bud begins to unfurl sequentially along the spiral.

Each bud is on a different timeline

All on the same plant, this coneflower even has petals that are spiralled and ready to unfurl.

I was so thrilled to see these nearly black hollyhocks bloom

Each is dusted with its own pollen

Hollyhock buds

and finally, cherry tomatoes taking their sweet time to blush

Four little maids in a row

It is raining like the dickens today. With thunder and lightning too!

The plants are loving it.

Whisper...a handmade book

Here are some pages from my handmade book as promised:

 Here is the brown paper bag wrapped front cover, brushed with random strokes of gesso and acrylic paint and adorned with a torn strip of poetry

"Whisper"

pencil drawings of owls adorn most pages, a few bits of evocative text left from the book page used to make this one signature (folded papers) book composed of three folios (a folded piece of paper)

"graceful and... splendid old garden"

pages 2 and 3

"Before the evening...every scrap which could be found"

 pages 4 and 5

here I added some torn bits of text on each side of  the preserved one

"so delightfully small...more curious than beautiful...caused you to smile"

pages 6 and 7

"cottage upon the island"

 pages 8 and 9

"you did come from home...the vacant spaces left...so the story runs"

pages 10 and 11

"and the gathering together...they began to be"

page 12

"I have never seen"

As you can see the book is, as yet, unfinished. There's more I'd like to add.

You can also see that 3 folded pages (folios) that make up this one signature book

amount to 12 pages on which to work, not including the inside covers (which add 2 more)

This was a fun little project, something I've been wanting to do longer than I care to mention.

When one thinks of the little things one could do in a lifetime to create an expression of the self, without measuring these efforts against anyone else's, it boggles the imagination. We are a sentient people who learn, both about ourselves and the world at large, through our feelings though we may cloud this direct avenue with the intellect through beliefs and adherence to form.  Creativity in its many forms is an avenue to the feelings through thoughtful expression that can be more transcendent for the maker than the viewer.

 I once saw a shelf of pipecleaner and found bits of paper and tissue figures made by a concentration camp survivor who invited me to see, or perhaps witness this fragile expression of her experience. I was profoundly moved by this personal expression of the self. I have since forgotten her name or how I came to meet her, but I will never forget the feeling it stamped on my sense of what is true in the realm of creative expression.

I encourage you to look with renewed eyes at the bits of detritus one finds around the home. Artists are notorious for stuffing pockets with "treasures" found along the way, filling boxes and windowsills with this raw material. What could you do with a bit of string and paper, some glue and a threaded needle, colourful plastic bottlecaps or some discarded cardboard? I'd love to hear your ideas.

constructing a book

Hi again. I certainly didn't mean to be away so long. So much to take me away from here, including the hurricane damage we incurred after Arthur passed through with winds much higher than forecast- in fact 100kmh higher. Luckily we only lost electric power for 6 hours and then a couple of shorter periods during the course of the day compared to some folks who had to endure many days of outage.

the morning before the storm

the morning after: a huge branch fallen from one of our ash trees

 Between the heat that followed and the days spent cleaning up after the storm, another week went by before I made it back into the studio.  All the while I was thinking about a book I've been wanting to make. What materials would I use? How big would it be? What would its theme be? Would there be words? A story? How does one make a cover? Finally the day came. It was a Tuesday afternoon:

I chose a piece of encyclopedia endpaper and wrapped it around 3 pages of an old book that I folded to make a signature, my one signature book. I sewed it up.

I had previously torn the page edges; that's the look I was going for.

Then I cut the covers and spine from a pizza box and masking taped them together

I have since learned that I didn't leave enough room between the spine and the covers to allow for closing the book properly. Ah, well, a beginner's project.

I cut some vintage ledger paper to wrap the covers and spine in,

 mitered the edges of the paper and glued it onto my cover

whoops! It was see-through. Not the look I was going for.

and how did this happen? The endpapers don't cover the inside of the cardboard covers.

I cut them down

I refitted the book covers with a new (old) brown opaque paper,

using the bone folder to crisp up the edges that I was about to glue.

This paper was not so obedient to stay put, so I clamped the edges down while the glue dried.

I occupied myself during this drying stage by gessoing my pages,

 picking out phrases that appealed to me.

 I also began to draw the owls that I intended to glue into the book.

Now it was time to glue the signature into the book 

by attaching the back of the endpapers to the inside covers. 

Oh darn. Short again. I cut a new strip of endpaper to add to the right edge. Hopefully it won't be too noticeable. (Maybe I shouldn't have told you, Ha ha) 

The fact is I don't really mind as I'm going for a deconstructed look. I love the look of old things. 

(How convenient for me that it is the natural course of a beginner's work.)

In my next post, I will give you a progress report- with pictures- of how the book is coming along.

I hope you are having a pleasant summer (or winter for that matter) and that you will join me next time.

peace

july morning

Using that same upside down flower idea, I made a birthday card.

"Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum.

You came along and everything started to hum.

Still, it's a real good bet, the best is yet to come."

by SHANNON GREENE / TERRY TODD

I just love how the top 2 leaves make a natural collar

The hydrangeas are blooming with a vengeance

the shrub of many stalks is about to take over the garden

moving in for the attack

I love the green blossoms

even greener prior to blooming

glorious spring green, the colour we are trimming our house in

here's a hint of it around the basement window (more pictures to come)

This is where I sit in late afternoon to read a book. I've got 4 on the go right now.

across the little deck I have this rescued chair with its visiting potted flowers for company

I was surprised to find the miniature wild roses blooming.

 I found them by following their saturated rosy scent.

on the screen a startling red visitor

a mixed media spread I started last night, not quite finished

a detail of the queen

are you stopping to smell the roses?