Getting Ready for Summer 2015

Summer is just three weeks away and after surviving a long, brutally cold winter, it can't come soon enough. Bring on the spring showers, summer sun, lush gardens, backyard BBQs and bonfires. When I'm not busy creating new pieces, you can usually find me out gardening for a few hours each day. My gardens are my sanctuary...it's just so refreshing to be outside digging in the dirt, clearing out the weeds and watching everything come to life.

I find gardening another way to be creative and love decorating my garden with all sorts of things from old garden chairs, broken crockery, birdbaths, arbours, birdcages, fountains and rustic iron sculpture. I love creating little points of interest hidden between the plants. One of my favourite pieces is a broken mirror frame surrounded by a group of not so scary gargoyles.

Summer is also outdoor show and festival season and for all of us artists, time to pack up the tent and hit the road.  Snowy, cold days provided me lots of time to create and I can't wait to get out there and share my newest creations with you. Be sure to check my facebook page for a complete list of events that I'll be attending. 

This past weekend I went to the Christie Antique Show at the Christie Lake Conservation in Dundas, Ontario. It took us a while to make our way in, but well worth the wait. Bus shuttles take you to and from the show field and we only waited a few minutes. With 300 vendors there is something for everyone, vintage and antiques. Found some fantastic deals on deco and vintage pins and pearls-amazing bargains!! I couldn't wait to get home and start making new pieces with my great  finds.

 I'm also thrilled to announce that I've returned to the Stratford Festival Theatre Stores for another fantastic season and if you're planning to attend one of the Festival's outstanding productions be sure to stop in and check out their lovely shops. 

Take care.....Marian  xo    

My Secret Garden

Every day I can't help but marvel at how lush this year's gardens are. Everything has grown so thick and full and my gardens have matured to the point where I feel like I'm surrounded by my own 'secret garden'. With the seasonable temperatures and spring rains, everything is green and loaded with buds and flowers. I can't get over how absolutely beautiful everything looks, especially after a shower with the black earth as the perfect background for all of the colourful plants.

I try to get out and do a bit of work in the garden everyday, and the first thing I do is turn on the fountains. The sound of the water is so calming and peaceful....bliss!

Last year I caught the most beautiful lines of a poem that were painted across the back of a bench in an episode of "Call the Midwife". I googled the portion that I managed to write down and I was lucky enough to find the entire poem online. I'd love to share it with you along with some pictures that I took this week. The poem is called "God's Garden" and it was written by American poet Dorothy Frances Gurney.

Enjoy and I hope you're taking as much pleasure from your gardens this spring as I am!



 

The Lord god planted a garden
In the first white days of the world,

And He set there an angel warden
In a garment of light enfurled.

So near to the peace of Heaven,
That the hawk might nest with the wren,

 

  

For there in the cool of the even
God walked with the first of men.

 

And I dream that these garden-closes
With their shade and their sun-flecked sod

 

And their lilies and bowers of roses,
Were laid by the hand of God.

 

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,--

One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.

 

For he broke it for us in a garden
Under the olive-trees
 



Where the angel of strength was the warden
And the soul of the world found ease.

-Dorothy Frances Gurney

 

Take care.....Marian  xo