ABSTRACT RADISHES ON THE POTTING BENCH

Earlier this spring I made a potting bench out of 2x4's and cedar pickets.  I also added 4 corbels to support a shelf on either side. The corbels had been in my basement for about 5 years - finally put to good use!   

Once the piece was built, I used a homemade stain made of vinegar and steel wool. Fill a jar halfway with white vinegar, add a torn up very fine steel wool pad, and let it sit for a few days.  The vinegar breaks down the steel wool into rusty bits and when applied to wood, affects the tanin, which causes a weathered look I love. 

The bench is 2' deep and 6 ' long.  It has already been so usefull for transplanting things, arranging flowers, and getting vegetables ready to bring inside.  A couple days ago I pulled a big bundle of radishes and rinsed them and trimmed them right here to keep the mess out of the kitchen.

That very bundle of radishes became a playful little radish abstract this morning.  Not my usual style but sometimes for me it's all about color.  And it's fun to play around with different mediums and styles.  

The unframed print of Abstract Radishes is available on my Etsy shop, here:   https://www.etsy.com/shop/gillyflowercottage/.

BEAUTIFUL BUNDLE!

My French Breakfast Radishes are coming in fast and furious.  There are a lot of radish salads in my future, so I've been checking out new recipes. This week it'll be Corn Salad with Radishes and Lime, Crunchy Garden Salsa, and Chicken Salad with Radishes and Apples.  

I've read that radishes are packed with Vitamins E, A, C, B6, and K.  Plus they're high in antioxidants, fiber, zinc, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, copper, calcium, and iron. It's going to be a very healthy week!

Tonight I tossed them with my fresh leaf lettuce.  Soon, I'll have tomatoes, 

(my own) cucumbers, and peppers to add to the mix.  Bon Appétit!  

-Nan

GARDEN CLEAN-UP DAY

It was a cool and breezy day in SE Wisconsin and perfect for working outside.  So today I edged, weeded, transplanted, planted, swept, watered, and trimmed.  Late afternoon came with quite a drop in temperature and a great downpour!  What perfect timing!

This is an 8 foot  bench that was inspired by a photo I saved on Pinterest.  Made with 2x4x8 and 1x4x8 treated lumber.  On the right is my mom's geranium (over 7 years old now) getting used to being outdoors for the summer.

My little Bay Laurel topiary tree with the soil covered in moss I pulled from a shady nook in the yard.

A pot of mixed flower seedlings sits next to the Bay Laurel and Yellow Loosestrife is in the pot in the back.

Shallow clay pots of Stone Crop Sedum on the table .

A couple blooms opened on the Clematis today with many more to come!

The raised beds on the deck are bursting with radishes and lettuce.

This year I raised the canopy and underplanted my Quick Fire Hydrangea with 

Stone Crop Sedum and Blue Carpet Lobelia.

Another Pinterest inspired project.  I liked this one because it was all natural, just sticks and stones!

I cut out a special spot for Iris to check on front yard happenings while she's taking it easy on the patio.

Hello world!  It's me, Iris!

It's 64° and even Iris enjoys the warmth of the fire tonight!

Thanks for checking in!

Nan

FRENCH BREAKFAST RADISHES

I planted radishes again, but this year I planted two varieties, Sparkler and French Breakfast.

I've pulled and used some of the Sparkler, but I was curious to taste the French Breakfast even though they're not fully grown yet. so I pulled a few.   

They were delicious raw.  But I wanted to try cooking them, so on to a recipe for 

French Breakfast Radishes Sautéd in Butter.

And I had to paint these little beauties before I cut them up.

Do you have a favorite way of preparing radishes?  If so, I'd love the recipe!

-Nan

EARLY SUMMER IN THE GARDEN

Summer is finally here!  

With all that's going on in the world right now, I am so grateful for my time spent in the garden - a retreat right in my own backyard!  This blog has been pretty silent for awhile, but it's time to bring it back to life.

When I moved into my home almost 4 years ago, it came with a pretty big yard.  There's an area in the back at the bottom of a little slope that is flat and in full sun.  A perfect place for a vegetable garden.  Nothing huge, just big enough for some of my favorite vegetables.  So I built this twig fence adding a little something new each summer.  The plank entrance came along soon after due to the mud.

 The posts, raised beds, and plank entrance are made with cedar.  All year long I save the branches and twigs that fall from my trees, along with longer branch trimmings from the shrubs.  When I get a nice big pile I head down to the garden and add them to the fence.  

Last summer I added the gate, and this summer I designed a sign for the entrance out of a piece of plywood that has been in the garage since I moved in.  This garden has become a place of quiet, peace, and solace for me.  I hope you'll check back, and watch my garden grow throughout the summer!

-Nan

ORANGE FLOWERS

ORANGE FLOWERS

20 x 20 inch, oil

My favorite summer activity is working in my gardens.  Grooming, watering, weeding, feeding, and finally PICKING!  Now, it's August and the summer garden is bursting with inspiration!  Supposedly, yellow and orange represent freshness, optimism, remembrance, loyalty, and joy, among other things.  That's a lot of positive stuff making yellow and orange great colors to have in your home.  This painting was done on a warm summer night in my little home studio.  

Check it out at Gillyflower Cottage on Etsy.

IT'S WEDDING SEASON AND FLOWERS ABOUND!

It's wedding season and

WEDDING BOUQUET PORTRAITS

are keeping me busy these days!

A portrait of your wedding bouquet is a lasting memory of your big day! I have orders that brides themselves have ordered, bridesmaids have collectively given to the bride as a wedding gift, and mothers have given to their daughters.  Here are a few of the finished portraits:

 I work from a photograph that you send when you order.  First the pen and ink outline is done and then the color is added.  Shown below is my next bouquet waiting to be painted.  This one is full of roses, astilbe, dahlias, and eucalyptus!

The portraits can be done in 3 different sizes.  

Just use the pull down tab on the listing to choose 

the dimensions that work best for you.

Your custom watercolor, 

pen and ink portraits can be ordered here!

-Nan

BOTANICAL COUNTDOWN - DAY 2

ICELANDIC BLUE POPPY 

The Icelandic Blue Poppy symbolizes imagination, luxury, and success.  The delicate petals are wrinkled and crepe-like due to being tightly packed into the bud.  It is said that the hairs (which seem to be everywhere on this plant) have an unusual taste which protects it from predators.  And the seeds found in the pod of the poppy are used in cooking and bird seed.  

ICELANDIC BLUE POPPY

This illustration shows the flower, bud, leaves and pod.

8 x 10 inches

Close-up of fully opened poppy and dried pods.

BOTANICAL COUNTDOWN

PREPARING FOR GARDENING SEASON 

WITH 

A BOTANICAL COUNTDOWN

What do you do while you're waiting to get your hands in the dirt?  When May has arrived and the nights are still too cold to plant, and the ground is too wet to till?  

One of the best parts of spring's arrival on the calendar, is to plan your garden while you wait for spring to make its arrival in the weather department.  This year I plan on doing some botanical drawings while I wait, so I'll be posting drawings of some favorite flowers and plants.

CHRYSANTHEMUM AND BUDS

11 x 11 inches

RANUNCULUS AND BUDS

11 x 11 inches

  

Click the titles to go to Etsy for purchase information.

MANDARINS AND POPPIES

Orange for its emotional warmth and blue for the sky and the sea, these colors are opposite one another on the color wheel.  And what good companions they make!

Since we can't grow anything outside in Wisconsin right now, what a perfect way to bring some of those colors of nature into the house!  This painting titled Mandarins and Poppies measures 24" x 24" and is available for purchase in my Etsy shop, Gillyflower Cottage.  Think spring!

ILIA UNDERWING MOTH

Meet Livia, the latest addition to my Etsy shop, Gillyflower Cottage. 

Livia is loosely based on the Ilia Underwing moth.  She was lovingly and painstakingly made in Texas while I was visiting a friend and now she's made it all the home to Wisconsin.  Livia looks great posed on old text, an ornate old book, in an open frame, or on the wall all by herself.  The larvae of this moth feeds on oak trees so placement or display with acorns and oak leaves would make her very happy.  She is one of a kind and made of medium weight fabric, faux fur, and wire.    The furry abdomen gives her a very realistic look.   

 

Upon purchase, your moth will arrive wrapped carefully in 

tissue paper and ready to inhabit your home!

You can find her here!

CHRISTMAS SALE!

AT GILLYFLOWER COTTAGE, 

THE WHOLE SHOP IS ON SALE!

With Christmas right around the corner, now is the time to order a 

unique and personalized gift for the people on your shopping list.

  10% off from now until November 30th using the coupon code, 10GILLYFLOWER.  

Not just the paintings . . . everything is on sale!  Even the personalized Home Portraits!

WHOLE HOUSE OR ENTRANCE HOME PORTRAITS, 

LOOSELY DRAWN OR MORE PRECISE - YOU CHOOSE!

Also on sale, my children's book,

"O is for the Big Oak Tree,

Children's Rhymes From A to Z"

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The page, 'G' is for your Grandparents, can be personalized!

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    You can visit my Etsy shop at:

GILLYFLOWERCOTTAGE.ETSY.COM

(Don't forget to add the coupon code 10GILLYFLOWER at

checkout to get your 10% savings.)

A NEW PROJECT IN THE WINGS

First of all, I'm back to the blogger platform for my blog posts.  While there were a lot of aspects of WIX that I liked, it's just not as user friendly as Blogger.  So this is where you'll find me in the future.

Sometimes you need a certain kind of day to feel inspired for a certain kind of project and today is the day to do a little experimenting with these interesting fabrics.  Each one has been chosen for a specific reason and I'm anxious to get started.  I hope you'll follow along . . . 

LAST CHANCE - HOME PORTRAITS IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!

STILL NEED IDEAS FOR THAT SPECIAL 

PACKAGE UNDER THE TREE?

I'm busy in my workshop creating some 

one-of-a-kind gifts and

there are still a few days to order yours 

in time for Christmas morning!

H O M E   P O R T R A I T 

ordering deadline for 

CHRISTMAS DELIVERY 

is 

Friday, December 15th

Click HERE to order.

(Free Christmas gift wrapping upon request!)

"Give a memory of HOME this Christmas"

HOME PORTRAIT SALE

HOME PORTRAITS

for 

CHRISTMAS

Wrap up a Home Portrait for under the tree this year.  

Right now my Home Portraits are with 10% off with the coupon code GILLY10 at checkout.  Your 8 x 10 portrait will arrive matted and ready for framing.  Click here to go to my Etsy shop.

THE GIRLS

On a sunny, summer day I drove past a farmer's field in southeast Wisconsin where a small herd of cows was milling around.  When I walked up to the fence every head turned my way, and out of curiosity, started lumbering toward me.  The next thing I knew there were about fifteen of them all jockeying for position.  They were eager to pose, shuffling around so everyone got a chance in the front row.  Once they decided I had nothing to offer they got bored and mooved on . . . 

but I walked away with a bunch of great photos to work off of.  

The three girls below made it onto the first canvas.  They want to be part of your farmhouse decor!

THE GIRLS

16 x 20 

oil on panel

Painting is sold in a solid black frame shipped free of charge.  Click here to go to ETSY.

THE OLD EBLE BARN

  "The Old Eble Barn"

12x12 inches

oil on panel

The old Eble Barn was a stately landmark in Wisconsin for many years.  It took two days for 36 men to raise the barn in 1936, but it stands no more.  The barn was such a familiar part of the Brookfield landscape, standing firm as Blue Mound Road developments came closer with each passing year.  When I heard of the coming destruction of the barn, I spent a day sketching on the grounds and taking photos.  

This painting can be purchased from my Etsy shop by clicking here.  This 12 x 12 inch original oil painting comes is in a solid wood, black, 'floater' frame.  ("These unique frames are so named because the illusion they create is that your artwork is "floating" within the frame instead of being covered by it". -Blick)

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HOME PORTRAITS FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

It's that time of year again!  Do you want a unique and one-of-a-kind gift for that special someone on your list?  Maybe a home portrait is just the thing you're looking for.  Your home is special to you.  Fond family memories of holidays and growing a family are made here.  Treat yourself or a special person in your life to a lasting memory of a home, lake cottage, or other special place with the commissioning of an original, hand-drawn pen and ink  portrait.  Home portraits make great house warming gifts too!

Now is the time to order to ensure receiving the portrait in time for Christmas giving.  Plus, right now, there's free shipping on all home portraits!  Click here to visit my Etsy shop.

A collage of some of the home or special place portraits I've done in the past.

{Home Portraits at Gillyflower Cottage}