It's Not Just Blue Skies In The Garden

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I love soft robins egg blue. As much as I try to work it in my house, it doesn't blend with my other colors. Blue holds its own and seems to dominate the space it's in, no matter how soft a color. At lease it does for me. Ahhh, but blue in the garden, not just a blue sky, but blue flowers and accent pieces seem to blend with every color in the rainbow.

I'm sharing some photos from the web and pinterest that are full of the blue color that makes me think of spring. Each photo has a link below it to take you back to the source where I found it.  There are several homemade potting sheds. I am partial to little outbuildings in the back yard. Perhaps there is an idea here that would work well in your garden.

A blue garden shed!

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A blue Chinese rose

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Homemade Blue Potting Table

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Pale Blue French Doors on Shed

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Pallets Potting Shed

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Fence 



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Table

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Window Fence

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Boat Garden

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Blueberry Sign

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Fairy Gardens

This charming photo on Pinterest got me thinking about Fairy Gardens. How fun it would be to have one!

Below are some fairy garden houses and links back to the sites they came from. Great sources for ideas, purchases, and books!

 Fairy House For Sale - visit website.

Projects

Fairy House Workshop

List of things needed for a Fairy House

Books: (Amazon link below each book). Just a sampling, there are many more Fairy Garden books to be found.

 Amazon

Amazon

Look inside on Amazon

Art Print on Etsy

Fairies are invisible and inaudible like angels. But their magic sparkles in nature. ~Lynn Holland

The Realm of Fairy is a strange shadow land, lying just beyond the fields we know.

~Author Unknown

A rustle in the wind reminds us a fairy is near. ~Author Unknown

Sally Rosenbaum Art

I've been following Sally Rosenbaum's beautiful paintings on Ebay for years. Her paintings of women in the garden, reading books, sipping tea or wine, or just enjoying the lush flowers around them, reminds me of spring and all its glory. Her paintings are romantic and timeless, showing contemporary women in lovely old fashioned hats and dresses. I want to share some of her work here and link you back to her website where you can read more about Sally and her beautiful paintings or to her Ebay Store Sally Rosenbaum Gallery.

About the artist:

Sally Rosenbaum is a resident of Napa, California and paints in her studio at home using friends and family as models set against the backdrop of her own garden. “I like to show moments in time that invite reflection and celebrate the life of sensation, inner thought and contemplation. I strive to capture the temperature of the atmosphere on my subjects and the interplay of warmth and shadow.”

She holds a BA in fine art from UC Berkeley, several teaching credentials and has done graduate work in the fields of fine art, sculpture, and education. Her academic background is rich from the formal training she has received from individuals remarkable in their fields. She has studied with individuals as diverse as Elmer Bischoff, David Simpson, Earl Loran, and Don Hatfield.

Her work is currently shown in galleries throughout the United States and her work has been reproduced by Landmark Calendars, Marcel Schurman Fine papers, (Papyrus), American Greetings, Avon, and Broderbund software and she is currently under contract with Wendover art group who publishes throughout the world.

Artist quote:

I am a self-supporting oil painter working out of my home studio dedicated to painting, art and living a life that makes sense to me.

 

 

 

 

Links:

Artist Web

Blog

Ebay Store

Facebook

Buy Her Book

An Old Chandelier Sparkles In The Sunlight, Ghosts Smile Remembering

I love this chandelier. I sold it on Ebay seven years ago. It was broken in transit. An arm cracked. The purchaser wanted a refund, and since I always like a satisfied customer, I took this lovely old, slightly askew, vintage crystal chandelier back. I was so pleased to have it again in my possession.

It doesn't work, it has some flaws, but on days when the sunlight shimmers through the prisms it is a magical sight to behold. One dead tree limb hangs over the old six foot high stone wall that runs down the side of my patio. I gently hung this sweet piece on that limb. On stormy days I take it in, but on most days it graces my patio adding a touch of old world elegance.

My yard has become as full as my house with treasures that once belonged to someone long ago. I wonder on days when I sit sipping a glass of wine on my rusty vintage patio chair, who this piece belonged to. It was not wired when I bought it, but at some time I imagine it was hanging from a ten foot ceiling of an old home where the family gathered around a dining table for a festive holiday meal. Perhaps young lovers shared a drink under the soft glow from the sparkling bulbs. The crystal prisims, reflecting the light from above, adding romance to the evening ahead.

I like to let my mind wander to imagine what my vintage treasures meant to others in a prior life. As a former antique dealer my treasures have come and gone over the years. Lately, however, I find I am keeping more things. I've parted with enough. I like to think I have the ghosts of antiques past smiling at me as I raise my glass to celebrate the past and wonder about the future. Perhaps one day someone will look at my lovely old things and wonder, who owned this?

I like to think of my possessions going on to another life, but I am not quite ready to give up the ghost to send them on just yet. But my will stipulates, sell! Have the biggest estate sale of the year (that year many years off) and find the best of homes for my things. Once loved beauty needs to be loved again and again over the years.

A past, a present, a future. Antiques bring us an amazing history to sit and think about. The patina of life brings life to those of us living with them.

.......reposted from my blog on Skirt.com