Spring and the studio

Alright, time for another interlude of recent photos of studio work, etcetera.

Below you'll see what I've been working on this past weekend, and last evening. Along with cleaning out the entire backyard, pruning the grapes and apple trees, thinning the raspberries and strawberries, and installing a new rain-barrel, I began building some raised beds. Vicki and I have missed container gardening since we left the apartment, but also like having the extra space at the house, so we came to a compromise, and I've begun putting in these beds for my vegetables and herbs. Raised bed gardening, especially for "kitchen gardens", has a rich and long history, back to medieval Europe, and was particularly popular with Pennsylvania German farmwives, who favored the "four-square" layout (four square beds in a grid). Here, I am digging the post holes for the second bed, and below that you'll see the first bed, sans seat (which I began last night...I love these later-lit evenings).

Since Vicki took these pictures, I've decided to take a board off the top, making them a bit shorter. It would have taken too much soil to fill them, and about thirteen inches is plenty high. I'm hoping to pick up some free compost from Fairmount Park to fill much of the beds.





And of course seasons come and go, but I keep plugging away at the studio. I've already shown this painting on the blog, but that was before I added the little bit of colored strips curling off at the top. The working title is Cede. (The shot is a bit dark).




I also showed some shots of prescription slips I'd been painting different colors on both sides, but here is the finished piece, with the folded origamis-of-a-door papers affixed to a nice piece of Arches paper. As you can see it needs some flattening, but I'll be framing this for the house soon, I hope. Still working on a title for this one.

And, lastly, I have long had a fascination with flattened Chinese takeout boxes, and have approached them from many angles. Lately though I've had trouble getting into a drawing mindset, which is what I previously did with them, so I decided to just start painting on some I had sitting around. The drawing idea came after that. This particular one is in latex paint, marker and yellow enamel, and is based on the Forsythia which is just coming around again now.

Have a great Spring; next Art Thoughts coming right up.