Sunday, July 25, 2021

more progress and what's blooming


Another 4 hours or so on Saturday and I'm done with this model. I could probably fiddle with it another whole day but doubt any improvement would be worth the extra time.



And I forgot to put this picture in my last post, some of the tools I use for carving wax.



Minnie goes where I go but she is bored silly after a couple of weeks of spending 3 to 5 hours in the studio nearly every day with the air conditioner thunking away. Her internal clock tells her when it's lunch time and dinner time and she will get up from her bed over there and tell me. The past several days she'll get up after an hour or so and go to the door. I'll let her out and she'll go about 10 feet and when I don't follow she heaves a big sigh and comes back in, or she'll sit in the sun for awhile and then want back in.

Before I went over to the studio Sunday to start on the next model I got out there early, well, early for me, and cut back all the gone by purple cone flowers in the front flower bed scattering seed as I did. I didn't purposely scatter the seed but every time I cut a handful of bloom stalks I could hear the seed falling. I really don't need more cone flowers in that bed. And while the mosquitoes weren't bad (!) by the time I came in after about after 45 minutes I was dripping sweat.

And then I went out after I had cooled off to walk the big backyard, something I haven't done in several days, and was surprised by the swamp lily which has put up a bloom stalk


and the pink ginger is finally blooming. 


Some of my zinnias have finally started blooming but not very profusely


and the morning glory seeds I planted last early spring and were slow to start are growing madly now but I haven't gotten a single bloom and no buds apparent today either. The tall orange cosmos is out of control growing everywhere but few blooms. The mexican bird of paradise is blooming though.


And the black and blue salvia with a little green spider.



A couple of hours on Sunday in the studio and then Minnie let me know it was her lunch time. Instead of going right back, I got the ladder out and raked as many of the fallen leaves and branches off the section of roof on the driveway side of the house as I could reach without actually getting on the roof. Then I picked up the armloads of branches big and small on that side and tossed them in the truck and then I got the long handled nippers and pruned off all the new branches that had sprouted on the trunks of the two tallow trees by the driveway after the deep freeze and tossed those in the truck. There were a lot. These two trees put out a lot of new growth because a lot of the upper branches died back from the extreme cold. There's a lot of maintenance I haven't been able to do in the yard because it's either been raining or I've been working in the studio so getting these three chores done was good.

I put in another hour and a half and here's my progress for the day. Maybe this one will go a little faster. 




16 comments:

  1. Your fancy flowers are beautiful, but I confess a fondness for those zinnias. My grandma grew them, along with bachelor buttons and hollyhocks -- there were some other things, too. It was a real cutting garden, and there was nothing I loved more than being sent out with a basket and scissors to collect flowers for the Sunday table.

    Seeing your tools was especially interesting. When you first started carving wax, were there a lot of 'ooops!' moments?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. there was a definite learning curve. but oopses can be repaired.

      Delete
  2. What a lot of flowers for the birds and bees to enjoy. Your carving is so realistic.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do not know how you do it. I swear.
    Black salvia? What?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. well, if I don't do it it doesn't get done or I have to pay Rocky.

      black and blue salvia. I thought you had some.

      Delete
  4. Your flower garden is so beautiful. I love what blooms there. And I am really enjoying watching your artwork happen.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your carving is really good - so much little detail is included - very realistic looking to me. Your garden looks pretty - all your work out there is paying off with lots of color!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think that purple salvia is the same as ours -- is it "Amistad"? In any case, it looks very similar. My zinnias haven't bloomed at all yet. I don't know what they're waiting for.

    Olga gives me that sigh sometimes, but at least we can just leave the back door open (because no a/c and more moderate temps) and she can wander in and out as desired.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your flowers always impress me. The ginger flowers are di interestingly. I don't think I've ever seen them in person, so to speak.

    Thank you for continuing to show us your studio progress.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That should read so interesting. My predictive text is running away with itself writing whole speeches while I'm trying to say a simple couple of words.

      Delete
  8. That pink ginger is a wonderful looking plant. My goals are a pot full of flowering anything on the deck that will not be eaten by deer/javelinas/rabbits. I'm not sure if we'll have wild life in Spokane. Your yard is so lush.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lovely flowers! I picture Marc being the same as me while Mike toils away - playing a game on my iPad, obvious. Or crocheting (I'm sure Marc doesn't crochet or you would have mentioned it - ha!).

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow... that looks like a huge slab of chocolate candy! But I know better! LOL It's going to be beautiful! And I love the photos of your flowers. Thanks for the eye candy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it does, doesn't it. I wouldn't recommend taking a bite though.

      Delete
  11. Such beauty, intricate work! My normally sturdy and abundant orange cosmos is miserable this year, maybe too much rain. And we also have flowering swamp lilies right now.

    ReplyDelete

I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.