Just a couple of sketches from my pad Part 2:.:2020

Wow! 2021 I love a New Year. I have a couple of posts planned for this January, but I thought it would be fun to take a tour of my sketch pad for the second half of 2020. I shared a couple of sketches from earlier in the year here.

It's cool reviewing ideas, movements, and colors for inspiration.

Camel Rock

Near Valles Caldera

My parents backyard.

Plant corner.

Summer clouds.

Plant shapes.

Same plant different day

3 piece stained glass design.

I bought this plant from Trader Joe's 6 years ago.

no. 1 and no. 2.

The master plans of Black Cat House. A project I have placed on hold until October of 2021.

Thanks for checking these out.

.:Sunday Funday:. A Little Arrangement

This year I started helping out more with the yard work. It has surprised me how much I enjoy watering, raking, pruning, digging, etc. We have a little areas in front I fondly refer to as the grass-scape. We planted the dwarf pampas grass and the others came with the house.

Our state, NM, recently issued a stay at home order; so I decided to try and use what I could find around the house for a small fall arrangement.

Vase:

I like to pick up vessels of various sizes when I'm out thrifting. They are great for mixing up decor around the house! You can group them together empty and use them for arrangements. I pulled out a small wooden vase I've had for a couple of years. I like warmth of the wood.

(nosey Bagheera wanted to see what I was doing.)

I am no florist, but here was my thought process: I wanted 2 groups of three focal points. One set above the vase line: the two pampas stems and bushy chamisa. From afar, another three: the vase, the yellow, and the pampas. So I trimmed the grass for two varying heights but still within range of one another.

I used foil to help anchor the pampas grass so I could fill in around them with the Chamisa bush.

Here's how the fronds spread without the foil:

I started off with about this much:

I formed it around the stems within the vase and pushed it towards the bottom but not firmly down.

I added another piece lightly intertwined between the stems.

Then I added in the chamisa and some extra dried grass. TBH I removed the extra grass when it was all said and done after I took these photos. If it was still October, I maybe would have left them for spo-Oky vibes.

I think it's pretty cute.

I then realized it looked like a smiley face.

(It wasn't planned, but I love it more for it)

Here is how it mixes into the rest of the table decor.

This is my first bit of fall decor. I don't know how much more I'll really do. :)

Land and Sky

I actually worked through a few iterations of this design.

I initially started with with two separate pieces: land and sky, but I suppose in the end they kinda merged into one.

I really liked the two as a pair, and I was going to add an embroidered sun on a piece of natural denim similar to these.

While I was soldering the blue, I kept the heat on one area a little too long and cracked the glass. :'( I sent my mom a pic.

So sad.

I ended up dismantling the whole piece and cut a new piece of blue glass. Then I tried a new sun color and I loved it.

I mean...come.on.

Then...I tried a new land color and I couldn't turn back.

THEN... I had the idea to make a whole new twinner piece with a deeper red because heck, I already had the blue!

I gave this one to my mother-in-law.

We clearly needed to water our poor plants.

I really love this piece and considered not listing it for sale.

What I love about the glass from Youghiogheny (blue and red) is that it naturally has its own movement/texture and the color patterns are always unique. So two pieces made from the same sheet of red glass still wouldn't be the same.

Thanks for reading :).