Tropical Paradise

This week’s post will be a little short as I hurry around to prepare for a visit to see Grandma and Grandpa. The big art news of the week was the completion of a several pieces for a show I’ll do at the end of this month in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at the Orchard Gallery. The title of the show is “Tropical Paradise”, and I’ll share space with my friend and Bloomington mosaic artist Cappi Phillips. I’ll show several new pieces, such as my new and improved ‘Fishes’ Frolic’. I tried a variation a while ago but wasn’t happy with the size of the fish in the piece. Now I have some larger colorful specimens under the waves. The piece is just waiting for a few bubbles (glass balls) that will be contributed by Mike Bell, local glassblower extraordinaire. I also just completed a piece called ‘Beach Treasures’ that incorporated shells and other treasures from our trip last year to North Carolina (see my Feb 28th blog entry!).

We’ve also had a calmer week after the near fire last weekend. I acted as junior electrician for Wayne Young, who is an excellent electrician and all around good person. He fixed our lights, checked out the fluorescent light ballasts in the house, and looked all around before giving us a good bill of health. I guess that’s what you call it—he put my mind at ease and taught me a bit about the wiring. He even drew a diagram explaining the cryptic wiring for some indoor lights we have.

Last, a highlight of the week has been the flowers. My husband brought home some glads one day for the table. Then my son Tommie picked me a bouquet of spring flowers, mostly yellow eranthus and purple crocuses from the yard. Then the surprise of the week was the bright yellow iris reticulata that started to peek up and flower. They’re just gorgeous. As usual, there’s a story behind them. After my loving spouse had bought and distributed an unusually large number of new bulbs and plants to remodel one of our garden beds, I saw a great deal on some dwarf irises that I really like. Luckily, with only a little grumbling, he planted all the late bulbs (50 irises) I came across. And now they’re coming up! It’s going to be a good season.


Until next week…