Late Winter Nurturing of My Creative Self
About two weeks ago, false spring arrived. The sun was shining, the snow melting. One day while walking with the dogs, I noticed the trees filled with birds. I stopped to watch, listen. Could they be? Yes! They were! Robins! Returned early.
I knew it wouldn’t last, this first taste of spring, but you can’t help but feel a leap of joy as the grass reappears. Excitement. Anticipation. Hope. My garden dreaming ramped up as I wandered and explored the property, avoiding ice and dodging mud. Yet even as the robins were singing of spring’s arrival, the National Weather Service predicted another winter storm. Then the next morning we woke to nearly a foot of snow — our biggest snowstorm of the season.
The days are lengthening and the sun keeps shifting north. Tomorrow is the beginning of meteorological spring, but we’re under another Winter Weather Advisory. So for now I’m continuing my winter habits. Nurturing myself as an artist and a gardener.
my irresistible painting table with a snowy view out my window
Garden Dreaming, Planning and Prep
The first garden I’m planning here will be the beginnings of my kitchen garden. Raised beds planted with a mixture of vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. With all of the deer and rabbits on our property, it will need a fence, but what sort of fence for this first year will depend on what happens with the removal of the collapsed barn.
covered with snow it doesn’t look so bad
Many of our projects here are dependent on other projects happening first. We’re doing a lot of the labor ourselves, but some is beyond our abilities. In the meantime I’ve been digging into books. For ideas. For inspiration. And also for the shot of joy I get from looking at photos of plants and gardens.
Lots of inspiration in that stack, but the book that has inspired me the most with this process isn’t in the photo. Leah M. Webb’s The Seven-Step Homestead outlines a plan for creating a microfarm by tackling one small project a year, building on your skills and knowledge as you go. I have so many ideas and so many projects to tackle. The idea of dividing something this big into smaller, more manageable parts to be tackled one year at a time really resonates with me. I won’t be following her exact plan, but that’s the beauty of inspiration — you can take it in your own direction.
So I’ll be able to set up the beginnings of my garden on my own, I ordered metal raised beds. In the past Matthias has helped me build wooden beds, but there’s so much to do and I don’t want to have to pull him from other projects. I’ve been arranging and rearranging shapes on graph paper, enjoying playing with my garden’s design even knowing it’s a little too soon for an exact plan.
For months I’ve studied seed and garden catalogs. I’ve sorted my old seeds and new seed orders have been arriving.* I’ve already started some seeds using the winter sowing method.** Seeing the jugs lined up against the garage at the top of the driveway brings me so much joy.
Soon I’ll begin sowing seeds inside, too. Which reminds me I need to dust off my grow lights and get them ready to go.
My sweet sister-in-law gifted me a David Austin gift card for Christmas and I’ve ordered three roses for my new garden. I think I’ll plant them in pots for this first year. One of the three is the beautiful Poet’s Wife rose that I grew in my last garden and the two others are new to me.
I won’t be planting an orchard until next year at the earliest, but I did order my first fruit tree. Another Contender peach.
It will live in a pot for the first year just like the one in my last garden did.
Every winter it’s exciting to dream and plan and prepare for the next season’s garden. I’m savoring this first special winter of planning at our woodland homestead.
Houseplant Love
All my life I’ve lived with houseplants. I have a lot. So many that I lost track of how many trips I needed to take when moving them last summer.
I followed behind him with my car filled with plants, too
Every winter renews my houseplant mania. Lately the plants are enjoying the lengthening days and shifting sun and I’ve been pruning, repotting and rearranging.
I’ve brought home a couple of new plants this winter. I can’t help but look when I’m out and about.
I found this gorgeous Stromanthe thalia 'Triostar' at the grocery store in January and couldn’t resist
It’s probably a good thing I no longer live where multiple nurseries and greenhouses are only a short drive away. What I really need to find are some interesting pots and plant stands. My thrift store shopping list seems never ending!
Sketchbook Play
After the poinsettia paintings from earlier this winter, I thought I’d be on a roll painting houseplants, but before I could start painting another one, I needed to work on my piece for the member show at VIVA Gallery.
I turned to my sketchbooks and photos from my garden as I worked on this piece
The theme is February Blues and translating what was in my head onto paper was a fun challenge. The show comes down on Wednesday.
I eventually did start a houseplant painting, but right now my inspiration is running away in my sketchbooks. Like with all aspects of life, creativity ebbs and flows, cycling through seasons of abundance and rest (and everything in between).
Energy, excitement, inspiration — none are static. My painting table is piled with a variety of sketchbooks and a revolving assortment of art supplies. Seeing everything out on the table is an irresistible invitation now that I’ve rearranged my studio.
I recently started this Etchr Mini Sketchbook it measures 2” x 2.9”
My friend Dana Barbieri and I are working on another collaborative sketchbook project. It’s a little hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that our first collaboration started over 10 years ago! I’ll talk more about collaborations next month, but if you’ve ever been curious about collaborating with another artist or maker in some way, shape or form, do it. It’s energizing, inspiring and it will help you stretch and grow.
As I fall in love with my sketchbooks all over again, I’ve been studying pages from finished sketchbooks and thinking a lot about where I’ve been with my art and where I want to go next. I’ve filled page after page in my studio journal. In a way this process feels like the process of planning a garden.
Soon, spring will be here for real and everything will shift again. Nothing is ever static.
I’d love to hear about the ways in which you’ve been nurturing yourself these first months of the year (whether it’s winter where you live or not).
I hope no matter where you are and what the view is from your window right now, that you are discovering little bits of joy each day.
I spotted this beautiful, huge ice crystal on the driveway one morning
Nurture yourself. Nurture your creativity and if you grow a garden — even just a few pots on a windowsill — let it nurture you.
*Some seeds last longer than others. Need to know how long seeds are viable? Here’s one chart and here’s another. You might have noticed it’s not an exact science!
