spring – Page 21 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Art in the Garden

The Conejo Valley Botanical Gar4den has on longterm loan seven statues from the Morris B. Squire Art Foundation, a philanthropic nonprofit established by Morris Bear Squire, an artist who lives in Santa Barbara. A number of them – seven specifically – have been installed throughout the property, and three have been placed in the Kids’ Adventure section. I have seen two of them, but did not really check them out too much, as I was in pursuit of butterflies.

This is the one right inside the entrance of the garden, and I am rather amused by it. There is something rather fun about it. It’s a dreadful photo of it. The colors are what I like, and now that I look at it a bit more, I recall the leaves at the top also caught my eye.

Sculpture is rather an elusive like-don’t like thing. For one thing, at home, I think of 3-D art as something needing to be dusted. Given my aversion to housework, which gets done out of necessity and vanity more than an overwhelming need for cleanliness, that is the first thing that comes to mind. How can this be easily cleaned? Solution: hose it off.

That aside, just having artwork in a garden is always a risk factor. What is the art, where is it placed, how does it work with the environment? And then the eternal question of “what is art?”

For now, I have only glanced at this sculpture. I saw another in the garden I did not like, but that is because there were people in the sculpure, painted on, and rather amateurish. Snobbery on my part, but the fact is, people do not hold much appeal to me when painted onto a statue. I glanced at that one and walked on.

Yesterday, the real art in the garden was the garden itself. I love that place – so many wonderful plants and trees and paths to follow. Flowers are blooming like crazy, and the butterflies were flitting around. I sat on a bench, and just watched them. I have forgotten that beauty of the butterfly because I am too busy running around after other things, not chasing butterflies in the woods like I once did. There were more Monarch butterflies than any other but I did capture another orange one.

Yesterday was so much fun – time to look and think and watch and do. Home, then, to lie in the sun and listen to an audiobook. Been awhile I have actually done nothing. And then I even got out my spinning wheel and some dark brown Shetland to spin.

Tulips

Spring flowers are full of color, and the bulbs are the shortest-lived and most cheerful.

Sitting still is hard.

It feels good to hold a pencil.

Emergence from Winter

There is a beautiful botanical garden nearby. Originally slated for a development, it was found to be unusable for housing. The owner donated it to the city – so I am told. What has happened since is just wonderful, and continues becoming more wonderful! Not only does it continue to expand, adding different sections, but is always a work-in-progress, from volunteers, and from the changing of the seasons.

Yesterday, after reading and knitting for a few hours in the afternoon, I realized it was Saturday. (I’ve been in a fog with a melt-down, jury duty, and catching up with things at work that didn’t get done during the two days I was gone.) Suddenly, I just wanted to get out of the house, and go see some plants and take some pictures. Of course, my favorite place to go is the gardens!

Spring cleaning has been done in the gardens – undergrowth pulled out and removed so new plants can grow. I was not disappointed. The matilija poppies are just beginning to emerge their new growth for spring. Hummingbird sage is in full bloom. Other salvia plants are sending out buds. The redbud is in flower, with brilliant red and pink blossoms amongst heart-shaped leaves. Bulbs, such as narcissus, are making themselves visible and easily found with their sweet fragrances. Amaryllis, too, are emerging. Bees are busy in the lavendar; fruit trees are beginning to renew their cycles.

The evenings, though lengthening, are still early. Sunset is about 6:30 p.m. The sun was lower in the sky, and tilting through the leaves and branches, backlighting everything from the west. People like me were wandering around, just enjoying a stroll, taking pictures, enjoying an outing with family and friends.

This is the time of year when last year lingers in old leaves on trees, and fallen leaves providing nutrition for future growth.

Never ending . . .

Spring . . .

Nothing like cold weather to make you want to be warm, but nothing beats that first hint of spring in the air. The wind changes, the buds swell, leaves from crocus, tulip, and hyacinth emerge through the crusty snow. In a drab winter world, that brilliant green is a visual excitement.

Soon, a new pattern will emerge here. It is being written up over the next few days.

A Walk in the Garden

The weather this spring is so incredible this year. There are breezes in off the ocean, the skies are blue, we have cool weather. And we have had rain. The result is that flowers are in bloom everywhere, and a few miles down the road, we are blessed with 33 acres of an ever-changing and evolving botanical garden, the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden. I believe all the plants are native to California, and most are drought tolerant – perfect for the xeriscape garden – and incredibly beautiful.