Thoughtful Thursday , April orchids and other flowers and critters...

Some wonderful orchids are blooming here today. 

I took a walk this morning and found an abundance of color and gifts of nature in orchid form.

  Two very lovely oncidiums caught my eye this morning;  one a yellow /brown one i call dancing ladies that lives on the side of a huge mango tree. 

and also  the  yellow oncidium with her  many long wands full of many small yellow blossoms waving  in the breeze.  

Then the Dendrobiums took over.

 these two above and below
 are what we  all Hono Hono and they  are very fragrant 

Somewhat like a heavy honey fragrance to me.

  here are 3 dendrobs smiling at us

Don't you love this lime and purple combo on this little one!

Blue skies make me take out the camera!
"nothin but blue skies do i see!"

The Surinam  cherry tree has the blossoms and fruit in various stages of ripe, all at once!

 

They do not taste like cherries tho these lovely pumpkin shaped globes do pack allot of vitamin C.

I snack on them as i don't seem to have the patience to collect enough for a jam or jelly thou i do think the color would be divine.

.

This was my Easter card this year. 

                                                 Hen and chicks resting  in the composting box.
                                                              It must be spring! 
                                                        this is my  Thoughtful Thursday entry.

end of march madness and a string theory

Well, this is a board full of coasters drying in the sun inspired by the berries that form on this palm tree in the colors of all seasons. This paint session  is Autumn and Xmas colors to me. After I sew up a batch of  fabric coasters, I  spray them with water and begin index finger painting the dots  with textile paints until i am happy with  the way colors look to me.

below is the palm tree of inspiration.

Inspiration is Everywhere all around us

  i am a nature nut and go about taking photos of what I see that moves me.

i call this tree "summer fall winter spring" as sometimes berry clusters on the tree show me  color signs of all the seasons at once. When i was a kid there was a princess Summerfall Winterspring on the Howdy Doody show with that name. That name Stuck with me.

 Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Now,  how i play sometimes  with strings of my painted fabrics is to 

first to arrange them in a pleasing manner, a strata of sorts.

Of course any fabric you have and like works . 

I happen to have a wealth of painted cloth.

Then I sew them on a base fabric and trim.

i did a bit of wavy sewing on topside  and you can see on the back of the  waffle like cloth

I will make a composition book cover later.

Then i might do some quilting and hand stitching as well.

It all depends on mood and the materials at hand.

That is my theory.

I find often the composition uses all the colors and recalls a sunset or sunrise.

 Nature is most grand!

When the notebook is full it can be refitted  with a fresh one.

Be well, SEE well, Sonja

wordless wednesday- nature's valentine

Thoughtful Thursday

Clouds before the storm the first week of February 2015
Reminds me of Joni Mitchell singing her song
"Both sides now"  from 1969 album, Clouds.

The new light of a new year

if you don't take down that  little 3 foot tall pencil tree, that little Christmas tree in the corner, a little voice whispered to me the other day, you will have a grand  place to put your bracelets and cuffs and pins and watch upon so that the  dresser drawer does no longer hide them. While i am  mostly an earring wearing  person and feel glasses are quite enough jewerly already for me, i upon occasion i like to don an arty cuff or bracelet or i might need to keep tack of time and as find it was somewhat  fussy for me to haul out my cell phone when half the time the light outside is so bright i cannot even read it. i have a watch with a band of simple brown leather  

reminding me of my days as an equestrian.

The  simple horse ornaments i made this last year speak of horses of our dreams
in colors not usually

 assigned to ponies and horses that we ride or groom or feed and love.

Blues and lavenders and aquas came off my brush and onto the basic muslin shapes of a flying  horse or one that has been freed from its rocker.They are about 6 inches in length, stuffed firmly. After the paint is dried, some ancient embroidery floss is stitched into show flowing manes and tails. a hackamore bridle and saddle blanket come last, that is how i rode in high school. lastly, i added a

hanging loop because i can always park my horse on a door  knob now. 

Today the clouds were amazing, tomorrow i must post them.

wednesday without words

Wednesday without words

This  orchard is a winter bloomer,

The fragrance apparent only after dusk indicates to me the pollinator might just be a moth!

the fragrance is heavenly, clove like spice .

wordless wednseday

Merry Christmouse to all and a good night!

Mmmmm, tasty morsels said Ruby the cat......

These cookies were brought to me by a friend who had all of us in stitches.

 i shared them with those who we partied and feasted with this holiday season. 

Thank you Pat for spreading good cheer with you creative arts!

and i watched as an acquaintance bite one of these tasty morsels in half

with the tail still to go!

May you all

                       be well, see well and taste all the fine flavor of the season!

aloha, Sonja

are you getting ready?

Christmas is coming
 and some of us are getting ready to gift by making things of wonder.

i wonder why i sometimes get ideas so late in the year. i still have some things i started in a Christmas past that i am putting on finishing touches,
 perhaps ideas that had not fully hatched until now.

 Each year for the past 16 years i have given/sent out invitations to my studio to those who have purchased my work along the way, at Haleiwa Arts Festival and other local venues. It goes out by snail mail. hand written hand made like the ornaments i fashion all year long.

i made a painted  fabric cat ornament for a friend's granddaughter.
She gets an ornament each year that mom or daughter or she  picks out. this is based on a black and white cat.. i hope i was able to channel what the cat looks like
all though i can't recall the name of this cat.
 ...we shall see!

Christmas Cactus is starting to bloom just in the nick of time!

 The angel  below

is a re purposed flag from a friend that keeps me in faded glory flags.

 i love this one as the stars are embroidered and old lace looks at home with the faded cotton. 

Mz Liberty has a flannel snowman ornie tucked  up under her arm.

Long may she wave!

the last willie melt snowman pin hand carved by DH is painted 

 wears the other end of the torn strip of RWB fabric.

it is the last one  until i can convince him to make another.  

excuse the blurry  "bullet"  Santas below

 that are standing in tennis shoes while they dry and then go on to the next step

 getting ballast in bottoms before  more paint and then gluing them on a slice of trees from past trees.

This sight  made me laugh as i found shoes a handy way to keep these dudes upright

 while i watched paint dry. 

the recent full moon set.time to get up and greet the day!

 
What are you finishing up beside that cold cup o coffee?
be well, see well,
 sonja

Thankful for giving

i am grateful for sunsets 

and

 for all the small details nature shows me daily

  when i pay attention between sunsets.

some times i carry a camera to remind me of what i have noticed recently. a tidbit of the essence that slowed me down in the first place to take a picture.

i am grateful for paint and muslin, bolts of it and that i am comfortable with a paintbrush in my hand.

grateful for friends, clients that become friends and the people i have not yet met but will meet through the work i do, the color i ad to fabric and grateful for the ideas that come pell mell to me to transform the cloth into something that was not here before. i am  grateful many times daily for smart hands and good air to breathe and eyes that take it all through brand new eyeglasses of increased strength. i recall friends i have known and am grateful to shared the air with them; some are missing and some are gone.  i am grateful for the art pals i have made the last 8 years that share and support imagination and  whose amazing pieces,small treasures really, land in my mailbox doing so make me happy and the post office a more colorful place if just for the moment. 

be well, see well,

aloha, Sonja 

Ruby Ruby Ruby

Ruby the cat posing in the yard on chair arm with  black orchids.

she must investigate all that goes on in the yard when she is not snoozing somewhere.

These  orchids are in bloom July, August, and still in September and are a native of the Philippines. They smell like honey to me. 

 trichoglottis brachiata

they attach to the mock orange tree and put out roots that twine around the branches.

these  amazing orchids have been in bloom almost 3 months.

I inhale sweetness of nature daily and water them as well if there is not rain.

they really are more  ruby or Merlot in color to me.

Last week i had that hankering for sauerkraut.

But the can i had in pantry had to be returned to the market as it had started to leak,

the metal was somehow compromised so i was actually smelling it when i passed that cabinet.

While at Food Land

i spotted a colorful red cabbage which i brought home recalling that recently i had seen
 a lovely blog that had a recipe for it with beautiful photos as well.
link
  http://kitchenvignettes.blogspot.com/2012/09/ruby-sauerkraut.html
here is another link
http//www.gardenbetty.com/2013/06/ruby-kraut-and-why-its-so-good-for-you/

it is really so easy peasey because i waited about seven days, i opened my jewel of a jar and heard the fermentation sealed air pop. i took a forks worth and raised it to my mouth only to find that
 i had salted it way too much!

Washed, chopped, bruised, salted, sealed

 and wait.

and wait and wait    

i will be making Ruby kraut again very soon,

 this time paying attention to get the proportions of salt to amount of cabbage used balanced.
Perhaps add some other veggies to the mix.

i also need to get new rubber gaskets for the mason jars i have.
Not all was lost, 

 i managed to rinse out the brine and am almost empty of jar at this point.

i really enjoy the crunchiness of my first batch of  homemade Ruby Kraut!
 perhaps i will make
another batch today as i may be pleasantly hooked.
(and they look so lovely waiting on the window sill)

be well
 and may your food be  tasty and colorful.

sonja

2014 Haleiwa Art Festival

Come out to the

Hale`iwa Arts Festival 17th Annual Summer Art Fest
in historic Hale'iwa Town
www.HaleiwaArtsFestival.org

July 19 and 20, 2014   

Many Juried Visual Artists, Musicians, Singers, Dancers, Cultural History Tours, Student Art, Art Demonstrations, Fabulous Food Vendors, and Children's Art Activities will all be featured. 

 Admission is FREE.

Celebrate the arts at the

Hale`iwa Beach Park

Saturday July 19  10 am to 6 pm 

Sunday July 20  10 am to 5 pm

If you arrive early Saturday morning , you will be treated to 
bagpipers strolling through the grounds!

my booth  is  #115 

near the water, first aid, and info tents

at the front of the festival,

where we are very colorful !

aloha, Sonja