february flowers

farmers market summer bouquet / recently purchased miniature roses / gorgeous apricot roses / sunny studio windowsill garden No.1 / daisy / Japanese anemone / zingy, cheery snapdragons at 29 Black Street / windowsill geranium blooms / Creative Empire Studio Manager Oliver with zinnias / more lovely mini rose bushes / sunny studio windowsill garden No.2 / sigh ... cosmos bright lights in the chocolate brown bedroom

I must have flowers,
always, always.
Claude Monet

While the wind howls outside my second floor studio windows here in Lunenburg, and a winter blizzard is blooming - I'm tucked inside cozy, warm and dreaming this snowy, stormy February evening of flowers and gardens ... and more flowers.

oh my geranium

hot pink & white geranium blossoms, sunshine & most excellent photography assistant and all round best cat ever ! Oliver 

Everything always works out in the end 
if it hasn't worked out ... it isn't the end.

les very comforting mantra on rapid repeat in my head this early morning

I ♡ flowers

mostly zinnias & cosmos that I've been photographing and scanning to add to my illustrations ... perhaps

A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.
Victor Hugo

bright lights

a quick illustration I painted for seed packets I'm making to send to a few friends of my favourite cheery yellow & orange cosmos bright lights + a few photographs of a teeny bouquet & another favourite of mine - dear, sweet Oliver 


She understands now what she, in all her worry, had forgotten. That even as she hesitates and wavers, even as she thinks too much and moves too cautiously, she doesn't always have to get it right. It's okay to look back, even as you move forward. Jennifer E. Smith

lost & found

a really important 2 hour Skype chat and wanted to doody up my background - with best loved pet & creative director

Life is painful and messed up. It gets complicated at the worst of times, and sometimes you have no idea where to go or what to do. Lots of times people just let themselves get lost, dropping into a wide open, huge abyss. But that's why we have to keep trying. We have to push through all that hurts us, work past all our memories that are haunting us. Sometimes the things that hurt us are the things that make us strongest. A life without experience, in my opinion, is no life at all. And that's why I tell everyone that, even when it hurts, never stop yourself from living. Alysha Speer

so sorry for my longer than normal absence - I feel like I am lost a bit. At a transition point in my life & it's a big one - a very big leap is about to happen. Two things I want to say today:

The first is that I know with all my being that you must feel lost to feel found, and that said lost is a constant state of being, of growth & development & change & ultimately really good things.

The second is I love that cat Oliver, that dog, cat, comforting little furry Buddha creature that he is, way more than words could ever, ever say. I am so blessed to have him on my team ;-)

* this bouquet picked/cut from my wee haphazard gardens

flowers

farmers market bouquet $12. / zinnias. cosmos, calendula / 6 ears of sweet corn 2.50 / one much loved dog cat named Oliver

Without darkness, nothing comes to birth, 
As without light, nothing flowers.
May Sarton

buttered white toast

scarlet runner beans reaching into the sky / the bluest lobelia / gorgeous hydrangeas / coneflower / lavender / lantana - a member of the verbena family and a perennial - hooray / I LOVE september, hot pink & my brand new extra jumbo Paper-Source 16 month desk blotter calendar

I’m here. I love you. I don’t care if you need to stay up crying all night long, I will stay with you. There’s nothing you can ever do to lose my love. I will protect you until you die, and after your death I will still protect you. I am stronger than Depression and I am braver than Loneliness and nothing will ever exhaust me. Elizabeth Gilbert - Eat, Pray, Love

comfort comes in many forms but buttered good white toast, made with great heavy bread - a chewy baguette or this rustic easy Tuscan Peasant loaf is one for me but sadly one this no/low carb girl rarely treats herself to ... but never, ever, say never

ps - hop over to my studio/portfolio blog to check out all the Midwest/CBK Beautiful Soul catalogue pages