"Teri, I have to say your art work just gets better and better. I really love this one, those butterflies do look like butterflies. I had to go back and reread how you created them . I really appreciate you sharing this beautiful work with me. Thank you so very much."
Lana G.
Sometimes I just want to make something Pretty. And Simple. I’ve been making some very complicated images lately and felt the need to do something easier.
I LOVE Flowers! So I set out to make Flowers. I wanted to make Flowers! I found these red dried Burning Bush leaves in my stash and started laying out the flower petals. What to use for the flower centers? It was Winter so I roamed around my house looking at my house plants for options. It just so happened that my Coleus plants were flowering so I plucked a few and tested them out. Perfect! And I liked the purple color.
I also had dried Buttercups in my stash which amazingly had kept their bright yellow color. I selected 3 or 4 to experiment with and see what worked visually. In the end 3 were chosen.
I LOVE the Maiden Grass on the left with its dramatic curl and texture. I placed it there because it helps keep your eye on the page, instead of sliding off the side. I’ve also been collecting different kinds of grasses and chose to use some to the right of the Maiden Grass. Another kind of grass is used as flower stems for the red flowers. I don’t know what kind they are. Something new to research!
Along the bottom, Green Coleus from a house plant creates a base for the flowers and a base for the image itself, sort of like green grass if you will…
Two dried red Azalea flowers, tucked among the green Coleus, match the large red flowers color wise, and create visual interest.
The large yellow flower is made with dried leaves from my Service Berry trees, again with a Lavender Coleus flower center. I planted the Service Berry trees to attract Cedar Wax Wing birds when I learned they eat the berries. It worked!
It was not enough to do just flowers. I always like to portray LIFE in my images, just like the abundant LIFE in my REAL gardens. And I confess I love making and including bugs. I’ve been wanting to make butterflies and here was a perfect opportunity! There are 4 butterflies, one large and 3 small. The wings are made from Geranium leaves, can you tell?
How were the butterflies made?? I traced the top and bottom wing shapes onto one Geranium leaf then maneuvered them into place to form wings. Viola! A butterfly!
The purple Dragonfly matches the purple flower centers. I copied it from another image titled “Dragonfly 5” but the color was too bright and looked gaudy here. Using Photoshop I toned down the color so it would blend with the colors used in THIS image.
I could not resist using my recently made Honey Bees! Three are flying into the picture from the left.
How did I come up with the title? I wanted something special. To me, this image illustrates a moment in time in my garden. Try as I might, I could not think of anything that inspired me. I took French in high school and have always loved the language. Surprisingly, I actually remember a few words! Le Petit Jardin means The Little Garden and when I thought of it, I knew it was the exotic flare I was looking for.
I love the colors in this image. Bright yellow and red with Spring green. I feel good when I look at it.
And this is the whole reason I make my Art…so YOU feel good too!