Blooms, Bees, and a Barn

As an artist, I am obsessed with nature...the colors, textures, shapes, shadows, values, and lines. Just being outside sparks my creativity to no end and provides me with inspiration for all of my original designs. Earlier this month, my husband and I took a road trip to Illinois to visit my mommy and her husband Dan - they live on a gorgeous lakefront property that my mother has lovingly nurtured and gardened. Her green thumb is evident throughout every nook and cranny of their yard. She's planted vegetables, trees, shrubs, berry patches, flower gardens, even a quaint woodland garden...and she has things blooming year-round. The manicured grounds truly look straight out of a gardening book...and it really makes me wish I had more time/space/money for landscaping. Every time I visit, I take hundreds of photos that get my creative juices flowing. Here is just a sampling of the photos I snapped during our stay - some of which, I have already printed and tacked on my "art in progress" board...I hope one or more of these images will inspire you (click on any image to enlarge)...

If those photos aren't enough, on the same trip, we visited a fabulous apple orchard in Wisconsin  - the Ten Eyck Orchard in Brodhead, WI (side note: they have a wonderful Facebook page, with all sorts of inspiring images). We enjoyed a journey through the corn maze - Travis and I actually made it all the way through and came out the exit without a map (not too bad for our first time in a corn maze). We sampled a few fresh apples...and I flipped over a really cool bee skep and the incredible round barn. It was a delightful morning and I would definitely recommend this orchard to anyone in the area...

I hope you enjoyed your visit today! I'll be back again soon with more sewing projects and needlework finishing, plus a little announcement on a new addition to our family...stay tuned...