August Dispatch

Sweet summer! June and July slid by in a blur of road trips, family gatherings, hikes, summer shows, books read. I discovered that my breakfast tastes better when eaten outside, admiring the hummingbirds as they sip from the coral penstemons and rest on the purple boughs of the datura.

I've saved up some photos of the garden for those of you who enjoy seeing them. I've gotten out more than usual this summer to help with the pruning and deadheading. Those are two jobs I always love; cleaning out the beds and making everything look neat and well groomed.

John and I are really committed to eating vegan now and cabbage has been our go to since the lettuce is at the in-between harvests stage. We cook easy things together like cabbage slaw over beans and quinoa with avocado and watermelon for dessert. The secret is in adding seasonings to the greens and beans so that everything tastes good and we use lots of lemon or lime to brighten the flavors.

We've been eating lots of tomatoes too. This variety is prolific; you can see how loaded the vines are. We use a lot of them and share them to the community table downtown in our hamlet.

Lots of foxglove on our place. We are careful with it and the datura. Both plants are poisonous and need to be respected. 

I love how much our "fried egg" poppy looks like crepe paper. So delicate and big; a good hand span across.

This is amaranth that the indians used for dyeing and that I've made ink out of. It's a gorgeous color.

Here is dahlia, basil, penstemons. So pretty, the colors John puts together. He has a touch. 

These are our breadseed poppies. Very pretty and will take over the area unless you keep them in check. 

A yellow dahlia that is unusual for its dark foliage. Lovely girl; very cheerful.

How about some actual ducks? Saw this little family on one of our Sunday hikes.

Daylilies. These look like I painted the petals; they must be a new variety. We have the old fashioned ones as well.

Ah, the wonderful peaches promising pies, cobblers, peaches eaten over the sink al fresca. 

I saw this plant referred to as the zipper plant beacuse ... well, you see. There is a honey bee in there too.

A new variety of cosmos. Have grown this annual forever but not this variety. It's so pretty.

And yet another new variety of cosmos. Are you familiar with this one? It's very strong, just wonderful.

I'd better get a picture of the farmer in here. This is John and he is the most nurturing man I know. His heart is golden.

Corn and sunflowers. This is the garden as it looks today. We're on our second round of corn and the sunflowers are in many places besides this one. I have many more photos but maybe this is a good place to stop with the garden. 

I do have one of myself in my booth at an art fair this summer. It was a terrific fair and I sold many paintings. This is me being happy.

I love to show my work. My daily life is quite isolating; in general I prefer it but I also get lonely for  community so I look forward to this art fair every year. In addition, you can see all my daily paintings on Instagram under the name judywiseart. I try to post every single day.

And in general I'm not teaching as often but I do have this one awesome workshop planned that will be held in Ireland. I'm welcoming YOU to join me there; it's going to be a deep inquiry into abstract painting and I'll make myself available there for guidance on everything I know about painting, studio practice, selling, etc. 

For prices and additional information please go here. I'm hoping some new and old friends will join me; I'm so looking forward to sharing my first trip to Ireland with you, to discovering Mulranny, and to experiencing EOM studios. 

That's the news from here, friends. Thank you as always for stopping by.