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Sunday, August 8, 2010

Artistic Polar Bear Challenge: 100 Ways In 100 Days. #84 - Plant Collage

I was puttering around in the gardens this morning, trying to get a few weeds pulled before the next round of thunderstorms, heat, and humidity arrived.

The cat crop is coming in well this year.



The snapdragons, my favorite sun-loving annual, are looking snappy.



The shade garden getting it's touch of morning sun.


Gardening always puts me into a meditative state.  As my hands weeded and pruned and deadheaded, Right Brain was busy pondering what to do with the next bear.  Another 'Unusual Material Collage' seemed like a fun idea...but what to use?  Right Brain went right on contemplating the possibilities as the tending and cutting and watering continued.

Then I stopped.  The answer was right at my fingertips.

I toured the garden, eying and evaluation, snipping and plucking.   The prunings were brought inside, and an organic collage was created.

Fresh From the Garden Collage Bear


Here's a closer look:


The following plants each gave a little bit of themselves for this project:
  • Impatiens
  • Petunia
  • Black-eyed Susan
  • Japanese Painted Fern
  • Daylily
  • Coleus
  • Hosta
  • Sage
  • Balloon Flower
  • Purple Coneflower
  • Celosia
  • Coral Bells
  • Astilbe
  • Japanese Maple
  • Hibiscus
  • Barberry
  • Smoke Bush
  • Dogwood
  • Oregano
  • Catmint
  • Japanese Forest Grass
  • Sweet Potato Vine
  • Wintercreeper
  • Creeping Jenny
  • Ajuga
All in all, absolutely the sweetest smelling art project I think I have ever worked on. :-)

6 comments:

Cynthia Schelzig said...

Oh Wow....a fresh garden bear...you continue to amaze me...this is beautiful!...I love the "cat crop" toooo. It is so much fun seeing what kind of bear will appear next...I love them all.
Cynthia Schelzig...a.k.a.Cynnie
I was thinking of a "Zentangle" Bear last night..as I am doing quite a lot of doodles lately. Your bear would look great in doodle...a doodle bear!!!

Jeanette Jobson said...

How clever and inspired! I love it!
Will the pieces dry and remain in place do you think? I know they would fade in varying degrees, but that could be interesting too.

I keep following your amazing progress on this 100 day challenge and trying to pluck up the courage to do one of my own. Perhaps after the project work is done...

RH Carpenter said...

LOVE THIS! I wish you could varnish over it and seal it so you could keep it this way! Did you glue them down on a board? Your garden must be full of lovely things, unlike my poor weed garden.

debwardart said...

You are A M A Z I N G! Don't think I've ever "met" (in person or via blog) someone as creative as you. It would be cool to dry and then varnish them!!

Claire Beadon Carnell said...

Can I just say - WOW! This is so impressive - your creativity is incredible.
I love the cat crop... I have a nice crop growing at my house too... :)

Lisa Walsh said...

Thanks Cynnie. I had no idea what 'Zentangle' was. I had to look it up, and love the idea!

Hi Jeanette. I glued the pieces down with diluted matte medium, and the flower petals are already starting to fade to gray. :( I say start your own challenge! This has been fun and educational and, well, challenging. If I knew then what I know now, I might have made it 50 instead of 100. It's a lot of work, and I haven't had time to do anything else but the bear. But it has made me do art everyday, and stretch the ol' creativity. Go for it!

Trust me, Rhonda, my garden is full of weeds. Only when they finally started beating up on my perennials did I make the time to evict them.

Thanks Deb. Starting out with dried flowers may have been more helpful, as the petals were wilting before I could even glue them down. I had to risk MosquitoPalooza to get fresh ones.

Thanks Claire. Dontcha just love it when the cat crop comes up? That's Maxxine, she's allowed out to sun herself when I garden in the back yard.