Roots: An Urban Gardener’s Oasis February 9, 2010

Yesterday I dropped off several of my botanical giclee prints at a newer shop in Greenville, South Carolina called Roots. I met the store owners over the weekend, as they were also vendors at the Greater Greenville Master Gardener Symposium. They thought my paintings would be a nice addition to their shop so I said I’d stop by sometime and check it out. Little did I know what a gorgeous place they have. It’s overflowing with so many beautiful flowering plants that you can just feel spring in the air when you open the door!

This article I’ve linked to describes the services they offer but I think their tagline sums it up perfectly — “An Urban Gardener’s Oasis.” It truly feels like an oasis inside this beautiful shop. If you need anything to brighten up your home for the rest of the winter, or need to find a unique Valentine’s gift for somebody (or yourself) that won’t die in a week, then you Definitely need to check out Roots.

Five days and counting until Valentine's Day. If you still need a gift, or simply love beautiful things, then I guarantee you'll think it was worth the trip.

I was greeted by a sea of tulips and cyclamen lining the floor by the front door.

Orchids...

Cyclamen...

Live birds chirping in this cool birdcage...

Mini Kalanchoes (I think that's what they called them... whatever the name, they were adorable!)

I don't know the name of this plant, but isn't it lovely?

This area is part of their planting work-station.

Roots is easy to find. It's located just a few minutes from Downtown Greenville right on the main drag at 2247 Augusta St., Greenville, SC 29605. If you get lost, their number is 864-241-0100. Hours are M-F: 10-6, S: 10-5.

Outside of Roots... so you know what you are looking for. I took this photo as I was at the stop sign shown above, pulling away. (Not the best driving OR photography practice.)

It smelled like HEAVEN! February 8, 2010

Sarcoccoca Confusa: lovely deep green shrub for deep shade. Extremely fragrant blooms in mid-winter. Great for cuts! 4 x 3 $3. I couldn't resist buying this one bush. It was only $3, and it will only need a very small hole which I can dig myself. I had it sitting on my table and enjoyed the beauty of its scent all day long.

I spent half of this past weekend in the Carolina First Convention Center at the Greater Greenville Master Gardeners Symposium. I was there with my botanical prints and paintings as one of 15 vendors, but I think I enjoyed myself as much as the participants in the symposium did!

When we walked into the vendor room on Friday afternoon for the first time, I was stunned by the beautiful spring fragrance in the air. There were flowering plants everywhere as most vendors were selling plants. The room smelled like HEAVEN!

I did not expect to leave the show feeling so refreshed, but it truly was inspiring to be with so many beautiful plants and bushes in the middle of winter. It was all I could do to restrain myself from buying at least 1/2 dozen bushes. Only two things stopped me. 1.) our van was already full, and 2.) our dirt is such hard clay that Tim has to dig all the holes for me now. (I didn’t think that after spending his weekend helping me with my show that he should have to take on another gardening project, since that’s not really something he enjoys.)

Here’s some photos of what I saw. I hope it will help to tide you over until spring arrives at your home. If you live in the North and are just dying for winter to end, why not plan a trip to your nearest indoor Botanical Garden? I think you’ll find it most inspiring as I did (and I was just in an enclosed convention hall!)

It was so invigorating to be around so many live plants.

I can't wait to go and visit Motlow Creek Gardens nursery in Campobello, SC. They've ordered a few bushes for me--I didn't want to buy the last ones in they had in stock since I was just a vendor. One of the two owners (who are twin sisters by the way) actually bought three of my small flowers-in-bottles giclee prints... she has such good taste! http://www.motlowcreekgardens.com

An arrangement by B. B. Barns located in South Asheville, NC. http://www.bbbarns.com/

A Camelia bush in bloom. These bloom during the winter in my town. I planted three of these in our yard this past fall. Hopefully they'll make it through this unusually cold winter and bloom next year.

This is one of the bushes responsible for the beautiful fragrance I enjoyed all weekend. I think it's called a paper bush. I ordered one of these!

This is a smaller version of the same plant, shown by itself. It has a very architectural feel to the branches in winter when the leaves are gone. If you live in zone 7 and enjoy a fragrant garden, this bush is one you NEED to have in your yard. It blooms in February and March.

Heritage Elementary Helps Haiti! February 6, 2010

My son's school raised over $1,300 to help Haiti last week, simply by letting the kids pay $1 to wear a hat in school last Friday. A letter was sent home earlier in the week telling us that the money would be given to The Red Cross' Haiti relief effort. When I picked Nathan up from school on Hat Day, there was a teacher in the parking lot wearing a very CRAZY hat, who was also taking more donations. How cool is that? Way to go Heritage!

Painting “Mt. Tam” (part 2) February 5, 2010

Here's a photo of the commissioned painting called "Mt. Tam," after I spent a couple of days working on it this week. I am at the point where there is A LOT of thick, wet paint all over the canvas. Time to walk away and let it dry for a few days so that the colors can stay clean and bright. The photo does not capture how scary-glary-bright the orange underpaintng is right now. I will be glad when I'm a little bit farther along into this piece, because now it totally hurts my eyes to look at it. (Below is my painting progress from the past two days.)

DAY TWO: I started out this morning with the orange canvas I had under-painted a couple of weeks ago.

I began by painting over my pencil lines with dark paint. (Sorry it's so blurry--the sun was super bright and it made the canvas look like it was glowing. I think it freaked my camera out.)

I then began filling all the shadow areas using a mix of dark blue and brown paint. Normally I paint one area of the canvas until it's basically done, but my pencil sketch is really getting lost on the orange, so I thought I'd give this technique a shot.

Next was the sky. My favorite thing to paint! This painting is going to hang in an office with no windows, so the sky needs to be as blue as can be, as the painting will be my client's "window."

When the sky was finished to my liking, I began to paint the water. I also added some highlights into the path.

DAY TWO: Here's the paint I'm going to use today. I'm starting with the mountains the distance so those should have some purple highlights.

Once I finished the mountains I began to add yellow highlights into the grassy field. I want the fields glowing with warm colors so that it causes you to feel the sun on your back.

The contrasts of the green and orange are hurting my eyes! I've just been adding different colors of grasses now for a while. I know what I want this painting to look like when it's done, but am not l too confident as to how to get there yet. It's been a while since I've done a landscape... how do I do that again? I should probably pray about it (seriously!)

Mary Engelbreit’s newest print Helps Haiti! February 4, 2010

Order Mary Engelbreit's newest print and you'll be helping the Haiti relief effort! http://shop.maryengelbreit.com/p-5765-help-for-haiti-small-litho.aspx

My long-time, number one, ultimate HERO of the art world — artist Mary Engelbreit – just announced her newest print yesterday. Besides the fact that her new print is totally cute, the coolest thing about it is this: if you purchase the print from her, she’s using the proceeds to raise money for Doctors Without Borders to help with in their Haiti Relief Effort.

These 11″ x 14″ prints are being sold for just $35.00 AND the first 100 sold will be signed and numbered by Mary! That is a totally sweet deal, plus you’ll be contributing in a small way to helping those in Haiti who have lost everything.

I just ordered one for my studio. I love the saying “May Wonders Never Cease!” as much as the beautiful little girl that Mary has illustrated.

Now that the dirt has started to settle and media coverage is slowing down, it’s easy to forget about all the people who lost their families, and all their earthly possessions in just minutes. I’m going to hang up  Mary’s drawing in my studio so that I remember to continue to pray for the people of Haiti every day.

Be sure to count YOUR blessings today, and please keep Praying for Haiti!
–Marie Scott

Matthew 25:34-40
(From the New International Version of the Bible)

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Time zapper! February 3, 2010

I have spent the better part of three days getting ready for my upcoming show on Saturday. Here's the mess I've created in my studio.

What could I possibly be doing that would take up 3 days? That is what I would like to know too!

On Friday, I stretched all of these prints, and assembled all the matted prints which are in baskets in the other photos on this post.

I'm still not totally packed, but I have all my price tags made, my booth layout done, and my other paperwork completed. This still doesn't seem like it should take so much time. But it just does. And that is why I have a new business approach for 2010. No more shows! (at least not so many) My goal for 2010 is to create 20 quality paintings so that I can find another gallery in the South to represent me. I can't do it all, so the shows are going to have to take the back burner for this year.

The show I’m participating in this weekend is a new kind of venue for me. I will be one of 15 vendors at the Greater Greenville Master Gardeners Symposium. I’ve never done a show in a convention hall before, so I hope it’s a positive experience. I figured that it was worth a try for two reasons: 1.) It’s inside, so I don’t have to worry about rain ruining my paintings, and 2.) I love gardening, so I’m hoping I can listen in on some of the sessions or at least pick some of the gardeners brains with gardening questions.

Here’s a PDF file showing the plan for what my booth will look like. I’ll use my tent and side walls, but I won’t need to put the roof on. My personality does not fit the typical artist stereotype. I’m a planner, and extremely particular. So that is probably why doing these shows ZAPPS my Time!
boothlayoutforshowonFeb6

Happy Groundhog Day, 2010! February 2, 2010

We've been marking the holidays with appropriate words on our refrigerator these past couple of months. I have these super-cute alphabet magnets, but unfortunately only one copy of each letter (thus our creative spelling of some words.)

Happy Groundhog Day! If you are a serious Groundhog fan, here’s the official web site for all the information you could ever need on this holiday. http://www.groundhog.org/

Snow day in South Carolina February 1, 2010

The sun came out yesterday after a big winter storm came through on Friday and Saturday. The brilliant blue sky makes such a nice contrast to the snowy trees.

We had a couple inches of snow on Friday and Saturday, so schools are closed today. The snow on the roads melted yesterday so the roads were just really wet, but all that froze again last night. Since there isn’t road salt down here, when there’s ice, school is closed. Here are some photos of our snowy yard. It’s still snow-covered now, but I’m guessing it will mostly melt in the next few days as it’s supposed to be in the high 40s this week.

I love how the ice is hanging off this fence. It was this thick on EVERYTHING--that's why they cancelled most churches yesterday, and most schools today.

These pines trees in our back yard managed to remain standing up straight.

This TREE (not just a branch) is bent over with the weight of the ice. It's actually standing up straight again today!

Here's another bent over tree.

Nathan enjoyed playing in the snow. I'm glad we kept his snow pants he had when we lived in Milwaukee! Nathan is standing next to the TOP of the bent over pine tree--the trunk to that tree is about 20 feet to his right.

Our backyard on Saturday morning.

The road behind our house before things started to melt.

On Sunday the snow began to melt off the roads.

The tall grasses in this field were coated with ice. It was quite beautiful!

More snow covered fields.

Stretching some Giclee prints January 29, 2010

Today I'm getting ready for an art show I'm in next Saturday (February 6th.) I've been stretching some canvas Giclee prints of my flowers in bottles series that I'm taking with me to the show. It's a gardening symposium for the Greenville Master Gardeners Association, so I'm only bringing prints and paintings of flowers with me to sell at this show. Hopefully these Master Gardeners will love my prints and buy out my inventory!

To see all ten paintings in my “Flowers in Bottles” series, visit this page on my web site…

My prints are shipped to me from Prime Digital Media, a Fine-art Printer located in Milwaukee, WI that I

Here they are on my floor uncurling.

These are the wooden bars that I will stretch the prints onto. They come in separate pieces that I assemble into the finished size of my printed piece.

Let's get started with the HYDRANGEA. First I fold the edges over to there's a nice sharp edge.

I get the print centered on the bars, the use a staple gun to attach it.

Before doing any more staples, I turn it over to make sure it's centered correctly.

I use my canvas stretcher pliers tool to pull the canvas nice and tight so it's doesn't sag.

Between every staple I rotate the canvas first 180 degrees, then 90 degrees so that it's stretched tightly on all 4 sides.

The corners are the trickiest part. The canvas fabric is hard to fold, but after doing 100 or so of these little flowers I've gotten to be pretty quick. I can stretch about five prints per hour. When I first started, it took 45 for one. Imagine my distress at this after having spent over a thousand dollars in having ten paintings photographed for this purpose. Luckily I got faster at the stretching.

Here's the finished back. This was the first one I've done in a few months, so it's not quite as perfect as I like them to be. The little notebook in the upper right corner is my high-tech inventory system. There are ten different flowers in this series that I have to keep tracking of numbering. (The notebook actually works just fine for this!)

This one looks much better! (I'm sure I'm the only one who cares what the back looks like.) Stretching these prints is not my favorite thing to do, however it does make me happy that so many people enjoy having these flower prints hanging in their homes. I love having them in mine!

DONE! (Painting a Christmas Present part 6) January 28, 2010

"Archer Place" • oil painting on canvas • 36" x 24" • © 2010 marie scott studios

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
To: Jeff & Judi
From: Brad

Hi Jeff & Judi… your Christmas present it finally done. I hope you enjoy this gift from your brother Brad. I’ll let you know when this painting of your lovely home is dry, and then I’ll get it shipped out to you.

Marie Scott

DAY 12: Here's the painting before I begin working on it. My plan is to touch up a few sunflowers and add some grain to the fence.

I've spent about 45 minutes on the sunflowers. I think those look done. I basically added lots of yellow highlights and cerulean blue shadows to give this area more definition.

I hadn't planned to do anything to the fence, but Tim didn't think it looked done. He was right... I'm glad I listened to his objective opinion. The fence needed some more yellow to help it feel like the sun was shining on it.

Here's the fence in progress. This actually took longer than I had planned, but I think it was worth the time.

The fence is complete, and I'm really happy with it. HOWEVER, when I stepped back (something I need to do more often) I realized that now all the areas on the house with yellow trim look really pale and washed out. Hmmmm.... now what? I decided to put a SUPER thin glaze of the yellowish tan I was using on the fence over all the trim. This is rather frightening. I could totally ruin this painting if it doesn't work out.

It worked! Now the fence doesn't overpower the house, and the house looks like the sun is shining on it. I'm DONE with this painting... now it just needs to dry and I'll ship it to Denver in a few weeks. Yay!