Springing

Springtime in Southwest Michigan is an eclectic mix of sunshine then snow, flowers then frost, and temperatures fluxuating by 40 degrees in one day.  As excited as I am to get out into my garden and start the prep of a new growing season, the cold rain and mud are keeping me in the studio.  Just as well probably, as there are several garden shows and spring markets to stock up for and always new projects on my desk to paint.  

The garden show events have become some of my most favorite vendor markets and opened up a whole new world of meeting so many dear sweet people that appreciate beauty and like to grow things with their hands.  I seriously had no idea there were so many Master Gardeners and programs to gain such knowledge or the amount of dedication and work it takes to earn that title!  Although I'm primarily an artist and only a very amateur gardener, without these lovely people growing the things I paint and blowing me away with their knowledge of plants...my work would seem so much more pointless.  So gardeners I salute you!  Please keep doing what you do to make the world a more beautiful place, and I'll keep painting what you grow to capture and preserve them. Then maybe we can keep our flowers around us all through the long, cold winters!