Spring Rains...

Spring rains bring growth to my flower beds outside and my spring birthday also brought flowers from dear friends of mine (left). Both make me smile and isn't that what spring is all about? Renewed growth, a fresh start, new inspiration!
The week ahead, for that matter the month ahead, is a busy one for me. The Denver K-12 Art show is May 4th! Lots of artwork to be prepped and hung in a short time. I look forward to all that work going home to proud parents and out of the artroom, giving me space to move around and finish up the school year. Putting everything away is something that doesn't happen overnight and of course there are still projects to me made and things to learn!
May 8th a friend and I are having a garage sale at my place. It's Denver's City Wide Garage Sale Day. My biggest asset is after getting everything out myself, I don't feel like buying anything to drag back into my home! It's the give and take, reuse and recycle that I enjoy. It's also a chance to visit with a good friend and all the repeat visitors who come to our annual garage sale.
Last week my wonderful neighbors cut down the tree in my front yard that was growing too close to my house. The cut had been talked about and in the plans for years and what a surprise for me to come home after work and find all remnants of it gone! Helpful neighbors are the best, and mine are just that. The tree has been replaced with a birdbath laying on it's stump. A friend and I made the large birdbaths last fall. Spring rains have filled it this weekend. Back to my flower beds... I need to clean them out, erase the remnants of fall and winter, but that is waiting for another day!

Tombstone Tuesday

Some of the Johnson Stones at Grandview Covenant Cemetery, Larchwood, IA
Joe and Phoebe (Swanson) Johnson's stone on the left, Mom and Dad's stone awaiting them on the right.Andrew and Albertina (Gustafsdotter) Johnson (In front of the large Johnson stone in the photo on top.)

Carl Larsson

A favorite artist of mine for many years, Carl Larsson connects me to my Swedish heritage. One of my first encounters with his work was as a teenager, when as an exchange student, my host family in Sweden took me to his home in Sundborn, Sweden, on vacation in 1975. Carl and his wife Karin were given a small house by Karin’s father in 1888 in Sundborn, named Lilla Hyttnäs (little furnace). From that time on I could easily recognize his work in Scandinavian stores here in the states wherever we went and started collecting prints and other items with his work on them. For photos of his home and his art go to this link.
Little was I to know on that first visit, that I would return in 2001, with my Mom, Aunt and Cousin. We visited the village of Sundborn, going to the church first, awaiting the opening of the museum home. After our tour and time in the gift shop, we had a picnic lunch in the garden near the house just soaking in the atmosphere.
My first print I picked up on that first visit to Sundborn in 1975, hangs in my bedroom. Left: "Front Yard and the Wash House" His work is well represented in my home, I have stationary, a plate, trays, numerous calendars, boxes and prints.
Right: "Flowers on the Windowsill, 1894" I have this print on a tray that hangs on the wall in my kitchen.