Gardens of change

Following my travel to Hawaii I stopped painting, gave up my studio and took up a course in Garden design. The amazing gardens with their lusher than lush vegetation in Hawaii had stroke the bass cords within me and I couldn’t add another painting to this world of overabundant paintings. It would be much more beneficial to add gardens to our planet, where nature is eliminated every second manifold. I love nature, gardens, trees, flowers, water and peace (of my mind at least, who is a natural thinker)! And then my younger sister died and brought me back to creating (small things). I feel somehow that I am doing work for both of us now.

Tiny garden

A garden is in the smallest house

Wall garden

Bells to remember

Did you ever hear about Ikebana ?

If you are like me, your mother once came home when you were 15 – proudly showing off a small arrangement of flowers in a flat vase which were keeping upright or inclined on a device called Kenzan, but that she didn’t know. She had participated at a 2 hour Ikebana workshop and loved the experience. You didn’t because you couldn’t see the added value – you preferred the natural flowers picked in the fields. Fast forward almost 40 years – Ikebana ? No, you would never think about even investigating the subject – the one time experience had left a too heartbreaking – or boring – experience.

If you are like me, some words leave a mark in your heart, you don’t even know why. You reject it for a long long time, you bury it under heaps of stuff, oblivious to the seed still there.

If you are like me, one day you do some research about an unrelated topic and you see some green. What is this weed doing there ? and you follow it. All of a sudden an amazing thing is standing in front of you - you hold your breath – what’s THAT??? Ikebana.  

Ikebana arrangement inspired by and honoring immigrants shipwrecking at sea

Silk Leaf Embroidery

Silk satin, vintage silk threat and glass pearls

Working with this smooth silk fabric is a tiny challenge and a big reward. I feel how my eyes are refreshed by the deep green color (which is not quite the same in real) and its glossy shine. Just looking at it and I want to dive into its waves… is it a cooling bed in summer or rather a deep sea which envelopes a naked body in its generosity? For now it is becoming a collection of leaves, hopefully with some poetry.