plant the crape myrtle tree

My new red crepe myrtle tree has three little trunks and is about 5 feet tall. I bought it last summer  (2011) at Merrifield Nursery in Gainesville Virginia for a substantial amount of money. I paid extra because this tree suited my needs, it is perfectly red and large enough to stand up to the passing foot traffic for the spot at the edge of our front curb.

56 years old and counting! Wonder if I can dig a hole big and deep enough to plant my tree this year?

I have wanted a really red crepe myrtle in my garden for a long time. Last summer I found that the spot I chose wasn't ready and my strength not up to the hard labor in the summer heat. This type of tree needs lots of sun and that means I have to dig in the sun too!  I reluctantly set the planting project aside on my to do list over and over feeling very guilty that I couldn't get it in the ground to start growing. I discovered sadly that getting old slows you down sometimes when your heart wants to go full speed ahead.

I have a vision of a large crepe myrtle with handsome dark red bark trunks peeling beige skin that is pollarded a bit to give it a bushy top each spring once it is happy in it's new home. At last today after a week of heavy rains that leaves soil soft and easier to dig I went out in the the sun with lots of big puffy white clouds and dug up the ground. It was hard but not as hard as I feared.

I mixed in loads of compost and  because this spot is entirely the remains of the enormous Linden tree that used to live there. The ground was sandy and much of the old mulched Linden tree had broken down to a sort of light brown soil. Sadly it died and was ground up into mulch a couple years ago and now the city won't put a big shade tree there because sensible minds prevail and they don't want the branches in the electrical wires over this spot! They tried planting a lovely delicate red bud a few years back near by but that died even with my careful watering for two summers.  That is when I decided  this is the perfect place for a sun loving, short in stature, red crepe myrtle tree to live.

dug the hole

tree sits at the edge of the hole 30 inches deep before I added compost

Finally, I planted my little red crepe myrtle tree. Now, all I have to do is water and wait. The flowers come late in the summer when ever thing in the garden looks like it is going to keel over from heat and they last into early fall.

It looks small but that rich soil should make it take off soon to reach new heights this summer. 

smile for the camera Frederick the job is almost done

 Below you can see what the flowers were like last year while it was still waiting to be planted it put on a nice display in spite of being pretty tightly packed in a small plastic pot! Oh and the leaves turn a very handsome shade of ORANGE in the fall! It's a perfect end of the season color for our garden at the edge of tenth street.

Last summer's blooms on the crepe myrtle 

orange stuff

Hey it's been a long time since I shared some ORANGE and I am always looking and snapping little bits of it with my camera and making stuff that has orange in it, so I wanted to share a collection of my oranges from the past few weeks... My idea of orange is anything from yellow-orange to a red-orange and all the oranges in between.

Keith's Artomatic installation has red but it looks orange in my photos! 

mysterious blurry photo has some great orange reds...

side table collection of cards with orange! 

recent sketch of some orange haliconia 

blocks from my rose star quilt with Orange in them are some of my favorites to make but I like balancing them with other colors in the finished work like a kaleidoscope rainbow colors.

The garden is mostly blues and other colors in the spring but these are my newest additions showing some orange

newest are the tiny zinnias orange and ready to go in somewhere on the edges of the tall day-lilies 

OPENING NIGHT

18 images and an artist statement make my wall complete

 We arrived about 6:30 and just made it in to the second public parking garage to find a space before the crush of visitors to Crystal City on Friday night too them all away. Artomatic opened at 6:00 but we were in the rush hour crawling across the city so we didn't arrive on time. The line was long at the door but somehow we managed to pass it by going in the loading dock doors at the back of the building we used while installing the show.

Keith and I standing by his work taken by a beautiful cartoon artist from across the room.  Urvi Metha

The second floor was tidy and lots of artists were there standing near their work ready for guests to arrive. We did our last minute installation of our artist statements on the walls by our work. Then took some photos and chatted with some of the other artists while waiting on our friends to arrive and visit our shows. Keith spotted my buddy Douglas Kingsbury first and he was alone and not sure he was ready to take in the whole building full of art but asked if we knew others in the show he might know... Having not seen the whole show yet I just pointed out a few friends I knew were in the exhibition. We had a nice visit and he went on to tackle the next floor.

Other guests and visitors we didn't now began to pass through and stop to talk. Met a couple from Alabama who loved my prints and were excited to hear that I also quilt! We shared a few quilter's stories. I got a nice tip for a "jelly roll" quilt to try so I am off to search YouTube to see what it is later today. Over the course of the night we had a good flow of visitors friends and art acquaintances complementing our efforts and creativity. It was rewarding to hear the praise. One fellow told me that he had seen my wall of work featured on Huffington Post Washington DC edition and Keith found his work on the Washington Post Weekend section slide show. So we were lucky to be in the visual line up of media this time around. We saw Molly Ruppert and Christina her daughter for a few minutes and Dwayne Franklin my friend from Baltimore who stayed late after work to see the big show. He wandered in late looking overwhelmed and a little burnt out from all the rooms of art he had visited. He managed to find us and was "done" with thoughts to return and revisit to see more but he had seen enough for one day.

  Christian Tribastone the guy who makes Sketch-crawl Washington DC happen every two or three months and a very nice art teacher who draws on brown paper with black and white media stopped by to see us. Love his art and I am looking forward to my chance to get up to the 9th floor and see his work, check the link on his name to see his blog posts of drawings and fun art give aways he does in the streets of the city.

Keith talking with Tomás Tarr the glass lamp-work artist who helped us secure our spaces on the first day. 

Keith's piece is best seen up close! All those details of sawed off and painted red stick ends and the spindly yellow craspedia bobbing over them make a wonder when you get in close. I was so glad he joined me at Artomatic this year it would have been lonely without his support and company. By 9:15 we were spent and tired from a long day and packed it in to get out and leave some parking for the people still trying to get in. Missed poet Dan Vera and Peter Montgomery our neighbors by a few minutes. They found our work and as I suspected Narcissus Poeticus print was a favorite for the poet!

On 2nd floor one of our favorite sculptures Edmund van der Bijl 

He painted the soiled rug black covering up some cool designs he painted below the black. We figure he ran out of time waiting on the black to dry so he couldn't do the detail work over again before they threw us all out last weekend. 

Pretty artist watching her neighbor explain a glass and ceramic mosaic to a small redheaded boy

Xavier Malina's moving lights box was a favorite in a dark room 

hallways decorated with the fabulous spray paintings of street artists

Finally Artist Nicholas Zimbro seen here talking about his work. My favorite artist including the collage behind the paintings and drawings on the first floor. We saw him on our way home.  

Lots more of Artomatic is open and waiting to be explored. It is fun to see all the good and crazy art installed and well worth a few hours of your time if you are anywhere near by, make a point to drop in and find your favorites and post a few for us to see on your facebook or somewhere.

connecting the rose stars with white fabric in between has begun!  

Now it is time for me to get back to my quilting projects...

Ready Set Go ... Artomatic 2012

The walls are painted, the pictures framed and hung, the name is in place. All that remains is to go and enjoy the shows. Artomatic 2012 is billed as a thousand or more artists in one Crystal City retired office building running May 18th through June 23rd and this year's Artomatic is using about 8 floors of an 11 story building to display art of all sorts.

I was so excited last weekend when Keith and I finished hanging, painting, lettering our displays that I began looking around to pack up and I began visiting with other artists in various stages of completion. So excited I forgot to take photos of our finished installations. I have a few to share from Keith who was trying to get pictures casually as I rambled on with my roommate Beth and neighbor Kathrine who were both finishing up.
The opening is tonight and some sources say there are only 500 visual artists this year and about that many again performers and other types of art events. It is always exciting to have a newly painted wall full of my artworks to share in the joy with so many other artists is worth any pain and cost of doing this event. Tonight marks my fourth time as an Artomatic artist in the past 12 years.

central part of my exhibition display

The grand opening is tonight 6:00 PM to 1:00AM at 1851 South Bell Street Arlington, Virginia about a block from Crystal City Metro-rail station. My work is on the 2nd floor in space 0121. It is in a room at the north west corner of the building. Keith Stanley is near by also on the 2nd floor in an open room spread out on the floor. Directions are listed here on the Artomatic.org website http://www.artomatic.org/visit/directions

Keith pulling off electrical waste to prepare his wall.

Beth hanging her papers on the dark blue wall

Soon as my work is done greeting guests I will be touring and photographing my favorites at Artomatic 2012 to share with you readers who are so far away that you can't come see for yourselves.

the next step

my wall on 2nd floor NW corner room. 

view of the front court yard and entrance to Artomatic 2012 from my room on the 2nd floor

Window walls of the room

This past week after the site selection at Artomatic 2012 we are working to prepare our gallery spaces. I am using a wall in a room that was a bland office white and I quickly decided I wanted a cooler neutral to back my display. Last weekend I went to the paint store and selected a number of grays then mid week I took the samples and a few of my framed sketches to the room and tried them out. I narrowed it down to a light and dark gray. Dolphin or pebble gray. In the end I decided to go with the lighter gray to keep from making the wall too dark and gloomy behind my flowers.

two samples against the carpet and moulding along the floor

samples and the some of the art against the wall 

Soon as I made up my mind I went right back to the paint shop and got a gallon of pebble gray flat paint, roller set and drop cloth and threw them in the trunk of the car. Mission accomplished. I also found I need to get more frames to fill that wall up with sketches. Friday I had a hard time getting motivated to get up and out of the house to go paint the wall. Eventually I made it over there about 3:45 PM and discovered that parking in the local garage was free after 4:00 PM so my slow start on the painting project went to my advantage. It was busy but not crowded in the building and loading dock. Much to my surprise my roommate was there painting her walls. I had some company for the first half of the job before she had to leave for a meeting on the other side of DC.

I taped all the edges and fixtures with blue tape, laid the drop cloth,  brushed the edges and began rolling the wall. 

It went quickly and the wall seemed to drink in the paint as if it was recently painted. We have been told this building was department of defense or maybe it was US Army who just moved out and the building owners plan to demolish the whole building after our show. Seems wasteful to me but maybe it needs remodeling for a new client or maybe they are going to build taller office or apartment buildings in this area.
Anyway it sure suits our needs this month as it is with a little tweaking.

first coat done and roommate had to go to a meeting before she got her blue wall finished

same view with the over head lights turned off

finished wall ready for installation of my sketches as soon as I get the art ready to hang 

Next step is to choose which of my sketch prints I am going to show and in what arrangement on the wall. I want to invite friends and fans to come to the evening opening May 18th. It should be a blast to visit even a few floors of this huge art museum of contemporary Washington area artists displays. All the artists will be there that night to kick off the beginning. Metro is just around the corner so no worries about parking and if you can't come the first night it will be open Wed. through Sunday day and night and is always FREE!