Art for the Garden

Imagine a world where every public park has a resident artist making site specific installations that playfully delight and engage you.  Such was  the case at the Van Duzen Botanical Gardens in Vancouver BC where, a few years back, they hired Nicole Dextras to spend the summer making art in their park.   See more of the results here. She likes to use words and plants together.    Ms. Dextras has moved on to other things, most notably her Weed Robes which have been getting lots of press.  (Click here to see those).  And also here to see a recent update Ms. Dextras sent me about the robes. But when we open the imaginary art gallery, we'll definitely want Ms. Dextras to do some site specific installations on the grounds!

More Wedding Flowers

Thank you Sara Gray Photography  out of Portland for the pics of this super fun wedding.  Would that we had a professional photographer to take photos everyday.  You make us look good Sara!  Thanks.....

P.S.  How cute are those shoes?

Making Natural Pigments with Tilke Elkins

I finally had a chance to make it over to the Voyeur Gallery in Whiteaker and chanced upon one of the most interesting , quirky, charming, wierdly compelling things I have come upon, dare I say, ever. Artist Tilke Elkins has been experimenting with natural pigments and making her own paints. The show features many of her nature fantasy paintings all done with paints she made. Kind of like the artist's version of grow your own . Below is one of her sample palettes. Pretty cool huh? All of these colors come from plants or minerals that she gathers herself.

But then Ms. Elkins has gone a step further and created these little watercolor sets.

She's using shells to hold the paint and then shells to be the box....

Look, six paint colors in your highly portable mussel shell.

It's like some kind art/food hybrid. I knew it was for painting but I wanted to taste it.

Click here to check out more about Ms. Elkins.

City Girl or Country Girl

That's what someone asked me recently. Was I a city girl or a country girl. Well I'm a little bit of both and sometimes it's hard to choose. Loving my journaling class I'm taking with Jill Cardinal at Oregon Art Supply.

Marcia MacDonald, I am Looking in Your Eyes

It's been a year and a day since Marcia passed away. I find myself sometimes driving by her old house but mostly looking at her photos and seeing the love in her eyes.

Now More than Ever

I am feeling it. Cutest ever little sign from Magenta.....

What's New at Passionflower

Aahhh....summertime and the living is easy. Flip flops in five colors chez Passionflower.

Carriere Freres Candles at Passionflower

Happy Bastille Day!!! Vive La France! And a big shout out to all you francophiles to let you know we are now carrying this beautiful new candle line from France called Carriere Freres. The scents are great, the graphics are ultra charming botanicals and the glass is white. I think it was the white glass that made me have to have these. There's just such a streamlined feeling to them. And when they burn the botanical glows through. They're lovely but don't take my word for it. Come in and smell them now!

Our Summer Sale

Summer at the store is super fun. Lots of out of towner, lots of folks on vacation, everyone pretty relaxed and enjoying themselves. We're joining up this week with the rest of our Broadway Pearl neighbors for a sidewalk sale this Friday & Saturday (the 15th & 16th). Come and be part of the colorful fabric of our street. Plus, for our online readers - come in and get 1o% off anything green those two days only!!! Just whisper, "Green is my favorite color".

The Learning Curve

Decided since we're doing the upstairs passion fashion thing I needed to do something I've never done before and go to LA and do a little shopping. It was super fun and a little frustrating...like when I found this fabu little moire coat and was told it doesn't come in this color any more (word). I would look through lots of racks and folks would tell me the deadline is past. "Well what's it still doing on your salesfloor then?". Once I see something I like I can get a little bit into the "I want what I want and nothing's going to stop me from getting it" thing. So while you won't see this coat on our racks in September, I did go a little crazy and you will see some funky, fun, and fabulous clothes in the store come early September.

Ode to Olaf Hajek and Flowerhead

The internet seems to be a medium that shows off illustrators particularly well. Or at least thats my conclusion when I notice how many illustrators I have lately been drawn to. I found German artist/illustrator Olaf Hajek via Becky's tumblr and had to get his book Flowerhead for the store. It's magical realism that shows us just how fine the line is between beautiful and disturbing......Loved the book so much we decided to make our own flowerhead.

Becky made our bad boy from Mozambique this great flower hat.....I think the shades add just the right touch.

Go here should you want to see more of M. Hajek's amazing work.

Boutonnieres by Becky

And the cutest little bouquet wrap by Erin
.

What's that expression? "God is in the details".

Poppy & Moe Making Us Happy

Loving that Poppy & Moe have landed in our upstairs attic space. It's our little store within a store. It's quiet and peaceful up there, plus there's a real dressing room and a comfy couch. Come on in and check out some of their wares like this great v neck owl tee seen above.

Summertime and the Living Is Easy

There is something about green and yellow that Im finding particularly refreshing and summery right now. (and it has nothing to do with the Oregon Ducks)

. So it was a lot of fun to use those colors in the front table of our summer reset.

Featuring all kinds of fun things to get you in the summer party mood.

Art Journaling with Jill Cardinal

I have been , well frankly, pretty much obsessed with the art journal class I took with Jill Cardinal. Obsession is such a two way street, such a slippery slope. On the one hand, I live for it.
Few things give me as much pleasure as being completely immersed in what I'm doing. To just be doing and not thinking. And then on the other hand, there's still those little details to attend to like eating, sleeping , doing the laundry, and going to work....I guess, in the end, feeling purposeful makes all those tasks more meaningful too.

Jill's teaching another four week art journal class at Oregon Art Supply in July and you can click here to find out all about it.

Inspiration

I am interested in a direct impression from nature....pressing the plant, sunography, making a leaf print, laying the plant directly on the color xerox machine....things like that.
But these super happy, whimsical, raw and playful
works from Swedish graphic artist Lotta Olsson make me want to do things I've never even thought about doing before.

Photo courtesy Lotta Olssen whose work I first found on mothtales , an alice down the rabbit hole kind of tumblr, created by Berkely California artist Ulla Milbrath.