Barb Campbell & Javier Cervantes

We are welcoming back Barb Campbell for her second show at Passionflower.....& this time her husband Javier Cervantes will be joining us to show his work as well!! Barb & Javier have a strong working collaboration and I love watching their focus, concentration, and intensity when they set up our front window. Plus, it's always great to see artists work change and evolve. Barb did these beautiful platters with a very painterly feeling....Becky thinks it has a little Paul Klee vibe and I agree in that there really is a private/universal language in her work.....
Come see them do their magic this First Friday June 4th....They'll have their work up until the 11th so you have a week to check it out.
Plus, click here and here if you want to see more posts about previous Barb Campbell events at Passionflower......

In love with Tillandsias

We wanted some fun tillandsias to use for boutonnieres. My plant guy sent us these beauties. They're called tillandsia bulbosa guatemala....great name!



Then Wendy put them in these frosted glass vases. I LOVE THEM. And yes that is me shouting, but shouting for happiness. They make me do (to quote Susan Goodwin), the happy dance. And I bet they look good everywhere - down a dining table, in a bathroom, bedroom nightable, mantel etc......and probably good as a boutonniere too!

Looking for Sunshine

My friend has a cabin out in the woods on the Washington side of the Columbia River by Hood River. I jumped at the chance to spend a long weekend out there. This is peak wildflower season and it's a special place because it's transition between temperate rainforest and parched desert. Plus I love my friend and never get to see her enough.

But this hut made me a little nervous....who lives there?
That's not where we're staying is it?

Okay, I'll take the cabin upgrade.

Country hospitality abounds.

We went on some amazing walks.
One day we found ourselves high up on the hill and we wanted to be lower down on the path.

Now that may look like a gently rolling hit but I'm here to tell you it was not.

Luckily our beloved sherpa led us safely down the slope.

It's a beautiful world out there. Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day Weekend!!

Still Life with Color Copier at Kinko's

I'd like to do a whole series of these flower portraits....I arrange the flowers on the glass of the color copier.....

Here I used the early May Flowers - lily of the valley and one of my top ten favorites, narcissus poeticus.

And then I laid the copy on the flowers. Or at least that's what I think I did....I should have taken notes.....who knew in the heat of the moment?

One of my favorites from the series.
P.S. I think it's the red line around the cup of the narcissus that really sends me plus they smell GREAT!

Strange Doings at Passionflower

One of the obscure perks of being a retail store owner is that nobody looks at me strangely when I make things like this......

P. S. Forgive the pricetags in the photo. I have yet to learn photoshop. And I may never. Dear reader, you will have to suffer through the occasional price tag showing. Just to keep it real. :)

Garden Ornaments, Statuary & Other Goodies

I tend to favor a rustic garden with not too much ornamentation. There was a time when I didn't want anything manmade in the yard. I can make up some really goofy rules for myself sometimes.

Luckily I am mellowing out in my old age and decided to throw those rules out the window and get a little crazy by putting this big rustic bowl in the spot off the deck. Of course, now I think it defines the whole space and I have gone through lots of ideas about what I could plant in that bowl......and then just today....I decided, "I think I'll leave it alone".
I like the emptiness.

So I invite you all dear readers, to consider the just right, perfect something that can take your outdoor space to the next level........Forthwith (is that one word or two? Or is that even a word?) some picks from our new offerings at Passionflower:

I could see a whole grouping of these buddha statues(which are only about a foot tall) lined up in a modern yard - or at the base of a special tree, or sitting in a circle of gravel. And the creamy, white is a nice color pop in our yards which are so green in Oregon.

And here's a tillandsia on a cedar board......this is a combination of two strong trends we see right now - the rage for succulents and tillandsias and the interest in vertical gardening.

Vertical gardening is a great option for those with limited outdoor space. Imagine a whole wall filled with various and assorted tillandsias on boards. Just hose them down whenever you need to water. The cedar will go grey over time.

This Quan Yin is so soulful. And the green glass float in the backgroundwould add a little soul to an outdoor space as well.

Also consider using bromeliads like the one above outside......opens up a lot of possibilities.

These beauties would probably have to come inside during the winter....but you could enjoy them all summer.

So there's lots more goodies at the store and not all Asian. Rustic pieces, birdbaths, lanterns, benches, aged moss pots and more all await their perfect home.

Flowers for Mother's Day from Passionflower

Mother's Day is really a fun holiday because it's busy but not crazy, Valentine's busy. Plus, it's hard to go wrong when there are so many great flowers this time of year.

For your viewing pleasure, more not so good photos of some really good Mother's Day

flowers.

Our beloved maidenhair fern gives everything a little woodland feel.

Here's a close up.

We had dogwood and columbines!!!!!!

And springtime all around us.

Plus, Wendy's been doing this interesting thing where she carefully inverts the tulips and makes them look like some strange and beautiful flora.

At first I thought of it as a mild form of flower torture, but now I look at it as helping the flower along in it's unfolding. Always a surprise, never quite sure what we'll find inside.