Open Gate - Weblog of Lisa Cook

On VaCaTiOn!

Off to the BIG Apple to see our daughter!  See you after the 22nd!

A Banner Year for Foxgloves

I love foxgloves.  Digitalis. Poison.  Ha!  That is not why I love them. To me they say "English Cottage Garden" which is how I try to design my gardens. When my children were little I did not grow them for fear one of them would give them a taste, but I have been nursing them along for the past 10 years.  They are biennual so the first year they are just a plant and the second year they put on the show.  So you have to watch for the new seedlings and allow them to grow and then allow the flower heads to dry and cast their seeds so you always get "a show."  However, living in the north country we don't always have the right kind of winters to protect the first year plants.  Every spring I cross my fingers and hope enough of them survive and this year was outstanding!

I love their splotchy bells and each one has its own fingerprint.

My neighbor's garden links to mine and she had even better luck than I did with the foxgloves and lupines practically blooming together.  It was a fairy garden!

Enjoy the magic!

ViNtAgE InDiE and Garden Flowers

Vintage Indie is a wonderful blog that highlights all good things ViNtAgE so of course, I love it.  Gabreial featured my Patriotic Pack from my shop this week in her blog to celebrate the 4th of July and it sold that very day!  It is nice to get more exposure.  I have one small pack left if anyone needs a little red, white and blue along with a coordinating collage sheet.

I have created some new bird collage packs for your artful pleasures so stop by my shop to see them.  I love using vintage wallpaper pieces and I've included a copy of the sweetest picture of a little girl holding a bird.

I also want  to share some photos of my flower garden.  The peonies, foxglove, campanula, and roses are at their peak.  This might just be my most favorite time of the year in the garden because it is still a little cooler and it is the first big bloom!

 

Summer Decorating

This is the spot in my home where I change the decor to fit the season.  This year I decided on a "Summer Camp" theme intertwined with a little red white and blue for the 4th of July.  I do love those colors just like my wonderful mother does.  I guess we inherit some of those traits as well.

Click on this photo to make it larger and take a peek at the blue and white dishes, the two flashcards that spell out "summer" and "camp;" (I scored that rare box at the town wide flea market in Oronoco, MN last summer); my little birchbark souvenir canoes; my little camp book; and the special camp collage made by Collette Copeland.
 
She has a wonderful eye for composition and color.

And I am the proud owner of this sweet little pair of patriotic cats from Vintage By Crystal
She makes incredible little vintage geegaws and I love em all!  Finally I own a set.  She also has an Etsy shop:

Let's Hear it for The Red White and Blue~

School is out and this teacher is ready for SuMmEr!!  And maybe you are too.  I am offering a special Fourth of July collage pack full of vintage goodies (what else would I have?)
Bingo cards, seam binding, playing cards, paper straws (a REAL find!), music, ledger page, flags, labels and lots more in our favorite patriotic colors. 
And I put together some special summer collage sheets unlike any others you will find.  Come and visit my Etsy shop!

"Fruit Salad" on Etsy!

You have to admit that perhaps the title intrigued you just a little bit?  I love these fruit scraps that I bought and couldn't resist putting together little assemblage bundles for My Etsy Shop .  You can either use them as a color inspiration or you can take them apart to use the parts in your own artwork.  An original 3 yd. package of vintage rick rack is surrounded by 3 coordinating yards of vintage seam binding and rick rack; a German made scrap of a fruit image; a little vintage millinery leaf; and a hand made tag.  Enjoy the yummy colors!

Nature Girls

A few Friday's ago I had the delightful opportunity to meet Catherine Moore in person in DePere while visiting my parents.  She taught a class at The Assemblage Studio a shop chock full of vintage goodies for sale and lovely artwork too.  Catherine has some great photos of the shop and her class (C.Moore class ) so take a peek.

Over 2 years ago Catherine invited me to be a part of a year long Nature Study (you can read over the year long blog here full of photos of all the participants' offerings to each other) along with my wonderful friend, Linda Warlyn.  It was such a treat to have the three of us together even if just for a short bit. Linda and I are going to attend a class together in August at Valley Ridge Art Studio with Nina Bagley and I am looking forward to that weekend getaway!

While at the wine and cheese reception, Catherine allowed us to make a paper doll using a seed packet and some of her lovely stamped images.  I admit I was in a hurry to create her because I wanted to visit with Catherine and Linda in the brief time we had!  But she is stunning because of Catherine's creative guidance!

Now I am all ready to see my flowers get in full bloom.  Our spring has been SO wet and cold.  But the daffodils prevail despite it all and the tulips are ready to pop along with the apple blossoms....soon.  And I will take some photos to share!

More Sucessful Soldering

I have to share more of the wonderful results of my class at Valley Ridge Art Studio. 
Judy made this wonderful doll
complete with a royal crown and dangley feet which are Art Girlz products.

Nancy was a whiz with wire and created these pieces:

I just love how Valerie used the old underwear buttons in the bird piece.  She also made us ohh and ahh over the way she placed little blobs and points of solder on the round pieces.

Jean had the wonderful idea to stamp on a smooth stone and solder the edges.  I think it has the feel of ancient cave art. And the way she incorporated wire into the stone at the top has a great ancient feel to the piece as well.

Susie admitted to her struggle to get this soldering right and by Sunday she was a pro!  I was very proud of her tenacity and look what she produced!

Anna put together this sweet beribboned jewel!  She and I are kindred spirits in color.

And my friend Marcella had the best time experimenting with new ideas like soldering the edges of an old wooden box and a large shell.  She took my class last summer and wanted to perfect her technique.  I know she soldered with success!

It is such a pleasure to teach a class like this.  I learned so much from everyone and they all seemed intently bit by the soldering bug.

One of the best giggles I had was when after class one of the students indicated some of them were hiding any burned fingers from me after I said I have never burned myself soldering.  Oh goodness, I did not mean to sound smug!!  I only wanted to point out that you do not have to suffer burns to solder OR burn your studio down! :  )

Thanks to all the participants for your permission to post your work here and for having faith that I could teach you something!

Successful Soldering at Valley Ridge Art Studio

As you can see from the photo, there were a lot of friendly faces in my class at Valley Ridge Art Studio located in the southwestern part of Wisconsin. Spring has not sprung yet, but bluebirds were sited and the robins were singing! 

I want to show you some of the incredible pieces these hardworking people produced over the course of 2 days.  Most students were new to soldering, but heck, you would never know it.  I don't think I have seen a class of people work so intently and endlessly.  My hats off to each and every one of them!
Bonnie made a lovely box with its own set of charms.  Would you believe she made a different one the first day and decided that it wasn't "good enough" and so she made this one on the second day?

Husband and wife team, Nina and Pat used their extensive art background to come up with some unique pieces.  I love how Pat created a unique bird jump ring for this piece:

He also formed this triangular tube and went outside and found bits and pieces of nature to capture inside the form.

Nina created several lovely pieces including nature in her work as well.

Lori was the resident workhorse!  She produced an amazing number of tiny charms.  She admitted she came to the class with lots of pieces ready to solder.  She meant business.

Janet created this lovely piece hanging from a small twig.

I am in love with Valerie's work.  She created pieces that had a unique voice using stones and other natural objects.  I really love to see artists take the basic process and making it their own.

Stay tuned for part 2...

Busy Lady

Sorry to be so remiss in posting on my blog.  Busy times...I just finished up teaching a WoNdeRfUl soldering class at Valley Ridge Art Studio  this past weekend.  I will post some pics to share with you soon.  The participants created such incredible pieces and I learned some things too.  Lots of sharing and hard work by all. 
Meanwhile I have been having fun listing some inspiration with some colorful collage packs and tags at my Etsy shop so check in when you have a free moment!  I even have some unique collage sheets as well.