Oh Bother! April Freeze in Georgia

Calendar says "spring" but thermometer screams winter. Drop cloths, old sheets & table cloths, up-turned emptied storage bins & trash cans, even a rain slicker surrounds a near blooming rose. What lengths will I go to to protect the tender vegetation! Peonies have buds waiting to burst. Same with roses & azaleas. Hydrangeas have their leaves and are subject to damage if not protected. Lots and lots of hostas up and unfurled.

Cherry tree has already bloomed but Mr. C doesn't seem to mind.

The 2007 Easter freeze reeked havoc on all of the above so I'm not about to let it happen again!!! This too shall pass and the temps should rise during the day tomorrow. Yee-haw!!! My sweet hubby has made me boxes for raised bed vegetable gardening. Two are in place and half filled with some black gold from my compost pile. The back of my workhorse Suburban is filled with bags of soil conditioner, garden soil (the good stuff!) ready to worked in ASAP!

My kitchen has become my make-shift greenhouse with starter peat pots of vegetables getting a head start with some shop lights. Scott set up the video camera & got a bit of time lapse photography of their growth!

More garden pics from seasons past at maryhanks.com - "Welcome to My Garden".

No Worries, continues...

This was Clinton on his own horse.

A beautiful demonstration, unbelievable control, gorgeous animal!

Just wanted to add a few more pics.

Heading back for the 2nd day, hope to have some more tonight!

No Worries! ...horsemanship by Clint Anderson

A wonderful day of "innovation, inspriration, & instruction", today in Conyers at the Georgia International Horse Park with Clinton Anderson leading the way!

Looking forward to tomorrow &
thanks to Charles & Suzanne for a great day!

And thanks to Jonathan for most of these pics!

(down front & down under)

So You Think You Can Paint!?! Part 4

Trying to get some other angles & shots to show the effect & an idea of the size!

Above is a shot of the main, front area, stage, rock wall. Below is the same area from further back.

Side wall...to the right you can see Kim's grandmother's Kentucky farm house shown up close on the last post.
This scene is on the opposite side wall between 2 outside windows. A path through a stand of trees with a deer crossing. Below is the same wall but to the left, a large lake scene.

Back to the front....

So You Think You Can Paint!?! Part 3

Six days.
Five artists.
Paints, ladders, brushes, sponges...
2000 square feet of cinderblock wall in an elementary cafeteria.

See earlier posts of this work in progress!

Also see Alcovy Elementary, Monarch School.

Coming soon: pics from Corley & Shiloh Elementary Schools.

So You Think You Can Paint!?! Part 2

More pics from the Mulberry Elementary School Mural we began on Wednesday. These were taken at the end of day 3 with 2-3 more days of work to go!

See more info on the previous post from last night.

This is the school cafeteria, a pull out stage is shown in the foreground with a ramp/block wall that I'm painting to look like a stone wall. Even the other side of the wall has been painted with this technique! Thanks Richie!!!

(Please excuse all the junk---we are still "under construction"!)

The beginning stages of another landmark red barn.

Graced by a stand of pines, the entrance into the cafeteria .

Another shot of the main mural's pond with the a herd of cows just started.

In yesterday's post the pics of the main mural were too close-up to get the prospective of the room so I've added this to get a better fix on the ramp/stone wall & the barn. Just a few more feet of stone to lay...

So You Think You Can Paint!?!

I think we should start a new reality TV show & see how others might do when put to the challenge!

What can 5 artists do with dozens of paintbrushes, photos of area landmarks, ump-teen bottles of acrylic paint in just 3 days?

Ron re-created this old barn that was on the site before Mulberry Elementary (a brand new Gwinnett County School) was built. His wife Rhonda Storer is the leader of our pack & lushly landscaped the fields & acreage. Below is Union Grove Baptist Church, just around the corner from the school. Again, building rendered by Ron, landscaped by Rhonda.

This beautiful spot was painted by Kim Chambers & is her grandmother's Kentucky home! While not specifically a landmark from just around this school, this growing but still rural area of the county still has picturesque scenes such as this.
My contribution? Lots & LOTS of stone wall!!! I began with this area of tumbled down wall on Wednesday...moved over to the area around the water fountains....(more landscaping to come!)

Three of the 5 of us have done mural work with this same principal in another county school (Shiloh Elementaty) a few years ago. It has been a pleasure to work with Vivian Stranahan & her great group of teachers and kids!

More to come! This was all done in just THREE DAYS!!! We have 2-3 days more to finish this phase. Please check back!!!

Preserving the area landmarks within a new school's cafeteria...

Georgia's BIG Snow Day!

The sun did not shine...but the snow came today, give'n kids a fun way to play...

Here's an Etsy treasury that I was able to snag, enjoying the snow from inside!




Cesar wasn't sure what to think!

We've had snow twice this week. Kids have been VERY excited & it has been pretty.