Modernity

Modern Design Plates

I love my clients. They come up with ideas and I have the priviledge of making it happen. Not only that, I also get paid. In additon, and often, I have to step out of my own comfort zone and paint something that I have not painted before.

 And each time I learn from the experience. I should be paying my customers.

Gina

Exotic, Beautiful Orchids

Phalaenopsis Orchids growing by my kitchen window

Phalaenopsis or Moth Orchids adapt easily to most environments in the home. They are a shade plant. In the Fall, when nightime temperatures drop a few degrees, new flower spikes appear. Moth Orchids need little care. Once a week I flood them with lukewarm water and let them drain in the kitchen sink. And, once in a great while I add a little orchid food to the water. Some of my orchids are very old. They bloom repeatedly.

A new flower spike will bloom for 3 to 5 months. Making them the most rewarding gift for your friends and for yourself. Give orchids a try. But be careful, they are addictive.

Gina

Flowers dried in Sand

A circle of Spring and

Summer flowers dried in sand and a sunflower seed head for the birds.

The sand from the Great Salt Lake is the perfect sand in which to dry flowers. It is an oolitic sand, a sand that under the microscope, has no sharp edges.

I use ordinary builders sand, 35 grit, available at any home builder supply. In order to preserve the beautiful colors of flowers, both the sand and the flowers have to be very dry.

Fill a large container with about 2 inches of sand. Cut flower stems to 1 inch from flower head. Place upright into sand. Now, carefully and slowly pour small amounts of sand all around the flower head until it is totally covered. Leave in safe place for 4 to 5 days. Slowly pour off sand. Voila! Keepsakes throughout the winter months.

Gina

It's all in the Name

Champagne Grape Jelly

My Best Seller

It must be the Name

They are not champagne grapes, nor is champagne part of the recipe. It could be the name or it could be the labels, or it could be the taste. Long before the grapes are ready I am asked if I will have champagne grape jelly again this year. Many people buy my preserves because of the labels and then they come back because of the taste. My labels are all copies of ceramics I have painted.

Gina

Illusions

Would you be grinning from ear to ear after having spent $500 on a heap of lumber?

It's all about the corners

The sheep have lived in it

In situ

a few weeks later

a few months later

Gina

Meine Allee

It almost didn't happen. The plans were drawn, the site was chosen. Something about being land locked, something about the house being too far from Main Street. What if you have a fire? Will the fire department get to you in time? You have no power, no water, no natural gas.

With a lot of luck and a building inspector on our side, the construction was begun in November. We had contracted a fine young builder who worked with his crew throughout the winter. The following May, we moved in.

Now all that was left was the tree-lined lane to my house. A wish I have had since I was very young.

What kind of trees? They had to be columnar. I wanted Cypresses. They don't grow in Utah. There is a new species of Poplars. Thieves Poplars were chosen. The saplings came in bundles of 25. They fit into the trunk of my car.

Gene planted 100 saplings in two days, what a guy!

Gina