Giving My Grandfather's Sprinkling Can New Life

What do you see when you look at this photo? An old, tired rusty sprinkling can that has seen better days? A sprinkling can that should be tossed in the trash? An antique? Character?

This old sprinkling can has moved with me many times to different locations — to different states and from house to house. I keep thinking that one of these days, I am going to plant some flowers in it and it would make a pretty neat-looking planter inside my house. Or at least that is my excuse for not throwing it out. 

The real reason I’ve kept it all these years is that when I look at that sprinkling can, I see a sprinkling can with a story behind it. Let me explain. This isn’t just any old sprinkling can. It was my grandfather’s, so when I look at it, my first thought is of him.

My grandfather was a kind person that I looked up to and looked forward to seeing every day. He took great pride in owning his own home and caring for his home and the people he loved. He was very meticulous about his lawn. The grass was always mowed to a perfect height; the sidewalks were edged -- no grass would dare grow past its boundary lines into the sidewalks and certainly no grass would grow between the sidewalk cracks.

He would fill up this sprinkling can from the outside faucet or sometimes use the garden hose to fill it up with water. He would water the beautiful flowers lining the patio — impatients or geraniums in the planters that set on the cement floor of the large patio and beautiful hanging baskets of impatients or begonia flowers surrounding the patio where we would sit outside during the summer months on the metal swings and listen to my grandparents talk about their day or about their family.

It may sound silly, having that entire story from just one old sprinkling can. But I think we all have memories that can be triggered from just looking at a small item from the past. Maybe it is an old piece of jewelry, your grandmother’s rolling pin or a serving dish that came out every holiday. You aren’t keeping that item because of the physical item. You are most likely keeping it because it reminds you of your loved one and fond memories.

I decided I wanted to make this antique sprinkling can a centerpiece for a paper sculpture, filing it with a bouquet of beautiful flowers, similar to the idea I have in mind for using it as a planter for house plants. Here is a behind-the-scenes look at making a paper sculpture.

First,  I bought a potted red flower that just happened to be planted in a red sprinkling can, which I thought was a funny coincidence. I also picked up some gardening gloves and a couple of gardening tools. I arranged the items in a variety of different set-ups and  took lots of reference photos with Pappy’s old green sprinkling can setting behind the other props. I shot the photos from different directions and from different angles.

Next, I was ready to get to work on this 3D paper sculpture. OK, not so fast! I needed more flowers! Yes, it is true, I never turn down an excuse to buy more flowers. But really, I needed to add more color to this sprinkling can picture. So, off to the store I went once again, searching for a variety of flowers to fill up my sprinkling can. Once I got them home, I took more reference photos.

As is usually the case with art, as you start working on your design, it evolves during the process, and that was the case here. I originally thought I would show the sprinkling can with one potted plant inside it, but after searching for different types of flowers — they are so beautiful and loved the colors — I decided to change it from a single potted plant to a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers filling up the sprinkling can.

I did a quick little watercolor sketch of the bouquet of flowers inside the sprinkling can and now the real fun begins! I get to start the paper sculpture part.

My 3D paper sculptures begin as white paper that is painted in watercolor and gouache. I started working on different elements that would be included in the final design, like the sprinkling can, gloves and spade. In the photos below, the pieces are setting on the wood base that the items will eventually be attached to. There is a glass dome that goes overtop of the sculpture to protect it.

Here are some in progress photos to give you an idea of what the little objects looked like in the beginning before they got painted. As you can see, I already painted a light shade of green onto the sprinkling can. The sprinkling can was difficult to construct out of just paper, especially the spout. On the one photo, I included an old penny sitting on the left side of the wood base to give you an idea of the scale of the piece.

Each little flower petal was cut out and painted. Even the grass was cut by hand. In the final piece, I wasn’t able to fit the little trowel onto the wood base and cover the final design with the glass dome. Instead, I drew up a couple of seed packets and added them into the final sculpture.

I also wanted to add a little buzzing bee to the piece. I like that it is not the first thing you will notice when you look at this piece and you have to find it among the flowers, just like in real life. Because of the bee, I thought it would be appropriate to title this paper sculpture, “Busy As a Bee.” I liked the play on words.

Finding Inspiration in Wisteria Flowers Blowing in the Breeze

Inspiration is all around us…

Gorgeous, light purple wisteria flowers blossoming in spring and early summer. Long, delicate lavender petals with a touch of white, dangling off their stems that grow like braided stalks.

One wisteria plant growing up the tall cherry tree next to the patio, creating a beautiful, peaceful, sweet-smelling sanctuary to relax in.

Another wisteria, standing on its own, growing in the side yard, reaching out and bending and twisting its vines growing in every direction, creating a picturesque backdrop for a photo shoot on a warm spring day.

Planting my favorite new wisteria at the base of the wood fence along the stream, paving the walkway with a beautiful view of lavender blossoms from the kitchen door, lining the path as you walk up to greet me at my home.

Memories often lead to the inspiration for many works of art. I know this is true about my own work. I find this is especially true with flowers. Creating an enriched, enchanted, idyllic scene like the ones I described above help me capture movement and beauty in every day moments.

Bringing those imagined memories to “life” with paper will never of course beat the beauty of mother nature, but honoring the distant memories I find in these simple yet beautiful flowers adds more meaning and life to my paper sculptures. Wisteria flowers just happen to be one of my favorites.

These wisteria flowers, crafted from paper and paint, will feature prominently in my upcoming art installation, “Charming Victorian Country Garden Retreat,” at The Mansion at Strathmore in 2020.

Welcome Home With a Beautiful Grapevine Wreath

I was thinking about the different type of welcoming signs that people use around their homes. Perhaps it is a welcome mat on a doorstep or a decorative flag hanging near their house that says, “Welcome Friends.” But, one of the things I think is most common is a wreath that hangs on the door.

So many homes have wreaths — floral wreaths, themed wreaths, a different wreath for the different holidays — wreaths made out of all sorts of materials like grapevines, wood, spring flowers, summer flowers, mums for the fall, gourds, pumpkins. All signs signaling, “Welcome to Our Home.”

Thinking about wreaths also reminded me of the time my mom had a grapevine wreath with flowers on it hanging on her outside porch wall. A little bird decided to make a nest on the wreath. You could stand inside her kitchen and watch from the window as mama bird built her nest. After the eggs hatched, mama bird would make many trips throughout the day to feed her little ones. Soon the little ones were old enough to fly on their own and make a new home of their own. 

I used to have a beautiful large grapevine wreath like that on the side of my house for years. It was gorgeous, with large cranberry and white mums. A little “nest” filled with plastic eggs completed the wreath.

Keeping both of those wreaths in mind, I created this paper sculpture “grapevine” wreath using only paper and paint. Peach-colored tulips, pink, red, and white peonies, leaves and ferns decorate the wreath. There is even a little nest of light blue eggs. A pretty yellow butterfly stops by for a visit.

Here’s a close-up and some photos of the finished wreath, which is framed inside a custom, hexagon wood frame.

Paper Sculpting 'Dancing' Bleeding Hearts

One of my favorite flowers that you will see in many of my pieces are bleeding hearts. I have many reference photos of these beautiful pink heart-shaped flowers. Every spring when they start to bloom, I feel compelled to snap more photos of the beautiful, pink, bleeding hearts.

Because of the natural way these plants grow and the way the stem gently bends in an arc shape, makes it easy to use the flowers in a variety of compositions.  

In my paper sculpture design “Crossing My Hearts,” I wanted the illustration to be a flat 2D painting and then have the flowers flow gently out of the paper into a three-dimensional painting. When you first look at the picture, it appears to be a two-dimensional piece, but then are surprised when you realize that the flowers are coming out of the background into the foreground.

I wanted to add a touch of humor to this piece, so I added the ants to look as though they are marching along, one after another, like ants do, all along the stem of the flower. Maybe they are getting ready to dance and do the mamba.

Identifying an Artist's Signature Style: 'Bunny and Butterflies in My Garden'

When you look at an artists’ work, you can often get a sense of not only their style, but also their color palette, the subjects they enjoy painting – such as landscape painters, floral artists, animals, etc. You may also notice similar items in many of their paintings. If you look through my art and illustration work that I’ve done over the past 35 years, including my published illustration books and editorial work, you will also notice a trend.

Like many artists, I tend to paint and illustrate things that I am familiar with and that are of interest to me. My work is almost always nature-related and is very colorful. An example of some of my favorite things to illustrate can be found by looking at the paper sculpture illustration, “Bunny in My Garden.“

The first thing you may notice about this 3D paper sculpture illustration is that it is quite colorful. It is a good example of my color palette, which includes pinks, purples, magentas, coral and blues. The next thing you probably will notice is the bunny rabbit.

Instead of painting a typical brown wild bunny, I wanted to depict one of the pet rabbits my daughter had when she was growing up. It is no coincidence that this bunny is sitting in the flower garden. You may think this is where she would run off to when not in her hutch, but that is not it at all. I will often include a little secret or a hidden play on words in my paintings (that only my family members would catch onto) and this is actually a small play on words.

Our family bunny never ran into the flower garden. The bunny’s name was Flower. So of course she needs to sit among these beautiful colorful flowers. (Although I must admit I had imagined that if she did get into the flowers, she would have eaten them all.) The other thing about Flower is that she was the cutest little dwarf bunny rabbit — soft bright white with dark black spots — just like in the illustration.

At the top of the oval picture are one of my favorite flowers, the bleeding hearts. I really like the shape of the flower and the plant and I like drawing them and paper sculpting them as well. The pink heart-shaped flowers curve nicely on the stem, which I can use to my advantage to help to create a frame around the subject, as I did in this painting. I used the curved flower stem to bring your eye back to the cute little bunny rabbit.

I’ve also loved seeing and watching butterflies since I was a little girl and have many reference books, photographs and books about butterflies. This spring I even had the opportunity to visit the butterfly pavilion in Los Angeles at the Natural History Museum. I will often include butterflies in my work and the ones in this picture are three dimensional and pop out of the paper instead of being just a flat painting.

The last thing I want to point out about this “Bunny and Butterflies in My Garden” design is that if you look closely, you will notice a little ant “hiding” in the leaves of the flower garden. I’ve drawn hundreds of hidden object pictures over the years and will often have little things hiding out in the background of my work, waiting to be found.

If you have the time, I hope you will take a look through my portfolio to see if you can notice any other similarities in my work. Can you find other illustrations with bleeding hearts, bunny rabbits, ants and flowers?  I hope I have also encouraged you to look through other artists portfolios and gallery work to see if you can discover their color palette and the similarities they may have in their work.