FULL MOON

A playful diversion from oil-on-canvas paintings are these sketches on Tyvek paper. They are not precious. They can be wrinkled or folded. Constrictions are one thing that fuels creativity. These large [approx. 3' x 4'] India Ink and oil wash paintings test only my range of motion, not my wallet. I'm sketching hands and feet because they are the most difficult parts of the human body to capture. I'm sketching hands and feet in yoga postures and mudras to support my personal practice.

Play with me on the full moon. It is coming up on the 21st of December... and so is my OPEN HOUSE at The AXIS in Seattle from 4pm-10pm, located at 123-2nd Ave. N. #116, adjacent to Seattle Center and across the street from the Pacific Science Center.

Daniel Lowery and Queen Anne Gardens will host a visual and culinary feast, please bring a morsel or sip to share.

I am grateful for my health and passions for work and play. Good Health and Happiness to You!

NEW MOON

At the time of the new moon, intentions can be set for the next phase of roughly four weeks. Intentions for calm and consistency set amidst the chaos that naturally occurs in our modern world could be visualized as a white sailboat on course, with ever-changing weather as the adversary.

The new moon gives one a cyclical pattern with which to acknowledge accomplishments, practice forgiveness, then setting and working towards new goals throughout the month. If one thinks about these things, off-schedule, or is caught off-guard, one might act like a lunatic near the full moon.

Being prepared and balanced is what I intend for myself and what I hope for on behalf of my friends and colleagues on December 21^st, 2010. The Lunar Eclipse/Winter Solstice/Full Moon Party is at Daniel’s place. It is an Open House from 4pm until 10pm on Tuesday 12-21-2010. The AXIS Apartments are located at 123 – 2^nd Avenue North.

On display will be a new body of paintings around the personal power we hold and personal strength found in the practice of yoga. Namaste.

Signature Garden: Designed by d4collective

The 2011 Northwest Flower & Garden Show starts a new annual tradition: The Signature Garden. This garden will be built by the show owners, will illustrate the year’s theme and will be separate from the time-honored gardens competing for medals and awards.

The question on everyone’s mind: Who will design the first Signature Garden?

The answer is…..

The four designers, known as d4collective for this special project, are Susie Thompson, Octavia Chambliss, Barbara Lycett, APLD and Daniel Lowery, APLD.

d4collective will soon have a blog ...watch for it. Independent designers and business owners, their personal websites are: www.susielandscapedesigns.com, www.octaviachambliss.com, www.blycettlandscapes.com and www.queenannegardens.com

They worked together on a NWF&G Show display garden in February of 2010 and won three gold medals. They are all members of APLDWA and are all past or present board members. Thrilled to be asked to submit a proposal to design the first Signature Garden, they built on the camaraderie of past experiences, a harmonic convergence, and are knee-deep in preparations for the garden to be built in just eighteen short weeks.

To jog your memory, the garden we designed and built on behalf of the Washington Chapter of The Association of Professional Landscape Designers, looked like this....

Breath as Teacher

Yoga is uninterupted, sustained mental attention. Originally designed as a way to focus the high energy of young boys, yoga is widely viewed as exercise in the western world. It is wildly popular among women as they typically outnumber the male students ten to one. I've practiced yoga for over 15 years and recently used private yoga lessons to keep moving my body after a surgery. Three times per week had been my usual practice and now it is every day.

Statistics show that we often use only 10% of our lung capacity. "Take a deep breath" is a useful suggestion when someone is upset. "Exhale deeply" and "exhale completely" are suggestions to remove greater amounts of carbon dioxide from one's lungs.

A personal affirmation: My gentle yoga practice is a treasured source of balance in my life.
This affirmation is used (often) to bring me back to a grounded and calm place so that I might better serve my garden design clients as well as nurture my personal health.

Have you ever walked into a garden...stopped, and taken a deep breath in appreciation for the beauty? That's what I do for a living! That's what I do for life.

MYCORRHIZAE

Relationships of all kinds have similar strands of strength. Weaves of individuals or groups within a related community, stabilize and solidify the structure. Safety is found in numbers; groups and teams create historical bonds.

I've had the pleasure to become part of new group of people. Some members migrated from the east coast together or at different times. Some members immigrated from other countries. Some members were previously partnered. Some members now have children. A diagram, like a family tree, helps me remember who is who or who was with whom, or who has transitioned from this world to the next. The diagram contains long strands of information and linkages.

This reminds me of mycorrhizae. Mycorrhizal fungi function through a network of threads. At one end, the threads attach to and enter the root tissue. It is here that the plant and fungus exchange essential materials. Plants receive minerals, nutrients and water while fungi receive essential sugars and compounds to fuel growth. At the other end, fungal threads fan out into the soil and exponentially expand the amount of soil the roots may explore. Compaction, topsoil removal and displacement reduce or eliminate mycorrhizal fungi on most construction sites. Untouched forests have miles and miles of relationship strands.

These two subjects remind me of the movie Avatar. Na'vi people of the planet Pandora, sat cross-legged and touched arms while chanting and moving with one intent, one prayer..... Such a beautiful image of community.

San Francisco/Sausalito/Sonoma

Travel gives the opportunity to look at things from a different perspective.

A highlight of the trip to Sonoma was my return to the garden design "exhibition museum" CornerStone. Conrnerstone in Sonoma is based on the display gardens at the International Garden Festival at Chaumont , France, which I visited in 2004.

Cornerstone showcases the best in cutting-edge international landscape design. It gives designers a venue to use their most creative voices: a chamber within designers sing a wild song. My thanks go to the owners of Cornerstone for giving EARTH ART artists a place to create.

To not sound like a critic, but rather a curious observer.....my eyebrow went up a few times; my head shook back and forth; my hand flipped at the wrist; I was appalled and rolled my eyes; I spoke passionately to my "non-garden design" friends ...who then rolled their eyes. We all laughed...laughing is such good medicine!

Children Are So Wise

Children hold quite a different viewpoint than most adults. They can see the most amazing things and value priorities that are invisible (sometimes) to adults. I've observed this in children of garden design clients when they attend our meetings. One eight year old girl referred to a shrub in their garden as her "oldest friend". One five year old was distraught and crying after she saw demolition work completed and asked that the missing tree be brought back to the garden.

Listen to your children, they have important things to say.

The Natural World

Landscape Designers and Garden Designers are interpreting client's desires and needs and imprinting them on (mostly) postage stamp size lots. I giggled to myself when I imagined a client going into their garden and finding a juvenile Bard Owl.


Most clients are afraid of nature, afraid of fungus, afraid of insects, afraid of mold, moss and maggots. I have evolved to enjoy more of my weekend time in natural places. I am curious to see how this affects my design practice. I see a transition to calm, muted, and hidden details, to be enjoyed by contemplative and quiet observers.

Detroit is full of potential

A Native Son’s Point of View ~ Detroit is full of POTENTIAL

As a landscape designer, I use the word POTENTIAL to calm a client who thinks he has more liabilities than assets. I use the word POTENTIAL to encourage a client to be open-minded about the many opportunities that the development of their garden has to offer. Detroit’s downtown core is still beautiful. My aunts’ and uncle’s modest income suburbs of Clawson and Royal Oak are exactly as they were 20 years ago. Mainly red brick homes with white trim, they are neat as a pin. The prominent suburbs of Grosse Pointe and Bloomfield Hills are elegant as ever. The ghetto is full of POTENTIAL. Look at the following photos to see the opportunities that have been realized or are yet to be.

Choose Your Vessel

Last night, my vessel was a dance floor. The art was TranceDance led by Alec Davis. Sometimes earthy, then African, turning to dijeriedo (I've guessed at the spelling of that aboriginal instrument); the music led the body in a blind-folded experience. "Dance like no one is watching" comes true when everyone has a blindfold blocking the sense of sight. This experience is a gift of an inner journey, a profoundly personal quest, in a safe and nurturing space.

"Dare to be an individual" is my personal and my design mantra.