who is the artful gardener?

 My relationship with plants began when I was very young.  Some of my earliest memories of growing up in suburban Chicago is helping my mom in her "Victory" garden. We were the only folks in the neighborhood who had any kind of a vegetable plot. We had a large flower garden as well. Doing tasks in the garden didn't really feel like work to me.

 I loved going into the garden and grabbing some pea pods, a few cherry tomatoes.  It was so much fun to get a stalk of rhubarb from the large rhubarb patch that seemed to grow wild under some trees on one side of the backyard, and eat it raw with salt. With all of these "treats"  free for the taking, I didn't mind helping water or weed. 

 My mom also grew roses and had a wonderful long planter box along our front walk filled with colorful annual flowers; snapdragons, marigolds, and moss roses.  She taught me how to make snapdragons "talk" and to "feed" them blades of grass. I loved hanging on the wispy branches of the huge willow tree in the front yard and swinging back and forth.

 Plants of all kinds enhanced my childhood and made it more magical. The seeds were planted very early in my upbringing to value growing things. (pun for fun!) Decades later, I have my own edible and ornamental gardens.  I can spend hours each day working in them --and I often do!

I have always been drawn to art and created things.   I went to the Art Institute of Chicago on school field trips or with my mom. I loved art class in school and doing arts and crafts classes at the local community center.

After college, I worked at the Art Institute for a brief time and went on to work in an art gallery, finally becoming manager of an gallery in Chicago on Michigan Ave. I loved being around the different art and artists, admiring the works and also who created them.

Throughout the years, I had taken various art classes. All mediums and styles interested me. I took a drawing class, and a pottery class, and watercolors.  I tried to integrate some creativity into my life wherever I could. I painted a mural on the wall of my home daycare, built chairs and a shelf in a wood working class, made various crafts to sell at fairs while a single mom, painted abstract pictures to decorate my son's new place,  started paper cut pictures to pay homage to our beloved pets, did floral paintings for pleasure.

Creative arts are inspiring to me. Seeing a beautiful piece of art, in any form or medium,  is so pleasurable. I envy those talented individuals who are creative and I want to be one of  them. I'm humbled when anyone appreciates something I have made.

I enjoy doing and creating. There are not enough hours in the day, days in the week... I can work outside in the garden all day. I don't want to admit to how many creative pursuits I have explored. I can't get enough! I'll see something new and I will want to try it. 

A few years ago, I broke my arm badly. I would like to say I did it sky diving, or rock climbing. No, I broke my arm while watering my garden, stupidly slipping on wet grass while wearing, of all things, flip flops. 

With my ability to garden almost completely ended for the season, I had to occupy my time. I began painting. It was satisfying to paint flowers since I could not be in the garden weeding, pruning, planting, watering... I tried different series of pictures, some abstracts, clouds, meadows, flowers in vases in different sizes. Later, I started the paper cuts.

I enjoy creating things and growing things. That's who the Artful Gardener is; a person who gardens and creates. I expect to continue doing both until the day I die, God willing.