Mt. Washington Community Garden

*Too Many Mittens* (1958) ~Louis Slobodkin~ American~ Artist, Children's Book Illustrator, Sculptor~ b. in Albany N.Y.~ attended the "Beaux-Arts School of De...sign in N.Y.C. from 1918-1923. He worked an an elevator operator to sustain his living and would deliberately get it stuck between floors so he could study. He married Poet and Children's Book Illustrator Florence Gersh in 1927. He began illustrating Children's Books in 1941. In 1944, he won the 'Caldecott Medal' for illustration in 1944, for the book 'Many Moons.' He and Florence collaborated on five books from 1958-1969. Slobodkin illustrated ninety books, fifty of which he wrote. He was also, a talented sculptor from the age of ten~ 1903 - 1975 See more

Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together. - Vesta M. Kelly (art: Dee Nickerson)

There was a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best grown corn. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learn...ed something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year? the reporter asked. Why sir, said the farmer, Didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn. So is with our lives... Those who want to live meaningfully and well must help enrich the lives of others, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all...

Novembers are for softest sleep when skies are dark and grey. They do not mind the time you keep when night looks much like day. They do not mind the rain th...at falls so warmly down your cheek. Rest easy now’ is what they’d say if months knew how to speak. By Ellis Nightingale. Artist Fabrice Backes

"#Pittsburgh for me on #Halloween"

Happy Halloween!! Have fun! Be safe!

Low to the wall...

*The Leaf* (late 1800's) Elizabeth Adela Forbes~ Canadian~ Children's Book Illustrator/Landscape Artist~ b. in Kingston, Ontario, she studied Art privately i...n Canada, then moved to London, to study Art in Kensington, London. She then continued her studies in Paris, Munich and New York. She married English artist 'Stanhope Forbes' they both were contributors to and originators of the 'Pleine Air' style of painting in Britain. (painting nature outdoors). They established a studio and created the 'Newlyn School of Art' in Cornwall, where they each taught art and many, famous international artists of the time, joined them on numerous occasions. Elizabeth exhibited her beautiful paintings at the 'Royal Academy' and also held exhibits in Paris and Chicago, where she received gold medals for her works~ 1859 - 1912 See more

Good Night My Friends and Thank You! *Painting* (mid~ 1800's) ~Amelia Jane Murray, also known as Lady Oswald~ English~ Water Colour Artist, Children's Book Il...lustrator, Master Flower Fairy Artist ~ b. on the Ilse of Man into an Aristocratic family, she led a happy and idyllic life. She loved to paint her natural and beautiful surroundings of flowers, trees and animals that were in abundance on the beautiful Island. She also married into the British Aristocracy. Amelia was one of the original British Fairy Artists~ 1800- 1896 See more

Adolphe Millot Fleurs, Larousse pour tous, 1902.

Vicki Rawlins, Floral Art Illustrations "Nothing taped, nothing glued, just Mother Nature balancing delicately on itself. The actual act of creating each piece,... for me, is therapeutic, spending lots of time outside walking and foraging, truly in the moment, my eyes scanning every square inch of my surroundings. After I finish the piece, I document it with a photograph, being very careful not to bump the table and Mother Nature’s house of cards. The last step is to recycle it all back into the earth or into my next piece." https://sistergolden.com//vicki-rawlins-flower-art-stateme https://www.instagram.com/sistergoldenshop/ https://www.etsy.com/shop/SisterGoldenShop https://artpeople.net//beautiful-artworks-twigs-flowers-v/

A simple homemade Srilankan lunch

Happy Columbus Day & Indigenous People's Day from The Heirloom Gardener. I had a friend old enough to remember when Columbus Day was first made a holiday in o...rder to help bring Italian and Hispanic American immigrants into the story of American settlement. Like gardens, our history grows and changes. Equinox and solstice, sun and shade, native and cultivar, farm to factory and back to farm again... These days we also recognize Indigenous Peoples Day, not to the exclusion of other histories, but to the inclusion of the land and peoples that knew the land and landscapes most intimately. Any good gardener today knows the value of Indigenous. Our first Native plants movement came at the time of the American revolution with "Liberty Teas" or American plants that enabled us to 'drink local'. That ebb and flow has continued through the centuries, from devaluing most native plants as weeds, to recognizing them today as some of the most important plants in our landscape. Plants that build habitat, nourish wildlife and pollinators...and the human spirit. It does not mean that we exclude all of the plants brought with every other generation of immigrants to the Americas. There is no lawn or garden that doesn't bring to life the rich tapestry and magnificent history of every gardener that ever planted here (or anywhere else in the world). These are times for planting seeds my friends. Seeds to cultivate. Seeds to unify. Seeds to rebuild our common cultural inheritance of land and landscapes. "The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn" Emerson See more