The Perfumed Garden

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

This is the first in a new Vintage series titled The Garden. I read a sign for a beauty salon somewhere called 'The Perfumed Garden' which inspired me to start this series. 

These vintage works are almost like picture puzzles, one element leading to another.I am sure each viewer will have his/her own interpretation. It all started with the idea of a garden and a lovely picture of an octopus, next came the skulls and the trees and then it grew to what you see now. Every garden carries it's death already in it and each death feeds the flowers to grow from it. It's all intricately spun together by the master of the web, which has eight legs, like the octopus who connects both life and death (in my head anyway). The beauty of this cycle is a heady perfume to those that see, from the scent of the flowers to the rotten stench in death. :-)

Assembled with the help of Photoshop and Illustrator, using free and bought sources and public domain images, and of course as always my own kind of magic.

Available as always on Redbubble, Artflakes, DeviantArt, FineArtAmerica, and Society6:

the heart collector

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

Image to illustrate another instalment of the Secret Keeper stories.

Read it here

The heart was made from Fimo by me and then photographed in various positions in the chest of drawers. I added all the other bits afterwards.

All my own images. Edited with Photoshop.

Licensing rights managed by arcangel images

Spring Magic

© Sybille Sterk

Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

Found these lurking in my garden and couldn't resist, especially with all the snow this morning and the cold this time of year. You wouldn't believe it is Easter if not for these littel guys hiding away or the buds on the trees... Brrrrr....

All images/textures/brushes my own or bought. Edited with Photoshop.

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas). You can now also get most of my images on cushion covers (go to Society6 for these).

Available on Society6

Fake Tomatoes

... not really. This is just what my son called them when he first saw them. LOL They are in fact lily seed pods. I love their vibrant colour, like bright orange pea pods. :-) They're quite big too, the seeds are as big as marrow fat peas and the pods are between 2.5 and 3".

Seed Pods I

© Sybille Sterk Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

 Seed Pods II

© Sybille Sterk Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

 Seed Pods III

© Sybille Sterk Do not copy or publish this in any way, shape or form without my written permission.

All my images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes, Society6 and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas). You can now also get most of my images on cushion covers (go to Society6 for these).

Summer Garden and Rockabilly

 

 MCN: CHUQA-RVQF5-L4QJD

A broken rake in my garden. I couldn't resist the wonderful rusty texture nor the beautiful shapes.

 MCN: CRXU8-AA7J8-NHHX3

Marguerites in a meadow. It was sooo hot that day and the light almost blinding.

Both images are available on Redbubble, Artflakes and Bluecanvas as prints, cards, posters, skins for laptops, Blackberry, iPhones and other phones (for the skins go to Bluecanvas).

Some Rockabilly fimo I made a little while ago and now finally managed to bake and glossify. :-) Soon to be made into bracelets and necklaces. Watch this space.

Wildlife (and not so wild) in the Garden

Four little black birds in a nest...  

 ... and the bucket cat. LOL 

My cat loves sleeping in a bucket in this heat. Seems to keep him cool. 

The little black birds were so noisy, that's how I knew there was a nest and found it.

Spring at the Allotment

MyFreeCopyright

MCN: C1AWV-QA5SX-BN52N

Spring Onions from the Allotment.

Before and after a proper wash. :-)

All images my own. Edited with Photoshop.

In the Garden

I spent yesterday afternoon in the garden drawing. It was just too sunny and beautiful outside to sit on the computer...

Here are some of the seedlings I planted with a friend a couple of weeks ago. Once they're grown to the right size they will go into the allotment to grow properly... Click on the images to see a larger version.

Mostly everything is growing well - the parsley is still in hiding so is Good King Henry and the mini cucumbers, but chervil, beans, courgettes, tomatoes and lettuce, peppers and all sorts of other things including sunflowers and lupins are thriving with the glorious weather.

I need some new designs for my Envelop shop, so I've been doodling to see what I can come up with. The first one is for cushion covers and I might transfer to the computer so I can upload it to my shop. The second is a border that will come in handy for all sorts of things... LOL

The templates/actions I used to present these photographs are from The Coffeshop Blog and can be downloaded here.

Spring - Crabapple and Japanese Quince

Another double feature from the woods and the garden...

More from the woods... I couldn't resist this beautiful tree. I took loads of pictures of this particular tree, but these two are the ones I liked best.

Credits

• Freebie Actions (Valikva) by Apples & Sisters
• Freebie Textures by Apples & Sisters

All other - photographs, textures etc are my own.

MCN: CK9HY-U79ER-GF8YM

... another from the visit to the neighbour's garden. I love, love the intense red of the blossom against the dark branches. 

Credits

• Raised Paper Texture Set by Shadowhouse
• Skeletalmess Grunge Kit 2 by Shadowhouse
• Retro Actions (Autumn) by Apples & Sisters

All other - photographs, textures, etc my own.

MCN: CKFVG-DHTPP-K29HH

Memory Garden - Photo Manipulation

 

 

 

Inspired by the novel Little, Big or The Fairies' Parliament by John Crowley and the memory garden described in the novel. The memory garden idea is itself inspired by the method of loci, also called the memory palace, a system to help remember things. The idea has always fascinated me.

For more info check out this:
Method of loci
Giordano Bruno

Credits

Model

dirt2 by rammkitty-stock

Stocks

book assemblage 2 by texturepack

Cherub I by KiwiRose-Stock

Bird Cage by mjranum-stock

Tower 2 by joannastar-stock

field 6 by night-fate-stock

Field Stock 2 by alienjacki-stock

A Rather Large Hill by Mourge-stawk

Textures

Backblech 02 by sundel

Clouds image from Texture Pack 1 : Versions by Sirius-sdz

Version 2 of texture 121 by Sirius-sdz

texture 36 by night-fate-stock

Brush

Grasses and Plants PS Brushes by redheadstock

All other images/stock/textures/brushes my own.

MCN: CYWS9-1N23R-GB722

Snow

Finally, 'proper' snow for once. It's been snowing all last night and most of this morning. The schools are closed (to my son's eternal pleasure) and rather than doing fun stuff like finishing my handbag I'll be making cookies and possibly muffins... Oh well...

A view out of my backdoor:

Mahonia covered in snow - the bush is currently in flower. I love the contrast of the thick fluffy snow against the spiky Mahonia and its yellow flowers.


Here's my bay leaf - it looks almost like it's covered in icing!



And here's the view over my back garden.

Little Flower Garden Brooch for City Dwellers

Always wanted a garden to grow flowers in? Now you can wear one as a brooch and it'll go with you wherever you go.

Here's my whimsical, totally cute Flower Garden Brooch, complete with grass and forget-me-nots.


The brooch has been made from needle felted merino wool in various shades of green (4 different shades!), little forget-me-not blue flower glass beads, Miyuki drops in various shades of blue and little bright yellow seed beads. The brooch sits on a round brooch back and is about the size of a 50 pence coin. Utterly sweet!

Flowers in the Garden

We've been gardening today and yesterday but I just had to take some time to take pictures of the flowers and plants in my garden. Here's the best of the lot. I love roses, as will shortly become apparent. However, not just for their beauty, they have to smell lovely too.

This is a yellow tea rose with the most wonderful smell and it's growing right next to the pink one further down.


This is a close-up of my jasmin. I love close-ups where you can see all the detail and the delicate way the flower / plant is 'engineered'.


The following picture made it onto this page because I like the flow or movement by the three blossoms.My favourite rose in the garden: Blue Moon. It has huge wonderfully velvety flowers. Gorgeous.

This is the pink rose flowering right next to the yellow one. It's scent is just as heavenly and it's a pleasure just to walk past the two roses.

Here's another picture of the same rose, this time a side view that shows off the intense pink colour of the rose.


Some hollyhock that's trying to take over my garden, never mind how much it's cut back every year. It frames the back of my garden bench and the green and pink of the plant is a wonderful backdrop for the cream/black of the cast iron bench.

And here are a couple of pictures of the false castor oil plant in my garden. I love the large architectural leaves and the wonderful flowers it has in spring.


This view is from underneath up into the light. It shows the delicate veining of the each leaf.

This is a bunch of roses I collected today because the rose plant had decided to cover the front window so I needed to cut it down to let in the light again. Unfortunately, the picture was taken inside. I should have taken the vase outside to take a picture that shows the true beauty of the rose. Shame I can't share the lovely scent with you.