Sometimes Ideas Come From the Strangest Things

The Moncton show was a pretty good one for me, as I sold many plants and food items, some books and magazines, but oddly not a single piece of embroidery, on which I probably spent too much time.

We had severe flooding here, not where I live high above the river, but all along both banks of the river for many miles. The day before the show, the Trans Canada Highway between my town and Moncton was closed due to flooding. This meant a detour of close to 100 km to get around the flooded areas - there are not that many roads here!

My daughter and I went up the day before, and set up for the show. That meant that the day of the show we were able to some pre-shopping. However, I didn't buy anything at that point. Towards the end of the day, I picked up a small wine bottle to go into the eventual pub and was given a lovely little miniature ceramic version of an Amsterdam canal house (I was born in Amsterdam.) But the piece that has fired my imagination is this one:



It's a simple garden chair made of some sort of dense plastic, with a bunch of grape vine twigs and tendrils, a rusty tin star, and a little birdhouse. The little vignette is very close if not exactly 1/12 scale. I knew what I wanted to do with it right away. Here is step one of the transformation process:



The yellow paving stones are too bright; this is just the first coat, with more coats of shading and sponging yet to come. I got carried away and put the dirt and moss in place before I had finished the painting. The brick structure is a brick planter. And this is how they look together:



The accessories will be removed from the chair. The twigs will be planted in the planter, along with the bird house. The star will also find a home in what I hope will become a very small garden vignette. The snow here has melted (hence, the floods!), and my primroses are up. So I visualize a flat of primroses in front of the chair, the twigs transformed into perhaps a clematis vine, and the bird house ready for spring birds. The planter will be planted with flowers, some hanging over the edges. On the chair seat, more plants, a pair of gardening gloves, garden trowel and small hand fork, and perhaps a pair of muddy rubber boots. (Yes, I know that I am likely taking liberties with the correct growing period for what I plant, but it is, after all, my idea of a garden!).

The basic work shouldn't take too long, it is the flowers and plants that will take time. For a while, I hope to enjoy looking at the vignette, but it will probably go up for sale before the winter hits us again. In the meanwhile, I will have some fun....