My friend, Linder from New Hampshah, came to visit on Easter Sunday, bringing a box of art goodies for playing and sharing. We had a marvelous time trying out techniques from Vintage Collage Journals: Journaling with Antique Ephemera [Maryjo Koch] and Layered, Tattered & Stitched: A Fabric Art Workshop [Ruth Rae].
Lucy creating
We heaped boxes and boxes of art supplies out on the studio counter and wedged inches of space for a work area. Inks from Paris, organza peppered with tiny crystals like stars, metal dyes in all hues, bits of calico, rubber stamps and stickers, paints in several mediums, old photographs, ribbons and lace … and more. The mess was heavenly.
Flies: Golden dragon and Butter variety
Linder captured this lovely photo of our creative elements with a reflection through a purple vase on the window ledge. And Lucy captured 2-3 bees that invaded the studio.
From the parlor
What stories this window could tell, with its view from the front parlor of Belvedere Plantation to the Rappahannock River beyond!
This 245 year old dwelling is now home to the Fulks family, and their children grew up here. A complete history of the plantation can be found on their website (Belvedere Plantation.com).
Since the late 1700s, the window has seen the clamor of our American Revolution just steps away in Washington City. Likely the Civil War came right to the little lane outside this window, as the capitol of the Confederacy was just miles away in Richmond, Virginia.
Now, it seems strange to have the back of the home situated to the main road, but it was not always so. The river would have been the ‘main road’ when the home was built. And so, the front door and the parlor window look quietly out on the wooded river bank for any possible callers.
The front entry of Belvedere Plantation
Lovely in the morning light
The lane by the river
A morning panorama
The river flows beyond the trees
Photogenic orchids in the conservatory
A majestic setting at lovely Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens, between York and Belmont, South Carolina. Even the Spanish moss is posing prettily.
