Garden Sculpture Show 2015 - Philippa's Garden at the Skelly Gallery

This past Sunday, May 24th 2015, was the vernissage of the 3rd Garden Sculpture Show at Philippa's Garden at the Skelly Gallery in St. Eugene, Ontario. It was a perfect day for wandering through the garden and looking at the many wonderful sculptures in the show. At the heart of the garden is the Homage by my late husband, Peter MacElwain. It has been a favourite for people going to this annual event for the past three years.

This fun piece, which is set up near the Gallery, is by a sculptor named John McCabe. Great use of materials.

There were several sculptures that hung from trees, like this bright and whimsical piece by Susan Jephcott.

Dody Dines showed her beautiful tile pots, with lots of plants and vegetation - perfect for a spring day in the garden.

This is one of my favourite pieces, by Lis Skelly. It was tucked away among some trees and seemed to be looking out shyly.

This piece, by Nik Schnell (who runs the gallery and sculpture garden), was also tucked away among some trees. It is a very intriguing piece and viewers can see themselves reflected in the mirror that makes the "face" of the sculpture.  

Further along in the garden, there were 6 pieces by Bernard Gauthier. Some of them were positive cut-outs, like this.....

.....and some of them were negative cut-outs, like this.

My friend, David, had some fun with one of the negative cut-outs....

.....while Holly had fun with one of the positive cut-outs. Wonderfully silly!

Two artists, Adele Reeves and Lisa Livingston, made this fabulous curtain of hundreds of fabric shapes that hung from some trees on the path through the garden. It was magical walking through the gap in the middle.

This is another piece by John McCabe. Love all the colour.

These fun pieces by Kathryn Harvey can be turned around, so one can see the faces.

For me, the most important piece in the show is this apple sculpture, White Cortland, by Peter MacElwain. This was very recently restored and it was exciting to show it again after many, many years. I was so very happy that people were enjoying it in its full glory.
Great show - wonderful day!

A Different Kind of White Carpet

I walk past this small garden of trees every day. In the winter, they are bare and dark and the ground underneath their branches is covered with a white carpet of snow. Today, spring is at its height and there was another kind of white carpet on the ground under the branches - a carpet of white petals that had fallen from the flowering trees. Enchanting!

Spring Rituals

Every year about this time, after all the snow is gone and the lovely warm weather returns, I engage in certain spring rituals. The first ritual involves dragging out my ancient geriatric lawnmower and wondering, "Will the poor old thing still work? Or will this be the year it refuses to go, and I have to say goodbye and get a new lawnmower?" So I pulled it out last Saturday, filled it up with fuel, and gave its starting cord a couple of yanks. Lo and behold, it coughed into life!!! Amazing! This lawnmower is now about 23 years old and I can't believe that it still works!

I was thinking of calling this post "Something Old, Something New". The lawnmower is really old, but I got some brand new duckies to wear when I pushed her around the yard and worked in the garden. Aren't they great?

Another spring ritual is, of course, cleaning up my garden and appreciating the emerging flowers. After the horribly cold January, February and March we had here in Eastern Ontario, these crocuses, my first flowers, are even more welcome than usual.  

And, about this time of year, the garden centres open and one of my spring rituals is getting tempted by all kinds of beautiful plants. I passed a garden centre when I was shopping on Saturday and told myself to behave, not go in and buy anything yet. But I couldn't resist these gorgeous red Dianthus. Thank goodness for warm, sunny days and gardening and old lawnmowers that still work!