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October 3rd, 2008
Here it is, already October 3rd and Halloween is upon us. Thanksgiving will soon follow.
I’m the type of mom who has always been grateful (relieved?) when the college-aged nanny offered to take my boys costume-shopping. That’s because I subscribe to the “use what’s available; look for stuff in the garage, sewing room, or attic,” school of Halloween costume-making. None of this molded rubber mask or fire-hazard printed-on-acetate superman kind of stuff. But my boys, on the other hand think a brand-new costume is de rigeur.
The organic, agricultural Halloween appeals to me. You know, the old-fashioned fall celebration that gets its thrills from a full moon rather than a mountain of Mars bars. Oh, for those cellophane-wrapped caramel apples of our youth (remember the ones we were warned might have razor blades in them, back in the 1970s?). Yup, those very ones.
In search of awesome produce for the fall holidays, I drove over the hill this afternoon into Simi Valley to visit Underwood Family Farms. An organic, U-pick farm, Underwood is a refreshing haven just a mile beyond fast-food row (What can I say? We do live in the suburbs).
I wanted to scout out cool, fashionable vegetables, worthy of centerpieces and front porches, for an upcoming November story called “Thanksgiving, A to Z.”
READ MORE…
Posted in Creativity, Entertainment, Gardening | 5 Comments »
October 2nd, 2008
A FURTHER INSTALLMENT OF THE SHED STYLE GLOSSARY. . .
Look far in the distance. What do you see? Is there a destination at the terminus of this path?
In September 2006, after living in Southern California for only three weeks, I had the fortunate experience of joining many of my Seattle friends on a Northwest Horticultural Society tour led by Gillian Mathews. It was an introduction to the awesome plants and landscape beauty of my new environs . . . an inspiring and encouraging few days, spent in the company of kindred (Seattle) spirits who kept telling me how fortunate I was to be living here amidst “paradise.”
One of our stops was to visit Casa del Herrero, a fantastic Spanish Hacienda-style estate, built in the 1920s in nearby Montecito. After touring the magnificent home, completely restored down to the furniture and artwork, we moved on to the garden. At a particular stop on the tour the vantage point shown above appeared. The decorative stucco-and-tile wall, at least 10-feet tall and 18-feet wide, stood nestled at the base of a gently-sloping ravine. Built-in benches on each side face the center.
“Oh, look,” said one of my friends, a landscape designer. “It’s an Exedra!”
A Spanish-inspired Exedra: Standing apart from the dwelling and lying widely open
To learn more about the classic “Exedra” as a landscape design element, visit my glossary, where I’m compiling photos and definitions of unique garden architcture.
Posted in Architecture, Creativity, Landscape Design, Shed Glossary | No Comments »
September 28th, 2008
Visting Bellingham and the Whatcom Horticultural Society
Bright and early on September 17th, I flew from Burbank, CA to Bellingham, WA (by way of Seattle and a 2-hour layover). I was pretty tired, having only four hours of sleep the night before, so I dozed a bit on the small Horizon Air jet that transported me from Seattle to B’ham in barely 25 minutes.
As the plane began to descend, I perked up and looked out the window to see – oh glory – Puget Sound, and several of its islands including Lummi Island. I was so happy (exhilarated, actually) to gaze upon the gray-blue palette of the water and islands, the scenery dotted witha few boats; the islands populated with cabins and summer cottages. What a “welcome home”!
My friend, Dawn Chaplin, garden designer and nurserywoman (seen with me above, in front of the Whatcom Museum), invited me to speak at the September meeting for the Whatcom Horticultural Society. I have a special place in my heart for this group, thanks to my friendship with the late Stephanie Feeney, who was one of the founding mothers of WHS. Stephanie, creator of the Northwest Gardener”s Resource Directory, originally started her garden touring “reference” (as a few photocopied pages stapled together at the corner), for her use and for her WHS friends. Upon her death in 2000, I inherited the editorship of her book and produced the 9th edition, still in print.
Dawn and her husband David met me at the airport and whisked me off on a whirlwind tour of Bellingham’s fantastic gardens and even a few magical “sheds” and shelters in the garden. In this misty, foggy maritime place on the map, people in Bellingham use color and art in very exciting ways. Here is a travelogue of our garden-filled afternoon:
Our tour kept gathering up friends and bringing them along. In front, from left: Dawn Chaplin, landscape designer Susann Schwiesow, and Laurie Satushek discussing plants in Susann’s glorious front border; In the back, Steve Satushek and David Chaplin.
SATUSHEK GARDEN
The wild and crazy landscape owned by Steve and Laurie Satushek
Photographer Steve Satushek and artist/teacher Laurie Satushek live and garden on about 8 acres overlooking the Nooksack River Delta and Bellingham Bay. They have transformed a nondescript ranch house and unkempt field into a colorful residence and equally brilliant landscape. Every surface of their residence is embellished with mosaics, mirrors, three-dimensional objects, and Steve’s oversize “outdoor” photographs — all rendered in a crayon box-inspired palette.
The informal but exuberant garden makes creative use of cobalt glass wine and water bottles (seen above, at left and below) and Steve’s cleverly-engineered and equally beautiful photography (he combines nature and botanical photographs with several innovative processes for weatherproofing oversize canvases). Together, the gallery-house and gallery-garden lure visitors to explore, observe, and fill their eyes with a surprising interpretation of art infused into every aspect of life.
More blue bottles: Here, they are mounted upside down on rebar posts. Staggered “rows” create a waist-high blue wall that lines the driveway. Citrus-cutouts of dancers add whimsical contrast.
READ MORE…
Posted in Architecture, Creativity, General, Landscape Design, Plants, Playfulness | 7 Comments »
September 23rd, 2008
Photographer extraordinaire Bill Wright and I just met up in Portland over the weekend to attend and lecture at the annual Garden Writers Association symposium.
In addition to schmoozing with fellow creative types, editors, art directors, bloggers, twitterers and long-time friends, we gave a talk on Sunday morning called “Anatomy of a Book: How Two Friends Collaborated Without Killing One Another.”
Bill illustrated the 45-minute lecture with a cool powerpoint slide show revealing the good, the bad and the ugly of our year-plus-long odyssey to produce Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways. His opening slide tells it all:
A year on the road with Debra and Bill
34 airline flights
Hundreds of emails
30,000 words
6,300 camera frames
300 finished photos
Getting up at 4:00 AM, either to shoot or to go to the airport, way too many times
We hope to post the audio online in the future, but thanks to Maryellen (aka Yogacowgirls), one of our fellow GWA members who blogs and twitters like mad, two video clips of the talk are already posted on YouTube.
The first one is called “Debra Prinzing, William Wright discuss Stylish Sheds.”
“Debra Prinzing, William Wright discuss Stylish Sheds.”
It”s followed immediately by “Pictures from Shed Style by Debra Prinzing and William Wright.”
“Debra Prinzing, William Wright discuss Stylish Sheds.
Posted in Book reviews, Creativity, Entertainment, Writing | 5 Comments »
September 16th, 2008
Judy Lowe, of the Christian Science Monitor, posted a review of Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways yesterday entitled “A tiny garden house of your own.” You can read it here:
An excerpt:
“Debra Prinzing’s book, “Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways” (Clarkson Potter, $30), showcases 28 little retreats that anyone with space and money can construct in the backyard.
As William Wright’s photos show, these aren’t prefab repositories of old shovels and mildewed garden gloves, but stuff of dreams – stylish shelters and studios, even pavilions for garden entertaining.
Because it’s so well-written and beautifully photographed, this book has earned a permanent place on my bookshelves. I’ll be leafing through over and over, dreaming of the possibilities.
Debra’s blog, Shed Style, has become must reading for me, too, to keep up on this trend.
This is the second time this month I’ve had the pleasure of saying, Thank you, Judy!
Posted in Book reviews, Creativity, Gardening, Writing | 2 Comments »
September 15th, 2008
Irv and Shira Cramer created a backyard destination in an otherwise unused section of their hillside property. They bought and personalized a prefabricated shed-studio from Seattle-based Modern Shed.
[All photographs by William Wright]
There’s a huge media spotlight on prefabricated sheds these days, and much of it is shining on Ryan Grey Smith and Modern Shed of Seattle. While I would prefer to have a bit of those bright rays focus on Shed Style and our book, Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways, I can’t help but be pleased to have media outlets participate in the conversation we began. As more stories rave about Modern Shed’s innovative and affordable design solutions for people in search of stylish space, I think everyone in the shed world will benefit. “The Shed,” an online magazine published by Alex Johnson in the UK, ran my story about Ryan earlier this year, called “Shedquarters.”
One of Ryan’s projects is featured in our book, a chapter called “Rec Room” that profiles a young Los Angeles artist and designer named Lin Su (seen at left, in front of her Modern Shed). But originally, a second Modern Shed structure was also slated for Stylish Sheds. It’s the sad reality that books have space limitations. Ours did, and in the end, that meant we had to cut seven chapters out of the final version of Stylish Sheds. It was P-A-I-N-F-U-L to say the least!
So many sheds, so few pages. Now it’s time to share one of those “lost” chapters. It includes the story and photographs of a bright green structure perched on a Berkeley hillside. Designed and built by Modern Shed, the haven is owned and used by a warm, artistic and fascinating couple named Irv and Shira Cramer.
Here’s their story, illustrated by a gallery of Bill Wright’s wonderful photographs:
Hillside Hideaway
A couple descends twenty-five steps to a garden far below their home to enjoy this separate and soulful place for music, books, and conversation.
Irv Cramer doesn’t take the gift of sanctuary lightly. While some might consider the 13-by-14 foot shed installed at the foot of their garden to be a modest, humble structure, to Irv and his wife Shira, it is an oasis, for both body and mind.
READ MORE…
Posted in Architecture, Creativity, Landscape Design, Spiritual Practices | 1 Comment »
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Here it is, already October 3rd and Halloween is upon us. Thanksgiving will soon follow.
