open studios

getting ready for open studios this sunday at elephant art space (aka, where my studio resides). all the artist in residence will have their doors open with projects for viewing. and in our gallery we will have a show by artist dave shulman.
i have lots of new art, new terri planty projects and have really begun to focus on making more terrarium jewelry pieces that involve all kinds of interesting materials. soon i will show that collection off but for the time being a shot of my jewelry make desk in full force.

if you are in the la area on sunday from 5 - 9, stop on by elephant. :)

saying goodbye

i have been getting up so early lately, whether i have had enough sleep or not, my body just decides to start thinking about all the things coming up in my life, it wakes me with thoughts of the new ikea catalog (i'm moving to a new MUCH smaller home with a MUCH larger garden), of things to purge, of plants to grow, of things to water, of my chickens that need to get fed, of the moment of having to say good bye to this home i have lived in and shared with my partner for 4 years.
sometimes i sit and stew in my thoughts. but mostly i get up. i do things like water the garden, stare at the chickens inspect their new food, fold some laundry, visit pinterest, imagine not living here anymore.
the other day i grabbed my camera instantly when i saw the insane amount of blossoms on the cactus accross the street. i have clippings from this big girl, but man was she in full on floral mode at 6:30 am the the other day. i also took a couple snaps of the other bathing beauties in the garden, the view i will miss so much more than anything else, the neighbors friendly dog...
but it is so time. i am ready for change. bring it.

z-ranch and the naked lady sculpture garden

lastnight i visited my two favorite artist / farmer friends, wayne and emily. both of them are such remarkable human beings. we met while at calarts. wayne was in the grad program w/ me. he is quite honestly one of my all time favorite painters. equally talented is his wife emily, who recently has set out to create a naked lady sculpture garden right by their home on the zorthian ranch.
they recently moved back to la after having had a successful farm out in south carolina raising all kinds of livestock. nowadays the pair are working on an organic vegetable garden project along with raising chickens and much more. i will be checking back in with them often to show you the process of their project.
the best part of these two is their commitment to sustainable living. they have actually grown their own food for several years now, so feasting with them is always a treat. and having naked ladies watch over your shoulder in the garden, that just makes it 10 times better!

by the way, the horse in the image, yeah he just hangs out like that. he is like one of the dogs. and the chicks, well that is the same breed as my dear little fart face. fun to see what she will look like full grown, wonder if she will become a tree jumper too :).
(take a closer look at that tree shot, there is a chicken up in there!)

echo park time travel mart

buzz buzz buzz. this little lady bee had been buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-e! thanks to one of my fave ladies - laure, i am currently working with the amazing ive & jen of shades of green and john of form la at the dwell on design event over at the ol' la convention center. oh my is there a whole lotta work involved. fork lifts, giant trees, recycled plastic swings, chicken tractors and chickens oh my! but so much fun! amazing things to come, so i hope to see your faces at the event.
in the midst of all this terri planty does not sleep. nope. we just did a terrarium install at one of the most brilliant places in la - the echo park time travel mart. haven't been? run. where else can you find caveman stationary and parts for your time machine? and better yet, not only is the mart incredible, but this spot is actually just the front of an amazing non profit organization called 826LA that is dedicated to teaching students 6 - 12 with their creative and expository writing skills. they are such an inspiration! i recommend volunteering!

the installation that team terri planty made was portraying los angeles of the past and los angeles of the future. inside a cabinet, you open two doors, both windows feature the native so cal chaparral landscape, however in the future there is a scene of a miniature version of the caveman and robot you will find in the shops rad store window display, propping up a a new billboard poster for the time travel mart. look closely and you will see the legs of la icon angelyne underneath and on a rock i insisted on introducing a new character into this joint, a lady cavewoman of course.

the process of making this piece reminded me of being a kid again, working so hard on that science project for the science fair. my parents and sister came out and i realizing now the more and more they help that i have to change my about page and give them waaay more credit. they worked their butts off. as did mr. erick. he helped me conceptualize a series of custom terrariums for the shop that will be sold there (with part of the proceeds being donated to the organization). this particular collection is based of famous books such as old man and the sea, james and the giant peach, sleepy hollow and more. we also threw in a few made up sci-fi scenes for fun.

i also want to to give a shout out of love to the talented and wonderful shannon who invited me to do this project and worked closely with me on the concept. she is one clever lady! (thanks for letting me sneak those angelyne legs on that billboard)

photos of the shop via laughing squid, close up by shannon, the rest by yours truly and her baby sister.

garden wedding

this last weekend we went to a garden wedding. erick was one of the best men. he looked super handsome. we rocked it and caught the bouquet and garter belt for the 3rd time in a row! i am a pro at catching flying plants!! that is essentially what a bouquet is to me!


we danced our butts off, laughed, high fived, played with adorable kids, met families, hashed about old times. it was all lovely. but the best part was that it took place in a garden. so while i was trying to be all friendly and make conversation, i couldn't help but notice how large the foxtail agaves were or that jade plants and sword ferns were growing so harmoniously side by side in the shade. i wondered when things were planted and why. delighted in the classic los angeles palm tree lined skies sprinkled with little lights. gardens are happy places. the wedding took place at the hidden chateau in woodland hills, cali. if you are feeling wedding ready, check them out here.






and here is my dancing fool of a partner in crime looking extra mad men-ish but with moves!

THE urban homestead

i am so so proud, gushing with smiles proud of my fellow plant loving / super talented / gorgeous / calartian / gf / photo goddess laure. she just did a shoot of THE urban homesteaders themselves for the NY TIMES! these folks wrote the book URBAN HOMESTEAD, the blog formally known as homegrown evolution - now root simple AND are local los angelenos.
her photos are simply lovely - its great to get a peek and a portrait of two of the most garden happy folks i know of. i especially love to see how gardeners dress. my own personal visual collection i guess.
the article is worth a good read through. this couple has been a long time inspiration to work the land and enjoy it too.

read the full article here and check out all of laure's rad photos here.

road trip

sunday rocked. literally. the family (mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, sister dogs and i) all caravan-ed over to some of our favorite haunts in the mojave desert to search for rocks and wood twigs, roots, the works. it was so much fun to dig around in the dirt for cool findings. everyone found amazing shapes and textures. sharing our loot with such passion "WOW that rock is green!" or "it looks like a mask!". no detail is missed amongst my family. we also made a stop at an antique shop we now frequent for terri planty treasures and beyond. portraits of all the treats on their way.



on our way out of the mojave we cruised the angeles forest. stopping often to take it all in. california is amazing. one minute we are in the desert amongst joshua trees and cacti, and suddenly we are surrounded by pine trees and creeks.



while running out and about in the wild, i also got to play with my camera and shot a lot of wildflowers. all the rain we have had this year has really boosted the color story in the desert and the forest. i spotted quite a few native flora that i will have to come back to this post to identify what their correct names are - i tend to make up my own.



the forest had been in a terrible fire not long ago so there are vast areas where the trees were like black silhouettes, however new growth was sprouting out of them in fuzzy bunches. i wish i would have got a shot of this, but mostly this was happening in steep and narrow parts of the road where parking is limited.
most everything was really green and lush. there were so many natural vertical gardens happening along the rock walls of the road. it never fails to amaze me where plants will choose to grow. and the best part is seeking out new growth and blooms. the wildflowers are like surprises amongst all the expected shrubbery. suddenly there is this color and shape that you don't expect. they are so precious.



have i mentioned how much i dig my adventure loving family? well i do! they are so much fun to be around. i am a lucky girl. we had a really good time (crazy wind and all - check out everyone's hair below).  even the dogs had a really good time (i swear they are smiling in the earlier photos).



p.s. we didn't take anything from the protected wildlife areas. we did however clean up! people can be such pigs!