Gardening, Patience and Lyme Disease -Gail Allen

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Patience is a virtue and gardening involves so much patience. There are times when you can create an instant garden, like I mentioned in the post below, but creating an outdoor garden and letting it evolve into a mature landscape takes time,  planning, a lot of work, willingness to change as nature dictates and patience. Our gardens have been a work in progress for over 14 years and are over 4 acres in size. There are evergreen gardens, perennials, a water garden, hosta garden, vegetables and woodland garden.

It has been months since I have written, primarily because I have had to limit drastically my involvement with a myriad of my endeavors. Right now, I am having to put most of my energy into my paintings as you can see on my Easel Tides blog: Easel Tides: Gail Allen's Artistic Journey.

Gardening is my second favorite pastime, which I have always also pursued with vigor. The reason for the abrupt stop to the gardening, and this journal is: About two years ago after spending weeks in April and May clearing out a large amount of underbrush, to plant a new area near a garden shed, I became extremely ill, fatigued and couldn't walk well - or for more than 8 to 10 feet, dragging my left foot as I walked. I developed a large (18" diameter) raised red rash on my stomach. Severe headaches, like migraines, joint pain and numbness followed. Soon my memory was fading, my words were slurring, getting all mixed up and I had a short term bout of bells palsy numbness of my face. After many tests and months of extreme pain and anguish, I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. To make a very long story short, my point in this post is to make gardeners aware of the dangers of Lyme Disease. If you Google the term Lyme Disease,  there are so very many stories and sites that will explain the symptoms and how to prevent it. I will put a list at the end of this article. Most cases show up in June, July and August, as it takes a few days to weeks of having  (the deer tick), the culprit that causes the disease, attached, to infect you. The deer tick is found in long grass or brush and is about the size of a pin head. It can be easily mistaken for a small mole, or possibly not even seen, except for the slight itchiness at the site of the bite, which is not necessarily where the rash occurs.


I still garden, but for this year, as I undergo long term antibiotic treatment for stage three or tertiary lyme disease and the symptoms wax and wane, sometimes to a debilitating extent - I have had to exhibit the pace of nature - patience. The weeds are slowly taking control, but thanks to the drought conditions we have faced in this area this summer, the weeds have been a bit contained and some have even died. I've been somewhat lucky in that. I'll be posting some summer pictures soon. 


For gardeners of all types, I hope you read up and make yourself aware of prevention and treatment of Lyme Disease. Don't wait to be stricken. Cases are on the rise at alarming rates, it simply takes education of how to prevent being bitten - by dressing properly, using the correct lotions or sprays to deter them and checking yourself as you come in from gardening in your yard. 

Some sites to explore:

http://www.columbia-lyme.org/index.html
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/ld_humandisease_diagnosis.htm
http://www.lymedisease.org/lyme101/ticks/about_ticks.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000669.htm

Creating an Unusual Patio or Balcony Garden

Even when designing a small garden space on a limited budget, you can think big and use your imagination to inspire a noteworthy niche for contemplation and relaxation. Be bold, take chances and follow the ideas that "pop-into" your mind during the planning stages, these are the fuel for an interesting refuge. Trust your soul to give you cues as to what it is needing for atmosphere. Once you let the subconscious mind begin to create, you are on the right track to a great experiential garden. A great garden has attention in the details, so look closely at each area for the chance to add your personal unusual flair.
Every element should contribute to the peaceful restorative ambiance you are trying to create. Think of three levels of height, AND depth to your garden design; leading the eye onward and upward, creating depth using light colored leaves in front of darker colored leaves such as black, purple or red. Look for bluish colored leaves, as in an 'Elegans' Hosta, for a soothing effect. Yellow colored leaves bring the eye forward. Also look at the color, texture and shape of each element. Soft plants against hard surfaces, like a wispy trailing plant, placed at the bottom below a ceramic pot, which is holding a larger plant or water feature, will enhance the look of the setting. The cleaver use of trellises and  unique objects-including pots and urns, shells, sculptural objects, chunks of glass or gazing balls, rocks, crystals,water, candlelight all help to set the stage when you are designing your own distinctive personal haven.
For example: Start by placing a mirror on a wall, (or a metallic reflective element like that), behind a tall fern, or other unique plant in a corner of a balcony. Add one or two purple, red, or darker green plants. Possibly one that flowers! Always remember to plant in odd numbers of one, three or five. Alternate leaf styles-fern like, spiky and/or  rounded leaves. Next, you could use a medium sized ceramic basin filled with water and a solar bamboo trickling fountain - a unique garden feature for a small space. The water garden could be raised up in its pot by setting it on another planter pot, placed upside down for the mid level planting. Place a water lily in a smaller pot, submerged in your fountain. Add a few small potted yellow or variegated grasses, or multicolored coleus for color around the base below. Add an item or two of interest like shells, unique rocks, beach rocks, clear glass balls, anything you collect for whimsy and fun. This can all be placed fairly compact together in a corner. Use this idea as just a starting point- to get your mind thinking. Make it your own personal haven. Have fun. Think of decorating the space as if it were a room in your house.
You will be surprised to see how the sound of water attracts people's attention and draws them out onto the balcony into your serene garden sanctuary.

Some Wintry Beauty in the Landscape

The Power of Personal Style

“Row, row, row your boat

Gently down the stream

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily

Life is but a dream.”

I guess I could say my personal style is pretty much summed up by these words. It really encompasses everything about how I live my life – in the moment, moving forward, step by step planning, developing and applying the ideas that come to mind. I seem to have an inherent “knowing”, as well as a vivid imagination of what could come in to “being” when planning a garden.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.”  - Albert Einstein

So my advice in starting a garden is to get some gardening magazines, catalogues, books at the library, search on line, and just give your self the chance to “dream” and imagine what could be. Copy and save photos. Walk out on your patio, or into your yard, or the space wherever your “garden” is going to be and just look and listen. Open your heart to all that is around you.  Really look at the area you are going to develop and try to imagine yourself in the finished garden. What “fits” in this area of your yard?

Is this for sustenance, as a vegetable garden, cooking garden, and an herb or fruit garden?

Is it a container garden, or planted in the ground?

City or Country?

Is this a  garden of flowers, vegetables, grasses, evergreens, water, or a mixture of all of these?

How large of an area could you imagine it would be, without it feeling overwhelming to manage?

How much time do you want to spend maintaining it?

Do you love the outdoors, bugs, snakes, mice etc? Can you see yourself dealing with these on a daily basis?

Do you have other animals of your own such as a cat or dog that will impact whether a fence needs to surround it?

Is the garden against a wall, or an island, or a peninsula?

How much wind do you get in the area? (This will affect whether you need to stake plants or not.)

How will you get water to it? Is there a source close by?

Do you see a sculpture, bench or potted plants within it?

Do you want to replant with each New Year: as with annuals or mix in some perennials that will grow repeatedly in the same place each year? Also, think of biennials, which grow every other year. A few dwarf evergreens could give some “bones” to your garden if you live in a wintry climate.

Do you see this in full color? Bright vivid or soft subtle colors, monochrome?

How tall is the tallest plant? Is it in the center or the back?

Are there paths wandering within the garden?
Are there any other structures?

If you believed your dream was attainable, what would you dream of?

If you dreamt it today, and it would not fail, what would your garden look like?

How great would it feel to sit, walk through, or work in this space you have created in your mind?

If you look closely, what part of your garden would you love to look at the most?Where would you feel most comfortable in your imaginary garden?

Try to sketch it or cut out pictures and make a collage of what it would be like.

You are on your way. Dream it…..do it. It is that simple.

Dream it for the sake of adding beauty to your life and the planet. Dream it for the sake of  adding meaning to yourself, (and remember whatever you do resonates out into the larger world), - so for the sake of  adding meaning to the world. These garden inspirations  and  your dreams of a life worth living, and the work worth doing help that thought grow in the world, to all corners of our universe. Garden for yourself  - and you will help the world grow.

Beginning a Garden

Gardening involves partnership, love and art which transform life, and this resonates to all corners of the world. It is meditative, and all encompassing of body, mind and soul.  It should be always evolving and changing. If it is approached initially in this manner, it will result in an experience which is both emotional and physical to the creator and the beholder. Alliance of your own personality with this new space, and seeing it as a cooperative effort between yourself and nature -  as opposed to strictly designing and controlling nature, will bring harmony and success in your ventures.
  Many factors come to mind when considering planning a garden. What kind of gardener are you, or would you like to become? What are your traits and archetypes that will be influencing how you work in the garden.What would you like the space or "room" to be like - is it a a place of sustenance,  personal/private space or one to be shared with others? What senses (sight, sound, hearing, touch) are going to be kindled as one passes through?  What kind of garden will you plant - annual, perennial, water, grasses, flower, vegetable and fruit? What style attracts you? Is it English, Country, Asian, Mediterranean, Artistic, Soulful, Planned or Unplanned? What is the  climate zone like? What are the watering needs?  What is the soil like? Which local animals could be a problem and do you want to plant so as not to attract them? How do light requirements influence the success of your garden?
  At the outset, the journey can be spontaneous and happen in a learn as you go adventure. Or, you can take the time to ask yourself some pertinent questions and save some often costly and frustrating mistakes.  Writing things down can be the first step in organizing your thoughts and feelings, even if you never refer back to them again. Think of it as exploring your soul and focusing the mind on what the soul truly wants. It  is parallel to making a life plan; exploring your wants, needs, and desires, the  financial requirements and working out the details on how to get the end result.
 So, here, where the ground is snow covered and the "bones" of the area are clearly able to be seen - I am taking this month to look, think, write, sketch and meditate. It should be fun and filled with creative expression as I begin to sketch and revise my own "Soulful Garden".

"Love shared anywhere transforms situations everywhere. Your life is your corner of the garden;tend to that and you tend to the world." - Marianne Williamson

Magical Creative Gardening

   The gardens are frozen over by snow right now, but underneath, roots are spreading and bulbs are multiplying. There is always an evolution in the works, even when it seems impossible. I have decided to evolve this creativity blog into my gardening journal. The thought germinated after a "Tweet"on Twitter by a gardening enthusiast referenced one of my entries in my painting blog, about our Japanese inspired garden in our backyard.  ( View "The Oasis" at   http://wwwgailallenartist.blogspot.com ) Gardening is, and always has been, as important an aspect in my life, as my artwork. It is an extension of my creativity through use of Spirit's life force. Gardening seems to sustain me - the ongoing joke in our house when I am withering indoors, (I am especially cranky during the dormant season) is that I "need to go dig in the dirt". There has always been a tug of war between creating artwork and getting out into the gardens.....which have become numerous. Over the many, many years gardening has been inspirational, fulfilling, irrational  - even absurd at times,  and sustaining. My husband is my partner in creation and keeps the irrational, artistic side of me in check.  Although not always enthusiastic when first getting wind of my newest "creation", he usually signs on - we seem to have this wonderful check and balance system and each spring we keep going through it again, thanks to two active imaginations.
 A bit of history on my gardening background. I was born to parents who were very creative and came from farming families. We were in the garden from the earliest I can remember and knew most flowers, trees and vegetable names before I was in fourth grade. We scouted for mushrooms on early Sunday mornings after church, under towering pine and oak groves. It seemed magical to me as a child. One of my earliest artworks was a flip book of a mushroom under the pine needles sprouting up. I always had plants growing, even when I lived in the city during college. Then our "real" journey began after getting married and buying our first house on an excavated sand pit! Sand and rocks and clay...oh my. The journey began. After multiple moves, we have settled on five acres which have evolved and expanded into gardens of every possible kind. I will be chronicling lessons learned,  putting up old and new pictures of our gardens,  as well as book lists and other sites I enjoy that you may find helpful in your gardening journey.
I hope this will be inspirational in germinating new growth in your creativity through gardening.  On this eve of a blue moon I would like to Welcome You to 2010 - Happy New Year, may it bring you peace, prosperity and happiness in your garden of life. All the best....

The Final Escape - A Directorial Debut

Creativity evolves.  The first directorial debut and video production of a budding producer.(Click on the link to view.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhcm7w8h4bE

  Please watch and comments are appreciated.

Gail Allen: A Day Painting Creative Symbolism

For me, a day starts out with a walk in the woods  with my lab "Otto", to clear my head, get some focus on where my thoughts are taking me, and to get some inspiration. It is generally only about 15 minutes to a half hour. Then I sit and review notes, or write new notes on what needs to be reworked, or the order of working up the piece that I am going to follow.
My work has evolved into what is primarily studio work - as it has shifted from plein aire landscapes to more conceptual pieces with many symbolic elements. I am attracted to these because of the expression of more universal concepts which go beyond the simple verbal explanations.  The pieces are much larger, more intricate, with many overlapping elements. This is a reflection again of my own interests in spirituality and the oneness with all things. My studies in psychology, metaphysics, dream images, symbolism, cultures, science and the natural world are all interrelated constant elements of the newest works in progress. The creativity is in the telling of the story through these images. I am looking to develop works that are seen in a different way by each viewer. Many of the symbols are deeply and intricately interwoven, so as not to be immediately seen, some never really seen.
The archetypal personality traits of the viewer affect how they see the painting. Such multi-faceted concepts emerge at many psychic levels. Therefore, this new series is aimed at each individuals experiential viewing level.
Awareness of symbols changes a person's universal perception, even without  interpretation. Symbols always operate on a non-rational and nonverbal level first - emoting a common generalized effect on the observer's very physiology. This is why so many archetypal representational objects have appeared again and again in religions, dreams and visions, myths, legends and works of art throughout history and across all diverse cultures. Form and color play the part of giving these images meaning and making them tangible.  In as much as the viewer's examination is necessary to the interpretation of a particular shape or form,  a person reacts with spontaneity to a color.  All of these elements work together to effect the outcome of mood, mind states, and the body's function directly in various unseen ways. Herein lies my hope for the creativity of these paintings. Healing artwork is an emerging  and exciting field that I am currently exploring through observations on my morning walks with nature and through my ongoing studies.

May 21

Creativity, it's always there: in a thought, or maybe a vision I see in the light of the day or the shadows of the night. It haunts me at times, when I can't get the energy to put my thoughts down in words or a sketch. I can see where artists of the past were tormented by their frustrations. I have been unable to paint lately because of other responsibilities but will be returning to my easel soon.

Be in Joy

The best advice for living a very creative life ..... find the joy in every situation, no matter how grim - the rainbow is somewhere in the distance. Take heart, dig deep and be in joy in every moment, even if it takes meditating on the feeling of joy when something great and fun happened to you in the past.

New Beginnings and Changes for the New Year-

Currently, I am still working on three different series of work. I guess I am fickle, I change every few days from one series to the next. I find this is how I work best, staying fresh, although at times it can get extremely confusing - so I journal all thoughts and colors used as I work.

I also have undertaken revamping and changing the studio around after 12 years...a huge cleansing of many "saved" items. A bit daunting, to say the least but I am almost finished.
The photo above shows current works in progress. I am working on a new style, incorporating more creativity, exploration and, as a result, more fun. I don't believe in staying in a "safe" place with my work, I like to constantly challenge the extremes of where it can go. Sometimes it is rewarding, at others it can be frustrating because I can turn a painting that is going well into a disaster with one "new" decision to experiment a bit more. In the end, I believe that 's what creativity is all about. Hopefully the end result will be well received! All the best....

"When Sitting, Leap Like a Tiger."

"When Sitting, Leap Like a Tiger" are words that were literally given to me, by a dear friend and mentor, over twenty eight years ago. In Korean the name is Yong Maeng Jong Jin which translates to the aforementioned phrase. He said nothing else about it at the time. Just passed t hese written words to me at the end of a conversation. I was perplexed as to what it meant. Too young perhaps to realize the gift he had given me. Never the less, it had started me on a path that I am very thankful for, which has brought me to this moment in time. Meditation is key to my creativity and the path it takes me on.
As I work on my current painting, "The Flow of Creativity", I am reflecting on the many forms of meditation and spirituality that I have studied, that each culture practices and always use the information garnered in my paintings in some way. I am intrigued by the marriage of the ancient and the future. I try to keep my work original, while weaving in symbols, mythology, metaphors and motifs that are part of the history of this planet. As the dynamic interest in our world as "one world" takes hold, and the pendulum swings us back to a place of more respect for nature and our universe, these ancient symbols and teachings are more important to revive. If we are to reach some sort of relative balance from the overwhelmingly chaotic lifestyle we have created, we must incorporate these ancient teachings into our future. Perhaps for me, the flow of creativity is best defined as meditation. In my life and my work ,I try to to keep these three elements as my guide: great faith, great courage and great questioning.