garden therapy » Photography

Garden Therapy Handmade: Now Open!

We are so proud to announce the launch of Garden Therapy Handmade on Etsy. This labour of love involved combining the passion for gardening, photography and home décor into one unique project: Studio Blooms.

But a harvest? Why, yes! Flowers were grown in our home garden, photographed in studio, then enlarged to mammoth proportions in order to showcase the magnificent details of each individual flower. The photographs were digitally designed to be giclee printed on a beautiful linen-cotton canvas and sewn to perfection. Little details like expensive hidden zipper closures and feather/down inserts were taking into account. Then each one was hand washed, dried, and ironed, ready to go to it’s new home.

Was it easy? Um, well, no. There were months of prints and reprints to get just the right detail to each inch of fabric. There was wash testing. There was cuddle testing (that was a particularly tough one). In the end, it was so worth it. We think these soft but durable pillows are the perfect art for the home. We hope that you agree!

Please visit the Garden Therapy Handmade store to check out all the designs, 9 in total. Favoriting, liking, tweeting, or any other social media sharing would be greatly, greatly appreciated and happily returned in kind. And thank you for your support.

November 14 2011 | Flowers and Garden Therapy and Photography | 14 Comments »

Jellyfish at the Vancouver Aquaruim

November 09 2010 | Photography and Vancouver | 6 Comments »

The Old and The New: Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day and Camera Update

I think that I finally have a solution to my camera needs. Last year (well, really only a few months ago) I wrote about my quest for a new camera and over the holidays I found the solution: a basic point a shoot for my purse and a new macro lens for my DSLR. So far I’m happy with this solution. The point and shoot is just a little Canon Powershot SD1200IS that I chose after trying a few different basic slim cameras. I liked this one best because it’s small, it’s fast, and it takes good pictures. The photo of the VanDusen Festival of Lights was taken with this camera with no tripod – not bad!

The much more exciting addition to the camera family is the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens I got for Christmas. While I really didn’t want to have to switch lenses for different shots, the quality I get with this macro is just so much better for close up shots of the garden. I used it for today’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day shots after our rainstorms cleared and the sun popped out for a brief visit this afternoon.

The theme for this month’s photos is “The Old and The New”. I’ve used my old Digital Rebel with my new macro lens to take photos of the evergreens, overwintering veggies, and spent foliage that keep my winter garden interesting as well as the mighty new growth that is already pushing the leaf mulch aside. Spring may not be here yet, but it already feels like the dark of winter is behind us. The new growth is emerging from the soil and it can also be felt in the air. That combined with the building excitement for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics is making these short days full of promise. So without further ado, here is “The Old and The New”.

: Evergreen foliage of the Euonymus Emerald Gaiety

: Pine Cones

: Purple Cauliflower

: Curly Rush Grass loves damp soil

: Blueberry branches still looking sharp

: Rudbeckia Seed Heads with a Rock Rose

: Winterfurst Cabbage

: Hellebore Christmas Rose…almost there!

: Sarcococca Confusa “Sweetbox”

: Euonymus japonica ‘Microphyllus Variegata’

: Blue Bells Emerging

: Pieris Buds Starting to Show

: Here come the Snowdrops

: Rhododendron buds

: White Phlox starting to grow

: Purple Sprouting Broccoli

: Sedum Autumn Joy New Beginnings

: Bergenia getting ready to send a flower

: Hairy New Oriental Poppy Leaves

: Friendly little Crocuses

January 15 2010 | Flowers and Gardening and Photography | 8 Comments »

Flora Friday: Squash

Market Squash (Large) (2)

November 13 2009 | Harvest and Photography | 1 Comment »

Fall Foliage from East to West

Not long ago I returned from a trip through New England at the height of peak fall foliage. Driving from Ontario through Quebec, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine gave a dynamic variety of scenery to drink in. The colours lit up like neon signs when hit by the sun and changed so dramatically from the golden waves of black walnut, horse chestnut, and white poplar leaves, to fiery puffs of sugar maple and oak trees, to the stark white of the bare birch trees. Still inspired upon my return to Vancouver I snapped a few more photos from within my neighbourhood. We may not have sprawling hillsides of hardwoods, but we do have some amazing examples of season’s change that begged to be captured. The photos below show a tiny sampling of what I thought was the best this fall had to offer, from East to West.