Happy Tuesday Friends!  I’m so please to introduce Brooke Wandall to you today!   I stumbled across Brooks work a few weeks ago while mindlessly strolling through Etsy and was stopped dead in my tracks by her oil paintings.  They are so strangely abstract and organic and feminine and beautiful all at the same time!  Many of Brooke’s paintings are inspired by terrariums and I was instantly intrigued.
I mean, who wouldn’t want to spend a little time as a tiny person in a tiny tiny glass bubble with perfect plants, picturesque scenes, green moss, and smooth stones?  After all, isn’t that sort of what a green house or a plant conservatory is?   …and I’m pretty sure there will be a conservatory over flowing with orchids and succulents in heaven one day.

I really admire the way Brooke Wandall is able to translate what you and I see while looking at a scene into something so dream-like and poetic.  She has an eloquence with oil paints that is hard to achieve.   She paints intuitively, without over thinking (which, I can tell you, is very hard to do) and uses wonderful color combinations and contrast, and creates beautiful composition out of shapes and shades.

The more I look at her paintings, the more I fall in love with them!   Shown are just a few of my favorite pieces. Please check out her shop and website for more lovelies!

…and now I think I need to build a terrarium of my own for a little subject matter inspirations!   Good news, it’s so much easier than I though! I got this little recipe from the Nautical Wheeler blog.

1.  Put a one inch layer of stones or marbles in the bottom of your container

2.  Fill the container half full with potting soil

3.  Take the plants out of their plastic holders and arrange them in your glass container

4.  Place the rest of the potting soil over the roots of the plants and tap down gently

5.  Add some water and place in an area with moderate sunlight