Sunday, August 26, 2012

Visiting Friends, Part 3: Nellie's Garden


While in Tennessee last April, I visited textile artist and blogger Nellie Durand of Nellie’s Needles. Her lovely home looks like an art gallery except it's better. However, I’m getting ahead of myself. First of all, I’d like to show you her garden for which she and her husband, Lee, have collected fun and beautiful works of art.
The entryway garden contains a quiet slab fountain (with frog on top) in addition to metal and ceramic pieces.
               Notice the collection of bells in the tree attached to a horizontal branch.
                                         Metal bird sculptures promenade.
                               The driftwood garden king dominates the corner. 
                              Ceramic and wrought iron pieces decorate the wall.
                                           Another metal bird sculpture.
               And in the upstairs balcony, birds made from garden tools strut.

                               A flying girl joins the garden tool birds.

Nellie's own work shows her interest in the surrounding environment. 














Spending summers on Lake Michigan, she has created a series inspired by the lake and its changes in light and with the seasons.
























                                      Her masterpiece, The Lake (9' x 7').
Photo by Nellie Durand, from her blog (here).
              And as seen in Good Goods Gallery (Saugatuck, MI) where it sold.
Photo by Nellie Durand, from her blog (here).
Nellie is generous with her ideas and techniques, which can be found at her blog. Currently, she battles cancer, but the prognosis is good and she has the support of family and friends. So I hope to see her back up to full steam in the near future. 
                             
                                         Get well soon, Nellie.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Amazing garden. It must be fun to walk through there daily!

Radka said...

Obviously Nellie is a very talented artist, thank you for the link to her blog :-)

Yvette said...

wow..thanks for the link!

Beverly said...

Thank you for a peek into Nellie's home- it is so unique, and so full of life.

Els said...

Wow Nadia, what a wonderful tour you gave us to Nellie's place !

Cate Rose said...

Oh wow, what beautiful work. Thanks for sharing it with us. Especially love her quilts!

Teodo said...

She is a very talented artist, I know Nellie, is blog-friends. Her birds are in many house here in Italy.
With you I tell "Get well soon, Nellie".
ciao ciao linda

Rachaeldaisy said...

What a wonderful garden full of surprises!! Nellie's work is beautiful. She really capturures the light playing on water. The owners of The Lake are lucky indeed. Wishing Nellie all the best!

Merilyn said...

Thankyou for sharing these wonderful creative pieces!! You could just sit out there for ages and still not see everything I'm sure! Sorry to hear about her cancer battle, I hope things go well for your friend!

Roxanne said...

Fascinating decorative pieces. Nellie is sooo creative. Love her work.

blandina said...

I visited Nellie's blog and once again I was impressed by how our lives can suddenly change from relatively pieceful to hell and worry.
Her work is very interesting, and her garden just fantastic, sculptures should be more widely used, inside and outside.

JennyPennyPoppy said...

A lovely post and walk through Nellie's very neat garden. Hope she makes a full recovery and thanks for the link to her blog.

p said...

oh lucky you for having spent time there....i've always loved seeing her blog posts showcasing her home/garden area! ....and i believe she is cancer free now! hugs to nellie!

Nellie's Needles said...

Nadia, thank you for featuring my art and one of my gardens ... which by the way, is just one of many garden areas full of sculptures at our Tennessee condo and our Michigan cottage.

Thank you, too, for your and your readers good thoughts coming my way. I'm slowly recovering from the double mastectomy, which made me cancer free. I think I'll be in good form in a couple of weeks when I'm a featured artist at my Michigan gallery.