Where summer is lush and leafy, winter brings out the bones. Buildings reemerge behind trees, objects are stripped to their base elements, and weather can surprise, transforming everything it touches to an alternate version of itself. Winter’s design elements are likewise skeletal: frosty twigs, ice and stone, silhouettes and fog. There’s mystery too, beyond what’sContinue reading “France | winter scenes”
Author Archives: mike
Water!
Nothing brings home the fact that we’ve received a lot of rain this year like a walk along the American River, where we find our usual plein air painting spots completely underwater. Officially, we’re still in a drought. All the water in the photographs is headed for the sea; it’s already likely passed through severalContinue reading “Water!”
New Front Yard
Sometimes it just takes a bit of structure to pull everything together. This front yard remodel created a seating space, enhanced curb appeal and incidentally removed unused lawn that just wasted water. Nobody will miss it. One goal was to create a clear, inviting pedestrian entry separate from the driveway. The new route also happened toContinue reading “New Front Yard”
Would you like to answer a survey?
Sometimes we wonder if we should create surveys. There might be some critical information floating out there that we’re missing. So, when someone calls with a survey, it’s an opportunity to see how the things are designed. What was my image of the company before? After? Worse after? Definitely. Could this be handled to improveContinue reading “Would you like to answer a survey?”
Incredible Amazing!
Keep up with technology or fall behind. That’s what they say, and besides some of the stuff is pretty cool. What’s even more fun is hearing all the buzzwords they use to describe whatever they’re hawking. Can we use these magical words here, for landscape architecture? As the song says, come with me and we’ll be in a worldContinue reading “Incredible Amazing!”
The day the web died (a little)
In case you tried logging into Twitter on October 21st and failed, it wasn’t your fault. Apparently a cyberattack took down a server, creating a domino effect across the web. After a bit of digging around it looks like you might have trouble paying with a Visa card, or visiting a large number of otherContinue reading “The day the web died (a little)”
Plein Air Painting
Sometimes it’s great to start the day painting on the river. Not only do we become better painters, it frees our minds to ponder designs in progress and let our subconscious process things in the background, from which they’ll eventually pop up with an “aha!”. Nothing says, “let’s play!” than a paint sale at theContinue reading “Plein Air Painting”
Here come the butterflies!
As the California asters come into bloom, flocks of butterflies stop by for a meal.
Multiple shades of privacy for a front yard remodel
a new front yard landscape blends curb appeal with gradients of privacy
Prickly Pear Cactus Pruning: an update
It’s been two years since we visited this cactus and did some fairly major structural pruning. We removed trunks to simplify the plant’s shape to let its structure come through. This time, the goal was to keep the cactus’ size in check, removing peripheral pads to again show the branch structure. Prickly pear limbs tendContinue reading “Prickly Pear Cactus Pruning: an update”