Sharen Chatterton » Organic gardening

North Richland Hills Community Garden Ribbon Cutting

Sharen — Wed, 04 May 2011 21:23:37 +0000

Saturday was a beautiful day for the North Richland Hills Community Garden Ribbon Cutting, officially opening up the “Common Ground” Garden. There were so many people there, from Mayor Trevino to the kids from Holiday Heights, singing some great garden songs. The garden looked really fantastic, all the plots are planted and growing beautifully. The new rain barrel system on the North side will be up and running before long and the rain barrels were painted so creatively by Victoria Barth, they really add fun and color to the garden. The painting I did for the garden “Common Grounds” was unveiled in it’s new home. It was framed and mounted on the east side of the garden shed and I must say it looked spectacular. It was so much fun face painting and visiting with all the folks that came out for the celebration.

Read more about the ribbon cutting here:

Our Everyday Earth

Common Grounds Recognition at NRH City Council Meeting

Sharen — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:47:23 +0000

Monday evening I was so very proud to attend the North Richland Hills City Council meeting. As city council meetings go it was pretty much business as usual, however, what made it so nice, was one very special recognition on the agenda. The City Council took the time to recognize all the many folks that had a hand in getting the Common Grounds Garden off and growing. They gave each of us, individual recognition for our contribution, complete with a beautiful certificate “suitable for framing” and a nice set of garden tools with “Common Ground NRH founding Supporter” on the handles. Thanks so much to the City of North Richland Hills and to all the community member who have contributed so much of their time and energy to make Common Grounds Community Garden a reality. The Common Ground NRH Community Garden Ribbon cutting will be Saturday April 30, 2011 at 10:00 am at the garden, 5302 Davis Boulevard, NRH, Texas. They will also be unveiling the outdoor art piece I did, “Common Grounds”. Hope to see many of you there.

Check out the Common Grounds website

Common Ground Gardening Art Journal Continues

Sharen — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 15:21:31 +0000

I am working away on my pages in my Common Ground Art Journal. These are not only fun to draw and paint, but I am leaning so much about organic gardening, bugs, worms, and butterflies OH MY! The Red Wiggler Earthworms are great for using in a worm farm, they create the worm casting (worm poop to some of us) that is so fantastic on gardens, providing a much needed source of organic fertilizer for those growing veggies. I also took the small watercolors of the Painted Lady and the Gulf Fritillary butterflies I did a couple of weeks ago and put them each on a page. I then sketched and painted in watercolors, some of their caterpillar plant favorites. To attract the Painted Lady butterfly, plant mallow and thistle in a container. To attract the Gulf Fritillary butterfly, plant a passion vine. These plants will attract the butterflies, who will in turn lay their eggs on them; then the caterpillars will have a much loved food source to munch on as they grow. I’m just “sayin” in gardening combined with art, the information is endless, the drawing and painting opportunities abound!

Common Grounds – Gardening and Art

Sharen — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:04:14 +0000

What beautiful February weather we are having! 76 to almost 80 degrees this weekend. Carter tilled and planted our plot at the Common Grounds Community Garden, I painted the veggie signs for him, so it will look pretty. We are going to have Romaine Lettuce, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, peas, spinach, cauliflower and other organic veggies, can hardly wait till harvest time. I have also started a Common Grounds Garden Art Journal. I will be sketching the veggies, organic products, bugs, butterflies, whatever else happens to cross my sketch pad as I wonder the garden. Check back as I post my sketches. If you are a Common Grounds Community Garden Plot owner, see the info below, on a Garden Art Journal group being formed.

If you are a Common Grounds Plot owner, I will be forming a group for Garden Art Journaling, here’s the info:

Art in the Common Ground’s Garden- Creating a Garden Art Journal

Are there any Common Ground garden folks interested in starting up a group to learn and create for themselves, a Common Ground “Garden Art Journal”? The purpose of the group would be for each of us to create a garden art journal, filled with either/or a combination of sketch pages, watercolor pages, mixed media pages, and collage pages; on things of interest to you in our gardens. The garden art journal would allow those of us creating one, to learn not only about different aspects of gardening, but also about sketching, using watercolors, mixed media, collage, and other art techniques for journaling. We could meet out at the garden, say once a month, or whatever we agree upon. Sharen would go over some journaing technique, then we would all do some sketching/ art journaling at the garden; next we would gather info about our entry. Then we would journal the info on our created page. Each time we meet, Sharen would go over another journaling technique, then we would disperse into the garden to sketch/art journal. Even folks who don’t feel comfortable drawing, might enjoy mixed media journaling, collage journaling or find out that they actually can sketch! We would all be learning about gardening and creating art at the same time. The group would begin in March. Once we know who is interested, we will work out the details.

Preliminary Supple list each person would need to bring ( All can be found at Hobby Lobby):
Mixed Media Sketch Book (has thicker pages that can take watercolor, felt tip pens, etc. (size, somewhere around a 6″ x 9″, but not much larger than an 8″ x 10″)
HB and 3 HB graphite pencils
gum or kneaded eraser
small watercolor set such as the Sakura Koi Water Colors Pocket Field Sketch Box or a box of watercolor pencils or water soluble color crayons
Koi Self Moistening Art Brush #2 or #6 or a small watercolor brush

If you are interested RSVP to:

sharen@sharenchatterton.com
Subject line: Garden Art Journal

Common Ground Community Garden Art and Gardening

Sharen — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 01:05:10 +0000

Common Ground sketch

This Saturday is a really big day at the Common Grounds Community Garden in North Richland Hills. Together with the Home Depot Team and many volunteers, the garden build out will take place. The weather is suppose to be great and the excitement is rising! I am continuing to move forward on the Art piece for the garden. I did another sketch with some color added to get the composition and color combinations just right and then I started working on the hard board canvas. Although I will tweak it as I go, I am really loving the look so far. This is my first time painting on the hard board and let me just say, “I love it”. The smooth finish from the primer makes the surface excellent for the detail work I love to do. The paints flow so easily; I can’t say enough about this great surface to paint on. Here is the new sketch and the beginning work on the hard board.

Close up

Common Ground the beginning

Common Ground Community Garden

Sharen — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 17:53:34 +0000

Summer II by Sharen Chatterton

Our city is in the planning stages of a community garden, called Common Ground. I am so excited about the ability to have a larger garden plot than we have in our small side yard. This community garden will provide the opportunity for people to participate in a venue that will not only allow them to grow some fresh vegetables, yum, but to educate folks about organic gardening, beneficial and harmful insects, plant diseases and organic controls, as well as getting kids involved in gardening and becoming better stewards of our earth. We are, as I said, in the planning stage, but I am so excited to be getting in on the ground floor of what promises to be a wonderful adventure. There has also been talk of an art component to the garden, which would allow me the opportunity to do some of my work in a format that could withstand the Texas weather; providing vibrant colors in the Common Ground Garden all year long. Can’t wait to see the end product. The city is planning to break ground in October and be ready for spring plantings. I’ll keep you up to date on the progress.

Organic Gardening in Small Spaces

Sharen — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:58:52 +0000

The beginning

We have a small area in our side yard that we are going to turn into a garden spot. We had a couple of tomato bushes and some onions last year, but the roses around the area did not allow for much sun. So we have moved the roses and made a space around 8 x 8. We would like to grow tomatoes, oni0ns, and put a trellis for zucchini and squash. I also have some strawberry plants I would like to put in the center in a raised bed, still working on that idea. We have put a 4 foot fence around it with a gate to keep out the dogs, rabbits, etc. This was made out of left over cedar pieces that our contractor friend had. We now have to put in the boards to keep in the soil and then add organic soil. Come spring, we will plant our little garden. I can already visualize the paintings from the produce and the good tasting homegrown veggies on the table. We’ll see how that works out. I’ll keep you posted.

Next organic soil

Fence made out of left over cedar for contractor