Snake in the Garden – Inspiration On Many Levels

As many of you may know, I’ve been working several days a week at Silver Heights Farm, a certified organic plants nursery in Cochecton Center, NY. Every day has something new blooming or sprouting, and there’s always something to taste that I’ve never tried before.

Every day, we sow, prune, fertilize, re-pot, water, move, load and unload plants that will become food for literally thousands of people that live both close by and, up to hundreds of miles from the nursery’s location. Since watering or many of the garden tasks are a bit solitary, I imagine different scenarios for the plants: in one, a tiny pumpkin seed becomes a blue ribbon-winning pumpkin pie. In another, a combination of exotic basil and pepper plants creates the perfect accent in a secret recipe of a famous New York restaurant. My daydream continues to develop as Martha Stewart  is the first person to taste this amazing new creation. She is so incredibly seduced by the aroma and flavors of this dish that she actually swoons and in one sweeping motion falls right out of her chair and is saved from injury by her new DCD Rainbow Snake Print Bag that was conveniently blocking the sharp edge of a newly chipped floor board. Martha knew when she first held this bag that there was something, an energy/vibration that felt, well, protective and she admired it because it was such a joyful, bold and bright pattern, full of strong, soothing vibrations. It reminded her of the Flower of Life patterns she had been observing by a designer somewhere in the Catskills…

I do have a great time imagining and visualizing the possibilities 😉

All of my designs are created with the intention of sharing the beauty, power and magic of nature. This Rainbow Snake design reflects the energy of a powerful garden ally, the northern water snake* and this particular print is derived from the beautiful snake that my co-workers at Silver Heights Farm found while clearing a new garden area near the upper Greenhouse.

The point of all of this is that I am inspired daily by the beauty, power and magic of nature and I am compelled to share it with you via my art.
So…
here are a few images to demonstrate the process of creating this Rainbow Snake pattern:

 left: Corinna, Leona, Jonathan and Debra (behind camera phone) trying to determine what kind of snake has come to meet us.

center: Apparently you determine the sex of a snake by markings on the underbelly, near the tail. I knew at once that the markings would make a fabulous pattern/print for my bags regardless of the sex of the snake!

right: Here’s the first example of the new Rainbow Snake Print on Debra’s casual tote bag. Check back at www.debracortese.com for more styles and products with this design. Click on the photos for larger views.

 

 

 

 

 

*note: This is the year of the Snake in Chinese astrology, another very interesting ‘connection’ of energies!

Here are just a few links to learn more about the year of the”Water Snake”:

http://visual.ly/what-will-year-water-snake-mean-you

http://www.chineseastrology.com/2013snakeyear.html

http://apanache.wordpress.com/2013-year-of-the-water-snake/