Seize the May! 8 Ways to Practice Artful Living in May

Happy May, everyone! May's my favorite month of the year...I was born three weeks early just to squeeze my birthday onto the very last day. :) So it's a great time to get back to blogging and to share with you some of my favorite ways to celebrate art and life (and the art of living!) in the springtime.

Artist: Makovskiy

1. Plant a garden.

You serious gardeners are probably already beginning to harvest radishes and lettuce and spring peas, but there's still time for the rest of us--it's a good time to start squashes and other summer vegetables, and if you missed starting seeds early, you can purchase small herb and vegetable plants from your local garden center.

Hundreds of years ago, almost everyone enjoyed the artfulness of planning a garden, tending it, and enjoying its bounty. With the dawn of factories and automation, the shiny new experience of grabbing cans of food from a grocery shelf lured us away from a greater good. If you've never grown anything before and want to start small, plant some tomatoes in a pot on your front stoop--hothouse tomatoes and fresh, juicy, rich tomatoes from your garden should be classified as entirely different fruits.

Artist: Johan Krouthen

2. Read a spring book aloud.

Some books are just better in May, and the warm spring days are the perfect time to throw a picnic blanket on the grass and spend a few hours reading aloud while your audience members gather dandelion bouquets. Here are a few books that call to me when the lilacs start blooming:

The Night Fairy, by Laura Amy Schlitz
Betsy-Tacy, by Maud Hart Lovelace
Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Artist: Frederic Leighton

3. Have a May Procession and Crowning.

Gather up a few kids, get them dressed up, make a flower crown and a bunch of bouquets. Crowning a statue of Mary is a long-running tradition--I imagine Jesus probably started it back in the day when he made his mother daisy chain crowns and bouquets of whatever pretty weeds grew in Nazareth, and I bet he's just tickled when children today keep it alive. Plus every little girl wants a chance to dress up (get some mileage out of those First Communion and flower girl dresses) and process around the yard singing Hail, Holy Queen. (At least mine do!)

Artist: George Dunlop

4. Cook a meal using locally grown food.

One problem with watching cooking shows with your kids is that they start judging your meals on taste, originality, and presentation. But using fresh foods automatically elevates a meal. My idea of a perfect spring meal is a simple quiche made from locally made cheese, fresh vegetables (leeks or asparagus are available here in CT, but you can adapt the recipe to use whatever is available), and fresh free-range eggs, with a side salad of local lettuce and foraged dandelion greens.

And visiting a local farmer's market is too much fun to miss!

Artist: James Archer

5. Go on a picnic!

Load up your gorgeous meal (or throw some bread, peanut butter and jelly in a bag) and drive to a local park to enjoy a meal in the most art-worthy of surroundings. Plus, you don't have to worry about kitchen clean-up. :)

Artist: Renoir (In fact, this is a painting of Monet, by Renoir. Cool, huh?)

6. Paint en plein air

Which, as Fancy Nancy might say, is fancy for painting outside. If you live in or near CT, it's worth making a trip to the Florence Griswold Museum, where on Sundays they'll provide kids and adults alike with paints, easels, brushes, smocks, and all the gorgeous garden and river scenery you could desire.

Artist: Helen Allingham

7. Hang laundry on a line.

Give your clothes some sun-brightening and yourself some Vitamin D, while increasing the rustic charm of your surroundings. Any way to make chores more beautiful is a plus, and admit it, there's a reason artists have loved painting clothes on a line for centuries.

Artist: Albert Lynch

8. Arrange flowers.

Gather some flowers or weeds or branches from your yard and make something beautiful to bring inside!

Tips:
a. Vary the shapes and sizes of the flowers, and place the largest ones in the vase first; then fill in your arrangement with smaller flowers.
b. As a rule of thumb, cut your flowers so the entire height is 1.5 times taller than the container. Make sure you balance height with width; a triangle shape is generally attractive.
c. Keep flowers fresh longer by slipping half an aspirin tablet or a penny into the bottom of the vase.
d. Let mistakes happen. Some of my favorite arrangements were mistakes which shouldn't technically have looked right, but still did.

What are your favorite ways to enjoy May?