New vintage fabric and recycled paper collage • 16 × 16 inches • 2026
A Lake Ontario Apple Orchard Collage
Fall has arrived along Lake Ontario. The air has begun to cool, but the sun still offers a warm invitation to leave town behind and follow the countryside into apple-picking season. My new collage, An Ontario Garden of Glittering Gems, a Lake Ontario apple orchard, grew from that familiar autumn journey and from the orchards surrounding my home on Sodus Bay in Upstate New York.
From Our Orchard to Sodus Bay
At our previous home near Syracuse, my husband and I tended a small orchard of about ten mature apple trees. They produced so abundantly that we took the fruit to a mill to be pressed into cider; one remarkable harvest yielded one hundred gallons of fresh, pure cider. Those generous, rounded trees shaped my earliest sense of an orchard as a place of abundance, shelter, and seasonal ritual.
A Different Orchard Landscape
After moving to the Bay, I encountered a very different landscape. Here, apple trees are often trained in long rows on trellises, much like grapevines in a vineyard. Their branches extend along wires strung between posts, forming repeating lines that help the trees bear plentiful fruit and make harvesting easier. That orderly rhythm became an important part of the collage.
Drama in the Light, Comfort in the Season
In this orchard scene, ruby-red apples gleam beneath a clear blue sky while deep shadows from oak trees stretch across the gravel road and gather below the tree line. The contrast between brilliant light and rich darkness gives the work its drama. Yet the apples, neat rows, and warmth of the fall season are deeply familiar, offering comfort and a sense of belonging. Beyond the orchard, oak and maple leaves spread across a distant hillside like a colorful tapestry.
Building the Collage
I built the image from intricately cut recycled papers and vintage fabric, using layered textures to suggest the orchard’s shifting light and movement. The “glittering gems” of the title are both the apples themselves and the flashes of sunlight that animate them.
From a distance, the work reads as a welcoming autumn landscape; closer inspection reveals sparkling fruit, tiny patterns, and hidden details tucked into the depth of the farmland. Through color, texture, and rhythm, I wanted to invite the kind of slow looking that lets a scene continue to unfold.
Bringing the Orchard Home
Framed and matted at 20×20 inches, the collage is an inviting size for a home collection, especially in a kitchen, dining room, breakfast nook, or cozy sitting area. Its bold, illustrative shapes make the image approachable, while its handmade surfaces reward anyone who pauses to study them.
Above all, An Ontario Garden of Glittering Gems expresses my love of being present in nature, caring for it, and discovering beauty in the patterns of the rural countryside. It recalls the nostalgic comforts of a day away from screens—gathering apples, breathing fresh air, noticing the season, and sharing the quiet satisfaction of activity and family. My hope is that the work holds both the intensity of the scene and the reassurance of a cherished place, leaving viewers calm, curious, and gently connected to autumn’s abundance.