Artist, Business... ARTIST

 

From today's Instagram post: I’m in my studio working on holiday card designs. I couldn’t resist doing Merry Chrysalis. I’ve had a good number of monarchs in my garden this year. Milkweed plants are treated with utmost respect and allowed to grow anywhere without disruption. It’s late summer and my favorite morning glories are creating a symphony right outside my kitchen window - an inspiration to do my dishes!

This has been the longest break I have taken since starting my blog 11 years ago. To be an artist, hopefully making a living doing so, one needs to appear on social media and share one's self - ON A REGULAR BASIS. Ah, but in there is the rub, or contradiction, or perhaps ruin. For me, being an artist means climbing high in a tree (metaphorically speaking) to be alone with my thoughts. Precious or perhaps ridiculous, my vaguely formed ideas are not yet ready to see the light of day - these ideas can not be shared or they will almost always FREEZE into the time and space when they were exposed like a camera flash. (Remember camera flashes?!) Imagine yourself on a path in the woods. If at some point you see a lovely tree and stop to shout to the world 'Look, here is a lovely tree!', you will miss what might be further down that path. This is what social media sharing is for me. Speaking too soon, stopping at the lovely tree, not letting ideas mix in the creative batter and soup of inspiration.  Artist, Businesswoman, it's a tough juggle if you ask me.  

So, dear universe, if you have found this humble blog coming from a little farm in Maine, and IF you were wondering where I went, know that I have kept to myself so that I may freely roam creative paths for the past several months.

My flower gardens had a wonderfully flashy season this summer. My phone is reminding me that it can not take anymore pictures of flowers, I need to deal with that.

This is a card design I created earlier in the summer. It's called 'Strawberry Jamming'. I'll add it to my Etsy Shop today. Happy autumn to you!

New Strawberry Greeting Card Design

This is my most recent greeting card design - strawberries! 

Possible uses: I love/miss you berry much!  I'm berry fond of you!  You're the sweetest!  Thank you berry much! 

Actually, I think it's just a lovely all-occasion blank card with a beautiful strawberry design. Almost a hint to the Art Nouveau style of art.

Strawberries are a significant crop in this area of rural Maine and they're delicious! Strawberry shortcake is a must when the Forth of July arrives. 

(Click the strawberry card to the left and it will take you to my Etsy Shop. Have fun checking out my work!)

This is our new rescue dog. He's kept us on our toes since early December. We're currently working with a very effective trainer in Montville because this innocent looking boy came with a suitcase of issues. Don't be fooled by the zen-like pose above! On the other hand, this picture explains why we love him whole heartedly. Note: I let him on this couch in my studio, but not the nicer furniture in the house. (He now knows the difference.) Originally back in October, he was starving and wandered onto the porch of a house in Georgia. The owners of the house fortunately got him into the canine rescue world and he ultimately made his way north to us. He's maybe 1.25 - 1.75 years old. We named him Renny. Renny wishes you a Happy Spring!

 

Luna Moth and Butterfly Cards

 

I've been putting together groups of cards in my Etsy shop. This is my Luna Moth and Butterfly set. I've also made a Birthday group and a lovely trio of Poppy Flowers. I'm seeing these new listings as 'variety' packs.

        

In addition to the Luna Moth, this group has an Eastern Tailed Blue Butterfly card, and a Monarch Butterfly on the third card. Technically speaking, this is a female Monarch Butterfly. Male Monarchs have a black dot on their lower hindwings, females do not.

Butterflies symbolize transformation, rebirth and hope. This just might be the perfect time to send someone special a butterfly card. Think how lovely it would be to receive a butterfly or luna moth in the winter months. It will show you really care and you have faith that summer will indeed return in all its glory.

I think it's still early enough in the year to post this quote. The background photo is out back, it's what we have nicknamed our 'lower field'. It's hard to see but the Sheepecot River is in between the trees and the snow covered field. Here's to making a wonderful new beginning in 2022.

A Little End of Year Story - The Tale of Despereaux

A few years ago a dear friend and I discovered that we both loved this wonderful book by Kate Dicamillo - The Tale of Despereaux. At the time I was needle felting mice and this friend was shortly to become a grandmother - for the first time. My friend said she looked forward to the day when she could read this great book to her grandchild. In my mind this was 'simple math' and the answer was that I should make a needle felted version of Despereaux - the main character - as a gift for her and her grandchild. For some reason I initially thought my version of Despereaux should be the size of a stuffed animal toy. If you are not familiar with the main character please note here that his most notable identifying physical characteristics are that he is tiny and he has relatively big ears.  

As I felted what I will call Despereaux #1 my interest started to wain, something didn't seem quite right. My evolving #1 did not feel like the wonderful illustrations by Timothy Basil Ering, and so #1 got shelved for a while, okay it was actually a few years. In the meantime I became a grandmother and found myself trying to explain to a two year old what the creature on my shelf was and this was a rather impossible thing to do. Fast forward to November of this year when my friend and I were to meet for a lovely little hike on Mackworth Island - sort a mid point between our homes in Maine. For a lark I decided to bring along Despereaux #1 and confess my never-completed-project to her. I left #1 in the car. We hiked. While hiking my friend mentioned that her grandchild was coming for the holidays and she thought that the time had come to read Kate DiCamillo's book to him. I of course said 'Well, I have someTHING to show you back in my car!' It was a bit embarrassing to share my big floppy #1 - but at the moment I did I realized there needed to be a #2 and he would be very tiny.

Despereaux #2 turned out very sweet and was the perfect size.  He arrived at my friend's home before her grandchild did and he came with a needle, red thread, and a tiny tissue - all the right accessories!

If you haven't yet enjoyed this Kate DiCamillo book, I highly recommend it. 

And THAT is my little end of year story.  

See you in 2022!

 

New Greeting Card, Cuban Proverb

 

This is my latest greeting card. It celebrates diversity in a subtle and woodland creature way. I suppose the chicken isn't a creature from the woods, but you get my point. I love the quote: 'When the Sun Rises, it Rises for Everyone.' 

When illustrating, there are so many iterations of an idea. Pencil, eraser, and paper are wonderful companions while going on the 'idea journey'. It's so easy to erase, adjust, change your mind. Working with these 'traditional' mediums, there is always the hint, a slight pencil stain left behind when a new idea wants to be known and the previous one is removed. It's the history, the footprint, of the idea. 

One thing I struggle with though, is the lost looseness, or fluidity of the original drawing compared to the final watercolor. This past year I've been adding ink lines with my watercolor painting, and I think this helps suggest some of the original drawing's character.  

I considered hand drawing the lettering on this card, but did not because it would have taken too long and I'm lacking the confidence... maybe next card.

Knitting Report: this is a sweater I started about 30+ years ago. I altered the original pattern (called  'Dancing Girls and Boys') to the point that it wasn't really coming together. I put the sweater away until earlier this year. In the end, it was too short. To solve this problem I cut the sweater in half right above the gray dancing boys. I then knit a 4th white diamond pattern and used the 'kitchener' stitch to marry the two halves back together. I'm quite happy with how it came together... except the overall design is a little 'loud' for my life at this point! Question: Do you write 'gray' or 'grey'. I just heard a saying that says Americans write 'gray', and people from England write 'grey'. Gray with an A for America, Grey with an E for England. I use

both, but there you have it. Here's the sweater before I cut it in half.