Live to Create|Create to Live

April showers bring May flowers

An illustration that involves collage and then layers of color in Illustrator. Fun!

Seventh Grade

I’m blessed to have two daughters who have taught me much about creativity. I’ll share a sweet poem by one of them.

What I Remember About the 7th Grade

by Martha

I wished so much that Barack Obama would become our leader.

At his election, emotions washed over me and I cried.

I remember shopping at the Farmer’s Market,

I remember the smells of lemongrass and jasmine.

When I wanted to relax, I would find somewhere

calm, and green; I would lay in

the warm sunshine, of course with SPF 50.

I remember watching the thunderstorms outside,

The black clouds swirling round.

I remember pinning my hair back in a bow,

Wishing it wasn’t so vibrant,

But now I wish for nothing else.

I remember comforting people’s broken hearts,

Sitting on the couch, taping them back together.

I remember wishing I could go back to Cape Cod,

Near the salty water, near the ice cream stand.

The soft fur of Fez, the kitty, running away

after being petted for so long.

Laughing, crying, anger, pure joy;

Everything needs to be there

For me to keep learning more

About everything- myself, and the world.

Happy (late) Earth Day!

A late greeting due to a busy schedule that included being outside planting hostas!
Here’s to taking little but necessary steps towards taking care of this amazing planet.
Peace to all.

Mickey (a.k.a Marty Feldman)

After an amazing dinner with friends (thanks Kristin, Pam & Mark!) we sat around chatting and laughing. Their dog Mickey was outside and when he came inside he needed to be towel dried. I had to take this photo of him because he looked just like Marty Feldman in the movie “Young Frankenstein”. What a cutie!

Mickey a.k.a. Marty Feldman

Roadtrip to Madison|Milwaukee

I just returned from a lovely roadtrip to Madison & Milwaukee with my friend Marie who, on the spur of the moment asked me to accompany her to see her daughter Claire’s art opening at a gallery in Milwaukee.

U of W-Madison on the lake

Marie told me that when she was young and riding in a car, whenever she saw a cluster of trees she thought of them as being a family or a certain type of person. I asked her what these trees would be and she said, “the Three Stooges”… love it.

Scooter in red

There’s nothing like a burst of bright red.

art opening

portrait artist

This woman asked Marie if she could draw her while she was at Claire’s art opening. Others chimed in and it was neat to see them enjoying the process of capturing Marie on paper.

Bee hive hat

This man was selling honey at the Madison Farmer’s Market. I loved the way he proudly wore this amusing hat.

Ah Zinnias—it’s been too long!

Thanks Marie and congrats Claire on a beautiful show!

Butterflies

With the help of my dear friend Pam I am re-vamping my front garden. Pam has created a lovely plan for me and I’m hoping that some of the new plants will attract more butterflies to our garden. There’s nothing like walking out the front door and being greeted by butterflies fluttering around. Here’s an illustration I did many years ago for a client in St.Paul.

It’s feeling like spring

I did these illustrations for the University of Minnesota Alumni magazine. The amazing Barbara Koster was my art director.
One reminds me of how much I support the care of our world through organic gardening, and the other reminds me of my childhood and how I loved to run around my clothesline—running in between the sheets, quilts and jeans as I inhaled the amazing fresh air that clung to each item. Mmmmmm, nothing like clothes fresh from the clothesline.

Incentives

I’m a novice when it comes to gardening. I come from a long line of farmers but somewhere along the line I missed out on the fine art of gardening. Last year I read the amazing book, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle”, by Barbara Kingsolver. It was a life changing book. It made me want to start a garden. I started small—two tomato plants with a basil plant to keep them company.
Alas, it was a bad year for tomatoes (too cool and too much rain) but I supplemented my pitiful crop with trips to the farmers market, produce from a CSA program and generous gifts (thanks Bill!) from more experienced gardeners.

I get a little overwhelmed when I pour through seed catalogs and gardening books—what seeds will work best? when do I plant them? how often do I water the plants? did I choose the correct location for a particular plant? But then I take a deep breath and tell myself that people have been growing vegetables since dirt was invented and I can do it!

Photos like this one from last year’s farmers market give me added incentive to start my seedlings. Check out that amazing color.

Animal Crackers|collage experiment

I’m playing around with childhood memories, collage items and various ways to use Adobe Illustrator.

started with a screenprinted paper

scribbled down some ideas

experimented

thought about typographic treatment

more playing around

thought about my mom

ended up with this image

Those animal crackers just make me happy.