No One

A new piece titled, No One, 14 x 17 inches, watercolor on drawing paper, cardboard, garlic, 2014. I had not painted in an entire year. It felt really good and I plan to do more.

Tomato Painting

Today was the first time I had the urge to paint since I got to the Wormfarm in May.  It has been all about fabric while I have been here.  But suddenly I felt very inspired by watercolor again.

Lady Jem and I creating together...and snuggling in the sunshine.  She is a sweety.  Just don't pick her up or she will claw your eyes out......

For last nights potluck I fried up some green tomatoes in a nutritional yeast, panko bread crumbs and basil batter. yum!

Earth to Table at the West Chicago City Museum

Today I took the metra to West Chicago to install Harvesting the Carrot in the Midwest and Harvesting the Strawberry in the Midwest at the West Chicago City Museum for the Earth to Table show curated by Anni Holm.

(The lighting was not set yet) 

The work will be up from now until May 25th.  The artist reception is May 18 from 1-3pm.  

I am very excited to be a part of this!  Anni and Sara will hang farming tools around my work as well.  I can't wait to see the end result.

My strawberries on the front of the postcard!

And the back of the postcard.

Red Pomelo

13 x 15 inches, watercolor on paper, acrylic, thread, 2013

Milkweed

I see a lot of milkweed art in my future.

Red Pomelo in Progress

Making Pins for the Glenwood Ave Arts Fest

I will be selling my pins, earrings, photographs and small paintings at the Glenwood Ave Arts Fest in Rogers Park this year!  I will be sharing a tent with my friend and talented artist, Molly Costello.  The Glenwood Ave Arts Fest will be on Saturday and Sunday, August 18 and 19, each day from 12 to 9pm.

Above are some pins I have started making.

I print my artwork on cardstock paper and sew it to fabric.  This is the original painting.  Beet, watercolor and marker, 11 x 18 inches.

Here is another original, Brussel Sprouts, watercolor and acrylic, 10 x 10 inches.

I also made some pins with all the beautiful scrap fabric I have.  The fabric is too nice to throw away, but too small to do much with, but I thought making earrings and pins out of them might look interesting.

I am modeling one of the scrap fabric pins...notice the green thread hanging from my head...this is common.  Hopefully people think they are as cool as I do or I am going to have a ton of pins and not enough days to wear all of them!  

Painting Strawberries

There is a strawberry bush right outside the barn which is perfect since I had wanted to paint some to make a "Harvesting the Strawberry in the Midwest" piece, similar to the carrot and potato piece I have done in the past.  

I will cut these out individually and attached them to the few months that they are ripe and ready to eat.  

The strawberry bush!

Chicken Lady...that is I

This morning Jay showed me how to open up the chicken coop, lay out their food, and collect their eggs!  It is going to become my job in the morning!  I put my hand under their warm, soft bellies and collected their eggs.  They peck me a tiny bit (doesn't hurt) but then they give in.

Jay brought me this little tree frog he'd found!  There is another picture of him at the bottom.

I painted this flower I found while exploring the Wormfarm property with Jeff.  I have been told it is Foxtail, and then told it is Red Top, but when I look up those names online, I don't see this flower.  So I am uncertain of it's name...any ideas?

More flowers I found while exploring.

Each morning we work on the farm for 3 hours then we are free for the rest of the day.  Yesterday we transplanted lettuce into the ground.  The lettuce starts growing in the hoop house to protect it from cold weather.  Once they have grown enough, they can be transplanted into the ground.  

We put up a trellis (the white plastic) for the peas so they have something to climb up on.

It is so peaceful out here.

Tree frog!

Tall Grass and Clover

Here is a piece I started on my first day here.  I finished it yesterday.  Having all this time to make artwork is allowing me a chance not to stress over if it will be good or not.  I will have to keep this stress-free art making attitude when I leave.

The image above is upside down.  This is how I would like the piece to actually be seen but I don't have enough pins.

(the piece is upside down) A closeup of the clover.  There is a lot of grass here.  I have sewn the dirt and tall grass.

3 paintings I did before I decided it would look best done with fabric.

More grass!

Trouser, he is such a sweet buddy.

This is the outside of my bedroom.  It is inside a big barn.  There are 3 bedrooms inside and 3 studios.

Here is the inside.  I feel like I am living out my childhood dreams with this awesome setup!

Wisconsin is beautiful.

Carrot Piece in the Making

A pile of watercolored carrots on paper, cut out.

I glued small pieces of jute to the backs of the carrots.

I used wheat flour glue that I made and pasted it onto the jute and then put a piece of paper over the jute.  This is the same process I used for Harvesting the Blue Potato.

I needed a way for the carrots to be pinned onto the wall, so I glued the jute to the back of the watercolor, then sewed the jute to the burlap.  This way the burlap will be pinned and not the paper. I then sew around the burlap to keep it from fraying.

Here is a completed month.  Carrots are harvested from July to November in the Midwest!  And they are super fun to harvest.  When the soil is moist it is easier.  Last summer at Green Institute I harvested some carrots.  I dug a shovel next to the greens of the carrot, then lifted the soil up and pulled out the beautiful orange carrot!  I hope I get to harvest some this summer!

Clutch Gallery!

I have the amazing opportunity to install my work in Clutch Gallery for the month of April.  Clutch Gallery is a clutch purse with four white walls inside of it.  Emma Robbins, the current curator of the gallery, carries the purse with her and shares whats inside with others as she goes about her day in Chicago.

I have had a while to think of what I want to do with Clutch.  This is a chance to do something very different from what I usually do.  I was excited that I would be making artwork strictly for Clutch and that it would be displayed for a month.  This meant my piece could be touched without worry of it being ruined or gooey by the time I get it back.

I love going to the beach and sifting through the sand for the perfect rock and collecting every color Lake Michigan has to offer.  For Clutch I wanted to place all those colors inside of it for an aesthetically pleasing view of earthy hues, just as I have done in the painting above.  But I wanted to mimic my ritual of choosing the perfect one.  So the viewer will be able to look through these hard shapes, touch every single one if they choose, pour the contents out onto a table or floor if they choose, and take the one they choose.



I am sculpting them out of paper-mache so that Clutch doesn't weigh Emma down too much!  Once they dry I am painting them with watercolor.  I have many more to make!

Follow Clutch on Facebook.

Cayenne Pepper

My new favorite snack is guacamole with chopped cayenne pepper and a lot of lime. I bought this beauty yesterday. I saw her in the fridge an hour ago and decided I'd eat her but then wondered if I should paint her first. I was starving....but I knew I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I did not paint her. The bright red is so fascinating to me!

Midnight Sun Eggs and More Plushie Corn...

I went to the Glenwood Winter Market this past Sunday and bought some eggs from Nick and Becky from Midnight Sun Organics Farm. I always enjoy seeing them. I can't wait to volunteer on their farm. :0 )

It felt good to paint again. I believe it has been at least 6 months since I last painted but I plan on doing them more often!

Another corn finished, two more to go...they are getting better and better each time.

I received exciting news last night that 80 Becomes 40 was accepted to be shown for Our Earth at Flow Art Space in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The piece can be seen from April 18-May 5 and the opening reception is Friday, April 20 from 6-9pm...just in case I have a friend who lives in Minnesota that I am not aware of!