The Art of Winter

Ahh- winter. We midwesterners embrace it, snow and all. We have no choice! But most of us have a fondness for the deep dark months anyway. Time to gather in, take stock, refresh lungs in the frozen air, then settle in for the long evenings by a blazing fire...

I'm purging reluctantly, the richness of the holiday season for the purity of the New Year. Here is how the art of others- all Iowa City Eastside Artists- currently lights up our home.

Have a creative 2010!

EASTSIDE ARTISTS SHOW

If you are in the Iowa City Area, please join us at our downtown annual art show and sale! Let me know if you didn't see something you were looking for!

Small Wear

Trying something new to sell at the Eastside Artist show this year- baby onesies and T-shirts. I have 4 nature inspired, hand screen printed designs from my collection available; Prairie Boy, Prairie Girl, Night Owl and Early Bird. They're also on my Etsy site. Nice, 100% organic cotton fabric, too.

Still...

Still autumn out there, still time to enjoy tea outside. Still life of an autumn tea...

Harvest Farm and Preserve

This is a small piece I did last month when I was a visiting artist at a nature preserve located not that far from my house (Harvest Farm and Nature Preserve). There were other artists there, working en plein air- outdoors! I set up in a leafy, wooded area called "Whitman's Glade" and commenced to create a little botanical from leaves and things I found around me. Then people walked through and talked with me as I worked. At least that was the plan. I've never worked in public liked this, so scratching and talking at the same time was challenging! In fact, I talked much more than I scratched! So, the piece is quite small, but representative of the essence of that lovely October day.

More on the nature preserve here:
http://www.harvestpreserve.org

One of my favorite children's book authors is English-born Katherine Hale. She wrote and illustrated a number of books in the 1950's/60's about Orlando, the marmalade cat. Quirky stories and gorgeous illustrations, Orlando had all sorts of adventures with his family. He always wore a wristwatch on his tail. I was fascinated with the photo of Hale on the jacket cover, pictured with her "real" Orlando perched on her lap as she drew. Now have my own studio, and one of the great perks is having our cats around for company. One of them, Fauve, has been a shoulder-sitter since she was a kitten. Lots of times, this is how I work, with a cat draped around my head!

Final scratch of eastside birdie- next color