Found: singer

On the sidewalk near the intersection of San Pablo Avenue and 67th Street. 

Delilah drawings

Delilah represents the figures in her life.

Wedding: Sierra

Front of the save-the-date postcard

Photo of the invitation, printed on seed paper

Wedding drawings

A good friend of mine got married overseas in a very tiny ceremony. No witnesses, no guests, no photographer. While he managed to a catch a few photos on his mobile phone, the quality was poor and not quite ideal for a romantic keepsake. He had the brilliant idea of turning them into drawings that he could then gift his bride as a wedding gift (in addition, of course, to a lifetime of devotion, love, service, et cetera, which he had already promised her). They came out looking fabulous in rich black on creamy white paper. Enjoy!

 

 

The Corn Project

Liz Birnbaum is a curator of art and ecology extraordinaire who put together an exhibit titled Lend Me Your Ears in February 2014, the description of which featured such gems as "be amaized!" and "the human-corn relationship." She is also my friend. So when she asked me to create some original artwork centered upon the Corn Belt, I happily obliged. I believe her actual words were "something about the Corn Belt... And maps."

America's Corn Belt is the midwestern region that produces most of the country's corn, and 40% of the world's corn. I started with taking the top four corn-producing states and drawing out their counties, then layering those shapes with illustrations of corn plants in various forms. The resulting artwork was on display in the art gallery at this weekend's Brokechella festival in LA.

The Brokechella Project

What a thrill it was to be asked to contribute original artwork to Brokechella 2015! In addition to the four pieces I made last year for Elizabeth Birnbaum's exhibit on corn, I created four new original pieces centered on the theme of water. The drought in California, to be more specific: a San Francisco fountain, an Oakland waste bin, a pitcher of water on a restaurant table, and rows of dry farmed crops in San Juan Bautista. Each of these images illuminates one facet of the complex and devastating shortage of water facing this state and country. I am very pleased with how they've turned out, and look forward to listing them for sale on Etsy in the near future. In the meantime, enjoy these process photos!

The beginning stages = lots of measuring

test-driving the placement of hillside and crop

This design ended up being discarded in favor of another.

I place some elements while I figure out the rest...

This one is my favorite! from the Conservatory of Flowers, SF

The red backgrounds match the "severe" color on California's drought monitor map

See that blue spray bottle? Eyeglass cleaner helps me keep everything lint-free!

Have to be careful not to use too much glue

The finished "San Francisco" piece

"San Juan Bautista" in its final format

"Berkeley" features a table from downtown favorite La Note restaurant

The street structures of "Oakland"

Frankencactus

I love English majors. We read the world in a different way than the rest. A fellow Colorado College  alumna asked if I would create a small blooming barrel cactus image for her emerging writers' group. Heck yes, I replied! See the drawing evolve from email conversation to real life flier/website.

"Which of these do you like best?," I asked her. When she couldn't decide between the spiky cactus body on the left and the brilliant bloom on the right, I combined them...

  

... into one tiny cactus with a huge flower! It adds the perfect touch to the flyer pictured below. If I lived in the Southwest I would love to sit at her kitchen table and write, write, write.

 

I would totally attend this event, wouldn't you?