This morning's work: owl maps [in progress]

I've been thinking about what I like : houses, owls, birds, plants, herbs, trees, and bringing them into my maps. This morning I focused on owls, surrounding them with bright swirls of color. Later on today I will add in contour lines and such, perhaps some stiching.

New piece, new show!

This is a new piece up on etsy that you should go check out. It's inspired by maps used and created by explorers, and the idea of traveling and exploring for spices. Now we just go to the baking isle of our grocery store. Inserted into the vellum that's sewn up on one of the islands is licorice and tea flowers, imaginary artifacts of the location.


I also woke up to good news -- my map, "Travels of our Ancestors" got into Roots and Tendrils' 30/30/30 - 30 works by 30 artists under 30! Roots and Tendrils is in one of my favorite Maine places -- Belfast, right downtown. Check it out if you're up there in December!

Today's a day off for me. On Mondays I've been getting up at 6, researching galleries and calls for art and keeping up with blog posts and such, and then working on art from 7:00 onward, until about noon-ish. After that I'm going to seek out display options for the East End Community School craft fair on December 4th and 5th. It's a wonderful thing to know I have a whole day to dedicate to art every week.

We Belong in the Sea

We Belong in the Sea is an original encaustic painting. This map features bright tropical islands surrounded in deep blue swirls of ocean.
This piece was created on a 5 by 7 inch wooden panel with convenient spots for hanging on the back. Signed and dated by the artist.
Encaustic has been a fun medium for me to experiment with. I use it to recycle old maps that I've made and make them into a new piece. The wax is fun to work with, especially mixing colors with the heat gun! I also like to use encaustic when I feel stuck drawing a map, just as an artistic exercise to clear my mind. After I finish my fun encaustic piece, I usually feel focused enough to begin working on drawing a new map with watercolors and inks.

I just listed this map in my shop, here.

We were flying overhead

This is part of my new series of maps on longer sheets of watercolor paper. This one is the smallest...still working on getting photographs of the larger ones! Thread and bright colors are a theme in all of them, and my larger ones have houses and birds and ships and such.

SEA Art Sale

I'll be selling map prints, originals, cards, and tiny apothecary necklaces and tiny terrariums! Whoo!

2 more sneak peaks!

Lately I've been working with 140lb watercolor paper that's about 18 inches long with 5 inches wide with lovely torn edges that I found at Artmart on Congress Street here in Portland. It's been different working with something that isn't square, as you probably have figured that I'm partial to. These scans aren't perfect either, because of the size of my scanner. When I feel finished with them I'll bring them to a big scanner to have them done properly. I think more sewing and contour lines are in order.

finished piece and part of a work in progress.

The first piece is a smaller map with vellum, thread, hibiscus leaf, watercolor, and ink. You can find it here

The second piece is larger in length, so it won't fit into my scanner! And my digital camera is in need of batteries. So, a sneak peak. It's watercolor and ink covered in a layer of encaustic wax.