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In ALL POSTS, ART, WORDS On
April 29, 2019

Colors Good Enough To Eat

chrysanthemum mum botanical illustration

Every year she’d bring a basket full of mums in colors good enough to eat. Saffron, cinnamon, lemon and plum. She’d plunk them down on the table and wave away our thanks, like the flowers were an afterthought. But you could see in her eyes how much she loved that we loved them.⁣

She’d take my face in her wrinkled hands and I could smell the kitchen there, just like I could see it in the mums. All the years of Christmas cookies and gingerbread, pumpkin pie and vanilla cake, strawberries and Earl Grey tea.⁣

Those were the days when I felt warmest inside. When the clouds and the gray were furthest away.⁣

In ALL POSTS, ART On
April 22, 2019

10K Instagram Giveaway

peony carnation botanical illustration

So happy to be giving this piece to the winner of the 10K Instagram giveaway! Couldn’t be going to a cooler chick. ⁣⁣
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These flowers represent her family, which I just love. And it gets me thinking… what flowers would I choose to represent my family? Or myself?⁣⁣
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What flower or plant represents you best?

If you’d like a custom piece of your own, give me a shout. I’d love to chat with you!

In ALL POSTS, ART On
April 15, 2019

What Do You Call It?

portulaca moss rose botanical illustration

Do you call it rose moss or moss rose? We always called it rose moss but I think that’s not the norm… ⁣

I’ll just call it portulaca. ⁣

Portulaca with (imaginary) miniature eucalyptus. Because I can draw imaginary plants if I want to.

In ALL POSTS, ART On
April 8, 2019

Pineapple Delight

pineapple botanical illustration

pineapple botanical illustration

Believe it or not, y’all- I actually love working in color, hahaha! But I think black and white will always be my secret favorite. 🖤 Or not so secret.

Both of these are available in my shop today.

In ALL POSTS, ART, WORDS On
April 1, 2019

They Lived At The Cottage In The Woods

hollyhock botanical illustration

They grew alongside daisies and cosmos, their backs just touching the stone walls of the small cottage in the woods.

There was a mossy gray fence outlining the yard that kept the family dog safely inside its borders and a worn brick path that led to the mailbox. Just at the bottom of the hill was a little well, the old kind with a wooden bucket at the end of a thick rope. The hollyhock grew there at the base of the well too, their seeds dropped in the dirt by birds in the late summer.⁣

In ALL POSTS, ART, WORDS On
March 18, 2019

What Gives You Peace?

oriental poppy botanical illustration

What calms you? What gives you peace?⁣

For me, it’s nature. Sitting in a forest or a grove of trees, closing my eyes, and listening to the wind. Breathing in the green. Opening my eyes and letting them rest easy on the abundance of leaves. ⁣

When I can, I also love to go to the shore. To walk barefoot at the water’s edge. To listen to the waves. To feel the water carried by the wind. To taste the salt swirled in the air.⁣

If I can’t get out to these little sanctuaries, I’ll just look at the colors of them. Patchwork Pinterest boards of turquoise. My little garden and my plants. I fill as much of my vision as I can with green and blue. Somehow, it gives me peace.⁣

In ALL POSTS, ART On
March 11, 2019

Sometimes It’s Just Not One’s Imagination

California goldfields botanical illustration

I woke up in the middle of the night to see a shelfful of books and trinkets flying across the room. You might think I’m crazy, but I’d just grown so used to these kinds of things happening that I shrugged my shoulders under the covers, said a quick, sleepy prayer and went back to sleep. ⁣

The next day, I tried to figure out a logical, scientific explanation. Like you do, even when you haven’t found one in the past. ⁣

Maybe a mouse ran behind my books and pushed them off the shelf? Only thing is, it’s not like things were lying on the shelf like they’d be knocked down. No, they were halfway across the room. Heavy books. Picture frames. Mementos. ⁣

I made my brother go outside and beat on the wall behind the bookshelf. Maybe someone had bumped the wall outside? (p.s. what’s creepier: a ghost in my room or a human bumping into my wall at night?) But the experiment yielded nothing. Turns out, bumping against the outside of a brick wall does not transfer to the interior. ⁣

Maybe my roommate used the bathroom next to my room during the night and bumped the wall? Nope, closet in between the two rooms.⁣

Earthquake? Not so much.⁣

My imagination? Then what about my bookshelf’s contents all over my floor in the bright light of morning? ⁣
So, whenever I think back on the weird things that have happened around me and find myself thinking it was all easily explained, I remember this one. Sometimes it’s just not one’s imagination. ⁣

In ALL POSTS, ART, WORDS On
March 4, 2019

Petals Tell The Passing Of Time

peony botanical illustration

Like a clock, petals tell the passing of time. They follow the bidding of the sun and the moon, they open and close, they stretch and wither. They grace us for a season, fade away, and then greet us again when their season returns. ⁣

Is not mother nature the most magical, perfect thing?