Natural Inspiration

I just got back from an incredible trip to the Olympic National Park in Washington State. From walking through the Hall of Mosses in the rain forest, following along the turquoise Hoh River, to picking up wild purple star fish at Ruby Beach, you can't be in more awe of God's creative hands.

Gift Cycle

The Gift Cycle is a cross country cycling project that carries works of art as gifts from local artists of one town to local artists of the next town along the route---a 3,000 mile journey uniting 12 plus communities. Watch the slide show here /// giftcycle.org

I think this is such a cool idea, I just had to participate, so I donated a couple pieces for when they come through Lancaster. One is a print of my "Your's or His" painting. The other is a painting that says what I think everyone needs to tell themselves everyday.

For their schedule, go here and to see pictures of artwork donated so far, go here.

Painting 2 for New Baby

I have a friend in Portland who commissioned a painting from me right after she had her first baby a couple years ago. She just had her second baby last September and I'm finally finishing up the next one. I LOVE how it turned out and can't wait to hand deliver it to her tomorrow night when my husband and I fly into Portland to see her.

It's based on a story book with the greatest line in it:
"I love you right up to the moon and back."

Frame for New Baby

Shhhhhh.
This is the frame I just finished for a friend and mailed it off this week. I was too excited to not show it, so I'm risking the chance that she'll see it before it arrives in her mailbox.

LIA Fundraiser Buttons

Who doesn't love buttons!
Lancaster Indie Arts, a small group of independent artists in the city, have created 1 inch buttons to sell as a fundraiser. Our main objective is to encourage and promote growth and success in our community, while helping each other through our own artistic endeavors.

We've done a lot this last year, for example, we helped implement the Arts Market section at Eastern Market last summer (which continues this summer). We also led the effort to hold Art in the Garden during the September First Friday. And you'll notice in my New Orleans trip article below, we sent a gift basket to a Habitat for Humanity home owner while I went with a team from Lancaster.

We're looking forward to the next few months as we've added another member to our group and are in the process of working on a show at DogStar Books for the month of July. And as a way of making sure we have the funds to continue helping our community, and outside it, we're selling buttons. If you'd like to purchase a random mix of 10, go to my etsy shop.

Press!

To my surprise, there was a great article about me and the Abstract Expressionist class I taught last week in the Lititz paper. It was a wonderful promo for my business and led a few people to contact me through it. Thanks Sallie for putting it together!