"Stargazer Lilies."
Get it?
Get it?? 
:)

A print of this painting
is now available in my shop!

Because sometimes
you just need the reminder
(especially these days).


A print of this illustration
is now available in my shop!

Fruit, fruit, fresh veg, more fruit, and a big ol' classic ice cream cone--
I don't know about you,
but this is pretty much what my menu looks like
for most of the summer!
Because when the produce is great
and the temperatures are hot,
what else do you need?


A print of this illustration
is now available in my shop.


Happy Summer!

"Keep a green tree in your heart,
and perhaps a singing bird will come."


A print of this painting
is now available in my shop!

I've been spotting
electric blue dragonflies/damselflies
in the garden lately,
and as soon as I saw them
I knew I'd have to find a way
to work them into a painting.

Paired with cheerful nasturtiums,
a bold lupine or two,
and some delicate rose geranium,
I think these garden visitors
are happy with their illustrated habitat.


You can find a print of this painting
now in my shop!

A wayside bouquet
seen on one of my walks
growing ecstatic and wild
and buzzing audibly with bumblebees.


A print of this painting
is now available in my shop!

A strong and bold lady Flicker,
looking out from her bower
of wild roses and blackberry blossoms.
She is a wildwood queen.


This painting is now available
as a print in my shop!

This painting was inspired
by the family of juncos
that have taken up residence
in the fuchsia basket
on our front porch.

When I first sketched the drawing
for this piece,
the two birds had scraps of grass and fluff
in their beaks,
caught in the middle
of building their new home,
and the nest was empty.
I struggled with the painting--
it just wasn't coming together--
so I set it aside for a few days,
unsure if it was worth finishing.
By the time I returned to it
I had discovered
the dearest,
most heartbreakingly tender
little clutch of eggs
in the real-life nest
on our porch,
and I knew what I needed to do
to complete the piece.


You can now find a print
of this painting in my shop!

We were given a bird box
as a housewarming gift last year,
and now this Spring
a couple of chickadees
have taken up residence in it!
I peeked in
and saw a nest
a little while ago,
so now I am
(trying to)
wait patiently
to see if baby birds
join the garden party.


This painting is now available
as a print in my shop!

"'There's some big clumps o' columbine in th' garden.
They'll look like a bed o' blue an' white butterflies flutterin' when they're out.'"
-The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett


A print of this painting
is now available in my shop!

It's May now,
and sunlight lingers
gloriously late into the evening.
I have been taking walks at dusk
to avoid the heat of the afternoon
and enjoy the blue twilight
in the woods by my home.
Darting rabbits seem to like this time of day too,
and they have kept me company
on enough walks lately
that I decided it was time,
again,
to turn one into a painting.


A print of this painting
is now available in my shop!

I was recently inspired to paint
one of the dearest little nooks in my garden.
Though I haven't found any real nests there,
my paintbrush can stretch the truth a little...


A print of this painting
can now be found in my shop!

A swirling mix
of land & sea--
trillium and seaweed,
salmonberry and mussels,
driftwood, barnacles, rocks polished smooth by the ocean,
Springtime sightings of wild strawberry and lily of the valley--
inspired again
by my time on the Olympic Peninsula.

A print of this painting
is now available in my shop!

Some fairy flowers
in the magical evening light.
How could I resist?

----

Bird Song - The Wailin' Jennys

I recently spent a few days
on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula,
and look who followed me home!

A print of this illustration
is now available in my shop.

Laying bark
and pulling weeds
on my hands and knees,
gritty with dirt and sweat,
I looked up,
and this was my view.
Above my own toil
soared boats of magnolia petals
and stars of sweet-smelling Osmanthus.
I laughed with delight
at the surprise and beauty of it,
and realized
that I felt beautiful too--
hair in my face
and earth on my cheeks,
but strong,
and working hard,
and full of love,
for the living things around me.

The view
out the front of the house,
and the view
out the back.

--

Come Outside - The Melodic

Our blooming cherry trees!

We never really get any cherries--
the trees are small,
and the birds take any fruit before we do
(we've never bothered to fight them)--
but I don't mind at all
when we are treated
to blossoms like these,
illumined
by the early evening sun.

Is anyone else
excited for tulip season?!
I couldn't resist interpreting
a fading bouquet
on our kitchen table
into this swirl
of feathers and blooms...


A print of this painting
is now available in my shop!

You don't need much else
to celebrate Springtime
than this:
a graceful bouquet of seasonal blooms,
an elegant silver vase,
and a few petal-like winged visitors!


A print of this painting
has now been added to my shop!

It's hard for me to imagine,
but I once very much disliked
the whole Springtime season,
so much so
that I actually came to dread it each year.
I thought it was windy, and wet, and changeable,
tiresome and long;
at best it was a necessary evil
on the slide from Winter
toward glorious Summer.

The self who felt this way
could not feel farther
from who I am now.

Now, each Spring
I celebrate the return of the light,
the green growing things
where all was brown and sleeping,
the color and texture and pattern
that turns my garden
into a fairyland,
the birdcalls,
and scents,
and evening sunshine--
I want to hold all of the beauty to my face,
and drink it in.

This painting was inspired
by a recent hike.

The green haze of Springtime
had spread all throughout the wood,
and everywhere I looked
I saw delicate new growth
and cheerful signs of the season.
We listened to a bird trill,
with a noticeably long and sweet call,
and its beautiful voice echoed
in the spaces between the trees.


A print of Woodland Birdsong
is now available in my shop!

Hummingbirds!

About a year ago,
I bought a hummingbird feeder
for the backyard garden,
which hangs just outside
my kitchen window.
I have delighted in seeing
these fierce little friends
almost every day.

I watch them flit among the flowering plants
and then zoom in a blink
up to the window,
where they drink,
heads down, throats sparkling,
and I pause,
breath held,
until they shoot away.


A print of Hummingbird Garden
is now available in my shop!

The last few photos
of my dear hellebores.

They are truly fading now--
their nodding heads
hang even lower these days,
and their jewel-bright colors
have faded to silver, platinum.

Their dimming
makes way
for the next phase
of Springtime in the garden.

I don't know about you,
but I've never liked the phrase,
"kill two birds with one stone."
For years now,
I have instead been saying,
"feed two birds with one scone."

I thought it was high time
that I illustrated this saying!

You can now find a print
of this latest painting
in my shop!

March has certainly swept in like a lion
here in the Pacific Northwest!

Dark skies, wind storms, torrential rain--
we have had it all so far.
Throughout the wild weather, however
Spring's beauty has continued to appear.
Clouds of cherry blossoms
have turned the view out our upstairs windows
into a soft-focus haze of pink.
Flowering quince has started to pop,
vibrant and saturated,
and we saw some downy pussywillows
while out on a recent hike.
Forsythia gleams along the roadside
as brightly as the (lately absent) sun.

I painted this recent piece
to honor the sprigs and blooms and hopeful bits of new growth
in the face of the darkness.


A print of my Blossom Bouquet
is now available in my shop!

A glimpse at just a few
of the hellebores
in my garden.

In my mind,
hellebores are the perfect plant.
Their stunningly beautiful blooms
come in rich and subtle shades,
full of variation.
Their evergreen foliage
is dramatic and elegant.
They grow wonderfully well
in the shady spots that
(let's face it)
make up most of my garden.
But the reason
that I love them
most of all
is because they blossom and thrive
at a time when most of the garden
is still bare,
dark,
and winter-sleeping.
They gleam like jewels
in the rain and wet of early Spring,
and are as prized and cherished by me
as a chest full of treasure.

On a recent walk
I was startled by a real-life version
of this little bunny,
munching ivy in the undergrowth,
and I knew I had to turn him into a painting.

A print of this little fellow
can now be found in my shop.

Small scenes
from my garden.

Every day
there are more buds forming,
leaves unfurling,
blooms popping,
and new growth raising its head from the earth.

Some plants from last year
that I had thought didn't make it
have appeared again,
despite my doubts,
to send out fresh shoots
and elicit a shout of surprise from me
when I discovered
their unlooked-for return.

A print of these mischievous little guys
is now available in my shop!

It's a good thing
that they are awfully cute,
since they sure do love
to cause trouble in the garden...

Prints of Garden Wren & Nested
have now been added to my shop!

Signs of Spring
are appearing day by day...!