the drawings in the window

Last week was our "Celebration of Spring" in O'Bryonville at MiCA. I needed something that spoke of spring -  flowers or rain or mud -  for window displays in our storefront on Madison Road.  I made a couple of big, quick drawings for a back drop to the two windows.  Never mind that the subject matter of this first one here actually has more to do with poppies and they're more of a summer flower. I just think poppies are more interesting than some of the super-sweet springtime flowers. I used tulips for the other drawing. Yesterday I got a phone call from a lovely person who asked if they could buy the drawings in the window. So I took some pictures to remember them, since they now belong to Tricia. 

And since part of my purpose here is to show off some of the wonderful things we carry in the stores - If you look closely in the first image you can see a couple of bird feeders by Amy Adams of perch!.  We love Amy's designs - most of her items have a multi functional quality and this "bird feeder" would be beautiful hanging inside the house or out; as a holder for bird seed or a round house to protect and display some very special object. 

Collaborating with Madelyn...

Here's something I'm working on with my daughter, Madelyn.  A couple of years ago Madelyn was working with me at MiCA in O'Bryonville and she was bored out of her mind.  To keep her busy I had her make some drawings.  She saw customers buying shop items and asked if she could hang up her drawings for sale.  I told her she could and she created a little gallery. She taped some of the drawings to the wall and sat others on the rungs of a little step ladder.  She asked between 5 and 25 cents a drawing and she sold 7 of them.  Flushed with her success, she asked if she could do that every week.  I thought that was a bit much and told her we'd come up with some way to create some artwork together and maybe we could sell it through the store.  So this is a first attempt.  My photos mounted on a block of wood, Madelyn's people faces drawn on top, and encaustic medium.  Madelyn's faces are such a surprise against the quiet photos.  I love the randomness of the faces on the photographs.  We have a way to go - I will put up more pictures as these progress, but I'm a fan of all collaborations between artist parents and their creative kids.  Take a look at some of the stationery designs by "Binth".  My favorites of their offerings are also mother/child collaborations.

"Wind Blinders"

While I've been present here at MiCA 12v on this quiet, drizzly day I've kind of been playing hooky - as in, not working on the paperwork that is piling up.  I've been missing the drawing and painting I used to do so all morning I've been working on something...a little drawing that will probably end up in an encaustic piece.  Still working on it. But I'll tell you the inspiration - an old friend told me in an email that when he was a boy he saw the trees making the wind.  He said he still believes that the trees "create it all" and we just can't see it, because we have "wind blinders" on.  I loved the idea of Wind Blinders.  And it brought back memories of being little and being wide open to learning about the world without any bias, where witnessing the trees starting the wind was possible.  It brought back being a kid in the summer. soaking up the cool through the back of my tshirt from the grass. looking straight up at the softly blowing leaves as they flipped back and forth in rhythm to the breeze and thinking anything could happen. There are a couple of illustrators I can immediately think of that capture that for me. Anke Weckmann is one.  And Carrie Gifford, who started Red Cap Cards.  We sell Red Cap cards at both MiCA stores.