EDM 181 - Trash Cans

It takes so much longer than it used to throw away a piece of trash. I often feel like I'm doing it wrong. I think that, instead of trash cans, they should be called stress cans. Is there even such a thing as regular trash anymore?

EDM 181 - Trash Cans; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 180 - Something in Your Favorite Color

I'm a fan of any yellow, but on my palette, my favorite yellow is WN's quinacridone gold. It's the only color I used here (besides the sepia fine line pen).

I also like sunlight, but I'm funny about it. Outside, I don't like to sit in the sun, but inside, I prefer to sit in the sunniest window I can find. Go figure.

EDM 180 - Favorite Color; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 179 - An Onion

When I first married and started cooking, I would read a recipe, make a list of ingredients, and head to the store with naive confidence. I spent lots of time at the meat case, trying to make sense of cuts of meat that had names that matched nothing in my cookbook.

The produce department wasn't much friendlier. Labels on shelves were often missing or misplaced, leaving me helpless and guessing. Nowhere was I more confused than standing in front of the onions. Yellowish onions were labeled white; orangey onions were labeled yellow; purple onions were labeled red; and there didn't seem to be any green onions...because they looked like chives to me. I don't think I figured out shallots and leeks until a couple decades later.

Variety in American grocery stores is a wondrous and overwhelming thing!

EDM 179 - An Onion; 3x3" watercolor

Valentine's Day on the Brain

I've been playing around with floral patterns from my imagination. I did this in my Moleskine watercolor journal. It turned out better than i expected. I might scan it to make cards to sell in my shop.

I Heart You; Moleskine Watercolor Journal

**Update** I've listed this piece as a print on a folded card in my Etsy shop. Go to the listing by clicking here.

EDM 178 - Something Red

Paisley is something people are usually not neutral about. They love it or hate it. Other things in the not-neutral category: Lima beans, Brussels sprouts, spinach, and on and on. I love paisley. These beautiful red paisley cups are in the kitchen cupboard of the apartment where I've spent four wonderfully quiet, restful days in Washington, DC, compliments of my generous sister.

EDM 178 - Something Red; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 177 - A Flag

My little garden banner barely avoided being buried in snow this morning as we shoveled yesterday's storm off the drive and sidewalk. I have to be honest. My banner doesn't have a snowflake on it; it's a July 4th themed flag that I just forgot to switch out. I only have to forget for a few more months, and it will be timely again. I posted the picture I took of the actual flag today below.

EDM 177 - A Flag; 3x3" watercolor

Happy July 4th!

EDM 176 - Something Summer

I barely want to think about summer right now. It seems so far away and like it might never be warm again. But, it will be summer again, and one thing is certain at my house in summer: we will have another bumper weed crop....also known as our lawn. I actually think dandelions are kind of pretty and fairly fascinating. Their method of seed distribution (a plant's version of self-preservation) is so prolific, it seems futile for us to fight it. So, we join them at our house. I often say that if it weren't for the weeds, we would have nothing green in our yard.

EDM 176 - Something Summer; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 175 - A Basket and Its Contents

I can still remember where I was when I fell in love with baskets. I was in high school, and we were on a family vacation in New England. The baskets for sale at Faneuil Hall Marketplace were irresistible. I spent all my vacation spending money buying as many as I could afford. They weren't high quality or expensive, but I loved them. I still have some of the smaller ones 30+ years later. Now I own a few Longaberger baskets, and the higher quality is remarkable. They are made to last for generations. When sketching and painting a basket, you are forced to study its construction. I love figuring out how things are put together, so this was a fun painting.

I knew I wanted to ink stamp the berries in this piece, but couldn't find anything small enough to make them the proper scale. The rounded end of a large filbert brush turned out to be the perfect solution. In a larger painting, I would have used the rubber eraser of a new pencil.

EDM 175 - A Basket; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 174 - A Bridge

I've been on some of the world's longest and tallest bridges, and I've decided that I prefer bridges that are short, low, and covered. Lucky for me, I live in Lancaster County, PA! I drew this one from memory, but I based it on the bridges I see frequently.

EDM 174 - A Bridge; 3x3" watercolor

Sunday Painting

Sunday is the day I paint for fun. I drew this picture during last Sunday's sermon in church, but it sat unpainted all week. I ended up with a sort of Oz thing going on here: drab-gray foreground; a more colorful and inviting "happier land" in the distance; and a winding yellow road connecting the two. It's pretty close to what I envisioned.

Exodus 33:15; Moleskine watercolor journal

EDM 173 - Something from Memory

It's been almost 30 years since I've seen the backyard of the home where I was a child, so this is REALLY drawn from memory--an old, probably slightly faulty, memory. I grew up in a modest home in northern Ohio. I have many memories of the small yard.

Clockwise from the upper right: the large, carpenter-ant-infested oak tree that was struck by lightning and fell toward the house and pounded the small crab apple tree into the ground several feet but did no damage to the house; the snowball bush (I'm sure that's not the technical name, but I'm botanically challenged); the rail fence that my brother Mark tried to jump over when he was about 12, resulting in a compound fracture of his forearm and a harrowing drive to the emergency room (my mom at the wheel); my favorite bush, a purple lilac, which yielded many gifts of flowers for our school teachers; the ill-fated crab apple tree, from which we tried to make juice one summer (we might or might not have used a 5-lb. bag of sugar and might still have thrown the whole batch away); the brick chimney, around which many Easter eggs were hidden; a generic tree (What do I know? It had no fruit to juice, so....); the rock patio, meticulously laid by my dad one summer; the amazing split-trunk oak tree, around which many family pictures were taken; and lastly, the row of bushes under which I created many little "villages" from sticks and leaves and my brother's Matchbox cars (Shhh! He still doesn't know!)

This was a really fun project. I must do more memory paintings like this.

EDM 173 - From Memory; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 172 - Something that Sparkles

My son's favorite drinks are Pellegrino and cranberry juice. I would mix them, but he thinks that ruins both drinks.

EDM 172 - Sparkles; 3x3" watercolor

Four from the Imagination

I realized that I did four paintings in a row that were from my imagination, with little or no photo or real-life reference. Of course, nothing is really entirely without reference, because we as artists are always drawing on something we've seen or felt or dreamed of. More precisely, then, these four pieces are sourced out of my crazy, disorganized brain.

EDM 168 - 171

EDM 171 - Some Ice Cream

We've been in a record-breaking cold snap this week, so eating or thinking about ice cream is not that appealing right now. So, I decided to paint something non-traditional for ice cream. Shocking, I know!

I've been reading on Facebook how some friends are making ice cream from snow. That's fine. Actually eating it is another matter. I'm not brave enough. But, putting a cone hat on a snowman? Yep. I'd do that!

Choose your hat wisely, Mr. Snowman. You might not want to look too yummy!

EDM 171 - Some Ice Cream; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 170 - A Zipper

For the movie, "You've Got Mail," I made a sign for the fictional Zipper Man on Amsterdam Avenue. "You never have to buy new luggage!" I decided The Zipper Man's selling point would be that he fixes your gaps. (I realize I'm never gonna make it in the real marketing world.)

Three illustrators who have greatly influenced me as an artist are Charles Wysocki (no longer living), Jan Brett (still living and illustrating), and Mary Engelbreit (still cranking out delightfully cute illustrations). All three manage to communicate lightheartedness, while obsessively sweating every little detail. For doing so well something that I always strive to do, they are my heroes.

This piece pays homage to Wysocki, the master of invented signs for his wonderful folk towns; to Engelbreit, who works entirely with markers and colored pencils because she says she does not know how to paint (I did this piece with my hodge podge collection of markers.); and to Brett, who is notorious for hiding things, even entire sub plots, in her illustrations (This is #170 from the EDM list, and I used the number in The Zipper Man's address.)

EDM 170 - A Zipper; 3x3" markers

EDM 169 - A Piece of Cake

It was here a minute ago! Promise. I don't think I've ever let cake get stale. I barely let it get completely cool. I LOVE cake. Too much.

EDM 169 - Piece of Cake; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 168 - My Daily Newspaper

We only receive the Sunday paper, and then it's only for my husband. I never touch it. Ick, newspaper! I'm ever so slightly obsessive about keeping my hands clean.

Anyway...the only way the newspaper gets "read" around me is when it's used to catch drips under a can of red paint. Get it? Read. Red.

Anyway...I'm out of sorts today. I'm in the middle of relocating my studio, and I could not handle getting the watercolor paints and brushes set up. Hence, the hastily done ink and colored pencil drawing. Someone needs to buy a new red pencil. And, someone should go find her pencil sharpener. And, someone should hush and post this.

EDM 168 - Daily Newspaper; 3x3" ink & colored pencil

EDM 167 - Something That Needs Fixing

The porcelain dish is not the button keeper. I am the button keeper. I catch all "fallen" buttons and keep them safe forever. I hate sewing them back on! These three are from ONE coat. I hope I can get the buttons back on the coat before winter is over.

EDM 167 - Needs Fixing; 3x3" watercolor

Drawing in Church

Drawing in church; painting some time later.

Drawing in Church; Moleskine watercolor journal