EDM 85 - A Store in My Neighborhood

This souvenir shop is close to being in my neighborhood, and it has been around since the 1940s. It looks like it, too! I drive by this crazy windmill almost every day. Don Quixote, eat your heart out!

If you live in a tourist area, you can bet on one thing never changing. There will be at least one legendary souvenir shop that sucks in the most tourists and sells a disproportionate percentage of stuff that has nothing whatsoever to do with the authentic local attraction, which in our case is the Amish. And, you can also bank on the fact that the year-round residents never go inside that shop. Such is the case with Dutch Haven. But, in the spirit of not biting the hand that feeds me, I am thankful this place does such a robust business because I suspect it's one of the reasons our county weathered the most recent economic crisis so well.

So, cheesy windmill, keep on spinning, and we locals will keep driving past without "tilting at you" at all, for you are not the enemy. You are a friend!

EDM 85 - A Local Store; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 84 - Bread

Just a little creative advertising for The Grown-Up Bread Company, a bakery that doesn't really exist, but should. These sourdough heels were actually in my fridge. Right after I took their picture, I ate them. Why do children hate the crust? It's the best part!

EDM 84 - Bread; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 83 - A Local Body of Water

We buy our drinking water and dispense it from huge bottles set atop a water cooler. Lugging the bottles from the car and lifting them onto the cooler provide a mini-cardio workout for wimpy me.

EDM 83 - A Local Body of Water; 3x3" watercolor

EDM 82 - My Workspace

My studio is a small, sunny room on the middle floor of our 80-year-old house. It is super cozy. The eclectic collection of repurposed furniture fits perfectly, and there's very little extra room to get overly messy, which is a good thing. I have to have relative order to be creative. My dad was an architectural engineer, and I grew up loving blueprints (including the smell). I used to enjoy designing dream houses, and I still love bird's eye views of rooms.

EDM 82 - My Workspace; 3x3" watercolor

BluJar Gets a Home

I drew and painted this several weeks ago, when I first set up my new studio. The layout has changed a little, as I've added more desk space, but generally it's the same. The studio is very small, but very bright. Bright is more important to me than space.

I haven't wanted to post this picture online because I didn't want to make the name of my studio public until I was closer to opening for business and until I had the name registered. I am getting closer to launching, and the name is officially mine, except it has changed from BluJar Design, as in this painting, to BluJar Studio, which better reflects what my plans are for the business. I am a graphic designer, but I'm not interested in doing graphic design exclusively. I want to paint and sell artwork. My pieces often have an element of graphic design about them. I can't really help myself. If I were a landscape painter, which I'm not, I would find some way to "design" the scene. It is how I see the world.

I am having so much more fun now that I've stepped away from graphic design (all on computer) and picked up pens and brushes again. Getting up in the morning and working in my studio is a joy. Having to leave the studio and do housework? Not so much, but I am enjoying being home after years of working in an office.

New BluJar Studio; Moleskine Watercolor Journal

EDM 81 - A Streetlight

I took this picture when I was in Chicago a couple months ago. I knew I would enjoy drawing this streetlight, and I did! The lights on Michigan Avenue are so classy and charming. I wonder how old they are. The picture I drew from had a very modern high-rise building in the background. I left it out, because it just did not go with this "graceful lady."

EDM 81 - A Streetlight; 3x3" pen & watercolor

EDM 80 - Makes Me Happy

Fireflies make me happy. For 12 years we lived in a part of the country that doesn't have lightning bugs. Then we moved back north to Pennsylvania when our kids were 7 and 4 years old. Seeing the kids experience the wonder and joy of fireflies for the first time made me realize how much I had missed them. They are an amazing thing! AND, they are quiet!!

EDM 80 - Makes Me Happy; 3x3" watercolor