The Nature Creative Membership

 

The Nature Creative is my monthly nature journaling membership designed to help you connect to the nature around you. This video gives you an idea of what's included. The Creative year begins again in September with all new content for 2022-2023. 

Find all the details here.

Nature & Nurture Journaling Class

It's time to sign up for Nature & Nurture: a six week online class (do at your own pace) covering the lives of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and Beatrix Potter. We'll talk about their lives, the landscapes they lived in, how that nature translated to their writings, and what observations we can make about our own lives in nature. As a bonus we will also explore teatime with these authors and try our hand at painting some food.

Landscape has a huge effect on one's life, even when we don't realize it. The three landscapes of these authors are unique and varied. 

 

Each of these authors lived during a different time in "tea history" and we'll explore what kinds of tea they drank, what they had to accompany that, and how we can "taste history" ourselves.

The houses these women lived in played another role in their lives and writings.

We'll talk about the moods of landscape and how those moods appeared in the books that were written.

Included will be plenty of watercolor tutorials so you can add to your sketchbook!

And there will be an optional live Zoom each Wednesday evening so you can join others in the class to discuss what we are learning.

If you have any questions, find me on Facebook or Instagram and send me a DM.

I'd love to have you join me! Find the sign-up info by clicking this link. 

It's a Hot July!

I had the week off from my flower work this past week. So I gave myself the special treat of going to Goodwill Outlet with a friend. I didn't realize until I got home how many wonderful things ended up in my cart! I had to record it in my gratefulness journal:

Here's my cart part way through the morning. For some reason it's very relaxing for me to cull through all the bins at goodwill looking for random things. 

I've started walking three mornings a week with some neighborhood friends. We start early to avoid the heat and walk about 5 miles. 

I spent quite a few hours going through 17 years of family photos this week in preparation for Drew's upcoming graduation celebration. There were plenty of fun memories to re-discover and lots of records of creative projects to re-inspire me.

I loved this pic of James having tea with me at one of the most fabulous tea experiences ever on the Isle of Skye.

The milkweed is still blooming and I love watching all the bug life enjoying it too!

And the Queen Anne's Lace is just stunning every where I look!

I had a second day off of the flower shop and devoted a few hours to painting. I had fun with this gouache milkweed.

And I loved recording the Queen Anne's Lace and teasel this way:

And I couldn't leave me two hollyhocks out! (The art is for sale: Milkweed 8x10 $100; all the others are 5x7 and $50)

One morning I walked by myself down to the reservoir and back. It looked like I'd flown away to a vacation. 

Saturday the girls and I attended a lovely shower for a friend's daughter and I brought the flowers.

I failed to take any other pics of the shower but it was one of the first for Laura to be able to attend. She enjoyed it!

Sunday, after church, we went to a friend's open house.The sky was just gorgeous and for once I wasn't driving so I could take pictures for future painting! Look at that cloud!

And now a new week is here.....

Summer 101

Life is not back to normal, but the scale of busy-ness has certainly tended back toward normal. And it's hot now. A highlight of our week was getting the AC replaced. We are so thankful!

We began our week joining others at a peaceful rally to listen to members of our community and to pray as we walked through downtown and participated in a lie-in for 8 min and 46 sec. Our week has continued to be filled with questions, feelings of huge inadequacy, sorrow, frustration, anger, bewilderment. It's also been filled with good conversations and listening to podcasts and ordering books and more praying.

Flower therapy was so welcome on Monday. More time to listen and pray and think.

Some of the kids went to my mom's and helped her with outside garden chores. Sorry for them -- it was hot!

I attended my very last portrait oil painting class. I enjoyed the classes so much. They were hard work, but worth it all and I learned so much!

Michael and I met friends at Eagle Creek for a walk and a visit. The wild roses were in bloom along with so many other fun nature finds, including a water snake. Michael and I also watched our baby hawks take some of their first little "flight hops" between branches by their nest.

I finally finished a five painting commission "Scenes from Manhattan" and the paintings were turned into a card set! Yay! Soon to be available in my online shop.

 I also painted some fun sheep cards for a friend! I want to do more with sheep breeds.

My other fun job of the week was turning this pile of flowers into wedding flowers.

The wedding colors were mauve or dusty rose. Apparently it's a hard combination to find in nature. But my wholesaler did a great job finding the right things!

Definitely a romantic bouquet!

And lovely corsages which got silver ribbon:

A friend and I did some social distancing crafting together on a HOT afternoon.

Good thing there was cake and rhubarb elderflower sparkling waters afterward!

Saturday morning found me hauling my goods to the wedding!

The cake looked absolutely perfect!

And so did the bride, a dear family friend. I think our family has done flowers for 3 out of 4 of their weddings over the past 16 years.

After delivering the flowers I drove home to watch the wedding via livestream. Such are the times.

And now I'm doing housework, resting, and rearranging my room to better suit my next business idea!

Life on the Home Front: Back Inside

Do you wake up every morning and have that lightbulb moment of recognition a few seconds after wakening where you remember we are in a pandemic? It happens to me every morning. And my first daily act of self-care is to take those thoughts and channel them in the right direction. I do a lot of taking my mind by the hand and leading it where it should go instead of where it wants to go. Every morning I have to remind myself of some basic truths before I do anything else: I don't need to live in fear, I am a person of faith and my trust is in the God who has every detail of this under control, I can walk through another day one step at a time. 

A big part of keeping my mind where it needs to be involves keeping my world small.  Oh I get the news via email once or twice a day, and my husband shares some with me, and I might hear a late night show clip before bed, but that's enough. And I try to remember I don't need to take on the entire world's problems, and tears, and griefs. I can briefly hand those to God in prayer and then focus my emotional and prayer energy on my family, my friends, and my immediate community.

I find it very interesting that I'm not taking many photos right now. In fact I often struggle to find one photo to post with my update. We are doing the same things everyday. And I'm not getting out and about to find new and exciting things that must be caught on camera. But, I don't miss those things I'm not doing or seeing. I love thinking about these pieces of information and what they might mean.

I love days of routine and that was our Tuesday. School for the kids, painting for me, work in his office for Michael, research and reading in the afternoon and then housework and tidying in the late afternoon and early evening. And some sewing while watching our evening half episode of Foyle's War.

Food Eaten: Tea and Toast and fruit salad, leftover soup and more fruit salad, leftover cake, more leftover soup and toast! One rice krispie treat nest for dessert. 

London and Beyond

The new year had a special beginning this year as I had the opportunity to lead a sketching tour to England for ten days. People pooh-poohed London in January, but we can testify that it was warm (50-58 degrees F), absent of crowds, and even filled with plenty of blooming flowers!

The trip was a dream hatched with a friend of mine, and seen through two years of planning hurdles and preparations! Five amazing girls joined us and it was our privilege to share in their adventures. 

These roses shocked me into realizing that finding so many flowers in bloom in January in London was one of the two highlights of my trip. These humble blooms are worth the world more in winter than in summer when they are lost to the crowd of every other rose. Each day of our trip was like a treasure hunt, searching the parks, sidewalks, and hanging baskets of London for the priceless gift of flowers in winter.

I think observing my reaction to finding these flowers in London has confirmed in my mind that nature exploration, education, and art is at the core of who I am as a creative person and I must continue to explore how I can use my gifts to bless others in the future.

The trip was a lot of work, but watching it unfold was a bit like watching a piece of art be unveiled to the public and I loved seeing the girls enjoy every bit of what they experienced.

 The other highlight of the trip was sitting around the table with the two other adults and the five girls -- from breakfast, to devotions, to cafe lunches, to fancy afternoon teas, to home-cooked dinners -- relationships being forged around a table touch the deepest part of my heart. The china, the setting, the food, the tea, the atmosphere -- those are all just props for getting down to the real business of interacting with one another.

 I could hardly sit still at this tea -- my eyes darting everywhere, trying to memorize all the details, constantly grabbing my phone so I could take yet another photo and somehow grasp the emotion and camaraderie of the moment.

And the china! The navy blue with white floral pattern? Good thing the hotel didn't have a gift shop because I would have been seriously tempted to buy something.

We eventually had to say goodbye and prepare for re-entry into regular life back in Indiana. School is back in session, I'm back to work, suitcases are long unpacked (but the tea I brought home is still piled up), and plans for the coming year are starting to be made.

Next week I want to share some of my favorite books from 2019 and hopefully I'll find a few more posts to share more about our adventures in England!

Literature & Larder

This year got off to a fun start with two weeks of teaching at my kids' high school. Their spring semester begins with a January-term: a two-week session in which students take a three-hour morning class and a three-hour afternoon class each day. My class, "Literature & Larder," offered a chance for students to immerse themselves in the lives, natural surroundings, literary works of, and period tea-times of ten different authors or artists roughly in the Victorian Era.

During our three hours together we spent approximately 35-40 minutes talking about the life history of the day's author and the natural surroundings that impacted them. After that we pulled out our paints to record in our sketchbooks those natural elements talked about. To keep everyone focused on painting, we popped in a movie based on one of the author of the day's works. For instance, the day we studied Queen Victoria we talked about her love of Scotland, looked at some of her own artwork from her travels there, and then watched an episode of the recent "Victoria" series which was set at Blair Castle in Scotland.

The last hour of our class we partake in a period tea-time, complete with real china, real candles, real tea, and real food: all designed around the time period and even foods mentioned by the author in journals or in their literary works. This is also my way of promoting the taking of afternoon tea, showing the current generation how truly cool this can be.



I love the discussions that take place, the discoveries, the connections that students make in their minds as we talk. I want the students to see how the real life events that took place in the life of the author ended up in their books of fiction or artwork.

This year I added Charles Dickens to the author round-up. Oh what fun! I introduced the students to Christmas crackers, Christmas pudding, mince pies, and corny cracker jokes. We discussed what a Victorian Christmas looked like and watched "The Man Who Invented Christmas." 

Everyday I think "today is my favorite day."

Most of the students who opt to take my class are serious art students who already enjoy spending hours a day drawing or painting. But there are usually a few students who are new to art and it is a challenge for them to pick up a paintbrush and attempt to capture something on paper. I am always especially pleased to see these students take the challenge and surprise us with their hidden abilities.  

I love researching historic recipes and trying new things. This year I discovered a chocolate cake from the 19th century -- quite different from the chocolate cake we are used to. It seemed the perfect thing to make for Louisa May Alcott's tea. The taste reminded me of the spiced hot chocolate served at Williamsburg.

Lillias Trotter was also a new addition this year. It was so special to introduce the class to this talented artist, mentored by the famous Victorian art critic, John Ruskin. Lillias decided to move to Algiers to be a missionary rather than become "England's greatest living painter." She took her art with her and used it to bring joy and beauty to thousands as well as to privately celebrate her daily life through her journals. The students truly loved experimenting with gouache and learning about this inspiring woman.

What is not to love about Beatrix Potter! Surely this is the best day? I love passing out the little story books so each student can have one to draw from. I love watching "Miss Potter" with the class. I love introducing students to Beatrix' life! This year we invited 14 teachers to join us for tea and a sketchbook viewing on Beatrix Potter day. The students were so excited to have "their" teacher come and see the beautiful artwork they had been creating.

Then there was L. M. Montgomery and "Anne of Green Gables." Another favorite day, complete with home-made raspberry cordial. Many students have never seen the movie, or read any of the "Anne" books. I particularly enjoyed studying the British literary influences on Montgomery and the fact that she spent her honeymoon traveling in Great Britain to visit the homes of her literary heroes!

Each day we spend time talking about the literary connections each author has. Who were they influenced by? Who did they influence? There is quite a bit of overlap and I wish there was a way to create a huge chart with everyone's information crowded together. For many of these authors I have found quotes telling us directly what their thoughts were about the various literary influences on them. It's so fascinating!

Of course we had to end with a Feast! That's why I save Tolkien for last. And I conned my boys into finding and moving chairs for me so we could all sit around the table. There is so much symbolism in sitting together around a table and it brings me so much joy. Each student had to answer a question such as, "Which author would you like to be?", "Which author had the hardest childhood?", or "Which food did you least like?". 

 And now the class is over and most of the china is packed away. I thought the cooking and baking were over for awhile too, but then I opened my to-do list for this week and realized my next project involves a lot of cooking and baking. Of course it does! Groceries have been obtained and the baking will commence, maybe tomorrow.

I'm eager to share a few of the books I've read in recent months in preparation for this class. I'll be back shortly to do so!