I've been working on a cute logo

Here is the sticker I ordered. I meant for it to be diecut… So I have ordered more and actually ordered them correctly.

I did a bunch of sketches and then started tracing in Procreate. I’m not very good with Procreate yet and was getting very frustrated!! I asked my friend Jenn of Vettha Arts to help me out as she is an amazing artist and very skilled with Procreate!

Well, she transformed this for me by refining the quality, changing p some shapes to read better, and also really made the CA poppy leaves look WAY better. so, thank you, Jen!

I’m using her Procreate file to help me understand some of the ins and outs of this program. I admit, even after watching a bunch of masking videos, I am still a but unsure how I will need to use that feature.

Landscape Sketchbook - Vignettes

I like to do little landscape vignettes. Not a whole landscape design but just a bed or a small area. It’s fun to use these informal, made-up sketches to explore color and texture and layering of plants.

Here is one with lots of maroon, red, orange, and yellow plants.

Another one with some red and adding in some boulders and gravel, IDK, I find drawing these fun and soothing!

Landscape Sketchbook - Blobs of Color

I was just playing around with color in this sketch. I really love seeing a landscape where there is super bright color introduced. So far I have not really had a chance to get a client to do this. I have certainly suggested it and tried! I really have! I just love a bright contrast and pop of color!

Landscape Sketchbook - Plan View

I came to landscape design through drafting and design, not through plants or gardening. When I first started landscape design classes I seriously did not know a single plant. LOL. One of the first classes I took was planting design for some reason. It was kinda hard since I knew absolutely zero about plants. :D

But I looooved hand drafting so much. It’s one of those activities where I can really get into a flow state. I like CAD drafting as well but it is not nearly as soothing.

I like to doodle these plan view symbols. Would it be weird to get some of these tattooed on myself?! No, no it would not be weird.

colorful plan view plant symbols

colorful plan view plant symbols

Chicken Math

Our second to last chicken died in February of this year and, with just one chicken left, I decided that we would get a new batch of chickens. My timeline was dependent on Concord Feed and their schedule of chickens. I was hoping to get some specific breeds. I ended up just getting the ones they had available and I am very glad I did because the week after I picked ours up there was a global pandemic declared and people went nuts buying up all the chickens. It was all about sourdough starter and buying ‘pandemic chickens’ in those first few weeks. I mean, also it was about people being scared, dying, losing their jobs and a host of other horrible things.

We ended up getting six chickens, 2 cream legbars, and four cochins (black, blue, buff, speckled). Our older hen is an Easter Egger and she mostly hates us.

Even now I feel the inexplicable pull of chicken math. I really want to add some chocolate eggers or a Lavender Orpington… there are so many adorable chickens out there.

Meme showing a still of Boromir from The Lord of the Rings with the caption, “One does not simply get a few chickens”.

Meme showing a still of Boromir from The Lord of the Rings with the caption, “One does not simply get a few chickens”.

Baby chickens are just the cutest things! Check out these nerds as babies:

So the week after got these the SIP order was put in place. My sister and I organized a pet fashion show for the kids in our lives. It was a great success. I submitted several chicks wearing muffin papers.

Photo of a sketchbook page open to a watercolor and ink drawing of a ticket (front and back) saying ‘Pet Fashion Show March 2020”

Photo of a sketchbook page open to a watercolor and ink drawing of a ticket (front and back) saying ‘Pet Fashion Show March 2020”

Picture of a gray and white chick butt wearing a muffin paper as a skirt.

Picture of a gray and white chick butt wearing a muffin paper as a skirt.

Indian Springs in Calistoga is (one of) My Happy Place(s)

Indian Springs in Calistoga is my happy place. I have a core memory of being in my early 20’s and taking a yoga class - at the end of class during Shavasana the instructor told us to envision our happy place and I though, “fuck, I don’t have one?!” and then I started crying. LOL. Poor baby me!

Anyway, ever since then I have attempted to fix various 'happy places' in my head so that if this situation ever arises again I will know what to do.

I’m amused thinking back to how something as simple as an instructor's suggestion during my crappy 24-Hour Fitness yoga class triggered such an existential mini-crisis. I’ve got a few other places I picture - one and two are Town Beach or Bonnet Shores beach in Narragansett, RI. The other is the beach at Napili Bay on Maui. Hmmm, water seems to be a theme but also the theme is NOT HERE. HERE being my daily life with the regular grind of things to do and remember, etc.

They are really working on the gardens here. I’m in love with this huge stone wall and this concrete fountain. Here you can see someone planted some spring bulbs amidst the agaves. I like this fresh meadowy look.

These olive trees must be very old!