My big news for the month is that my transportation-themed illustration was chosen by my city to be featured at a bus stop. It was definitely an unexpected honor!
My inspiration was to make a game-like drawing that could be entertaining while waiting for the bus, especially if you were a child. The basic idea is transform the shapes of tires or hubcaps into other objects. If you look closely, you can match up most of the objects with their original tire or hubcap shape. I wanted it to be very simple and approachable so that kids might want to make their own version.
Here's a look at what else I've been doing:
On My Work (Art) Table
I've been working with watercolors in my sketchbook trying to capture fields of lavender. (The library book is The Lavender Lover's Handbook by Sarah Berringer Bader. I had no idea there were so many varieties of lavender!)
In the Kitchen
I bought a new metal pan for brownies and that, along with a thermometer to pinpoint my oven temperature, seems to have solved my sunken brownie crisis that I mentioned in an earlier blog post. Whew!
I picked up a copy of Light and Healthy 2012 by America's Test Kitchen at the last library book sale, so hopefully I'll be motivated to try something new soon.
What I'm Reading
I'm finishing It. Goes. So. Fast by NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly. It's an unusual memoir in that the author alternates reporting from war lines and interviewing politicians to more everyday situations with her teenage sons or aging parents. I generally preferred the sections about her family over the ones about work, but it was all well-written and compelling.
On My Library Hold List
I want to read a book by a local author, Camille Dungy. Her new book is titled Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden. The homeowner associations here are quite restrictive on what you can and cannot do with your house and lawn and I'm eager to see how she was able to overcome all these obstacles.
Art I Admired
Several pieces caught my eye recently including these crocheted sneakers and a 2018 installation by Gali May Lucas titled Absorbed By Light. I also thought this poem by Brian Bilston titled To Do List was brilliant and funny. If you write, you'll probably like it, too.
What I'm Watching
I watched the Oscar-winning movie, Everything Everywhere All at Once. What an unusual movie with so many different genres included! I felt a mixture of fascination and confusion the whole time. It's always fun to try something completely different than what I'm normally drawn to.
Made Me Laugh
This cartoon involving an old music format made me laugh. (If you don't get it, it just means you're young!) And how can you not like this gallery cartoon?
New in the Shop
I've been steadily listing new fabric & home decor designs on Spoonflower in small groups. Here's a quick glimpse of the last few new ones (larger images on the Spoonflower website):
See you in June!