Solstice Celebrations

Hello! In the Northern hemisphere we just enjoyed the longest day of the year. I’m celebrating (and not dwelling on the fact that we have six months of shortening daylight ahead) by bringing out some artwork that’s inspired by my sunny backyard.

The nasturtium is blossoming, flowers and strawberries are everywhere, and our tiny pond is hosting a whole lot of birds. With this comes a constant flow of bird drama which I try my best to stay out of. I’m waiting for a frog to show up; most years one just appears and hangs out for the summer.

A Peek Into My Sketchbook

Brush Pen Houses and Houseplants

Some little brush pen houses and houseplants done as a warmup exercise

Icon Set Thumbnails

Sketches for an illustrated icon set about bird watching (the finished set is here!)

Something Cool I Saw This Month

A titan arum (corpse flower) recently bloomed near me! This photo is from two days before it opened. Seeing one in person was on my bucket list, so this was more exciting for me than my family had bargained for. I drove them one Rhode Island hour* each way on a hot day just to see it.

The Horridge Conservatory at the University of Rhode Island, where this titan arum lives, also had a nice setup of carnivorous plants, a lovely series of outdoor gardens, and a greenhouse devoted to plants with medicinal properties. It was small but neat!

*If you’re not familiar: Rhode Island is a tiny state. It is very densely packed. In certain areas, driving somewhere four miles away can take half an hour. However, you can drive across the entire state in the span of an hour. This warped navigation scale tweaks your head over time so, if you live here long enough, a drive to another town begins to seem like a Really Huge Undertaking.