Contraduck

GARDENING

I have SO VERY MUCH ENJOYED receiving your artworks (THANK YOU!!!) and sharing my own. But now it's late spring, and I can't participate in many - sometimes, any - swaps in the intense periods of gardening, because ~MY GARDEN NEEDS ME!~ and it's a very mutual thing. I need my plants and soil. For those few interested, it's mid-June and my peas are two feet taller than I am, I'm trying to harvest my arugula before it decides that it's too hot to go on, and likewise my fennel, before it figures out that OMG it's summertime! But I'll be back! You amazing, creative, dedicated people out there - I really enjoy trading with you. Keep it up; you're amazing! See you - or your artwork - soon!

BACKGROUND

I studied graphic design and anatomy in college and I worked as a graphic designer and medical illustrator at a teaching hospital (and loved it!) and at a national research lab. Anatomy, medicine, and science are significant interests for me.

I'm interested in agriculture and food systems, slow food, heirloom fruits and vegetables, gardening, and the renewal of our culture's connection to nature.

I live on a little farmette in Maryland where I keep a kitchen garden and raise chickens and ducks. My favorite animals include multi-use cattle, draft horses, muscovy ducks, Weimaraner dogs, Bengal and American Shorthair cats, butterflies (especially tiger swallowtails and monarchs), frogs, turtles, snakes, beetles (esp. click beetles!), bees (esp. viridian bees)... and so many others!

I love dancing: contra , English, Scottish, old-time squares, and waltzing. I like to sew, and I take great pleasure in making and mending things around the farmette in elegant, simple ways - for this I'm sometimes called the "Queen of Low Technology". I like embroidery, and I have a crow's fondness for beads, bits of glass, and other little shiny things.

BOOKS

I love to read, and never get to do enough of it. I recently finished "The Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver. The book was thought-provoking - one of those stories that keeps bubbling up in your mind in connection with events in the world around you. And just before that, I completed "The Dorito Effect" - a wonderful book about the natural connection between flavor and nutrition. Other favorite books include Gaia's Garden, The Contrary Farmer, Pillars of the Earth, The Bean Trees, Pigs in Heaven, Animal Vegetable Miracle, The Poisonwood Bible, What Are People For?, 1491, Guns Germs and Steel, and a raft of books by W.E.B. Griffin, Tony Hillerman, and Dick Francis. I'm currently reading "The Orphan Train".

ILLUSTRATION

I hold in extremely high regard the work of Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac. I also love Gennady Spirin. All of these great artists produce work that hints at deeper - and sometimes darker - aspects of their subjects.

I love layering and texture in paint and in collage - but I'm not particularly good at either! This is an area in which I'd really like to study and improve.

I'm studying Spanish! And loving it. I hope to travel in Latin America - especially Mexico, Costa Rica, and Ecuador.

I love pretty embroidered clothing and other embroidered objects. I'm fascinated with Frida Kahlo and her wardrobe and personal style. We should all wear more flowers in our hair! Diego Rivera and his art are pretty interesting, too!

I like to dye fabric, and I especially enjoy producing and using natural dyes like woad, indigo, coreopsis, and madder - although I use conventional procion dyes, as well. I also enjoy the perpetual surprise factor inherent in shibori techniques.

You can find scans of a few of my ATCs here