LEAN2 creative works
  • Home
  • Illustration Services
    • Illustration
    • Architectural Illustration
  • Portfolio
    • Animal - Vegetable - Mineral
    • Eat - Grow - Gather
    • Build - Move - Make
    • Messy - Sketchy - Stuff
  • Shop
  • About | Contact
  • Resources
    • Drawing | Media
    • Wisdom | The Creative Process
    • Jobs | Careers
    • Architecture
  • Blog

NEW ADVENTURE AWAITS!

9/8/2020

0 Comments

 
Well boy oh boy, it's been quite an interesting year or two, and the adventure is about to continue.  If you've visited my shop page recently, you will find that all of the items are showing up as sold out.  Not so!  I still have items in stock, but they will be unavailable for a bit as I relocate from very near the Pacific Ocean to about as close to the Atlantic Ocean as a body can get without actually falling in!  Yes, it's goodbye to Oregon and hello to the great state of Massachusetts...

If you go back a few years to 
this blog post, you will see that I spent some time back then taking art workshops on Cape Cod, and poking around in the marshes here and suchlike.  Now, by golly, I have the opportunity to make the Cape my HQ, which is rather swell, don't you think so?  In doing so, I am humbly joining a long-established community of artists and nature enthusiasts, and am pretty excited about it.  There's much to be done on the logistics side, so I'll try to give an occasional update on the progress of the business move, but oh please do not be sore at me if I go silent again for a bit!  For now, here are a few pictures of my new environs.  It's an awfully beautiful spot, if I do say so.  

P.S.: For more on the monarch butterfly and milkweed story, visit my Instagram feed.  Perhaps I'll do a summary here at some point.  Super short version: we protected some milkweed here on the Cape this summer, and were justly rewarded with caterpillars and butterflies!  We are hopeful that the last generation of them is now off to Mexico!
Photo of Salt Pond in the Cape Cod National Seashore
Salt Pond, Cape Cod National Seashore
Picture
Roadside roses, back in June...
Photo of a monarch butterfly on a milkweed (aesclepias tuberosa) blossom.
Backyard monarchs butterflies...
0 Comments

WILDFLOWER TIME AGAIN!

5/18/2018

1 Comment

 
Get ready!  This Sunday, May 20, it is time once again for the Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival.  I'll be out there with my booth, selling prints, cards, and stickers of my artwork, and basking in the glory of spring.  I can't say enough about the magnificent and always interesting display of live wildflowers.  (For some photos of past events, see last year's blog post.)  It's a family friendly event, with nature walks, music, booths selling plants, art, nature books, and things to munch on.  It runs from 10 am - 5 pm.  Check out the link above for the full schedule.

I must say, it is so very beautiful this time of year, with all the flowers a flowering.  At last year's Wildflower Festival, I bought two good sized starts of trollius, aka Globe Flower, which are back in bloom in my back garden now.  What a show they put on!  They have complex and beautiful flower heads on tall stems.  After some experimentation with location, I decided to pop them into a large pot where I could assure they get plenty of water and are in a good spot for showy display, where one can get up close and see those gorgeous details in the flower. 

The trollius are not wildflowers as far as I know, but also looking glorious in my garden this year are the California poppies (escholzia californica), which I learned at the festival last year are considered native up to the Columbia River, and endemic above it.  The ones in the garden I planted from seed some years ago.  These are vigorous re-seeders, to my delight and some people's vexation, I suspect.  They have kept coming up in the narrow mixed border in which I first planted them, but last year decided to come up on the fringes of the main beds, where they look just glorious.  I enjoy them for their bold color, and their draping, informal habit. 

So come on out to the Wildflower Fest, and get some inspiration!  I know I always do.
Detail photo of trollius aka Globe Flower © 2018 Melinda Nettles|Lean2creativeworks
Trollius aka Globe Flower humming along merrily in my back garden.
Picture of California poppies (escholzia californica) © Melinda Nettles|Lean2creativeworks
Californa poppies in the evening light a few days ago in my back garden.
Drawing of a little baby in a field of poppies, with fireflies.  © 2015 Melinda Nettles|Lean2creativeworks
A little artistic license in for symbolic reasons... I'm not aware of a place where California poppies and fireflies have the same habitat, but the Momma who commissioned this piece had California origins and is now living in firefly country. It is available as a print, individual card, or part of a 3-design card set. I'll have some of each on hand at the Wildflower Festival.
1 Comment

NEW SHOW & RETAIL LOCATION!

1/8/2018

0 Comments

 
Stickers and cards and prints, oh my!  Yes friends, starting this Friday, January 12th, you'll be able to purchase my complete line of individual cards, stickers, and art prints at the Maude Kerns Art Center Member Gallery & Gift Shop!  

Also!  For a more limited time, a pair of my original works will be on view in in the Member Gallery.  They will be on display, and available for purchase, until the end of March.

So why not swing by the opening for the new exhibition, A Convergence of Elements: Intersections, 
this Friday, January 12 from 6-8, and take a stroll through the shop while you are there?  
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

maude kerns members' show!

11/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
The annual Art for All Seasons members' show and art sale is afoot at the Maude Kerns Art Center here in Eugene!  It is a full-to-the-brim show this year -- the gallery is filled tip-to-toe with a huge number of works by local artists working in a broad range of styles and mediums.  So if you've never been in, it's a good time to go and get acquainted with a heap of local artists.  I've got a couple of pieces in there up on the west wall of the stage area - look for fieldmice and owls!  So swing on by and get a holiday gift or six!  Everyone needs a little art for their homeplace, don't you think so?  You'll find the Art Center at 1910 East 15th Avenue Eugene, Oregon 97403.  The show's open M-F 10-5:30 and Saturdays noon-4 p.m.
0 Comments

MUSHROOMS!

11/7/2017

0 Comments

 
Well boy howdy, who knew mushrooms were so darn interesting??  I did not.  To be honest, the first time I decided to take myself on out to the Mount Pisgah Mushroom Festival a few years ago, I thought well OK, it's something to do but what's the big deal?  But good-heavens-good-gracious-good-golly I was wrong about that!  It is a beautiful and fascinating array that educates while it wows and entertains. The variety of species is remarkable, the colors and shapes and details a true delight.  If you are local and have never been, you must go in the future!  You must!

Like the Wildflower Festival in the Spring, there are tables and tables feet-upon-feet-upon-feet long all loaded up with amazing displays of nature's bounty: 'shrooms this time, collected by the mycologically knowledgable, and arranged beautifully amid mosses and branches and the odd skull or two.  

Alas, I did not get to see much in the way of the display this time, so the mushroom-diaplay photos are from 2015.  I was busy all day womaning my art-vendor booth, where I sold art prints and cards and stickers, and the first design in my new line of t-shirts.  It was great fun once again to get to meet all y'all who dropped through.  I enjoyed chatting about art and nature and all manner of things.  Thanks to everyone who came out to support the Arboretum, and also my art!  (I am happy to say that 20% of my gross sales for the day went to support the Arboretum.)

Thanks again as well to all my supportive friends, especially the talented Kimberly Munn, who helped me out during the Festival.  In addition to being a highly skilled jeweler, she is a very fine photographer, and took the photo of me with my booth.  (Don't hold her responsible for the other pictures, tho... any she took would undoubtedly be much better!)  You can find her elegant, hand-made artisan jewelry at her Etsy shop, Revelling.
Photo of mushroom display at the 2015 Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival.  © 2015 Melinda Nettles | LEAN2creativeworks
Photo of mushroom display at the 2015 Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival.  © 2015 Melinda Nettles | LEAN2creativeworks
Photo of mushroom display at the 2015 Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival.  © 2015 Melinda Nettles | LEAN2creativeworks
Mushroom display at the 2015 Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival.
Picture
Me with my booth at the 2017 Mount Pisgah Mushroom Festival (sporting my new Howie the Dog t-shirt)! Photo by all-around-creative-person and jeweler extraordinaire Kimberly Munn © 2017.
Photo of set-up day at the 2017 Mount Pisgah Mushroom Festival, Eugene, OR.  © 2017 Melinda Nettles | LEAN2creativeworks
Saturday's festival set-up day was all blue skies and sunshine! Not so the day of the fete, which was rather gray and damp. The spirits of the festival-goers did not suffer, however; all were cheerful, and the turn-out was fantastic!
0 Comments

JACKRABBITS ON TOUR!

7/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
That's right, folks: the jackrabbits are off to spend some time at ColdFire Brewing!  After their delightful stay down at Noisette this summer, they have decided they have a taste for travel... Especially if it involves locally crafted, delightful food and drink.  The folks at ColdFire have invited me to hang my art in their fine establishment for the months of August and September.  I installed the bunnies this morning, along with their goat and owl friends and a family of fieldmice.  

I hope you'll stroll down with your own friends and have a pint, made for you right on site by the Hughes family, and of course also a burger from HayBaby, the food cart that lives out front. You'll find ColdFire Brewing at 263 Mill Street, Eugene.  I myself plan to be there on Wednesday evening for some beverage and vittles and some good chatter with fine friends in a lovely, welcoming space.  Perhaps I shall see you there!
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

BOOTH KELLY MAKERS MART - THIS FRIDAY

7/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Come on down to the inaugural Booth Kelly Makers Market this Friday, July 14 from 5-8 p.m.!  I will be there selling my wares (including new stuff!) and answering questions about my art.  There will be a variety of artists and other makers exhibiting and selling their work under the shelter of the old Booth Kelly mill.  The Market will be a stop on the Springfield Second Friday Artwalk, which starts at 5:30 at the Emerald Art Center.  A mighty fine excuse to have an stroll on a fine summer's evening, don't you think so?
Picture
0 Comments

NOISETTE show!

6/7/2017

0 Comments

 
Drawing of pastries, baguette, and strawberries.  Technical pen, colored pencil, and digital tomfoolery.  © 2017 Melinda R. Nettles
Yes, friends, I do think Noisette Pastry Kitchen deserves an exclamation point.  It is, no doubt, my favorite spot in Eugene for pastries and pie and cookies and, well... pretty much every culinary indulgence in the realm of baked goods.  And mighty fine savories too.  And tea.  And coffee. And such a lovely space and friendly owners and staff.  And and and.  

Which is why I am very pleased - very pleased indeed! - to tell you that  my paintings will be hanging there for the months of July and August.   

I hope you will get a chance to go down, get yourself a scrumptious Gibassier , my oh my, or just keep it simple with a perfect butter croissant, and hang out with my jackrabbits and goats and owls and suchlike, who will be the stars of the show!  Over on the right there are a couple of them, to tempt you in.  (Perhaps it is only me, but it seems nothing could be quite so nice as having French pastries with a jackrabbit. I wonder if those bunnies would enjoy a small sip or two of your Cafe au Lait?)
Painting of a goat, on a blue background.  Gouache and graphite.  © 2016 Melinda R. Nettles
Painting of a jackrabbit with some prickly-pear cactus and suchlike.  Watercolor and graphite.  © 2016 Melinda R. Nettles
0 Comments

WILDFLOWERS!

6/1/2017

2 Comments

 
Two Sundays back, I had such a delightful day. I spent it hawking my art-wares in a small tent, longish grass sprinkled with those little white lawn daisies and nice-smelling herby things beneath my feet, a small brook lined with willowy things and spring-green trees behind me, a temporary village of similar tents beside and before me, meadows of wildflowers and oaks beyond and, a little more distant, fir-covered slopes rising toward a miraculously sunny blue sky (in this valley of western Oregon these things indeed seem miraculous when one is at the end of the Gray Season).  In between the tents were festival-goers of all sorts: kids of all sizes, mamas and papas and grandparents, and oodles of other grown-ups solo and in groups, of all ages and dress.  Many were clad in flowery garments befitting the event: Mount Pisgah Arboretum's annual Wildflower Festival.  It's a nature-education themed day, with nature walks and talks, plus live music, food, native plant and art vendors.  It is a fund-raiser for this lovely open space reserve that, I'm told, has been held since the 1980s.  Now that's a nice long run!

​And no wonder.  I do declare, a celebration of wildflowers: what a good idea is that, no?  The main event is a hall filled with big long tables of every sort of wildflower you can imagine (photos below).  It's all stuff that grows around here, with labels that tell you what it is, if it's native or something else, and suchlike. It is beautiful, fascinating, and informative.  A real treat.  If you are local, and have not been, do go next year. You will be pleased you did, yes indeedy.

One of the things I love about this show is that the specimens are displayed in vases and jars of all shapes and sizes.  It is as if there was a call to all involved to bring every vase they had on the back shelves of the pantry, tucked up in the attic behind the Christmas decorations, up in the unreachable-cabinet above the fridge, next to the home-canned tomatoes in the larder, gathering dust beside the curious assortment of fasteners at the back of the workbench in the garage, nestled beside the hose-valve washers and other oddments in the potting shed, or tucked back behind the hen feed in that cubby behind the chicken house, and bring it on down on to loan for the day.  There is an individuality and humanity to the assortment of vessels that I find heartening.  It also makes for a good game of instant history... trying, for example, to invent the backstory for the green glass crystal-cut vase that reminds me somehow of being in my grandparents house in New Mexico, especially the pantry, and its cool concrete floor, its open screen door through which the smell of dry grass wafted, and its tall cabinet doors, painted in that 1950s forest-service green.  But I digress.

At any rate, it was such a delightful day; it was my first festival as an art vendor, and I am inclined to mark it down as a success!  I had such a nice time talking to browsers and buyers about the art and its subjects.  I chatted about art technique with lots fellow folk-who-draw-and-paint, which was good fun.  And so many of you who came through shared with me stories about goats and deserts and jackrabbits and fireflies, the current obsession - I mean focus -of my paintings.  

I was so nice to find that my paintings of critters and plant-scapes conjured memories for so many people.  Among other subjects, I got to chat about cholla (Cylindropuntia) and its stunning landscape (and the jackrabbits who live there) with people from the Sonoran desert of Arizona.  It is not every day that I get to talk about cholla; it's one of my favorite plants, with a reputation for grabbing people, who soon learn to steer clear.  I also learned, from festival-goers who grew up in the lands where fireflies roam, that there is a regional distinction in nomenclature: fireflies or lightning bugs, depending on where you grew up.  I am forgetting the lines of divide, but I shall make it a subject of survey at future festivals. (Perhaps someday I shall make an artsy map to show the distinct lightning-bug/firefly regions!)

So, I hope you enjoy the photos if you did not make it out this year.  And!  The fall equivalent, The Mount Pisgah Mushroom Festival is coming up on October 29th.  Imagine those tables filled with mushrooms instead of wildflowers, and you get the idea.  It is similarly fascinating and well worth a visit.  I plan to be there as a vendor, and hope to see you there!   
Photo of the wildflower display at the 2016 Mt. Pisgah Wildflower Festival.  Eugene/Springfield, OR.
The wildflower display 2016 Festival.
Photo of the wildflower display at the 2016 Mt. Pisgah Wildflower Festival.  Eugene/Springfield, OR.
More scenes from the wildflower display at the 2016 Festival.
Photo of sierra pea plant at the 2016 Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival, Eugene/Springfield, OR.
Lovely Sierra peas, at the 2016 Festival.
Photo of the big oaks and a meadow of wildflowers.  On set up day for the 2017 Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival.
Under the oaks, in the quiet morning before the crowds, on Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival day. Sunday 21 May 2017!
Detail photo of a meadow of wildflowers, 2017 Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival.
Wildflower meadow on the morning of the 2017 Wildflower Festival.
Photo of wildflower specimens in in various vases at the 2016 Mt. Pisgah Wildflower Festival.
Wildflower specimens in their various vessels, at the 2016 Wildflower Festival (not time to photograph them this year!).
Photo of Lewis' Mockorange (Philadelphus lewisii) at the 2016 Mt. Pisgah Wildflower Festival.
Lewis' Mockorange (Philadelphus lewisii), a shrub native to the Cascades, Willamette Valley, and Coast Range of Oregon, at the 2016 Festival.
Photo of Melinda Nettles' / LEAN2creativeworks booth at the 2017 Mt. Pisgah Wildflower Festival, Eugene/Springfield, OR.
My booth at the 2017 Wildflower Festival... not AT ALL a bad place to spend the day...
Picture
I arrived early, before the neighbors began to come. This was the scene... beautiful, quiet, serene. Glad to have gone early. Note that there was even a hawk there to help set the mood.
Photo of Smith's Fairybells, Fairy lanterns (Prosartes smithii), at the 2016 Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival, Eugene/Springfield, OR.
Smith's Fairybells, Fairy lanterns (Prosartes smithii), a lily native to the Cascades, Willamette Valley, and Coast Range of Oregon, at the 2016 Festival.
Photo of all sorts of buttercups at the 2016 Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival, Eugene/Springfield, OR.
All manner of different sorts of buttercups, at the 2016 Festival.
Photo of harsh paintbrush (castilleja hispida var. hispida) at the 2016 Mount Pisgah Wildflower Festival, Eugene/Springfield, OR.
Harsh paintbrush (Castilleja hispida var. hispida) at the 2016 Festival.
P.S.: I would like to send out a hearty thanks to some of the people who helped me make this first art show adventure a success.  Thanks to Juli Brode and Greg Slowik/Greg Slowik Design, for the loan of their drill press.  Thanks to Nancy and Boomer McNaught, of Boomer's Grilled Brats and More (...like jerkey. Yum.), for the loan of the green tent and instruction in its operation. Thanks to uncommonly fine land-people Bill & Carolyn for letting me test the operation in the back parking lot, helping me lug the tent in and out of the basement 68 times, and coming by to say hi on the day of the Festival.  And thank you to dear friends KT&GT, & KW, who came by to see me and buy a few things!  You warmed my heart.  Thanks y'all.
2 Comments

BRICKS & MORTAR ( COFFEE, TOO! )

12/2/2016

0 Comments

 
I am very happy to announce that my stickers and cards can now be purchased in person, at a real live brick & mortar location!  Yes friends, if you live in the Eugene-Springfield area, take a mosey over to the Washburne Cafe on Main Street in Springfield.  New owners Charlie Hester and Derek Weber have a nice little retail area featuring local folks' goods.

Get yourself a nice turkey-cranberry sandwich and a cappuccino, with a side of Farm Animals stickers.  And for desert? A cupcake and a box of holiday cards, of course!  Enjoy your tasty eats in this most-delightful historic building, in a nice bright and cheerful space with exposed brick walls, and tote home your happy purchases, all the while knowing you are supporting local businesses!  What could be more satisfying? 

P.S.: A packet of Farm Animals stickers would make a very nice Hanukkah gift, don't you think so?  And a small fireflies card or print, or a message of peace a very fine Hanukkah greeting?
Photo of a card featuring fieldmice watching a display of fireflies.
Interior of the Washburne Cafe, Springfield Oregon.
Retail area of the Washburne Cafe, Springfield Oregon.
Photo of card sets featuring flittering, twittering birds and a message of peace.
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Author

    Melinda Nettles, proprietor of Lean2creativeworks, an art and illustration studio still officially in Eugene, Oregon, but very soon to be located on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

    NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

    Archives

    September 2020
    May 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    December 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

LEAN2creative works  -  Eugene, OR  -  melinda@lean2creativeworks.com

© 2015-2017 - All rights reserved. - Melinda Nettles.