Art! Whimsy! Stuff!

Art making has been a personal practice I don't show off. Here I am correcting that. Sometimes I post results in bursts to instagram.  I'm about a year into using plants as craft materials and food as well. I reference some of that below. 

I've also got some interesting work on my Dribbble account. 

Strawberry. Collaboration with child. Mixed media including watercolor, brush marker, and colored pencil. 

Matilija Poppy drawn from my garden. This plant is 8 feet tall and grows so fast I use the pruned material as mulch. 

A random alien. 24 inches ish tall. Watercolor and brush markers.

A toloache. Watercolor on paper. 

In spending time with native plants and ecology I've become fascinated with ways to take advantage of the natural abundance these organisms provide. 

• Tea from Yerba Buena and Coyote Mint

• Cordage from Milkweed and Agave

• Cider from Manzanita berries

• Brushes and brooms from Panicled Willow Herb

Credit to Robin Wall Kimmerer, an indigenous botanist, who's work has so eloquently elevated and enumerated the idea of having a reciprocal relationship with nature. 

I recently spoke at an elementary school about native plants and indigenous plant use. I taught that nature is playful, tasty, textural, smelly and joyful. We talked about native plants and how they are used by native people (who are still here). The serious message behind the laughter is that ecosystems won't survive if we don't learn what native people know, that if we take care of nature it will take care of us.

We learned about oaks, manzanitas, poppies, and more. We played with plants, rope made with milkweed stalks, spoons carved from wood, purple sage leaves dried and cow parsnip ground for spice. We cracked open california poppy roots that look like carrots and gave them a whiff.

Most of the plants came from my garden, and any others came from friends and family. All were harvested with respect to tradition in ways that encourages plants to regrow.