Sweet Peas and Poppies

A fanciful garden painting

Sweet Peas and Poppies

Hello, lovely

An Artist's Notes

followers and subscribers! Thank you for being here on what is a gloriously sunny cool Spring day here in my little corner of Oregon.

I’ve been a busy beaver (although not as busy as the beaver who is making a pond down the road from me.)

This morning, I assisted in the planting of pea starts in the garden. (Please be warm enough, little peas!) I then continued to enjoy the day with a long run through the forest, where I spotted fawn lilies, trilliums, and this lovely little iris (which will soon become my drawing of the day).

Wild Iris

I’m relieved that my long runs are finally getting a bit easier, and I can finally spend my time thinking about art projects instead of trying to simply keep my legs moving. (Have I told you yet that I’m training to run a marathon with my husband in December? My last one was more than 10 years ago, so yeah, I’m starting over with my endurance training.)

Today I was thinking about what more I can offer here - especially for those few brave souls who decided to support my writing with a paid subscription. I’m pretty excited about some of the ideas that popped into my head as I trudged up and down the hiking trails. I think that means I have you all to thank for getting me through my workout!

In the meantime, I thought I’d just share my fanciful garden painting, “Sweet Peas and Poppies” from several years ago (above), painted back when I used to rent a strange little attic studio in a lovely women’s dormitory owned by even lovelier people (who fixed the window shortly after this photo so that I actually had a beautiful garden view of the grounds.)

Over the years, I’ve learned (or, let’s be honest, I still have to remind myself) that it’s not the studio environment, location, education, or materials that make the artist (even as I may lust after those magazine-spread images of glorious artist studios with all the equipment and supplies they could possibly need).

We create wherever we can.

Imagination is all you need.

~ Jennifer

p.s. Just a little housekeeping - as I dream up what’s next for this Substack newsletter, I will continue to write for anyone who is inclined to read it - paid subscriber or not. The next few weeks, however, may be missed due to upcoming events, projects, and travel.