Original art, close to home

Hey all -- Happy Monday! It's a great Monday for me, since it's the beginning of vacation, woo! I'm staying close to home this week, and doing a little camping too. I can't wait for swimming, campfires and s'mores (as long as the weather cooperates....fingers crossed!).

I know I've promised a few projects, so I'm sorry to say I'm still working on them... In the meantime, I wanted to show off some art I bought when I went to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens a few weeks ago. The artist herself was there and explained how she pressed plants between plates of plexiglass coated with ink and put them through a printing press, making prints called monotypes. I loved flipping through her work -- some were vibrant and fun, while others were moodier and almost ghostly.

I had a hard time picking one, but I settled on this print in shades of green and brown.

I liked the colors and the tangled mass of roots still attached to the plant, which she said is a colt's foot. The white outline develops around the more raised parts of the plant, since they don't lay quite flat and the ink doesn't reach all the way. It's definitely unusual and almost a little alien-looking, but really intriguing, I think. I chose it because I've never seen anything like it.

The artist is Anne Metcalfe, and she doesn't have a website, but you can read more about her work here.

She's really passionate about getting young people into original art, and she was so excited to sell art to anyone under 50, she said, she actually gave it to me for nearly half price! I'd love to buy more original art -- I love the idea of supporting local artists, and she showed me that it doesn't take a big investment to buy a piece of unique art. Being able to hear first-hand how something was made...that is just so cool! I hope to buy more local art as I can.

This piece is now part of a larger project I cannot wait to show you...but it's not done yet (surprise). In the meantime, here's a sneak peek!

I'll leave you with a picture of my new little soon-to-be sacrifice to the plant gods buddy. I picked this bird's nest fern up to replace my poor jade plant; I figured it was an appropriate choice, since the pot has birds on it. Isn't it crazy and neat?

This poor little guy has no idea what he's in for...

Here's the best part:

Hopefully this means I can keep it alive longer than the jade... :)