Wedding Invitation

Flowers & Wheat in a Mason Jar

As I painted this most recent flowers in a mason jar invitation, I was thinking about the beauty that wheat brings to the Midwest.  The image of gently rolling golden fields is fantastically familiar.  It also called to mind the first line of Carl Sandburg's Chicago poem, " HOG Butcher for the World,
 Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
 Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
 Stormy, husky, brawling,
 City of the Big Shoulders..."  That poem so delights me, I thought I would share it here. 

CHICAGO

Carl Sandburg
     HOG Butcher for the World,
     

Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
     

Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
     

Stormy, husky, brawling,
     

City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
     

have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
     

luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
     

is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
     

kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
     

faces of women and children I have seen the marks
     

of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
     

sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
     

and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
     

so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
 job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
     

little soft cities;

Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
     

as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
          

Bareheaded,
          

Shoveling,
          

Wrecking,
          

Planning,
          

Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
     

white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
     

man laughs,
 Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
     

never lost a battle,
 Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
     

and under his ribs the heart of the people,
               

Laughing! 
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
     

Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
     

Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
     

Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

What does the image of wheat call to mind for you?

Western Avenue Series

Mile 7:74th-66th Street

This sketch is a part of my Western Avenue Series, through which I'll be making 24 watercolor paintings, one to document each mile of Western Avenue, in Chicago.  I started this project because while it is not considered to be among the most “beautiful” of Chicago’s streets, Western Avenue is a perfect place to document the humanness of Chicago, the positive and the negative. In the words of Stuart Dybek, "Western, with apologies to State Street, is a great street,  Unlike State, it is a street that goes to the interior, the heart of the city, as it glides and glows through a United Nations of neighborhoods."  Check back next Monday to see the painting completed based on this sketch.

This mile is a vibrant portion of Western.  The street is narrower here than in portions of the Avenue which lie further north.  There are a lot of businesses along this stretch--restaurants, including Fat Johnnie's Red Hots Famous Red Hots featured in the painting for this mile, hardware stores, and convenience stores are abundant.  This is the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, sometimes called Marquette Park because of the 600 acre park located in the neighborhood.

While Western Avenue doesn't traverse Marquette Park, I was delighted to learn more about the park, which is located near to this stretch.  The park is part of the plans for an entire system of 14 new parks developed in 1903 by the Olmsted Brothers (landscape architects).  As a Chicagoan, I am in constant awe of the ambition of this plans--it's extraordinary to explore the parks and marvel at the beauty and sheer size of the places designed by the Olmsted Brothers.  

Marquette Park is the largest of the southwest side parks.  It is bounded by 67th and 71st Streets to the north and south, and California and Central Park to the east and west.  It's a 600-acre sprawl of green real estate, beautifully maintained, that includes soccer and baseball fields, a 9-hole golf course and a bridge and lagoon.  In fact, the lagoon is featured in "The Blues Brothers" movie.  Jake and Elwood forced Nazi demonstrators off a bridge into the Marquette Park lagoon.


Have you visited Marquette Park?

Other Projects

Postcards to Politicians
A few weeks ago, while having dinner with a friend, she was lamenting our sluggishness in the area of political activism.  I could not disagree. 

As a college student, I began thinking critically about our world and was moved to become an active participant in the political process--protesting, being a vocal advocate for issues of importance to me, and writing to politicians.  As I enter my 30s, I find that my enthusiasm for such political action is diminished.  The busyness of daily life and the regularity the workplace has lulled me into inaction.  As someone who sincerely cares about living a life of intention, with attention to social justice, I think it is important to be an active participant in our political process.

When I asked my friend what she thought we should do to combat our lack of political involvement, she said, "I don't know, maybe write more letters to politicians."  And so, I will.  My goal is to write a postcard to a politician each week on a topic of importance to me.  Frankly, it feels a bit meaningless, but it also feels valuable and an act of intention.  Gandhi said it well, "You may think your actions are meaningless and that they won't help, but that is no excuse, you must still act."

Since I'm a watercolor painter each of these postcards will feature a quick painting.  Perhaps receiving a piece of original art in the mail will catch the eye of the staffer who sorts mail from constituents.  My solitary letters will be mailed away to my U.S. and state representatives, my senators, my alderman, my governor, my president.  Won't you join me, I know it seems pointless, but you must still act.

Any types for effective communication with our elected officials?

Featured Artist

Harry Stooshinoff

Harry Stooshinoff has been painting, showing, and selling for over 30 years and he divides his time between painting and teaching.  He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, a Master of Fine Arts, and a Bachelor of Education.     

Mr. Stooshinoff describes his work in this way, "When I was a boy growing up in Saskatchewan, I used to look far into the distance and wish I had more trees around me....to protect me and make the place feel less empty.     

     Now I have lots of trees around me, but I still like to look very far into the distance. 

It's a big, NOISY world...
So I make small, quiet paintings...

It makes a certain kind of sense."

Landscape Painting, March 30, 2010, 7.25"x6.5," Harry Stooshinoff 

"I wander the hills just north of Lake Ontario.

.....the end of March....went out like a lamb.....dry and warm."

Landscape Painting, Back Acres, 7.25"x6.5," 2010, Harry Stooshinoff 

".....the tree line forms the back property line....a very dry early spring day...the brilliant light of afternoon."

Landscape Painting, Forest Exit, 7.25"x6.5," 2010, Harry Stooshinoff

"....mid afternoon...exiting a large forest reserve....deserted country roads on a perfect summer day."

Summer, Field, 7.25"x6.5," 2010, Harry Stooshinoff

"......walking down a road I don't usually take....late afternoon with the blue hills in the distance."

Many thanks to Harry Stooshinoff for sharing his beautiful paintings.

What do you think of this series of intimate small landscapes?

Wedding Invitation

Wild Flowers in a Mason Jar
This new invitation design features another variation on the flowers and mason jar theme I have explored in recent invitations.  This design was created for a couple who will marry in a Sadorus, a village in rural Illinois, with a population of 416 people. 

Wild flowers in a mason jar seem the ideal decor for an elegant wedding in a small town, on a summer evening.  

Christina of Intimate Weddings.com describes mason jars as "the unsung heroes of weddingland."  On that website there is an article describing how to make DIY flower bouquets in hanging mason jars.  So, many fantastic combination of flowers and perhaps many more possibilities for invitation designs. 

What do you use mason jars for?

Western Avenue Series

Mile 6: 82nd-74th Street

This painting is a part of my Western Avenue Series, through which I'll be making 24 watercolor paintings, one to document each mile of Western Avenue, in Chicago.  I started this project because while it is not considered to be among the most “beautiful” of Chicago’s streets, Western Avenue is a perfect place to document the humanness of Chicago, the positive and the negative. In the words of Stuart Dybek, "Western, with apologies to State Street, is a great street,  Unlike State, it is a street that goes to the interior, the heart of the city, as it glides and glows through a United Nations of neighborhoods."  Check back next Monday to see a post about the next mile of Western.

 

The painting representing this mile is of the abandoned Woodman Lanes Bowling alley.  While many portions of Western are not conventionally beautiful, lined with industrial buildings, fast food restaurants, and car dealerships, the Avenue still feels economically viable and well trafficked.  This mile, while still showing some signs of vitality, it feels more uninhabited than the regions which lay south in Beverly and the miles, which are further north.  There is a charm that remains even as this bowling alley crumbles, the giant bowling ball and pin that adorn the sign leaving us to wonder about the hay day of Woodman Lanes.


Click here to purchase this painting.

What is your favorite bowling alley? 

Other Projects

Custom Design Map

I recently completed a commissioned project.  It was a delightful undertaking.  I designed a custom map for a couple who was married in and is living in Baltimore.  As frequent readers of this blog know, I'm an enthusiastic supporter of Baltimore.  Having lived in the city, for a couple of years, I fell in love.  So it was a delighted to recall familiar neighborhoods and favorite spots as I executed the map.

The map is a digital design, which will be printed as a 24"x30" poster at a local art store using their high quality printing process.  The map depicts Baltimore's 225+ neighborhoods.  It also features digital sketches of the couple's favorite Baltimore spots--restaurants, bars, the place they were married.  

I was rather captivated by this idea, an extension of some of the wedding maps I have designed.  I hope I will have the opportunity to complete more of these custom maps.  It also got me thinking about future projects I would like to complete--perhaps, a series of maps documenting the places that tell the story of a person's life in a place--the places where a person lives and works, their favorite hidden places to visit, the place they fall in love or have their hearts broken.  

What would be on your custom designed map?