Wormy McNetter

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/wormy-mcnetter-her-garden/id1065076386?ls=1&mt=11

The link above will take you to my digital book, Wormy McNetter!
This story of garden friends dressed up in cozy winter clothes is actually a lesson about using beneficial bugs in the landscape instead of harmful chemicals to control populations of not so beneficial pests. Lets all do what we can to protect the health of our soil and our planet!

To create this book, I used drawings superimposed over photographs of my garden. Drawings were first rendered with markers and then I snapped pictures with my iPad. I used the app Procreate to refine the drawings further, and then imported the photo backgrounds. I used layers masks to create the final images. The book itself was put together in Book Creator, and then did final editing and submissions using iBooks Author and iTunes Producer.  

Fun products with the characters can be found on my Zazzle store! http://www.zazzle.com/selenium1/products

Synchronicity Art Pieces

Here are some shots of the paintings I did for the Synchronicity show!

In order they are titled: Birds and Bees, Flowers and Trees, the Third Eye Sees, Synchronicities. The process (detail shots below) was to first draw unique borders on each one that related to the subject. I used watercolor resist on the pencil lines and then water colored the background. Next, I removed the resist and erased all of the pencil work. I used pencil and ink and sometimes a little bit of acrylic to draw/paint the imagery. They all share gold stars and feathers.

Elemental Sisterhood 2015: Synchronicity

It has been two years since we last convened, and this time there are three of us collaborating in the show. This time our theme is "Synchronicity".
We wanted to engage the greater community and so decided that we would invite people to decorate flags for some bunting that would be strewn throughout our show. Not sure how it would go, we were amazed at all of the different types of folks that came to contribute their creativity.

A little bit about synchronicity, and in our own words:

Synchronicity

Synchronicity is a concept created by psychiatrist Carl Jung, which holds that events are "meaningful coincidences" if they occur with no apparent causal relationship, yet seem to be meaningfully related. Jung's belief was that, just as events may be connected by causality, they may also be connected by meaning. When meeting for the first time this year to discuss the possibility of another Elemental Sisterhood group show, the artists, Cynthia Huerta, Maggie Tello-Case and Selena Wilson, discovered that they all had many thoughts, events and occurrences seemingly coinciding with each other, as well as similar feelings about what they each wanted to explore in their art for the show. A strong sense of connectedness emerged and ideas seemed to cascade and overlap with each other, even though the artists had not actually spoken for some time. After that initial meeting, all three felt a strong affinity for the word “Synchronicity” to describe what they were experiencing and the theme of the show was born. Below, each artist gives voice to their thoughts on Synchronicity in terms of the show and their art.

Cynthia Huerta

Lately life has been about everything falling into place and synching together. This collaborative show has been an experience that has reestablished my belief in women working together in a positive and encouraging environment. To me "Synchronicity" is a show that brings everything around me in full circle. Where the past and present meet to form a union of the upmost sincerity.

Maggie Tello-Case

Having worked with these artists before, I knew that we were all capable of working very well together and creating something special; when we met to discuss plans for the show, we all were delighted and a bit taken aback at how easily ideas seemed to come together.  We all had very similar feelings about where we each were in our lives emotionally and as artists, so we decided to explore that sense of connected experiences in the theme of our show. What has resulted is very much a labor of love, not only love for each other but also for our community.

Selena Wilson

Synchronicity is the universe’s way of letting us know we are on the right path and that everything is interconnected. When I notice little synchronicities in my life it is a comfort and reassurance. Working together in collaboration with the community, and with my elemental sisters, I was curious to see what imagery emerged that would reflect our shared consciousness.

Earth Day 2015

Happy Earth Day! I wrote this "Pledge of Allegiance" last year. Share if you agree! :)

Bees!

It was two years ago while I was on Spring break when I got a wild hair. I called my friend Bob (who is a third generation bee keeper and former farmer) to ask if he knew where I could get my own bee hive. "You're in luck!" he said. Apparently, just the week before his neighbor complained to code enforcement about Bob's backyard bees. They had claimed nuisance before. So Bob, who just acquired his newest swarm the week before that when they landed (as they do every year) on a tree in his yard, was already wondering what to do with his beloved bees.

He stuffed a paper towel into the hive box opening that night when they were all inside, and drove them in the cab of his truck just before sunrise the next morning 25 miles to my house. I had the spot all set up for him to plop the box (gently!) onto. He pulled the towel out and we ran!

I watched them as they slowly acclimated and then began flying off to do their thing. This hive colony has been strong and healthy since then. I absolutely love my bees! I have learned a lot, and continue to learn each time I mess with them. 

I sit and watch their beehavior. 

My little honeybee on the lavender.

Honeycomb:

Although I learned from my bee mentors that I should put wires in the frames (to help them build the comb) and to buy wax foundation (factory made wax sheets for the bees to build off of), I naturally have forged my own path. I figured, "the bees probably know how to build their comb , who am I to enforce some factory made design upon their instincts". Plus, I am not too big on doing all this organic honey thing only to begin the whole process with something made in a factory with who knows what inside of it. Therefore, my bees make their own wax that miraculously seems to stay in place without wires. Sometimes the comb is stuck together between frames, but I'm not complaining. Neither are my bees. I think its healthier to trust in their instincts for building how they need to build. When you give them a wax pre-fab, the size and shape of all of their cells becomes dictated. They copy it like a template. So I let them do the designing.

For the love of honaaaaaaay

I have my O.G. deep hive, my regular super, and a mini-super on top of that. I just take honey from the top super, figure they make babies in the bottom one and store honey in the middle one. This is what you call "bearding". They do this for a number of reasons: overcrowding, temperature control, preparing to swarm.

Harvest from April 2015. Three mini super frames and one regular super frame.

Rendered wax. I have made lip balms out of it. I refine the left over mash after straining honey from the comb.

My fancy extraction method...

casualty, collateral damage

One of my first harvests before I got my supers. This frame is from the deep hive.