Hi there, everybody!!
Yep, it’s been a while. I’ve missed you folks dearly. Now... is it just me, or has this year been a bit surreal? What started for me as a mini break led to a multi-month sabbatical from drawing. I’ve come to realize that solitude is paramount for my well being. Time in the garden, going away on little trips, taking hot baths, walking the dogs — plus spending time with my daughter before taking her to college — these absorbed me and nourished me, as the call to create eluded me. I decided to stay in the peaceful flow. And I feel refreshed like never before!
I refer to being quiet as “protecting my peace.”
Apparently I needed more peace than I realized.
Did you feel this way at all? Just needed time to be.
Power Poppy is still in biz, and while the blog is quiet for now, there is more goodness on the horizon. The Bloomies and I hope to see lots more of you in the coming months! And guess what, I made some new art.
I’ve got new downloads that you can color in, and new downloads that are already colored — they are my original paintings prepared for you to print out at home.
I have a story about how these drawings came to be...
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| Tallulah & Mom in NYC |
My daughter Tallulah (after she graduated high school in June, Lulu decided to ditch the nickname we gave her as a baby, and use her real name!) and I drove her to college halfway across the country. It was a wonderful, memorable experience. As any of you who’ve gone through it know, the feelings are allllll over the place.
After I returned from New York, I found myself in an introspective spiral. Taking lots of walks and even more hot baths, or basically staring in to space. Really the only thing that felt “right” was sending her letters. Not just any old letter, though, I stuffed envelopes thick with a pretty card and long note, newspaper clippings, stickers, photos, quirky things from around the house. And each time, I’d make a special piece of artwork with an inspiring quote. Something to help her feel loved and not too lonely, to remind her that she's on the learning adventure of a lifetime. That if she’s too sad, that this is really only an experiment, it lasts just a few months, then you are home for break! If she’s nervous, I remind her that she’s highly capable and she's GOT this. I mean, if anyone has GOT this, she does. (Maybe I should have had her running my business, she doesn’t ever seem to need to take a big ol' break!)
I researched writings of all types, hoping to get inspiration from people wiser than I, to share with my daughter. In the course of doing all of this, I kept coming across words that I knew needed to be shared with a broader audience. Pretty convenient that I have a place to share stuff like this, eh?
On a walk with my husband Doug and our dogs, we came across an Ohio Buckeye tree in our neighborhood. I know what a buckeye seed looks like, but I’d never seen them hanging from the tree! What a crazy sight, heavy, bulky globes, some half-open, revealing the buckeye seed within. Buckeyes were all over the ground, so I put a few in my pocket.
Folklore says that carrying a buckeye in your pocket is good luck. I’d already jotted down an insightful quote from the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca, “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity” in my sketchbook during my research — what a great quote. Now to have found buckeyes to go with the quote? Pretty serendipitous if you ask me. Decided to make a little painting to pop into one of Tallulah’s cards. (Somehow I juxtaposed the two most important words... where is my mind lately?)
After this exercise, I got to thinking... what other bits of flora (not just flowers, but seeds, fruits, vegetables, and trees) have symbolism like that of the buckeye? I wracked my brain for a bit... and there really is soooo much, but since we’re approaching fall, I decided to focus on Figs, Apples, and Gourds, in addition to Buckeyes. Some of what I found out:
Apples are associated with Knowledge
Figs are associated with Enlightenment
Gourds are associated with Plenty
Buckeyes are associated with Good Luck
I looked up loads of quotes along the lines of each of these themes, and decided to create a botanical image of each piece of Folklore Flora and hand lettered a quote for each one. It turned out pretty neat!
I decided to create an outline of each of these drawings so that YOU can color and create with them yourself — and send them off to someone who needs a mental lift. There is some weighty thought wrapped up here... but the sentiments I’ve included go really great with each theme...
Here is the downloadable set that comes with a TON of options...
AND for the first time ever — I’m offering my artwork as individual full color paintings! Thought it might be fun to see what you guys might want to do with them... you can print the images out on watercolor paper and frame them, or create cards with your papers and embellishments. Whatever you want — just so they aren’t sold and mass marketed or uploaded to Pinterest, pleeeeaaaase. :)
A few of our amazing designers — haven't you missed them?? OMG I have!! — created beautiful things with my new Folklore Flora digital downloads. Be sure to go say hello and check ’em out!
Leave me a note and let me know how you’ve been, what you’re up to, and what you’d like to see in the future from Power Poppy!
Thank you so much — it’s fun to be back!!
