The Orange County Artists Guild is a non-profit organization seeking to increase the visibility and recognition of area artists and crafts people.

Early this spring I came upon these marsh grasses and loved how they danced in the breezes along the path. I tend to look to nature for inspiration and these colors and sounds sparked my imagination into suggesting a new series of pieces inspired by acoustic guitar or bluegrass while the grasses inspired the colors. Pulling out my favorite travel tools of watercolors, pips crayola markers, and pencil. I find a comfy chair, settle my watercolor pad onto my lap and pull up tunes featuring acoustic guitar…and begin. I start by listening to a piece a couple of times and…

As I become more aware of native plants especially with an enormous wildlife value, I tread carefully in my unmanicured backyard discovering precious gems. I have learned to observe and document them carefully in watercolor. This is blue eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) which actually belongs in the Iris family. It stands about 10” tall with bright blue flowers attracting hummingbirds, butterflies and a variety of iridescent insects. This is woodland poppy(Stylophorum diphylum) beautiful bright sunshine yellow. Another of nature’s gift to butterflies and bees. Let them be and they will spread beautifully. They are one of spring’s first debutantes beckoning…

For the past few weeks, we have been experiencing the constant whirring of cicadas, as they break through their exoskeletons and emerge in their adult forms to take to the air. For some of us this cacophony is annoying, but it is music to my ears as it signals the availability of cicada sheds - that exoskeleton part that is left behind. For several years I have been using the sheds in my sculptural work. Different types of cicadas hatch on different schedules, so I usually find some every year, though not the abundance we are currently experiencing. The image above…