My Summer Heart
A collection of pieces, glimmers of beauty, that help to tell the story of a difficult time.
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In August, my young, healthy daughter had a stroke. As a mom, it was without a doubt the most difficult thing I have ever been through. Three very intense months later, with the support of family and friends, things are so much better – she has worked with amazing therapists and doctors, and she is well on her way to making a full recovery.
I’m sharing this with you because it feels impossible to share my new collection of work without talking about where it came from. For the past year or so, I have been making art more quietly, spending a lot of time figuring out how to expand on my botanical work. One way has been printmaking, and in August I started working on a series of flowers from my garden. The first linoleum block I was working on, a Cosmos, was interrupted when I got the call about my daughter. For the next nearly three months, I went back and forth between Michigan and North Carolina. I sketched flowers from both of our gardens and created a series of lino prints.
This series of nine limited-edition prints, My Summer Heart, is one part of the story and part of the progression and expansion of my work.
NasturtiumsintheEdible FlowerGardenA favorite to sketch and to eat. They thrived, spilling over the garden bed, greeting me with abundant flowers on my trips home over the summer and into the fall.
Fern SeasonWhen I moved to the Midwest and my daughters moved to the South, we began talking about the seasons not as winter, spring, summer, and fall, but as the name of a plant you were likely to see on someone’s porch. So late spring is actually called fern season in our family, something we all get very excited about! And this year, as I traveled back and forth between North Carolina and Michigan, the ferns hanging on our porches made creating this piece seamless.
CelosiaI didn’t grow any Celosia this year, but Kelsea did, and they cheerfully greeted us every time we came home — bright pink, soft, and spiky.
Strawflower for Always
Each delicate, papery bloom was like finding a gift among the weeds.
ZinniaSeason
Zinnia Season is a favorite in our family. And apparently they were also a fave of the critters that had free access the the garden all summer. I didn’t have many, but the ones that made it were stunning.
September Fresh
Daisies always feel so fresh, so having new, white blooms appear through the weedy grasses in the garden in September felt extra special this year.
Hibiscusat Home
This one surprised me. This Hibiscus has been growing in my garden since before I moved in, and honestly, I never paid much attention to it. But this year, while I was traveling between North Carolina and Michigan, I noticed it was blooming in my daughter’s garden too, and I loved being able to work on the sketch and the block wherever I was.
Cosmos Interrupted
I was working on this piece when my daughter had her stroke. It sat unfinished for nearly a month, and when I returned and finished it, I noticed a slightly crooked corner, which felt about right. This is probably my favorite print in the collection, because coming back to it marked a moment when I knew things would be okay.
A Midsummer'sCutting Garden
A midsummer’s peek into the garden. A moment when the sweet peas were still blooming, the Cosmos and Gomphrena were at their peak, and the first Dahlias were starting to open.
