BUGS!!! Exhibit open through September 21

It’s been a very buggy time around here. Once you become aware of something, it is everywhere, and so it is with insects for me. Since getting to know Lauren, entomology has started to creep in on me, and it continues with the BUGS!!! exhibit at the Arts of Life. Mike Caskel From assemblage to collage to […]

Insects at the Field Museum

photo copyright Maike's Marvels

Our drawing ‘final’ was a day in the Zoology Department at the Field Museum of Natural History. We were greeted by Entomology Collections Manager James Boone, who is featured in this lovely video. We spent two hours just oohing and aahing over the drawers we were given access to, and took many photo records. Luna […]

I can draw!

photo copyright Maike's Marvels

“I am a firm believer in drawing as a way of understanding the world. Drawing is thinking.” ~ Milton Glaser Over the past month I’ve been taking Lauren Levato‘s Botanical, Butterflies and Beetles drawing workshop. You may have noticed that although I took a drawing class in February last year, no drawings have emerged since […]

Other People’s Words

Today I will link you to the words of my friends who have fabulous insights that resonate with me. LifeUnity offers a great perspective that is a breather from the six-figure lifestyle hype we hear all the time.  “I feel successful because I began with awareness, not with expectation. I am aware of my own […]

Bug Fest opens tonight, and appreciating dragonflies

May and June were abuzz with dragonflies, which has inspired me for new projects. I love the blues, such as this Northern Bluet Damselfly and the Twelve-spotted Skimmer. You can appreciate all kinds of insects this weekend and through September 21, at the BUGS!!! Exhibit. Tonight marks the first evening of Bug Fest—a tribute in […]

Making a fascinator headband

On Tuesday, I attended the Crowns, the Gospel Musical with my friends, and with the theme being hats, we decided to adorn our heads as well. Since I tend to have trouble finding hats (they’re always to big on me), I opted for a fascinator  instead. A vintage store told me fascinators are “a modern, British Royal […]

Gallivanting

 Even though gallivanting takes on a connotation of ‘goofing off,’ it is also cultivating relationships, pondering my business strategies, and soaking up new information to utilize as life progresses. I am working while having fun, which is what pursuing one’s passion is all about. One friend hosted a fabulous gratitude party for a new […]

studio time and another upcoming show

I’m back in the studio again, yippie. Since taking a variety of workshops over the spring, I have not spent time making encaustic pieces. It doesn’t mean I haven’t created anything. I learned encaustic techniques from Bridgette Guerzon Mills, Crystal Neubauer and Shawna Moore; bound books at the Chicago Print Collaborative, had two sessions of […]

Steeping

So I went to Geneva laden with stationery to hand-write letters, drawing homework, and a small project idea. Little did I know that the minute I would step into my Herrington Spa & Inn hotel room, I would be enveloped in a cloud of relaxation, that had me forget all about work, to-do lists, and […]

retreating

“Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation,  for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer.  Go some distance away because then  the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance  and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.” […]

Verified by MonsterInsights