Overhead view of the Skagit PUD Water Treatment Plant at Judy Reservoir. I completed this artwork in January, 2014, as a part of an extensive illustration/mapping job for the Skagit PUD. Maps intrigue us with their symbolic nature, their color schemes, and their helpfulness in our wayfinding. This map was done with pen, ink and watercolor. Most labels for the map above are being added digitally rather than being handlettered.

Preparing to teach my Artful Map class which will be held for the fourth year from June 20-22 up at the North Cascades Institute Environmental Learning Center is a pleasure for many reasons. One: because I never fail to be awed by what the participants create in what is essentially a 48 hour period, I look forward to meeting them. Two: I always take note of what worked well the previous year and enhance that for the current year's curriculum. Fresh techniques are added, and others discarded. Three: for me personally, being up at the Learning Center is always an exceptional experience in and of itself. I never tire of singing its praises. 

This class is now full. To review the work done in previous Artful Map classes, please click here. This will take you to a long, scrollable column that includes my own map assignment work and workshop reviews with many photos of students' work. 

I will be posting a review of this map workshop within two weeks. Thank you for your interest!

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In April, after a winter of no egg-laying happening in my girls' coop, the eggs started to appear. Being four years old this spring, the hens were supposed to be pretty much done with laying, or so all the despairing jumped-on-the-backyard-chicken-trend writers were saying. Not so with my three. To keep track of their production, I decided to have a little fun and design a way to visually monitor this unexpected abundance! Here you go:

Calendar form was drawn in pencil, and then inked in with a pointed pen. A very casual pen script was added along with freely written versal letters for the days of the week. I cut a little egg eraser stamp and used three colors of brown stamp pads for distinguishing who laid eggs on which day.