Violet

“These will be so great for a Mother’s Day post!” Maggie crowed after I sent her my first drawings of some spring ephemerals that we hope to use for a collaborative project. In short, I’ve done the drawings and the plan is that Maggie (and Charlotte) will produce letterpress cards from them.

I was genuinely excited to get to these drawings after finishing a commission that had dominated my time. (I’m not complaining.) First, the “spring ephemerals”–those most delicate and stalwart of flowers that are the first to show their faces in the woods—were just about to be past their brief, blooming peak. Second, few things delight me more than to find these harbingers of the change from Iowa’s punishing winters to glorious spring.

Dutchman’s Britches

I did many drawings. The Dutchmen’s Britches were the most problematic, and caused me to conclude that it was best to render of each plant only as much as you might furtively pinch off in a woods that is not your own.

Oh, and Mother’s Day is BEFORE the Marion Arts Festival. Our jewelry, pottery and glass make particularly wonderful gifts that no other mother but yours can receive!

It’s high summer in Iowa. The restored tall grass prairie that my pup, Buddy, and I jog through daily is teeming with life, scents, sounds, and color. Likewise, our own Karen Hoyt’s flowerbeds are in vigorous bloom. So weekly I’m greeted by the happy sight of Karen coming through our front door bearing armfuls of the vividly colored bounty of her horticultural zeal.

It seems to be true that this time of year always lures me from long-term studio projects. Each day yields, instead, a small drawing of a seasonal wildflower poached during the aforementioned morning run. On Monday, Buddy and I came home with a coneflower- last Thursday it was one of those stalwart, orange day lilies. They are so common in roadside ditches, yet so spectacularly remarkable as I observe them in the process of drawing.

Coneflower drawing, Priscilla Steele

That itch to draw something that is a part of our days is a universal impulse, and I was delighted to open a package from my own Maggie. (Maggie, who grew up with my etching press in our living room!) Among my favorite things in this latest package from Campbell Raw Press, were “perfect bound journals”- just $16.50- the perfect gift! Letterpress prints of Maggie’s drawings enliven the cover of these small blank books. It’s just a little bit of Maggie at a wee price! Hope to see you soon!

How am I going to keep Maggie Campbell’s “Snow Angel” cards in stock? If you’ve ever lived where there’s snow, you’ve engaged in this activity. A charming line contour drawing of the universal child
lies amidst the debossed form of the snow angel.