How this came to be:

There's a little lavender studio in a little mid-century house in a little suburban Maryland town. This is where I go to work, but work is really play. My "work" is the mingling of imagination and observation. It is color. It is whimsy and dreams. My "work" is this thing called art and The Lavender Whim came to be so that I could do more of it.

I was five when my neighbor, a professional painter, pulled a little easel up next to his in our shared midwestern driveway and handed me a paintbrush. I was 16 when I founded the art club at my high school. I was 19 when I left art school to marry a soldier and travel the world. I was 30 when I received my degree in creative writing and spent my time painting with words, which turned out to only be part of the equation for my creative soul. It was a few years after that when I realized that an authentic life...one filled with the kind of moments that I wanted to be remembered for and that would breathe richness into my time on earth, was a life where I was making art. I left my office job...my 8x8 plot in cubicle land. I set out to live to the tips of my fingers, not just the tops of my shoulders. This means nurturing the heirloom tomatoes that vine and ripen in my garden, raising the fluffy little chicks that grow up to be my backyard laying hens, encouraging the two children that bring me laughter and much of the inspiration for my art. It means adventures and travel with my best friend (aka husband) and culinary experimentation in my cozy little kitchen. It means indulging in the writing of other poets and stringing words to make my own. It means sunny trail rides with my retired racehorse and games of fetch with a sprightly red-and-white spaniel.

How I work:

Every item that you purchase from The Lavender Whim is born in my imagination. I am a the curious sort and I love to explore, travel and take in all of the many inspirations that the world provides. When I get an idea for a card or other product, I start with a sketch. Sometimes it takes several versions of that sketch before I am satisfied. The sketch then goes to my light box, where I transfer the drawing to hot-press watercolor paper. I then begin to add color. I love layering watercolor and oftentimes my paintings will have very vibrant color built up over many dozens of layers. Depending on the vision that I have in my head, I sometimes add shading and/or detail with watercolor pencil and gouache. Once a painting is completed I scan it with a very sensitive home scanner and bring it into Adobe Photoshop. I touch up any artifacts that appear on the scan and then format the painting for print. After I have meticulously set-up the print file for whatever product I am creating, I send the file digitally to my preferred digital printing partner, who prints my product onto the type of high-quality paper that I have selected for the project. Upon delivery of my products, I check the print for color vibrancy and proper alignment. After this quality control check, I carefully fold greeting cards, pair them with an envelope and package them. Any item with a rounded corner is cut here in the studio. Egg carton and canning jar labels are also cut here in the studio prior to packaging. Your item is then packaged (by me!) for shipment and delivered (by me!) to my local post office. From its very conception to the arrival of a The Lavender Whim package in your mailbox, each product is created with the care that you expect of artisanal goods.

As a freelance illustrator it is my joy to let some of my imagination out to roam the world via the stationery, home goods and custom artwork that I offer here on Etsy. Thank you for stopping in!