More Puzzle News

In January, as work continued on my WV map painting,

I was sure I’d found the company

to manufacture the puzzles, so

I ordered a puzzle from them

and it came in this box…

with this very cool paper packaging tape.

I loved that tape (and their puzzle) so much…

I was sure this was the company for me…

until I read “Made in China” on the back of the puzzle box.

“I’ll bet that packaging tape was made in China, too,” I fumed.

Some things are not negotiable:

my puzzles and tape had to be made in the U.S.

Well I found a puzzle manufacturer,

[I wrote about that here.]

and a U.S. company that makes custom paper packaging tape!

I painted more rhododendrons, designed my tape,

and ordered a sample piece.

It came today!

Thanks for following along,

Linda

WV Maple Days

Greg’s family has owned this farm for over 100 years.

It’s about 3 minutes from the original Wayne Graded

which became Wayne Elementary School,

where I spent my first 4 years as an elementary teacher.

On this land are 148 maple trees (one sugar bush),

all connected with blue tubes

collecting sap and bringing it into the sugar shack.

Yes, that’s right. No cute little metal buckets.

Greg and his dad collect sap

from 3 sugar bushes,

though, many of those trees were destroyed

in the recent ice storm.

Greg is a super smart guy

and it’s a good thing

because modern maple syrup making is complicated!

The sap comes into the building here,

and is collected in this 600 gallon tank.

Then it goes through a reverse osmosis filtering system

which removes yucky stuff, as well as,

most of the water!

It goes through

two more small tanks,

and lastly here

where the remaining water is boiled off

and the syrup is ready to be bottled.

I came home with maple syrup,

maple cream and maple granola…

I also bought maple cotton candy,

but I don’t know what happened to it;)

WV Maple Days is held on family farms around the state

only on one weekend in February and one in March,

so add this FB page, Tom’s Creek Family Farm,

and go next year!

On the way home,

I stopped at

TwelvePole Trading Post.

Empty for years, this old building has a new life

thanks to Lacy Davidson Ferguson and others.

Locally made products, baked goods, coffee,

garden supplies, and more can be purchased here

on Saturdays from 10-3.

Lacy has more exciting plans for this place…

Here’s a link to their FB page.

It was a great day:

I learned so much about making making maple syrup, and

the trading post is warm and inviting with couches and coffee!

I met smart, beautiful, creative people

making West Virginia better.

Thanks for following along,

Linda

The Making of a Puzzle

I finished my West Virginia map painting yesterday,

and this week, I’ll be sending a digital image of it

to a puzzle manufacturer in Kansas City, MO.

So far, this project

has taken me two months…

and with a gigantic smile on my face,

I’ll share what that has looked like.

The Making of a Puzzle

I started by drawing little sketches of places in WV

that I thought were cool or important,

like Babcock State Park.

I researched for photos and more special places

and found so many…

like Wonderment Puppet Theater in Martinsburg.

I reached out to FB friends for ideas, and

got a bunch, like Arthurdale near Morgantown.

When I wasn’t googling WV places,

my search focus was…

“Puzzle Manufacturers in the U.S.”

Very few puzzle makers fill large custom orders, so

finding the company that makes Springbok puzzles

was a game changer:

Now I knew I could really make a puzzle.

(This article with a video tells a little about them.)

With the size of the puzzle confirmed: 24″ x 30″,

I drew an outline of the state

for a painting 36″ x 45″,

which has the same aspect ratio 4:5,

and placed the sketches in the right spots (or close).

I found more places to fill in the gaps,

made the pencil sketches darker with marker,

and now it was time to get all of that on the canvas.

I had drawn everything on translucent tracing paper

so I could do the next few steps:

I attached the whole thing to the BACK of my canvas.

Then I placed that canvas over a homemade light box

kind of like this one:

The light shone through the tracing paper and canvas,

showing a faint image of all my drawings.

I worked on the floor,

moving my canvas around on the light box

(this was a very tricky balancing act),

as I redrew everything onto my painting surface.

Now I could start using paint!

With my laptop for online photo references of each place,

I painted for weeks.

A lot of the time I was concerned that

these random miniature paintings

would not become a cohesive unit,

but I persisted.

“You go, girl!,” I told myself.

Encouraging self-talk

and the support of family, friends, and FB friends

have been vital to this process.

Once the paintings and labels were complete,

I started on the title corner.

I used a playful font I “borrowed” from a greeting card,

and started adding the state symbols that

we’ve all heard about since elementary school,

like rhododendrons.

But there was a problem:

my 20 yo son, Hunter, kept insisting that

 I redo the West Virginia part of the title,

so I did.

The upper right corner was next,

and with lots of input from my FB collaborators,

the corner was completed.

The last part was the LEGEND corner with more state symbols,

like the black bear.

Side note:

Have you ever seen or wanted to see

a black bear when you’re in the woods?

Me neither.

IMO…the state animal should be a squirrel or a dog.

But, of course, I LOVE our state bird the cardinal,

and I was super lucky to find this curious fellow:

And now he’s looking at the map:

I’m expecting the puzzles to be ready in May.

I’ll sell them from this website, my front porch,

 local gift shops like Wildflower Gift Gallery, Red Caboose,

and other places all over the state (I’ll share those adventures here;)

Btw: the minimum order was 2000,

so there will be plenty of puzzles for EVERYONE!

In the meantime,

I’ll be designing some puzzle-related stuff,

like the puzzle box, and

learning tools (remember once a teacher always a teacher),

and I’ll be gardening.

Thanks for following along,

Linda

The Making of a Puzzle…UPDATE!!

 

My Political Activism… Step #1 Beans

Dragon tongue and red swan green beans

are part of my political activism.

Here’s how:

Everyone knows that people in political office

are sometimes influenced by money & power

to do the wrong thing.

When I started studying how pervasive

and destructive this practice is

I decided to take action.

The first step for me was to get and stay healthy

as I had just been diagnosed with MS.

I follow functional medicine,

which uses diet and lifestyle to return the body to proper functioning.

I added more vegetables to my diet

and choose organically grown ones when possible.

That has lead to increasing my gardening skills

and growing more types of food and more varieties.

(Which also reduces my stress level

from knowing all the sh*t that is going on in our country.)

These were picked or dug this morning:

Sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers,

butternut squash, dragon tongue and red swan beans.

Stay tuned for more political activism from moi.

Thanks for following along,

Linda

 

Thank you’s & Results of My Summer Art Auction

I am beyond grateful to everyone who

supported my Summer Art Show 2020…

my neighbor, Connie, for helping me set up (twice),

the friends and art lovers who came,

Kim and Vicki for the gorgeous photos,

my hubby, Rick,

and the Herald Dispatch.

Kim created this amazing video:

https://magis.to/av/IXg4BgNYR104disEDmEwCXp_?l=vsm&o=i&c=m

And a Huge THANK YOU to all the people

who supported my Summer Art Auction 2020.

Everyone who purchased art

chose one of three places to give the $$, and

here are the results:

Huntington Food Bank: $800

Little Victories Animal Shelter: $500

Hilary Turner’s (she supports climate crisis initiatives) Campaign Fund: $2000.

I’ll be delivering that money today.

Thanks for following along,

Linda

Instagram helped, too.

As you know

I give credit to Pinterest

for making

my Summer Art Show 2020 possible,

however,

Instagram helped, too.

I follow TextureFlorals;

Nicole’s a floral designer in Philly.

I watched a video of stunningly gorgeous flowers

she had just received

and would be arranging in “French buckets”.

Feverishly I snapped dozens of screenshots

including this one. ↓

I googled French buckets…

And painted this:

Come see this painting Sunday

at my Summer Art Show 2020!

The Summer Art Auction ends Sunday,

and here’s

The Actual Auction.

Thanks for following along,

Linda

I’m having a rough day

California is on fire,

57% of Iowa’s crops were damaged by a derecho this  month,

two hurricanes are pummeling the gulf states, and

the Arctic recorded a record high of 100°.

The climate crisis is rearing its ugly head.

West Virginia is not in the path of a devastating storm,

at least, not today…

but hundreds of thousands of people

in our great state

are unemployed or underemployed,

suffering from chronic disease,

are addicted to something,

 the children of addicts,

surrounded by toxic water or soil, and/or

suffering from mental illness or emotional illness.

I’m an emphatic person,

also curious and a truth seeker.

Several years ago I decided to find out

why our state, country and planet

have so many problems.

And it’s simple.

Greed

Wealthy and powerful people

use their money and influence

to buy our politicians and media,

which has led to the mess we’re in.

So in the midst of multiple weather catastrophes

we have a country full of people

that believe our climate crisis is a hoax.

I wish a good cry would help.

It doesn’t.

I created my

Summer Art Show 2020

to benefit Hilary Turner

in her run for Congress,

because she won’t be bought by wealthy people;

she has a two year old

that needs a healthy planet to live on.

Linda

With a Little Help from my Friend…

…my friend being Pinterest.

My painting:

My Summer Art Auction

is going on now! You can get to it here:

The ACTUAL AUCTION

If you want to see the paintings before you bid…

(the auction ends next Sunday at 6:00)

or just to see them…

I’m showing all 30 paintings

next Sunday, August 30 from 3-6.

at my second and last Summer Art Show 2020.

I’d love to see you,

Linda