“Creative play” probably means different things to different people, and especially for artists. For me it is tied to “not working” though I think it can be an important part of the art and work process. To free me up I decide that there is no pressure to sell or even share whatever I am playing with. It often means trying something new as well. Maybe it will be the start of a series or a new technique, or maybe it will lead to nothing. Maybe I’ll stick it in a box and won’t decide to revisit it for several months or years, and then a snippet may become a solution to a problem down the road.

Last summer I was putting together a presentation on field sketching and natural journaling and consulted the internet on one of my art heroes, Hannah Hinchman. I have several of her books, but she doesn’t have much of an online presence. However I did find this lovely discussion on four kinds of nature journals quoted on Morning-Earth.org in their series on Artist-Naturalists. 

I have a solo show up in Cordova. It’s been up since the end of August but I wanted to share some photos with you, since I know many might not make it all the way there.

It is a similar body of work to the show I had in Fairbanks last summer, but with some differences, as happens over a year. So I want to give you a tour on my blog:

I’m excited to announce that I am on a podcast and it’s up for you to listen to. Gale Straub hosts a show called She Explores about inquisitive women in the outdoors, on the road, and besides. The podcast episode starts with Gale talking to Chevon Powell about an exciting upcoming event called the Refuge Outdoor Festival. Then we talk about my story of how I grew up spending time outdoors, how and why I moved to Alaska and got interested in science illustration. I also talk about why it’s important for me to make art in the wilderness and to participate in artist residencies on public lands.

This happens to me every summer. I don’t really want to beat myself up about it, but maybe you noticed that my last blog post was at the end of June? As hard as I try, the summer slips by, and I find myself feeling a bit like the Snowshoe Hare in the illustration above - like I can’t quite spread myself across all of that distance.

Happy summer solstice! Summer solstice officially occurs at 2:07 am Alaska Time. Where I live in McCarthy the sun will rise at 3:49 am and set at 11:17 pm for a total of 19 hours and 28 minutes of daylight. That contrasts with the winter solstice, where we have 5 hours and 22 minutes of daylight. Daylight gives us energy and makes us happy so it’s a reason to celebrate.  You can use this daylight calculator to see how much daylight there is on a certain day of the year in your location.

I’m sitting down at my computer to write in the evening. I just watered the garden, but a new rainstorm is moving up the valley from the Chugach. I hear Robins and Varied Thrushes singing outside and I found that many of the Calypso Orchids are in bloom today. Many other flowers will follow them. Summer and its’ frenetic energy seem to have arrived on the Nizina. I thought I’d sit down and give you a summary of where I’ll be and when, so you can follow along with me.

“Loneliness is like sitting in an empty room and being aware of the space around you. It is a condition of separateness. Solitude is becoming one with the space around you. It is a condition of union. Loneliness is small, solitude is large. Loneliness closes around you; solitude expands toward the infinite. Loneliness has its roots in words, in an internal conversation that nobody answers; solitude has its roots in the great silence of eternity”

-Quote by Kent Nerburn, which I found posted by @northernproject on Instagram several months ago.