What’s going on! (sticky post)

Posted on November 28, 2022 by Jo Myers-Walker

(This post is “stickied” to remain at the top of the blog; newer blog posts may appear below.)

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A wide assortment

Posted on February 13, 2026 by Jo Myers-Walker
Busy living room with wooden furniture against the wall at left, with many drawers for storage, some of which are open partway to show their contents

The scene of sorting! Card catalog
and drafting table at left

A variety of well-used ruber stamps with wooden handles

Rubber stamps for ice cream flavors,
milk, and general business purposes

An assortment of many different pairs of pliers, many with colorful handles, jumbled in a narrow wooden drawer from a card catalog

Many pairs of pliers! (Readers
of a certain age will recognize
the card catalog drawer)

One result of a life of artistic exploration:  my beautiful old card catalog and drafting table are full of different tools and materials from past projects. Like, I have 12 pliers, and 3,000 nuts and bolts for furniture making.

I am sorting through the many drawers to find which contents I can let go of. Anything I can’t do in my apartment is a candidate! Lots of memories in those drawers of past lives art making.

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New art from old

Posted on January 2, 2026 by Jo Myers-Walker
A black-and-white image of a child's drawings together wtih colorful mugs designed using the drawings

Devin’s childhood drawings, with mugs
recently decorated using those designs

Clocks made from clear plastic with colorful designs in the style of a child's drawings

   
Tick Tock Clocks

This past year I was going through boxes of my artwork to have it professionally photographed for a portfolio. I felt revitalized bringing out the old work and remembering the styles and mediums I’ve used through the years.

These photos show new works I made using old designs. The mugs use drawings from when I was in my studio with Devin when he was age 5. I would draw and he would draw. I saved his work and knew he was an artist because of the detail! The post A mugful of memories tells about decorating the mugs using his designs. I had never done this before so I did not know how the colors would turn out. That made it an adventure, a mystery like being a child.

The “tick tock clocks” are new creations using designs I did 40 years ago in making 30″ tall plastic sculptures for the schools. There again I found my inner child!

See also larger photos at Instagram:

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A mugful of memories

Posted on November 20, 2025 by Jo Myers-Walker
Colorful mugs decorated with a child's drawings

Some of the finished mugs

I found 20 white bisque mugs in my closet that I’d been saving for over 30 years. They were made around the time Devin drew designs on the floor of my studio. I saved them and knew I could use them one day, as I found them delightful.

Devin is 40 now and has a baby of his own. It brought back wonderful memories of the drawings and keeping him busy so that I could paint too.

I had never glazed pottery before, so I treated the glazes like when I paint with watercolor. First I poured a watered-down glaze and let streaming lines create texture. Then I got out my trusty brush to draw his designs in black. Nancy Westvig fired and clear-glazed 20 cups. I enjoyed collaborating with her! I’ll have the mugs at the Eastside Artists Show and Sale, along with paintings, cards, and the work of many other artists.

(Update:  The 2025 EA Show and Sale is now past. Thank you to everyone who stopped by!)

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Eastside Artists Show and Sale 2025

Posted on November 15, 2025 by Jo Myers-Walker
Whimsical watercolor painting by artist Jo Myers-Walker of a male northern cardinal bird wearing a red-and-gold checkered scarf while perched on a limb with multicolored foliage

Ready for December with his fashionable scarf

(Update:  The 2025 EA Show and Sale is now past. Thank you to everyone who stopped by!)

  • December 5, 6, & 7, 2025
    Masonic Building, 312 E. College St. in downtown Iowa City

Mark your calendar for this always-anticipated Iowa City tradition! I’ll join other members and guest artists of the Eastside Artists for this year’s show and sale. You can find details and photos at the Eastside Artists website and Facebook page.

I’m honored that my watercolor cardinal will decorate this year’s postcard!

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Material for mindfulness

Posted on October 30, 2025 by Jo Myers-Walker
An assortment of fabric repurposing projects by Jo Myers-Walker including a shoulder bag, tailored blouse, glasses pouch, and mended garment

Clockwise from top left:  patchwork handbag; shirt tailored to size; glasses pouch with strap; shorts with decorative mending

Sewing is relaxing for me in troubled times. It keeps me balanced and meditative so I can focus on the present.

I’ve been bringing old fabric back to life by repurposing, making purses and doing repairs and alterations, sewing lightly used cloth into new shirts so they will fit me. If you’ve been sewing for a while you probably have your own collection of different fabrics lying around!

Using what we’ve already got goes along with the idea of “car[ing] for our common home,” to use the words of the Laudato si’ (Pope Francis’s encyclical from 2015).

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How to be 80 (part 1)

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Jo Myers-Walker
Watercolor painting by artist Jo Myers-Walker; at left, a cascade of blooms; at right, portrait of a man sitting at a table gesturing in conversation with one hand while holding a cell phone in the other

Bob (at right), as he is remembered:
with a phone in one hand and
talking to you with the other
(Click image to view larger)

I keep learning how to “be” each age that I reach. For one thing, I’m working with a dietitian now; you eat half of what you thought you were going to, and keep a record of it. It helps to be accountable to someone!

Another adjustment comes with having friends and neighbors pass away. It kind of hits you, the loss of all the ones that are gone. The way I found to survive was to start painting the person in their environment, where I was with them and the things we did. This has been very healing for me, doing something to remember who they were and what they meant to me.

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IWS Annual Meeting 2025

Posted on September 24, 2025 by Jo Myers-Walker
Value study and sketch of a countryside scene by artist Jo Myers-Walker

During the demo:  I did a value sketch first in gray, then moved to a color value
(Click image to view larger)

Each year the Iowa Watercolor Society (IWS) Annual Meeting includes a painting demonstration by a guest artist. This year we learned from, and painted along with, internationally-known watercolorist Andy Evansen. We made a value study first, then painted three values in color, on our way to a completed painting.

Our guest artist also selects the previously-submitted paintings which will travel to art centers around Iowa during the upcoming year. See IWS’s Traveling Show page for the 2025–2026 schedule!

The IWS Annual Meeting is a great way to meet with fellow watercolor artists and see their work.

Artists follow along with watercolorist Andy Evansen's demonstration painting at the 2025 Iowa Watercolor Society Annual Meeting

Watching the demo inside the
beautiful La Poste in Perry

Watercolorist Andy Evansen holds up a demonstration painting at the 2025 Iowa Watercolor Society Annual Meeting

Artist Andy Evansen holds up
his demonstration painting

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Imagination

Posted on August 9, 2025 by Jo Myers-Walker
Imagination, watercolor painting of a woman in a softly draping hat and holding a paint brush with an expression of being deep in thought, by artist Jo Myers-Walker

“Imagination”

My painting “Imagination” is a portrait of a young woman about to paint, in that moment of having an idea and hoping it will come out of your brush as you see and feel it.

I’m honored to have it included in the 2025 Iowa Watercolor Society (IWS) Annual Exhibition! All of the exhibition paintings will be on display for the IWS Annual Meeting, luncheon, watercolor demo, and awards ceremony on Sunday, September 14 at La Poste in Perry, Iowa, and a selection of them will go on to travel the state for the 2025–2026 Traveling Show.

This year’s illustrious juror is internationally-known artist Andy Evansen, who will do the painting demonstration following the luncheon. (He is also teaching a three-day workshop in the days preceding, which sold out almost immediately! There is a waiting list for the workshop.)

The Annual Meeting is an event I anticipate every year as an opportunity to discover fellow artists as well as meet with old friends.

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Discerning our path

Posted on May 15, 2025 by Jo Myers-Walker
A pinned-on paper emblem reads "I stand with immigrants" with blue triangle symbol; artist Jo Myers-Walker with friend Jan at downtown Iowa City march

Protest symbolism (top);
marching with Jan

Artist Jo Myers-Walker and friend Berthe stand on a sidewalk at Mount St. Frances in Dubuque, Iowa with red brick buildings in the background

With Berthe at Mount
St. Francis in Dubuque

Earlier this month I was thankful for the opportunity to participate in a march in support of the rights of immigrants, and due process for all (Iowa City Press-Citizen article). In his Letter of the Holy Father to the Bishops of the United States of America in February, Pope Francis wrote:

“I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.”

After the march I headed to the Sisters of St. Francis in Dubuque for a weekend gathering with the Sisters and Associates, titled “We Remember, We Celebrate, We Dream.” I enjoyed lots of hugs and blessings for the new year ahead of us. The Associates were celebrating 40 years; I have been an Associate for 15 years and still learning to discern my path in my own life. Our job is to carry on the charisms of caring for the Earth, standing with the poor, and peace and justice. (You don’t have to be a Franciscan to do that!)

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Fabric collage process

Posted on March 14, 2025 by Jo Myers-Walker
Fabric collage of shepherd and sheep by artist Jo Myers-Walker shown in process and assembled

Developing a story in fabric

Working from a poem or scriptures, we can develop a story using our special fabrics. First you cut out a background and next find the big shapes of people and places that represent your story. Then you can begin assembling the clothing and other details from your fabrics. For this collage the phrase I used was, “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3).

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