Contemplating our past

Posted on April 12, 2022 by Jo Myers-Walker
Watercolor scenes of early trading post life in Johnson County, Iowa by artist Jo Myers-Walker

   

In these watercolors I tried to envision life around early trading posts in what is now Johnson County, Iowa. The paintings were commissioned to help publicize plans for Remembrance Park, a small area with prairie grasses and wildflowers south of Iowa City, near the historic site of the trading posts. The park will be open to the public for quiet contemplation and enjoyment of the beauty of the land.

Cover of the book Remembrance Park by Marybeth Slonneger

Cover of the Remembrance Park book
(click image to learn more)

The idea for the park was put forward in the new book “Remembrance Park:  The Fur Trading Era in Johnson County, Iowa and a Proposal for a Wildflower Park to Contemplate the Origins of the County,” compiled by Marybeth Slonneger. (My paintings are not in the book, but it is well illustrated with photographs.) You can read about the project and the book on the website Remembrance Park — Johnson County, and many more tales of Iowa history on the website Our Iowa Heritage by Remembrance Park Committee member Marty Boller.

Dick Hakes of the Iowa City Press-Citizen wrote a wonderful article about the book, the history, and the park, which Press-Citizen subscribers can read here:

(The story is also currently on the Remembrance Park website here.)

Paintings require research, like a novel does; besides reading, for inspiration I visited two newly-restored cabins in Iowa City’s City Park which were built to replicate the cabins of the era. The City of Iowa City’s YouTube channel has some interesting videos about their restoration:

I imagined the scenes and tried to recreate a typical day of trading. What struck me from the history was how people of different cultures got along peacefully for a time, living side by side, something we could learn from today.

Watercolor scenes of early trading post life in Johnson County, Iowa by artist Jo Myers-Walker

   

Posted in Commissions, Illustration, Meaning, Painting, Studio Snapshots | Comments Off on Contemplating our past

Fabric wall hanging to celebrate St. Thomas Aquinas 75th

Posted on April 2, 2022 by Jo Myers-Walker
Watercolor sketch of St. Thomas Aquinas gesturing toward scenes from the Easter story by artist Jo Myers-Walker

The watercolor sketch provides a guide

A large easel holds pencil sketch by artist Jo Myers-Walker used as a guide for wall hanging celebrating 75th anniversary of St. Thomas Aquinas church in Ames

Large easel for a large project

Detail of pencil sketch showing figure of St. Thomas Aquinas and doves in flight used as a guide for fabric artwork by artist Jo Myers-Walker

Detail of part of the pencil sketch

I’ve been working on an 8′ x 12′ fabric artwork as part of the 75th anniversary celebration of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ames, which I attended for many years and still stop by when I can. According to the church’s website, “St. Thomas Aquinas Church and Catholic Student Center was incorporated on April 8, 1947,” with Rev. James Supple as its first pastor.

The church left it up to me what to include and I prayed about what I wanted to say. It’s an educational piece, with its Biblical scenes telling the story of Easter. I did a lot of research and looked at Old Masters paintings for reference on theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, who is gesturing to us from the bottom right. I started out with a watercolor sketch to plan out the composition. The watercolor served as the basis for a full-size pencil sketch, which could then be translated into “painting” using fabric.

Detail of fabric artwork by artist Jo Myers-Walker showing several people assisting in the placement of fabric doves

Many hands helping with
placing the doves

The scenes are created by sewing the shapes out of different fabrics. I knew I couldn’t work with the full size of the piece on my sewing machine so I broke the design down into four sections, with attention to matching up shapes between the sections. There are many different textures of fabric, from kimonos, scarves, and purses from all over that were donated, and scraps from a quilting friend. It’s not sewn completely tight, so some of the edges pop up. My fabric-artist friends decided that the work would fall into the category of Improvisational Fabric Wall Hanging.

People have asked how I knew what to do, and I feel that I was guided — I was only a participant. The project was overwhelming — too huge — so I was trusting God to guide me. I would dream a section and the next day look at that section and know what I was supposed to do. I’m looking forward to sharing more pictures of its progress!

Artist Jo Myers-Walker shown working at sewing machine and placing fabric pieces to create wall hanging depicting scenes from the Easter story

   
At the trusty sewing machine; adding another piece of the puzzle

Posted in Commissions, Fabric, Meaning, Studio Snapshots | Comments Off on Fabric wall hanging to celebrate St. Thomas Aquinas 75th

A mouse needs a house

Posted on January 24, 2022 by Jo Myers-Walker
Cover of the book Rufus Rutabaga Flicktail Finds His House by Mary Pepper, with a sketch for the book by illustrator Jo Myers-Walker

The cover of “Rufus Rutabaga Flicktail
Finds His House” by Mary Pepper,
with one of my sketches for the book

I was showing friends some of my illustration work and caught the attention of Mary Pepper, well-known in Ames as a quiltmaker and former elementary school teacher. She had written a story for a children’s book that needed illustrations, and thought my watercolor style would fit it well. This began our collaboration to show and tell the story of Rufus Rutabaga Flicktail, a mouse in search of a home.

It was fun to play in Rufus’s series of shelters, with the underlying theme of how animals adapt to losing habitat. Working with Mary’s script and my added imagination, it took on a life of its own.

(Send me an email at jomyerswalker@gmail.com for more information if you’re interested in ordering a copy of Mary’s book, “Rufus Rutabaga Flicktail Finds His House.”)

Previously:

Posted in Commissions, Illustration, Painting, Studio Snapshots | Comments Off on A mouse needs a house

Carole Horowitz

Posted on January 23, 2022 by Jo Myers-Walker

I was saddened to hear that Carole Horowitz had passed away. A long-time Ames resident, her obituary describes some of her many contributions to community and the arts (link is to Ames Tribune website).

I last worked with her on the sculpture for Children’s Theater (see my blog post Remembering Ames Children’s Theater). We had fun creating images for the sculpture showing what it meant to the children who participated. I loved working with Carole and she was a dear friend, and always encouraged and believed in me.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Carole Horowitz

Words and pictures

Posted on January 21, 2022 by Jo Myers-Walker
Cover of the book Carol Jo's Daydreaming Tree, written and illustrated by artist Jo Myers-Walker, with watercolor painting of a girl and cat perched on the limb of a tree watching figures below that look small from the height

Cover of “Carol Jo’s
Daydreaming Tree”

Being an illustrator is very similar to being a writer — telling a story through images versus words. After painting the illustrations for Lucky’s Feet, I wanted to try telling a story of my own through both words and pictures.

The result is “Carol Jo’s Daydreaming Tree,” a children’s book inspired by my childhood growing up with my brothers (but fictionalized!). Friends who are writers provided feedback as I refined the wording and worked out which paintings and perspectives I needed to show the events in the book. Another friend provided technical expertise to add text to images of my paintings.

I’ve been enjoying illustration, which is well suited to times when we can’t meet each other in person. Doing both the writing and watercolors was a creative adventure, and led directly to my illustrating a third children’s book, which I’ll show you in an upcoming post!

(Send me an email at jomyerswalker@gmail.com for more information if you’re interested in ordering a copy of “Carol Jo’s Daydreaming Tree.”)

Update — see also (later posts):

 
From Jo Myers-Walker's book Carol Jo's Daydreaming Tree, preliminary sketch and watercolor page showing young girl and cat inspecting a spot on the ground in front of a house

A preliminary sketch and the
resulting page from the book

Artist Jo Myers-Walker seated at a desk with her book Carol Jo's Daydreaming Tree and an illustration she painted for it

Illustrating my book
   

Posted in Illustration, Painting, Studio Snapshots | Comments Off on Words and pictures

Tree of celebration

Posted on December 22, 2021 by Jo Myers-Walker
A tabletop Christmas tree with baby shoes and a baby hat among the decorations

Celebrating life

I love this little tree, I have my children’s baby shoes among the ornaments and “countdown” envelopes, and at the top is son Devin’s little blue cap he wore from the hospital.

The only problem I had was buying more lights — the stores were all out, but the joy of the little tree does not need a full array of lights, it sparkles anyway.

Happy Holidays to those near and far! Rejoice in the little things as it is all about Love.

Ceramic nativity scene overseen by a small "alien" doll

   
A joyful scene
   

A small "alien" doll dressed in a green jumpsuit stands on a small black ladder to look at a tabletop Christmas tree and nativity scene

Coming from afar like the wise men,
this "alien" from my doll collection has
climbed the ladder to get a good look

Posted in Studio Snapshots | Comments Off on Tree of celebration

Remembering Ames Children’s Theater

Posted on November 3, 2021 by Jo Myers-Walker
A sculpture shows a painting of four young people gesturing toward Ames Children's Theater logo with theater curtains represented in a foreground layer

Four young participants gesture toward the
Ames Children’s Theater logo in a scene
featuring the familiar white cube stage prop

I had the honor of creating this small sculpture to commemorate and celebrate Ames Children’s Theater, which recently wrapped up its illustrious 40-plus-year run. The program provided theater experience to area children, and presented plays and guest artist performances in Ames elementary schools. The sculpture is made of durable Lexan™ and is sized to easily move from place to place.

As usual with a commissioned piece, I worked with the client in developing the artwork to reflect their vision. In this case I collaborated with notable friend of the arts Carole Horowitz, who was instrumental in founding Ames Children’s Theater and throughout its run. It was fun for me to work with Carole because I’ve worked on so many committees when in Ames and we could reminisce about happenings in the art world.

Carole and Children’s Theater board member Maureen Friedrich spoke with the Ames Tribune for the article, “End of an era: Ames Children’s Theater disbands after more than 40 years.”

Update January 2022:
I’m sad to relate that Carole has passed away; see my blog post Carole Horowitz for a link to her obituary.

Posted in Commissions, Sculpture, Studio Snapshots | Comments Off on Remembering Ames Children’s Theater

Painting while dogsitting

Posted on September 27, 2021 by Jo Myers-Walker
Two small dogs next to a small watercolor illustration by artist Jo Myers-Walker

Attentive Frank and Bella, with painting for scale

Earlier this summer I spent some time dogsitting with my daughter’s beloved dogs Frank and Bella (both females), shown at right; then more recently with another daughter’s dog Olive, shown below.

Olive is very affectionate and used to sitting on her owner’s lap. After playing ball with her I wanted to paint, so I pulled up a chair next to me and she laid her head on my lap with an occasional lick on my brushes and paint container. It is just like kids in the studio, better to let them be involved!

A small Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dog sits on a chair in front of a watercolor workstation

Olive (at bottom right of the photo)
at the work station

A small dog inspects a watercolor illustration by artist Jo Myers-Walker

Inspecting the results
   

Posted in Studio Snapshots | Comments Off on Painting while dogsitting

Wrapping up summer at Shalom

Posted on September 17, 2021 by Jo Myers-Walker
Multiple left and right footprints in purple and green paint respectively on a large sheet of white paper

What are the stories your feet can tell you?
Where have they been?

Watercolor painting of a chicken in the background with many colorfully painted leaves in the foreground by artist Jo Myers-Walker

   
Anticipating a colorful future for the leaves

To round out the Watercolor Playgroup series with our August session, we started by making prints of our feet using washable tempera paint in flat pans. Lots of giggles doing this, but so fun! While the footprints were drying we painted the ever-popular chicken, and drew around leaves and painted them with lots of color getting ready for fall.

As we gazed at our dried footprints, considering the lines and impressions in our feet that have carried us for so long, we began to find shapes and symbols, like seeing animals in the clouds. Class members imagined landscapes where they could add trees and people. We cut out our “feet” and added a little paint and markers and made cards. One participant sent her footprint to her beloved with the words, “I will follow you anywhere.”

For an artist or anyone, it’s powerful to try learning to see beyond the obvious. We can use many methods to look at things in new ways and strive to “see as God sees.” I enjoyed working, playing, and meeting with people at these summer sessions and look forward to returning to Shalom Spirituality Center (check out their Events and Newsletters pages for upcoming events!).

Posted in Classes, Painting, Studio Snapshots | Comments Off on Wrapping up summer at Shalom

Scenes at Shalom

Posted on August 16, 2021 by Jo Myers-Walker
Exterior photo of buildings and shaded lawn at Shalom Spirituality Center in Dubuque, Iowa with watercolor painting of detail of the scene by artist Jo Myers-Walker

Using a viewfinder (white paper with rectangle cut
out) to select an area of focus from the larger photo

For our July Watercolor Playgroup at Shalom Spirituality Center, I took photos of the grounds outside, then using a viewfinder found a part that spoke to me rather than painting the whole yard. We painted the closeup area and added some chickens. The class wanted to paint larger chickens as one participant had chickens at home. In the painting at left below, we were outside celebrating and saw our shadows and it was joyful!

Watercolor painting of person with arms outstretched to play with making shadow by artist Jo Myers-Walker

Painting shadows is grounding and revealing

Sketch and watercolor painting of a chicken by artist Jo Myers-Walker

Always a favorite subject

Posted in Classes, Painting, Studio Snapshots | Comments Off on Scenes at Shalom