Art and Nature come together here in my log cabin studio, near Sugarloaf Mountain. I spend my days I am an artist who lives and works near Sugarloaf Mountain.
My log cabin studio is where art happens when I am not out in the field observing nature. Morningstar Studio is open 3 times a year on the Countryside Artisans Studio Tour, and by appointment. Check out my blog to keep up with what's happening in the studio: tinabrownsugarloaf.wordpress.com
Operating as usual
I have worked these last couple of years to protect the natural resources in the Sugarloaf Treasured Landscape Area Plan. Studied the draft proposals, worked with coalition members, wrote and presented testimony at the public hearings and created this art.
Countryside Artisans Fall Studio Tour
Pokeberry and Goldenrod are lighting up the fields this fall. Tina’s monotype captures that color and texture.
Printmaking is all I want to do right now. I traveled to Santa Fe for a Monotype intensive workshop with Ron Prokasso. This Monotype is several layers: Ghost print, Etching, Transparent Color and Color Pencil. 'Monarda Wave' 12" x 16".
"The trees have become - suddenly very happy" Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver's poem celebrates the joy trees experience when it rains..
'Wintry Woodland Walk' Sold to a happy customer in Bethesda. I am always happy to see my art in its new home.
Spring has sprung at Morningstar Studio!
Spring is just what we need right now. Let yourself in for a treat, the gardens are in peak bloom, with Redbud stealing the show. Open studio this weekend: Countryside Artisans Studio Tour, Morningstar Studio open on April 16, 17, 18, 10am to 5pm each day.
Mary Oliver is my guide for this spring
Spring Awakening in Mary Oliver's poem, "When I am among the trees". A call to slow down and stay awhile, with the bluebells, unfurling white oak baby leaves, staying present in whatever natural setting you call home.
Thrilled to share this feature article in Bethesday Magazine, Our Countryside Artisans Studio Tour is featured, and we are called 'Escape Artists.'
I am in the log cabin studio in this photo drawing. We are thrilled. Guess I will drive to the Whole Foods and other stores to snag a couple copies. Cheers!
Issuu is a digital publishing platform that makes it simple to publish magazines, catalogs, newspapers, books, and more online. Easily share your publications and get them in front of Issuu’s millions of monthly readers. Title: Bethesda Magazine: March-April 2021, Author: Bethesda Magazine, Name: ...
Typical holiday prep and setup for family, sidetracks me from my art for at least a month. The housework, creating holiday decorations inside, gifting, and all the traditional thing that makeup the Christmas holidays for my family. I imagine many of you have similar situations.
This year Covid and the national scene in DC made everything challenging. As I recouped and walked in a couple of my favorite places, the winter bird flocks in my back yard and on West Harris Road revived me. Who can come back from a walk after seeing a Kingfisher chattering in the trees near the stream, bluebirds moving from branch to branch near my suet cake and birdfeeder, and not be revived? Our resident Pileated who moves from a giant snag in the back of our field, to the snags in the Norway Maple near the house, never fails to thrill me.
These walks and even time spent daydreaming while holding winter tree seeds, herbaceous seed heads, and trying to guess which native plant is showing up in that basal rosette, are what sustains me. I hope you have time to journal whatever your native wanderings might be. I am digging into my natural ephemera collection, reading natural history books, going through my journals, and trying to being present with the wild world outside my door. Looking for hope and finding inspiration there.
Like all of you I have been involved with my family, and helping one son work his way through challenges these last so many months. My posts have been few as I was absorbed with his recovery.
Have you found that physical work is healing during this time of life defined by Covid? I have, and as you can see when you visit my studio there are soooo many opportunities for garden work, old house work and studio building repairs.
There was a beautiful, old White Pine Tree behind my studio. I loved her and you may remember my pen & ink drawings of her in my studio. She framed our Mountain view, and could be seen as from afar. Unfortunately lightening struck during a late August rainstorm and the damage was fatal. We had to say goodbye in November, I asked the tree crew to leave a 12 foot snag for our resident woodpeckers.
After doing the fall garden cleanup, I have been back in the studio. And want to share recent creative activity. I have rediscovered the joy in making Handmade Paper.
The process of collecting plants with fibers suitable for paper, sorting and cooking them for hours. Then preparing fiber and until I found the right proportion of seed/stem to pulp. Every step in this process, connects me to each sheet of paper that is waiting to be printed this week.
I am grateful for all of this, and hope you are well.
Due to the small size of my studio with Covid, I won't be open for the studio tour this weekend. If you want to buy art, please contact me for an appointment.
Countryside Artisans Studio Tour October 9, 10, 11
My feisty female kingfisher will welcome you to Morningstar Studio. We will be ready for visitors with hand sanitizer & masks on. My art will be on easels outside on our porch, to allow social distancing have a walk in the gardens.
So many of us are hurting right now. Our son was hospitalized recently after his partner died, so our lives have been wrapped around rescue and recovery. Yesterday, I walked into my garden and put my nose into Monarda didyma. A musky, earthen smell drew me in. I hope you all have garden nearby where you can take an herbal break.
Feeling lucky to live in the Midatlantic region. Yesterday, Jim and I walked around Mckee Besher with Simba, it was mysterious and beautiful. We even saw a Prothonotary Warbler, when we paused near a woman in scrubs with a birding scope. I thanked her for her work and told her I was happy she could recharge in this beautiful place.
So I thought this quarantine would mean finished sketches/paintings, garden completely w**ded and seeds planted, all the things that normally are interrupted- would be finished. However, that is not happening. I w**d, transplant and seed; sketches are started but not finished; household is cleaner than usual. Here is an unfinished cherry blossom sketch, trying to stay present with the experience of looking closely at this beautiful flowering tree. And letting go of finished art expectations.
How are you? Hope you are staying safe and finding small creative moments to nourish your soul.
I am tossing compost, w**ding, drawing the foggy view this morning and baking bread. Hope to capture my Virginia Bluebells tomorrow. How are you coping?
Sitting down with a cup of tea and homemade Pumpkin bread, feeling lucky that I live in a beautiful place with Jim. Opportunities to walk outside and soak it up are plentiful, and I have my art, books and a compost pile that needed tossing. My only problem is trying to sign off on this pastel, is it done?
My article on traveling with a Sketch Book was published in the Winter Newsletter of the, "Botanical Art Society of the National Capital Region". Here are my memories from drawing in the Tropical Rainforests of Costa Rica, and tips for sketching closer to home.
Just sent my Theodore Roosevelt Island Map to the publisher for Melanie Choukas-Bradley's new book. Have you ever created a map? It was a journey into water patterns, islands and vegetation, tree spirits, and crossing points. I learned a lot, next map for me will be a more casual hand-drawn exploration of favorite walks and places.
Design, Draw, Research, Pen & Ink, Scan & Refine layers in Photoshop, Assemble= Map of Theodore Roosevelt Island....feeling happy it is almost ready to send to print.
Feisty Belted Kingfisher,
Color Pencil and Graphite drawing of a female Belted Kingfisher. Drawing for Melanie Choukas-Bradley’s new book on Theodore Roosevelt Island.
January days are my time to look forward into creative endeavors for the year ahead. This first month of 2020 is a deep dive into the world of hand drawn map-making, Geothermal drilling in front of my studio, and reviewing sketches and drawings for new art projects.
Countryside Artisans Holiday Studio Tour
Spruce up your home with color this holiday season. Visit Morningstar studio for original art and unique gifts for someone special.
I dove back into pastels, in a 3 day workshop, taught by master artist- Aline Ordman. I worked in pastel 40 years ago, it has been so much fun rediscovering them.
The deadline is approaching for a new book on Theodore Roosevelt Island by Melanie Choukas-Bradley. This is my color pencil and oil pastel drawing for the front cover.
Just finished this color pencil drawing of Theodore Roosevelt Island on the Potomac River. My art will be on the front cover of a new book on the president and this island escape. Book due out in January, Kingfisher art to follow.....
Persimmons are a fall event, I hear their soft thud when they land, and am drawn to them. This color pencil drawing finished in time for the Heritage Harvest Festival this weekend. My studio is open 10-4 pm, as part of the Heritage Festival Saturday and Sunday,
Sprucing up the art studio and gardens for the Heritage Harvest Festival! Visit my old log cabin studio in Barnesville for art, native plant gardens, and a sketchbook demo. Looking forward to seeing you Saturday and Sunday, 10-4.
Join us on October 5 & 6 for the 2019 HERITAGE HARVEST at Morningstar Studio-Art in Barnesville. Tour a charming 1790 log cabin art studio featuring oil and pencil artwork reflecting the pastoral landscape surrounding Sugarloaf Mountain, as well as botanical art.
FREE event! For detailed information on all activities, see heritagemontgomery.org/heritage-harvest
I love teaching drawing in the National Bonsai Museum. Taught last Saturday, still thinking about this ancient tree, in training for 395 years.
Here is a National Bonsai Foundation blog about my class. www.bonsai-nbf.org/blog/2019/9/17/drawing-from-bonsai-photos-from-class
A Creative Art Site on the Heritage Harvest Festival Tour
Morningstar Studio is on the Heritage Harvest Festival October 5th and 6th. Join us for a beautful fall day in the country celebrating fall beauty in the Agricultural Reserve. Beautiful art for sale in the studio, peaceful garden stroll, and an art demo in the afternoon. A lovely break from ci
Creating a garden for pollinators- if you plant it they will come... Butterflies, Moths and Bees find a home at Morningstar Studio.
Fall Leaf Drawing Workshop at Audubon Naturalist Society
If you want to learn how to add sketches to your field observations, we invite you to join an artist/illustrator, whose sketchbooks are filled with drawings of plant life, for a workshop at Audubon Naturalist Society, Woodend Sanctuary.
Drawing from Bonsai at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum
The National Bonsai Foundation is delighted to present “Drawing Bonsai with Artist Tina Thieme Brown, a botanical artist and instructor who specializes in illustrating the landscape, flora and fauna of the greater D.C. area
I drew in my sketchbook while traveling in Hawaii, this is a color pencil drawing from the beautiful mountain range on Kauai. My husband drives and I draw. Such a beautiful part of our country, will post more of my 'drawing while driving' sketches.
This little plant is one of my favorites on Sugarloaf Mountain. Just finished this color pencil drawing last week, I love seeing it along Mount Ephraim Rd.
Pastel and COlor Pencil drawing of a beautiful luna moth
18201 Barnesville Road
Barnesville, MD
20838
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Tina's new Art & Cherry Blossoms are in the studio and gardens. Check it out.
I am an artist who lives and works near Sugarloaf Mountain. My log cabin studio is where art happens when I am not out in the field observing nature. Morningstar Studio is open 3 times a year on the Countryside Artisans Studio Tour, and by appointment for studio customers. I teach Art & Nature Sketchbook workshop in the classroom and outdoors, The Art of Botany Workshop at Brookside Gardens, and lead hikes for Audubon Naturalist Society on Sugarloaf Mountain, MD. Check out my blog to keep up with what's happening in the studio: https://www.tinathiemebrown.com/new-blog/
