September 21, 2016

A 2017 Calendar!

Calendar with watercolor images of herbs and edible flowers by Kathleen Maunder (trowelandpaintbrush.com)

I am happy and proud to introduce my first Trowel and Paintbrush calendar!

It's twelve months of herbs and edible flowers featuring my botanical watercolour paintings.

I started working on this project a year ago. I was encouraged by an artist friend (thank you for the nudge, Brenda of @cattailswordwork) to think about doing a calendar. I quickly figured out my theme: herbs and edible flowers. I already had six herb paintings finished. I started to work on six edible flower paintings hoping to have it ready for 2016 but I underestimated the time it was going to take me. Rather than introducing a rushed effort late in the season, I decided to make it a 2017 calendar.

Hand lettering of months and days for 2017 Trowel and Paintbrush calendar

I did some finessing of the edible flower paintings early this year. In the past few weeks, I hand lettered the months and days in watercolour. Some of lettering was done with a fine paintbrush, some with a pen nib dipped in watercolor paint.

February watercolor calendar image of violets by Kathleen Maunder of Trowel and Paintbrush
Images from 2017 Herbs and Edible Flowers calendar by Trowel and Paintbrush

I chose 'Mint' for the January page as it seemed to fit with a fresh start. The sweet violet bouquet seemed to be perfect for February, aptly so I found out later as the violet is February's birth flower. I chose 'Thyme' for March because time marches on. (Sorry to be corny but it's true! Sometimes I need to amuse myself.) I placed my viola and pansy painting as the July image since that's when my birthday is and violas and pansies have lots of family associations for me. Sage is on the December page as it is so often used in holiday meals.

I've printed the calendar in my studio on beautiful paper with the same care and attention I give to everything that I produce. As a bonus, I also created an accompanying page which describes some common uses of the herbs and flowers featured in my calendar.

The calendar would be a lovely gift for a gardener, cook or nature lover. Or you may want to buy it for yourself! It would brighten up a kitchen nook or an office space. I sell it without a hole at the top centre which is perfect if you want to display it with a clip, clothespin or washi tape. Or I can punch a centre hole for you so you can loop a piece of twine or ribbon through it.

It was so much work but I am thrilled with how it turned out. I really hope you like it too!

🌿 🌿 🌿 🌿 🌿


4 comments:

  1. Kathleen, congratulations! What a labor of love, and a beautiful story you have shared, also, as to the meaning behind the botanicals you selected for each month. Your painting is so fresh and so true to every detail, and the application of a calendar is perfect. Bravo & much success on this latest endeavor! Nancy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Nancy. You always say the nicest things. I appreciate your support.

      Delete
  2. Very very beautiful, Kathleen ! oxox

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Sonia! Your words mean a lot to me.

      Delete

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog and to leave me a comment. I love reading them. -- Kathleen

(Please note that comments with links to ads or commercial websites will be deleted.)

BROWSE MY BLOG BY THEME

autumn (26) backyard (19) birds (17) creativity (7) family (37) flowers (32) friends (13) garden (72) gardening (7) hope (8) leaves (17) Meeko (95) nature photography (14) original watercolor (9) painting (55) paintings (34) print (12) rain (16) soft-coated Wheaten terrier (28) spring (28) studio (13) summer (12) watercolor (102) watercolour (98) winter (19)