Ricker Studio

Making progress on the “Pollinator Path” ground mural project with City of Lakewood and 40 West Arts! It has been so much fun meeting the lovely people (and puppies!) in the neighborhood. Thank you to all the volunteers from Excel Energy, City of Lakewood, Creekside and 40 West Arts who have endured 95 degree heat this week. And yes, I can confirm that when the air is 95, the sidewalk is at least 120 degrees - phew! 😅 more pictures coming soon!

Honored and thrilled to attend the opening of the “changes” exhibition at Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. Hundreds of hours, 75 graphic panels and 70+ vector illustrations went into producing the graphics package for this important exhibition discussing how climate change is impacting the habitats of Monterey County. So happy to have the opportunity to collaborate with the amazing crew at the museum and talented team of developers and exhibit designers: (project manager, designer, renaissance man) .dieter (exhibit designer) Sarah Bartlett (developer) Travis wood (exhibit designer)

Making progress on the aspen mural for Colorado Mills! I had to post before adding the people just in case I really mess it up 😬. One more day! Something about painting at this scale makes me feel like a real artist. ❤️

Day 2 at Colorado Mills! The background is starting to shape up. Now to paint 9 aspen trees and some people yay!

I’ve never seen such a beautiful blank canvas! Excited to be painting a theme of “togetherness” in these very isolated times. Swipe for day 1 progress - a humble beginning. I’ll be madly painting today to beat the snow storm coming our way. #40 west arts

Part 4 in the native grass of Colorado series: wheat grasses. (Wow, I painted a lot of grass this summer!) left: western wheatgrass with common field cricket; center: slender wheatgrass whose dense basal foliage provides nesting opportunities for waterfowl such as green winged teals and their cutie ducklings; right: streambank wheatgrass found along the banks of streams in riparian areas. Just missing crested wheatgrass which is by far the one I see most in my neighborhood wetlands. Next summer!

Part 3 of Colorado native grass series: Tufted hair grass with praying mantis and its egg case on the left, fowl bluegrass with 12-spotted skimmer on the right - species commonly found in the Colorado grasslands during the summer.

Round 2 of Colorado native grasses: the Bouteloua family. Blue grama, our state grass provides forage for prairie dogs and is the host plant for green skippers. Buffalograss hosts a number of insects, including the differential grasshopper, American Kestrels’ favorite meal. Sideoats grama can be found in abundance in the grasslands in late summer. I enjoyed collecting, dissecting and painting these summer beauties.

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to spend a few weeks at the lovely Oak Spring Garden Foundation this spring. The brightest beacon of light at the end of a crazy, unpredictable year. Thank you to the selection committee for allowing me the gift of immersing myself in spring flowers, perusing their library and contributing to their florilegium.

So excited to be attending the SCBWI Nonfiction workshop sponsored by the Smithsonian. So many exciting things happening in this area of publishing.

Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) lines the waterways throughout the summer in Colorado. I’ve been observing their lifecycle since early spring when the plants emerge from the ground with their distinct, furry leaves in an ordered opposite arrangement about the stem. The beautiful inflorescence of white flowers with a pinkish, lavender tinge pop and red milkweed beetles and ladybugs arrive. The flowers wilt and the spiny green pods emerge. I made the mistake of collecting one and got covered in sticky milky white goo. (Ahhh, that’s where the name comes from!) I dissected a pod and found perfect rows of seeds in a Fibonacci arrangement. The seeds are currently blowing in the breeze looking for a place to take root before the snow flies. Milkweed is the host plant for monarchs, though I have only seen a couple all summer. Perhaps they’re not due to arrive here in CO just yet?