Dirt By Amy Stewart

Wicked Bugs: Creeping, Crawling, and Slithering to a City Near You

My new book, Wicked Bugs, will be out in May 2011.  No, this isn't the cover--this is the graphic design for a traveling exhibit that will be going around the country after the book comes out. If you happen to be affiliated with a botanical garden, science museum, zoo, etc., read all about the outdoor version of the exhibit here. There's also an indoor version, complete with (optional) live bugs--more news about that as I have it.

This is all coming about because I met the people at Outhouse Exhibit Services at a garden show in Kansas City.  You never know what might happen in Kansas City.

More about the book in the fall, when I have a cover design and other details to share.  Meanwhile, if your garden club, bookstore, botanical garden, Master Gardener group, etc would like to be a stop on the book tour in May/June 2011, shoot an email my way at amy at amystewart dot com.  I'm putting a list of cities together for book tour consideration.

And now I'm back to proofreading bug names...

New York Fruit Stand

Fruit stands are great fun to paint. And in this case, I managed to get just the right kind of figure in the scene--a guy standing around waiting for someone to buy his wares. This particular stand, if you're curious, was somewhere on Seventh Ave, in the forties, I believe. This is 5 x 7 inch oil on thin masonite board. Click here to bid. Go here to see more paintings.

Great Garden Speakers--The Official Launch

Some of you may remember that a few months ago, we posted an online survey to gauge the interest in a new website called GreatGardenSpeakers.com.  The idea was to make it easier for garden clubs, botanical gardens, flower shows, conferences, and other such venues to find speakers with expertise in gardening, nature, horticulture, ecology, landscape design, and floral design.

Well, guess what?  After a few hectic months of consultation and design, we're live and ready to start signing up speakers.  Feel free to visit the site and check it out.

In particular, here are a few things you might want to do:

• Browse our growing list of garden speakers and post an Audience Review if you've seen any of them speak before.

• Check out our page of frequently-asked questions for speakers who are interested in joining the site.

• If you are a program chair, events coordinator, conference organizer, or anyone who belongs to a group that hosts speakers, read our frequently-asked questions for program chairs here. 

• Sign up for our email newsletter to get updates on new speakers, new topics or book releases, tour dates, and tips for hosting successful events.

On a personal level, I've thought for a long time that a speakers bureau dedicated just to garden, nature, and design speakers would be a wonderful thing.  Garden clubs and master gardener groups all over the country host speakers every month, but the program chair duties rotate annually, making it hard to stay in touch with them. Even the botanical gardens, flower and garden shows, conferences, etc. may have staff devoted to scheduling events, but they are often juggling so many things at once that it's hard to spend hours on the Internet searching for speakers.

Great Garden Speakers has some nifty features that I hope will make life easier for these groups.  The ability to post Audience Reviews is a big deal as they rely on word-of-mouth recommendations.  We also created a Coming to a City Near You feature that lets speakers post the cities they may be traveling to.  That lets groups take advantage of speakers who are already coming through town, potentially saving on travel costs and fees.

Anyway, go check it out, and let us know what you think.  Oh, and in case you were wondering--the geniuses responsible for getting this off the ground are:

Scott Calhoun

Mary Ann Newcomer

Debra Prinzing

Nan Sterman

Amy Stewart

Off to Buffalo!

You can't hear enough about Buffalo's crazy month-long gardening extravaganza, can you?  As an outsider, I must say:  Buffalo is way hipper than you might think it is.  It's like Austin with snow. Maybe better.  And these people really know how to celebrate summer.  Everybody's out in their gardens having a good time.  It's quite a heady experience, being in the center of such a happy garden frenzy. 

And now I'm off to join them.  If you're in the area, I'll see you Saturday, June 26, 2:00, at the Buffalo Public Library.  Details here.

Roosevelt Hotel Bar

Here's another painting based on the bar at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. I just love the way bars are lit--all that beautiful, jewel-colored light coming through the bottles. You'll see more of these in the weeks to come!

This one is 8 x 8 inches on 1/2 inch panel with slots in the back for easy hanging. Click here to bid. Go here to see my other paintings on eBay.

Smith's Bar, New York City

I just got back from a three-week painting trip in New York. I took a workshop with Karin Jurick the first week, and then, because I had my paints and supplies with me, I actually continued to paint for a little over a week--until I had to stop to let the paintings dry. I didn't want to carry an easel around New York and set up somewhere--painting is kind of messy, so clean-up is awkward, and the people keep moving around! But I did work from photos, using the fire escape in my apartment as a studio. Bliss! This is Smith's Bar in Hell's Kitchen, on 8th Avenue around West 44th Street. I just loved the neon sign. Many more New York paintings in the weeks to come--I have a stack of paintings I finished while I was there, and hundreds of photographs I hope to paint soon! This is 8 x 10 oil on board, with slots in the back for easy unframed hanging. Click here to bid, and don't forget to check out my other paintings here.