If we meet our goal, the ihcda will fund match our project, doubling the impact of your donation!

Today I reached out to local insect expert Johannes Schadow to shake out the last bit of our mural design. When talking with neighbors, a desire for different and accurate pollinators was mentioned. I knew he would have some excellent suggestions for me. We met at a moth watch party night hosted by him at Daubenspeck Nature park. Highly recommend getting out in the evening with a light and a bedsheet to see what insects you can find!

Our design started with me going out to the park and photographing the native plants there. I created vector graphics within our limited Transpo paint color palate and sent them over to my co-artist Jamie Locke. No surprise, Jamie came up with a gorgeous mandala layout… that we had to scrap.  Chris at the Department of Public Works let us know we might want to simplify, use larger shapes and gave us the unfortunate news that we could not cross the middle lines. Eventually we landed on this vibrant design featuring the Cicada Killer Wasp and a more appropriate Common Eastern Bumble Bee:

I was delighted to hear from my sweet friend and fellow artist Shakti Penelope that the Balanced in Beauty Way Deck made an appearance in Greece this season. Muah! Hope I am soon to follow to visit these lands. Learn more about her work here: