"Maddy, will you come draw on the walls of our daughter's nursery?"

Why yes, I’d love to!

This spring, I was asked to do some of my wall drawing, but this time for a nursery! My first wall drawing experience was completely unplanned, the result of pandemic boredom and my unwillingness to completely remove the wallpaper bits from the walls in my home office. In that project, I did a little bit over the course of months and slowly developed a sense for what I was doing. With this project, I would only have a few evenings. Could I do it again?

It turns out, I can! I planned a bit more than I had last time, but still left a lot open to improvisation and experimentation. We decided on a color palette ahead of time, based on what is available in the larger sized Posca markers that I like to use and what would look nice on yellow walls. Once I arrived onsite, we had to establish what would go on the mural. I knew I wanted to draw a duck, a sheep, and some turtles. She asked for a hedgehog. So, that’s where I started. I sketched out a basic landscape with duck, sheep, turtles, and hedgehog, and then took to the walls.

After the first day, we knew it needed more. She requested a moose. I learned how to draw a moose, and it went up on the wall. I finished it up with some buzzing bees. Throughout the process, we critiqued and edited together, making it a more collaborative process than my first mural.

This project came after a fallow creative period for me, so it was particularly affirming to be able to stand in front of it and say “look what I made!” And when, during the baby shower, some kids appeared and started playing with stuffed animals against the drawings, I was especially glad to have created a space for that kind of imaginative play.

The Glorious North Woods

You know those times where the bugs actually aren’t that and you pretend you’re safe and it’s just lovely? And then a few days later you discover they were there all along? Based on a true story.

Transcript:

Page 1: An exuberant woman stands in a collaged north woods environment, on the front page of a Minnesota-shaped book, as she proclaims “The Glorious North Woods!”

Page 2: The same woman happily slaps at a single bug that is shown buzzing around her arm, all while proclaiming with a simple “The Glorious North Woods!” She’s unperturbed.

Page 3: The same woman snoozes with a smile, dreaming “The Glorious North Woods.” She’s completely unaware of the the few bugs shown buzzing around her.

Page 4: The same woman, stands surprised and alert with an exclamation point over her had and “itch me, itch me, itch me” coming from a red bump on her leg.

Page 5: In five drawings, the same woman is shown discovering more and more mosquito bites all over. She gets increasingly angry.

Page 6: An enormous mosquito character is show flying above a collaged north woods environment saying happily “The glorious north woods!”

Page 7: By Maddy Buck 2022, amidst some collaged trees, a lake, and dotted lines indicating bugs.

Mad (dy) Libs

For much of 2021, I had no ideas. I knew I wanted to make things, but I never knew what to make. And some days I just needed to make SOMETHING to feel that satisfaction of having completed a project. So I started a sketchbook I called the “I need to make something” sketchbook, in which I made faces out of blobs and turned them into people.

When it came time to make my yearly book, I decided to use the blob faces, simply turning them into Mad(dy) Libs.

I love them. It’s so crazy where setting restraints and creativity can take you. I love it.

Face made out of collaged paper looking scared. Text says "I admit it. Sometimes I _____ the cat. Don't @ me."
Cover of little book called "Fill in the Buck!" by Maddy Buck on blue background.
Scared face made out of blob collages. Text says "I think I just saw grandma ______ in the yard."