Bliss; Jill Bliss

Anyone from Santa Cruz County would know we barely had a summer. We spent our summer days hiding under the sheets from the cold, then running to the rivers and beaches when the sun came out. The few summery days we had can be characterized with record temperatures and inhabitants resembling sloths.

It was either too hot or too cold to garden, pick flowers in the forest, or enjoy the bounties of summer.

But Jill Bliss can fix your post-summer blues.

Her recent Garden Series prints had been inspired by the lack of summer she had also experienced in her own neck of the woods. It was created as a homage to the summer of 2009 and her love for gardening and sustainable lifestyles.

Bliss infuses her work with a do-it-yourself spirit through a medium of everyday objects such as ball point pens, scrap paper, and threads. Her work is inspired by nature and she seems to permeate her appreciation for it through the use of simple lines and soft colors. She uses dots, lines, and circles to create beautifully organic images of nature. Her work is friendly, lovely, lush, and approachable.

The simplicity of Bliss art makes her a popular artist for indie-related designs such as Ucommon and blissen. Her work seems to reach out to the D.I.Y-loving indie hipsters who listen to She&;Him and Charlotte Gainsbourge.

                
The content of Bliss`s work comes from her interest in environmental studies ecology as well as from her upbringing on a farm. She emphasizes the beauty and ephemeral qualities of nature and seems to encourage an appreciation for it amongst her fans.

Bliss`s work is cute with a purpose. She will cure your summer blues with her evocative designs and inspire you to garden, hike, or just take a long walk at the Arboretum.