The images above? Designs for 15 new seed packets in the Hudson Valley Seed Library's annual Art Pack Program for which it commissions artists country wide to create package covers. I'm one of the artists, chosen from a field of 400 or so, to design one of the 2016 Art Packs.

Mine is No. 14, and tells the story of how archeologists discovered that snow peas were planted in prehistoric times. The variety: Giant Swiss Snow Peas.

For the collage, I used an antique map of Switzerland to create the mountains, layered vintage wrapping papers with cut-out snowflakes for the sky, dug up an antique engraving of an archeological expedition for the bottom, as well as snow pea "fossils" created from antique engravings, and - finally - vintage images for the vivid flowers of the pea vine, and I ended up designing the peas using a vintage illustration as my inspiration (yes, I try to use original paper only in my work, but had to improvise
for this because I could not find enough snow peas in different sizes to use).

It's exciting to be selected, because years ago I wrote about the program on the old blog. Love the idea of the company continuing the tradition of great seed catalog/packet art that thrived in the Victorian/Edwardian eras, the heyday of chromolithographed catalogs now coveted by collectors.

The packets and catalog will be available Nov. 1, 2015. There's a vote on through Friday Oct. 9 to pick one of the designs for the 2016 catalog cover. Just sayin.'

Sowing the seeds of art

Now that spring is here, we are inevitably thinking about seeds and planting our annual veggie garden. Well, garden might be a stretch. We don't have much sunlight in the yard, so our planting is limited.

In any case, I was reminded of the almost-antique seed packets in my archive. I bought a cache of circa 1920 Card Seed Co. packets at the Tri-State Antique Market in Indiana a few years ago. Had no clue what would be done with them. Initially, they were to be framed. Now, not so sure.

The striking packets were lithographed, giving them a soft, lush look. Prices vary wildly. Mine were $1.50 each, but I just saw the beets for sale online for $7.99. Carrots and corn hit the $14.99 range.

Another reason I was reminded of these is an e-mail from the Hudson Valley Seed Library that landed in my in box. The company has been commissioning artists to create the art for its heirloom seed packets. New Art Packs are issued annually. Of course, these images are copyrighted, so I wouldn't think of using them in my work. But I love the idea and have bought some to frame. Oh, and to plant what's inside, too.

Twenty six artists are featured this year. Here are a few of my faves ... and who knows, if they revive the Cincinnati Flower Show maybe the library's traveling "pop-up" booth will come our way. This year, it's headed to shows around the country. At the annual Philadelphia Flower Show earlier this month, there was a gallery show of the original art work, too.

Art by David Gordon.

Art by Bill Rybak (out of stock).

Art by Natalie Merchant.

Art by Lynne Bittner.

Art by Jennifer Knaus.