What is Up Moss Creek Studio
and where did you get that name?
Honorary new to Substack post :} I’m been wanting to write and create longer form rambling about my painting for years (I’ve had a “field notes” blog section of my website sitting blank since 2021) and I’m so grateful that other artists have lead me to this space.
What is Up Moss Creek Studio?
Simply put, Up Moss Creek Studio is my art business that I started in 2021. My professional bio reads a little something like this:
Erynn McNeill is an artist, botanist, and scientific illustrator. While obtaining their Bachelor of Science in Biology they worked throughout the backcountry of Montana, Idaho and Alaska tracking animals and recording plant species until 2020 when forced isolation brought back an old love of creating art. Taking inspiration from these wilderness experiences, they created Up Moss Creek Studio in 2021 as a habitat for experimentation where they combine their knowledge of botany, mycology and multiple art mediums to create unique mixed media paintings inspired by 19th century botanical illustration. While their personal style gives their paintings an air of dark naturalism and fantasy, they aim to highlight the endangered mossy worlds within the Northern Rockies's diverse ecosystems and hope that through showing others what they admire when wandering creek side through the mountains it will inspire them to look closely, step lightly, and protect the world's natural environments. They are currently based in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana where they share a home with their partner Brandon, dog Dagwood, and cat Orion.
And I must say that does sum it up quite nicely! However, in this season of my life and my art I am feeling called to not only share my art, but to allow it to assist me with educating others about the species, ecological processes and interactions that not only interest me, but I also care so much about. Doing art markets the last few years I’ve seen first hand how learning a plant or fungi or lichen’s name brings joy to others. How learning about the hidden ecological importance of moss makes someone want to know more. I learned that this is a curiosity outside myself, and for a while I thought I might have to receive a specialized higher form of education in order to be qualified enough to share my knowledge and understanding with others. But after several years of sharing my art and working as a seasonal botanist, I realized that I always knew that that wasn’t true. In fact, I think one of reasons why I started my art business was to share one of my true passions in life… Scientific communication through art.
Some things to look forward to from “Field Notes from Up Moss Creek”: Botanical paintings pair with a species list, individual species descriptions, habitat description and interesting species interacts; poetry inspired by the feeling I get from nature, exploration, learning, and learning about nature; photos from my hikes in the mountain of western Montana (will most likely also include ecological ramblings); how to learn/get involved in Botany/Citizen science.
Where did you get the name?
If you’re an artist than I know you know that coming up with the name is always the hardest. Whether it’s your business name, the title of a painting, a book. It always feels a bit horrendous to me.
When creating a space for my art on the internet I already knew the “vibe”. I already knew the color palette, the art I was making, the art I was going to make. I also knew that it had to be broad, I would never be tied to just one medium. I wanted to paint, draw, make jewelry, collect specimen, talk about science and write! It had to be everything. But it had to convey something specific.
My art, in all its forms, is inspired by a specific place. The dark, damp mossy patches hidden throughout the forests of Montana have always been my favorite place in the world. Sure I could move to a place where the whole forest is dense and wet and covered in moss, but I adore the search for it here. I will never get used to the surprise and excitement I feel when the temperature drops and the greens get deeper. Who’s made their home here? What fungi will I see? Which species of fern?
Due to the relatively low abundance of habitat such as this in the dryness of the Montana Rockies, these mircohabitats often harbor rare and endangered species. Mosses, orchids, grasses, ferns, lichens and more than I can list that only thrive is year round moist environments. In addition to the deep green moss and the relief of a mountain stream, I think it is this awe of rarity that draws me to these places.
I want my art to transport the viewer there. I want them to think of the beautiful moments they’ve has in the mountains. That time they saw a flower or laid on a bed of moss. That’s it. My art is a place, and you can come if you want…
A poem I wrote that also describes my art, not what it is, but where it is.
Up Moss Creek
You’re on a hike in the woods
Coming around a bend the warmth of the sun disappears
It’s dark, a creek spills over a top the dusty trail
The ground is covered in deep green moss
There is a slight cool breeze
It smells of damp Earth
You have to stop
You take a long deep breath, then another, another
Your mind is quiet
You want to follow the water
To count the flowering orchids as moisture seeps into your shoes
To get mud in the creases of your knees as you search for tiny mushrooms
To lift up each fern frond in search of sporophytes
How lovely it would be
To leave the heat the world behind
And disappear Up Moss Creek
THANK YOU! For reading my first blog post here on Substack! Being here and writing this much, sharing my first poem (scary) means so so so much to me. I’m so excited to share detailed ramblings about my art, process, conservation, botany, poetry; all of it! If any of this interests you, I hope you’ll follow me to the creek…