Beauty in the moment

The view from the front of my house

right now

this very moment

beauty for the taking

Iowa Sweet Corn

It is sweet corn season here in Iowa.

We've made a few trips to the farm to reap the benefits of grandma and grandpa's sweet corn patch.


We had a bit more interesting journey out to the farm due to the huge road construction project on their road. We had to use the dirt road, go through a "road closed" sign, and bottomed out on some ungraded gravel, but we got there.



They plant it rows right in the field with the tractor and 12-row planter. And, while they did try to make me promise to remind them not to plant it again next year-I have a hard time seeing the tradition die quite yet. There is still nothing quite like eating sweet corn for lunch that was picked from the field that morning.


Capturing the sweet corn goodness to enjoy year around takes a bit of hard work from many hands-the boys were great help this year in picking, husking and even cutting the corn off the cob.



I know it is going to taste really great come February when we grab a bag out of the freezer and can have a bit of that sweet corn taste in the middle of winter.

Fresh flowers in the studio

Roses from my husband were the nudge to get out into my garden and pick flowers to add to the arrangement. Nothing like fresh flowers bursting with color in the studio!

Iowa State Fair

Garden of the Soul

©2010 Melynda Van Zee

36" x 48"

Acrylic on Canvas

So excited to find out that both of my entries into the Iowa State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit were accepted. Both "Garden of the Soul" and "From Above the Wind and Waves" will be available for your viewing at the Fine Art Exhibit at the Cultural Center on any day of the great Iowa State Fair to be held August 11-21 in Des Moines, IA.

To be honest, there is a part of me that can’t believe I just wrote that opening paragraph. You see I’ve been going to the Iowa State Fair for as long as I can remember. Throughout my entire childhood, my dad had a booth in the agricultural division of the fair, so we would spend long days wondering through all the fair attractions while he worked. At night, if he wasn’t too tired, he would take me for one ride on the double ferris wheel-equally terrifying as it was electrifying-spinning wildly and flying over the fair grounds seeing for miles. As a teenager, I would occasionally get to invite a friend along to spend the day with me at the fair. Vivid memories of our bodies covered in stickers advertising political candidates, looking for treasures in the Shopping Mart, posing for photos in the Victorian dress up booth, meeting on-air TV personalities in person to capture their signatures-all a part of an Iowa girl’s annual trek to the fair.

I have continued the tradition of visiting the fair as an adult, bringing my own children to make their fair memories (riding a horse for the first time, flying down the Big Slide on a burlap mat, admiring the big bull, riding a boat in the pitch black at Ye Old Mill) and I never miss a trip to the Cultural Center to take it all in. In my years of teaching art to kids, I would love to check out all the kid’s art works that were displayed-looking at the talent and cruising for ideas I could use in my own classroom. I created my own dollhouses as a girl so I don’t miss a chance to see the amazingly detailed doll houses that are displayed. Several year ago on a whim, I decided to try to enter some of my photography to the photography exhibit at the fair. To my great surprise, some of my photos were selected. I’ve entered several more times over the years, always delighted to walk the aisles and see when my work showed up.

But, the fine art exhibit...that was the “someday”, the never gonna realistically happen “someday” part of the fair that tempted me-dangled out there in front of me as a “What if?”

“What if I actually started seriously painting my own paintings rather than dreaming about it?”

“What if I actually started to do what I had been so busy teaching for so many years?”

“What if I got brave enough to enter?”

“What if I get rejected?”

I did get rejected the first time I entered a painting a couple of years ago. But, I tried again. So in this fortieth year of life, I can say that there are still “What ifs?” that God is placing and answering in my life. There are still things that I have to learn and there are still surprises waiting around the corners of my life. Sometimes I get frustrated about living in what other people call "fly-over country". I lament the lack of opportunities that are available in more rural areas. I can get restless with right where I am. But, I am resolved to continue to make the decision to take a long walk with my camera to capture the beauty and depth of my home and pick up the brush to paint what I have to say. And, I am delighted to make another trip to the Iowa State Fair to revel in all that makes this place I live, this Iowa, a continual field of yet-to-be discovered treasures, good old-fashioned fun and dreams for the future.

From Above the Wind & Waves

©2010 Melynda Van Zee

36" x 24"

Acrylic on Canvas

Converged Paths

"Converged Paths" is a two woman art show I did this spring with artist Andrea Van Wyk. It was such a delight to do an art show with my own art teacher. Enjoy these photos from the exhibit.

The Joan Kuyper Farver Art Gallery presents:

Converged Paths. The Journey of Two Women.

Andrea Van Wyk and Melynda Van Zee

Joan Kuyper Farver Art Gallery, 2nd Floor, Pella Community Center,

712 Union Street, Pella, IA.

March 1st - 31st, 7:30 am to 4:30 pm M-F

Artist Reception: Friday, March 4, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

As journeys go, they ebb and flow, bend and twist - meandering places we didn’t dream possible. The journey of these two women started over twenty-five years ago, Andrea starting out in her first teaching experience and Melynda beginning high school as one of her students. As an educator, you wonder how teaching will resonate in your students and the hope is for seeds of knowledge to take root and grow. This exhibition is the result. Presenting a garden of work that has come from these two paths that were joined at the beginning and now converge once again. Both Educators and both artists, both are connected by the desire to visually create and capture the beauty of their journeys.

Coram Deo

I will be facilitating a Breakout Session called Just Imagine at "Coram Deo...Living in the Presence of God". This women's retreat will be Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011 at Calvary Christian Reformed Church in Pella, IA. There is a fabulous group of presenters and registration is available online until Feb. 20. Join us!

Just Imagine will feature ideas on using the arts as a pathway to living fully in the presence of God. We will discuss the attacks and roadblocks that get in the way of us freely expressing our God-given creativity and discover how God can use the arts to bring spiritual growth and healing in our lives.

Nature walk as my sustainable practice

It’s been cold here and when I say cold, I mean cold...as in below zero. And, when it is this cold, I can’t walk in my favorite spots, but I can dream and I can pull out my photographs and I can spend an afternoon focusing on my favorite nature photographs from the timber I walk in whenever it is not this cold! Nature walks are one of my “sustainable practices” as an artist. One of the things that keep me going, keep me fueled up, help me to shake out what is in my head and my heart. They help me to really see and notice what is around me. Some days I just head out for some physical exercise-a chance to stretch and take in the fresh air, but on days that I really need to slow down, I grab my camera. There is something about taking a walk with a camera that really gets me to take it slow and see what is around me. I am reminded again to look at the world through artist eyes, to see the beauty at my feet or above my head, to see the truth that is evident in nature every time I venture out. To remember what it is important and to remember where to focus-on the mystery that is much bigger than me.