So many good things: Gay Kraeger, artist and designer

All images courtesy of the artist

If you’ve been to Castle Rock State Park, Rancho Del Oso, or the Watsonville Slough, you’ve probably read the interpretive panels that explain the scenery, animals and surroundings.  What you might not know is that these beautifully illustrated panels grew out of artist Gay Kraeger’s greeting card business, Santa Cruz Mountain Postcards.  A life-long resident of the Santa Cruz Mountains (her family bought the ninth house in the Villa Del Monte development off Summit Road) Gay’s work reflects the environment where she lives.  Birds, mammals, reptiles, insects and even poison oak appear in Gay’s postcards, watercolors, and the panels she designs for various local parks and open spaces.  Her clients include the California Department of Fish and Game, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Portola and Castle Rock Foundation, among many others.  Gay’s company, Wildways Illustrated, has created close to two hundred panels in the past five years.

Though she always wanted to be an illustrator, Gay changed directions to graphic design while in college.  She worked in the production area, doing paste-up by hand (before computers), and raised two daughters.  She didn’t start drawing seriously until her friend Christina Lopp Schwabecher returned from a trip to Paris with her illustrated journal.  Soon Gay filled her own journal, continuing to draw while Christina was away for two years in Ireland.  When Christina returned, the two friends began teaching Illustrated Watercolor Journaling (IWJ), a class they created and teach about three times per year.  They also lead field trips to the Santa Barbara Channel Islands every spring.   Hundreds of people have taken their classes, and heard the oft-repeated phrase, “Strive for imperfection!”  This philosophy of taking risks, experimenting, and just plain having fun permeates Gay and Christina’s classes.  It also has had life-altering consequences for the two friends, as well as many of their students.  “Drawing has led to so many good things in my life,” Gay says. 

After Gay finished her first journal, she began another.  Gay’s journaling style combines images of nature, birds, plants and animals, with her exquisite calligraphy and handwritten notes.  After she began drawing and painting in her journals, Gay created her line of greeting cards, selling them at various locations including local art fairs, the San Lorenzo Garden Center in Santa Cruz, and the Rancho del Oso gift shop.  Her cards were very popular and always sold out, and they attracted the attention of the person who ran the business that would eventually become Wildways.  The original owner passed away after she and Gay had worked together for a short time, leaving the business to Gay.  With the help of her business partner Holly Reed, Gay has grown Wildways into a thriving cottage industry (which operates in a real cottage in the midst of Gay’s mountain garden).  “I’d like more time for gardening,” Gay says wistfully.  “One of my biggest challenges is to stop work at a reasonable hour every day.” 

The work environment at Wildways is casual and relaxed, with Gay and Holly’s dogs sprawled on the floor, and Gay’s large gray cat perched on the stairs.  Shelves filled with books on local flora and fauna, nature journaling, and art line the walls.  One window looks out on the barn where Gay’s horse lives, and another shows the view past the orchard Gay and her husband planted years ago.  It’s easy to see where she gets her inspiration.

Gay recommends the work of Hannah Hinchman, Cathy Johnson, Betty Edwards and Claire Walker Leslie for guidance on getting started with nature journals.  The website she and Christina Lopp Schwabecher run, Illustrated Watercolor Journaling, is filled with journal pages from Gay and Christina and their students’ artwork, as well as lots of information about classes, the IWJ DVD, and field trips.

Gay is now on her fifty-sixth illustrated journal.  “Don’t be afraid,” she advises other artists.  “Most of all, have fun.  And always strive for imperfection.”