By Ranger Steve Mueller
Find nature at Framed Images in Cedar Springs. The frame shop has the beauty of nature captured through the eyes of artists. We can experience nature vicariously there and take a favorite home. There are few homes I visit that are without some form of nature hanging on the walls.
An original acrylic butterfly painting by William Howe brightens my writing room all year. I purchased the unframed painting and framed it myself with doorframes. One of our butterfly association members kindly told me the frame did not do the painting justice. She didn’t say my framing looked crud but that is what she was probably thinking. We took it to Framed Images where it was professionally framed. Now people are not embarrassed for me when they look at it.
Bill Howe donated several paintings to Smithsonian National Museum. They could not use all of them and sold pictures to visiting scientists. I donated butterflies to the Smithsonian and visited behind the scenes for my butterfly and moth research several times. I was pleased to acquire my friend’s painting on one of my visits.
Bill illustrated the book Butterflies of North America used as a primary resource for my graduate research. At the time, few regional books had been published. William Holland’s book from 1903 was still an important reference and Alexander Klots 1951 book was the only book of choice for most people in the East.
Bill Howe called me from Kansas requesting to borrow the painting for an event. Before that could happen, he died. We all have connections beyond family that somehow penetrate our souls. We have a wall of family pictures. Nature pictures bring added life to our walls.
My daughter, Jenny Jo, painted one of my favorite butterflies called the Harvester. People make special trips to Ody Brook Nature Sanctuary to see the live butterfly in the sanctuary. Adults have two broods and fly twice a year. Once in the spring and again in midsummer. It is the only butterfly here that eats animals as a caterpillar. It eats wooly aphids that suck juices from speckled alder twigs. The picture Jenny Jo created is now nicely framed and hangs on our wall. A friend from Kentucky painted two water scenes that she gave me and they have frames that accent the scenes. You do not need to drive to Kentucky to have pictures nicely framed. Come to Cedar Springs where they can be matted and framed to suit your desires.
There is no need to drive to the big city. Get a custom frame locally that fits your home perfectly. Create nature niche views in your house to carry you through long winters so you don’t have to sleep them away with the bears. Enjoy trilliums and other ephemeral wildflowers all year instead of a limited three weeks in spring. Apple blossoms come and go and if frost does not kill flowers we get to taste the fruit of the tree’s labor come fall. We can enjoy an orchard scene on our walls all year.
Explore the Framed Images shop to enjoy nature’s beauty captured through artists’ eyes. The frame shop is found on Main Street one block south from the Kent Theater and across the street from the Chase bank. Enjoy the quaintness of Cedar Springs and hardworking shop owners in Cedar Springs. It will be a pleasant indoor “outside” outing for an inclement day.
Natural history questions or topic suggestions can be directed to Ranger Steve (Mueller) at odybrook@chartermi.net – Ody Brook Nature Sanctuary, 13010 Northland Dr. Cedar Springs, MI 49319 or call 616-696-1753.
