Painter’s work top shelf in library’s book

Ginger Edmonds only started painting 10 years ago, but since she discovered her new talent she has let it consume her.

“I just love to paint. It’s just a passion with me,” Edmonds said.

Now one of the north Spokane woman’s creations is going to be on display in the nation’s capital.

Edmonds painted a little wooden book that will be hung up as an ornament on the Library of Congress’ 2005 Christmas tree in Washington, D.C. The miniature book painting is part of a nationwide project that solicited artists from different states to send in an entry depicting a unique characteristic of their state.

Edmonds’ little green book, called “Wonders of Washington,” features a luscious red apple and plump green and purple grapes.

Edmonds said her interest in painting stemmed from a friend’s work.

“I admired her things so much and I said ‘I’d love to learn to paint,’ ” Edmonds recalled. “Ten months after I learned to paint I started teaching painting.”

She paints at least five hours a day. After she moved into her new home on North Nevada Court three years ago, her husband built her an art room where she could have everything handy.

The little green “book” looks so real that even Edmonds is surprised by her artwork.

“I look at it mystified and it’s very hard to believe,” Edmonds said.

Her specialty is Christmas ornaments. She recently displayed some of her work at a Shadle craft show and will be at a Mead show in December. It is just the second time that she has put her work on the market, she said.

“I just paint for my own pleasure or for my kids,” she said.

“I do a lot of fantasy animals that kids would like,” she said. Some of her crafts include snowmen, gingerbread men and teddy bears. The painting certainly makes gift-giving easier, she said. She has 14 grandchildren, and they all like to get something she has made.

“It’s like I’m giving a part of myself away,” Edmonds said.

When she got cancer twice, Edmonds had to stop teaching.

“At one point I was in the hospital for 75 days, and I was almost gone. But I bounced back,” she said.

Painting has been therapeutic in its own way, she said.

“It’s renewing my spirit. It’s almost like I’m outside myself,” said Edmonds, who listens to spiritual music as she works.

Deb Malewski of Eaton Rapids, Mich., initiated the library ornament project, and said she sent out more than 400 books and received 309 books back for the “Creativity Across America,” project. There were 10 submissions from Washington.

“Ginger’s was one of the nicer ones, one of the better ones,” Malewski said.

Malewski said the library staff is “ecstatic” with the work.

“There’s over 100 pounds of books and I hope the tree is sturdy enough,” said Malewski, who painted three books of her own. Malewski created the project after visiting the library last year and noticing that some of the ornamentation needed sprucing up.

“I think these books will be much more impressive,” she said.

The ornaments can be seen on the holiday tree in the Great Hall of the library’s Jefferson Building later this year.

Edmonds heard about the project online. She said she chose her theme because Washington is well-known for its apples. A trip to the Tri-Cities vineyards inspired her to do the grapes.

Edmonds is just happy that her work will be on display, especially since some of the other artists involved in the project are well-known nationally and internationally.

“I’m one of the little brushes,” she said.