From Elizabeth Crouthamel's gardens comes the unique canvas for her artistic expression. She grows, harvests, and prepares the gourds she uses for her craft.

The gourd art themes come, as with all artists, from her particular muse. An appropriate gourd is chosen and prepared, the design is then penciled on, wood burned, and finished with oil pencils.

Once a theme speaks to her heart, she researches the animal, plant and human life indigenous to the area and interweaves them into the design. Each completed design tells a story.

Elizabeth will tell you of the warmth she feels from each gourd while she works. "Each piece is a birthing," she adds. The work is time-consuming. Six or more months from conception to completion is not unusual. The artist's ability to bring life to each creation makes it unique, a fine gourd art original.

Notice the exquisite detail of Elizabeth's artwork. A sample from "Jungle Gems" is shown at left.

Each of our larger gourds comes with an explanation of the theme and has a diagram (map) with details of the images, origin and research. They are marked with a purple asterisk [] in our catalog.