By Jennifer Carrasco

Let me introduce myself to you as I introduced myself to Jerry Robinson and his son Pat Robinson.

In August of 2007, I had a bumper pumpkin harvest in my front yard on 6050 36th Ave.SW, West Seattle. I had planted pumpkins of all sizes, colors and wartiness on both my upper west terrace and my parking median. They must have liked something I fed them because there were vines and blooms and infant pumpkins looping and vining all over the place.

I was weeding in my son’s old scrubs on the upper pumpkin field, hoping passersby's would mistake me for a a world famous doctor instead of a mendicant artist when these two guys in an SUV screeched to a sudden halt in front of my parking median.

One guy was a man about in his early 50’s who was fiddling with his keys and closing the car door, That was Pat. And the other was a much older gentleman who was already hauling himself, hand over hand, up my first level of stairs to my front yard. That was Jerry. Jerry didn't waste time when he thought he had a story.

"Who are you and what are these plants and why are there so many of them?," panted Jerry.  I replied that I was Jennifer McCabe Carrasco, that these plants were pumpkin plants, and I believed in wretched excess. By then, Pat had caught up with his Dad, introductions were given all around., and Pat explained that Jerry was the Publisher of many small neighborhood newspapers,The West Seattle Herald among them, and now Pat worked for the business. It was just then morphing into WestSideSeattle.com online.

Both men began to pull out my life details.  "Did I make a living growing pumpkins". "No," I said."I make even less money painting murals, canvases, water colors, posters, carrousel horses, T shirts and door knobs." 

I led them to my back studio and showed them what I was working on, along with some photos of my finished work. By 2007  I had finished painting the 30'x40' ballroom of The Ruins, the 30'x7' painting for the Palace Kitchen, and the 2005 White House Easter Egg Role poster. All of which the two found interesting, and after a bit more chat, they left with handshakes all around.

To my surprise, the next issue of the West Seattle Herald had an article about me. One thing has led to another over the years and recently Pat asked me to write a column for Westside Seattle. My first entry for my column I've named "Uprising and Downsizing."

That will appear shortly.

Let's see how it goes.

Jennifer Carrasco is a longtime West Seattle resident and internationally recognized muralist whose work combines historical depth, mythic storytelling, and botanical elegance. With decades of experience painting large-scale trompe l’oeil and chinoiserie murals for clients ranging from Tommy Bahama to private collectors, she brings a distinctive Northwest voice to decorative arts. Her artistic journey has taken her from Peace Corps service and teaching in the Philippines to NEA residencies across the globe, and long ago she chose to make West Seattle her home.