An architect by trade, Jess Michetti worked in interior design and construction for more than a decade—including a stint at Anthropologie and its sister brand Terrain—before she became a mom. The creative itch remained after her first son was born. “I wanted to do something for the nursery walls, so I started drawing when [he] was napping or when I had a free moment,” she says. “It was a way to get back to being Jess for a minute.”
For her subjects, Michetti chose the birds she had seen on walks around her neighborhood in Falls Church. Eventually she had a nice little portfolio going and launched Good Goose Graphics, an online storefront and studio offering original drawings and prints of birds native to the East Coast—tiny wrens and sparrows, cardinals and goldfinches—“the little creatures that are so ubiquitous that you don’t even notice them, but once you pay attention, you see how awesome they really are.”
Her favorite? “Maybe the mourning dove. It’s just so sweet. And the chickens are Falls Church City natives—they live in someone’s backyard and we see them during our walks on the trail,” say Michetti, now a mother of two. “My son likes to feed them Cheerios.”
Prints and originals are available at Botanologica in Falls Church and online at goodgoosegraphics.com. Instagram: @goodgoosegraphics