Taking A Breather

Exciting times over here. Amazon has shipped the book and you can even look inside it and see some of the projects on their site. Yay! While Stephanie and I are still awaiting our shipment to send out. (boo hoo) And I've been shooting videos for over a week for the online class that starts exactly one month from today on June 14th. Yay! The image above is a teaser from one of the projects in the class. Make it big ... lots of detail.

This is what my studio looks like after days of shooting video on the table. The video is all cool control while chaos swims just outside the lens area. That describes a lot of things in my life - ha!

Spring tiptoes in while we are doing other things. Nature and art are the comforts that sustain me. 

This is my new passion. Vanilla Stevia and aguas made from fruit. I use very little juice; mostly filtered well water and a squeeze of various fruit juices plus the natural sweetener for tart things like limes and lemons. We make our own raisins from grapes we grow so those in hot water make a delicious sweet tea before bedtime. Yes, I'm 2 weeks off the nightly wine drinking and proud that I could give up my old relaxant for something healthier.

This time I left the writing on the right side of the page alone and made the image large enough for you to read if you care to click on it. Years ago the diary of a very old woman fell into my hands and I read that diary breathlessly right up until the day she died; I love to see what others write about, think about, and find important. 

Thank you for the visit. I love knowing we can touch each other without leaving home.  

Checking In

Here is my latest cage doll Santo (is a girl saint a santa? that's weird!!). Anyhoo, she's consigned to necklace duty in the bedroom and John says she is scary. He says when we fall asleep her head twirls around like Linda Blair's. I sorta hope so.

Journal pages. I'm going to start showing some in process as requested. I like to start them not having any idea where they are going and then watch them morph. I wrote about improv this morning and how much I love reacting to the moment in teaching; being willing to change course and responding to surprise. The journal pages are like that too.

I've uncharacteristically cooked supper 2 nights in a row. John just announced that he is cooking supper tonight. hmmmm. Is my cooking that bad?  hee hee. (we know it is)

At the last garage party I noticed Nikki stored all her craft paints upside down so I came home and flipped mine over too (I keep them corralled in a box). Now i can see the color at a glance and the paint is ready to come out the tip when I need it. I feel like the 100th monkey.

And who's got the messiest studio? I can't seem to get it under control no matter what I do but I won't give up. I still have that recurrent dream of finding an extra room on our house. Actually we need about three.

Random studio shots. 

Raku doll from about 20 years ago. I am still partial to her guardian spirit. Monoprint in the background.

Oh yeah. I need professional help.

This is a collage made by a friend of a friend. I thought it was really fun and so Portland.

Here is a little personal story if you have time. Over 30 years ago, when I was a broke young mother, I had a flat tire on a lonely country road. Both my young daughters were in the car with me and we were driving home after a school day. So there I was, without resources and stuck. Soon I see an old man driving from his farmhouse to help me. He fixes my tire and it takes about an hour. I wring my hands and thank him and tell him I wish I had money to give him as it has taken precious time out of his work day. I am so grateful. 

And he says, "if we aren't here to help each other, what are we here for?"

I will never forget that day, that incident, those words. He is surely gone now but here is his action, his words, living on and rippling out in a hundred directions. xo

Dagnabit

My santo is pissed off. This morning she whispered to me that she wanted to be a fado singer and hang with the Portugese sailors instead of being a saint. She wants a noisy, boisterous life.

So - the results of my doctor's appointment this morning to discuss my voice loss. Sadly, I've pretty much even lost the weak croaking that I had for awhile. The doc explained that because over 4" of the vagus nerve was removed there would be no "miracle nerve regeneration". That in fact as the vocal chord lies dormant it will actually atrophy and grow weaker over time.

Blech. Moving on to the next rock-and-a-hard-place. I'm scheduled for thyroplasty surgery on May 18th. What they do is open the last incision back up and put a piece of gortex into the side of the vocal cord that is paralyzed to push it over so it can close better. This should help me with breathing and swallowing as well as giving me a louder voice.

The yucky side of this surgery is that they do it without putting you to sleep. As in gag, cough, can't breathe, and so on. I have a helluva gag reflex already which caused me a tough night after the first surgery so I am a little put off by that but it will be worth it if I can talk again.

Some things we choose, some things we endure. Thank your voice today. Laugh out loud at least once for me. xo

And the Livin' is Easy

Finished a new plaster piece. I have some others too that I'll show you in time. Love the plaster; a fine, cloudy mess.

Went to Kitten's for the 4th (John's tongue-in-cheek nickname for our daughter Stephanie). Moose is showing us how he keeps cool in the 90 degree heat. He is the funniest dog; kept stepping on my sandaled feet with his big clumsy paws and shaking off the water while in the middle of us. That kept all of us cool.

These didn't hurt either. This is the summer of Blackberry Margaritas. Quite refreshing.

A few journal pages. As I look at these I remember clearly the bumpy emotional ride that has been this summer. Thank heavens I'm in a sunny space; sometimes my thoughts take me to other places.

Learning to ride the currents; isn't that the challenge for some of us? Not to be discouraged when the mind plays its *funny* tricks.

The subject in our family this week has been Hashimoto's Disease. It is a condition that our daughter Shellie (Pumpkin) has just discovered she has; for years she's complained of a tight throat, depression, panic attacks and mania. After therapy, anti-depressants and more therapy she's gone on thyroid meds and all those symptoms have disappeared plus she is losing weight (a good thing for her) and having increased energy. Sometimes it's not just in your head.

Cooper's happy that Shellie is finally being treated for her Hashimoto's Disease. So are we all.

Here is part of John's garlic harvest for this season. It smells wonderful drying on the deck.

My idea of fun. A nap in the cold, air-conditioned house after a hot session at the grill. Happy 5th of July; wish I could share a scoop of lemon verbena home-made ice cream with each of you.

Two More

Yes, my studio is full of plaster dust and niblets of dried plaster but all in the name of science. Tried a different material today; plaster of paris instead of the mud in the tub. It was really different to work with and the surfaces of these two feel different than the previous experiments. The colors are much softer too.

I am loving this so much. I burned the surface of one of these with a torch until the plaster swelled and made a loud popping noise. That's the kind of experiment I love. No guts, no glory. Or something like that. Now I have to rush off and do laundry for my trip to Sitka. I'll be posting from there in the coming week. Chow.

Plaster Plaster Plaster

It was hard getting the colors right on this one. The surface is a soft, powdery blue with warmer layers revealed and sharp focus lines scored in. A colleague once pointed out that a good abstract should contain areas of soft as well as areas of sharp focus; I don't know if I'd adhere to that but this one has both. I haven't cold waxed the surface yet but I'm going to. That should bring up the color a little.

Mo' Plaster

One more for the day. I'm anxious to work larger but for now I just need samples for my class in July. I used the same approach on this one as the last one; meant to take the torch to it but think I'll do that before I go to bed tonight. Anyway, here it is. This time I made the photo of the finished piece larger so you can see the detail if you click on it.

This is what I started with. I'm so into this that I signed up for a 4 day plaster painting class that starts on Wednesday of this week. I'm sure another artist will have her own techniques to share; Pat Wheeler is the instructor and I'm looking forward to meeting her. Mmmm, staying in a motel and painting all day for 4 days; can I take it? hee hee. I think I can. Nothing I love more than being in the classroom, equally as a student or teacher.

This is a midway point in the work on this piece. I'm all excited to pack up my bags again and head on over to the beach; I'll post from there and take lots of photos for you.

Okay, back to the studio to start the next one. This one will get the big torch burn. Show you the results next time.

Plaster Layers & Excavation

I'm knee deep in plaster. This is the sample piece I finished this morning; layers of plaster and paint, distressed, sanded, wire brushed, built up and worn away. It's as though centuries of time have passed to make this plaster wall soft and beautiful. These are the paintings in my dreams - warm, ancient, glowing with color.

I started with a plastered board that I'd laid textures onto. Random painting on that. I always start out thinking I'll photograph each step and then after a few photographs I go into a trance and only wake up when the work is finished. That's when I smack my head and remember I was supposed to be recording the process.

So I missed many steps. But you'll get an idea of what's going on. More plaster mixture added in this step to the painted layer. Then some sanding and distressing.

Until I got this.

And this was the last photo I shot (all these photos shot on my iPhone) before I left off taking pictures. The finished surface (first photo, not this one) is so soft and beautiful. I finished the plaster with Dorland's wax, something that I usually use to tone down a shiney surface but in this case it closed the pores in the surface of the work and left a soft satiny glow. I don't normally use cold wax on plaster but I was curious.

Heading back in there now for more plaster fun. Wheee, I can't get enough!

Plaster Fit

On July 10th I'll be teaching a plaster painting one day class at Los Gatos, California for Artful Journey. This month I'll be taking time to make a series of examples to take to that class. I want to show how versatile plaster is and how it can be used along with encaustic medium for exciting textural effects. So really, this will be a two-fer; plaster and encaustic. (yes, there is still room in the class).

The image above was done on a plaster panel with tissue collage (so the texture of the plaster is maintained) and then with various paint and distressing techniques over that. The name is carved into the plaster.

I used a similar approach on this one only I added a layer of encaustic medium over the top for added transparency; the photograph doesn't do justice to the texture of the plaster but it is very effective in person. In the following days I'll be adding more plaster paintings to this gallery that will show stenciling and carving. While these first examples are realistic I also look forward to painting some abstracts where I use pure color and texture to good effect.

It's been a long time since I've posted journal pages but of course they are part of my daily routine. We are dreaming, dreamy creatures - the day has to allow some time for play.

I don't entirely agree with the quotation above but something about it attracted me. I do think a lot of life is luck. Of course you can and should be decent and helpful to others but bad things do happen to the good as well as the misguided. There is a randomness about the universe that is undeniable; I also believe in karma though. I think we can improve our odds by doing good.

This is the opening page in the new journal. Wow, a heady time. To look at all those blank pages and know that they will hold evidence of my life. Evidence of my travels, dreams and daily babblings. My one, sweet, precious moment in all of eternity. The record I leave behind of my put-together. Why does filling it appeal to me so? Another mystery to add to the other mysteries. Why are any of us the way we are?

Last night I found out that my younger sister is having a spot on her lung biopsied tomorrow. Please send up a prayer for her wellness if you will. I spoke to her on the phone last night and was struck by her composure. My parents raised frickin' superwomen if I do say so myself. Stoic in the face of danger, capable and strong. I almost said calm but that would be a fib. We are anything but calm. Until the chips are down.

So isn't it noteworthy how we humans can carry so many divergent emotions at once? Joy and sorrow travel with us side by side; beauty and loss. Somehow we do it. Somehow we find things that get us through all of it.

Thank you for coming here. This is my way of getting through it. Making art, telling stories, using my imagination to light a candle in the darkness. I don't know what to make of this post exactly. I'm in a pensive mood today.

Revisiting a Friendship

I've had a house guest since Sunday and we've had a great time together. We knew each other in the 60's (college) and 70's (marriage and children) but then after divorces for each of us lost track of each other for some 35 years. We found each other again after Emma saw my photograph and feature article in Cloth Paper Scissors and tracked me down via the internet.

We talked on the phone and I was reassured by her voice. We arranged a visit. It was amazing. The same 2 people but 35 years of experience and change behind us. As a sociology experiment nothing could be more interesting. Each of us showing the signs of age and yet the same sense of humor, the same sharp observations of life, same political positions, same - same - same.

We romped around Portland visiting Powell's Books, the Goodwill Bins (oh goodness did she load up! We had to UPS her treasures home as there was too much for the plane), lots of restaurants, home cooking, art making, plaster smearing and chocolate eating. She loved John and he pronounced her "a good soul".

During her time here I created the painting on plaster in the photo above. I'll have it at Artfest but not a whole lot else. What can I say? I'm not spending enough time in the studio. But that has been my choice. People first. Honor the goodness of wise women and men who surround you.

Of course there was a lot of Mexican food involved. Emma and I knew each other from Mesa, Arizona, where we both attended school and where her father was a teacher. We have some stories between us.

She looks pretty innocent, doesn't she? You would not believe what is behind that little look of innocence. She's the live wire she ever was.

That was then. Both photos taken around 1967. We had matching haircuts and somehow she got me in a 2 piece bathing suit at her house.

She's one of the few people that can talk ME hoarse. We stayed up late partying and kept busy in the studio. She deconstructed a stack of tins with wire cutters and was game for every kind of mayhem; she's been antiquing and arting all these years while I've been painting and whatever it is that I do.

We each made an altered book to commemorate our reunion. This is mine. She found the cutest little skeleton transformer that I coveted so I made a mold and cast mine in plaster off of hers and painted it to match as well as I could. So we had sister momentos. The little fence is a piece of train track that someone gave me in a trade at Artfest one year. Everything else is plaster, paint, the usual suspects.

After I took Emma to the airport I spent the day going from art store to art store gathering supplies for my classes at Artfest. Since I am driving I have the luxury of hauling 3 gallons of gloss medium in addition to a load of other weighty stuff. Now I have a few days to organize and pack everything. I haven't had time to read blogs or feel caught up but that's where I am right now. Calmer days are coming but not very soon.

More than ever before I feel like I have to do all the things I put on hold to have a family, security, and to prepare for this moment. Now this moment is here but alas! time has moved on. It is a poignant truth; we only have so much time. So in this pensive mood I leave you; thanks again for honoring me with your presence here. Ciao.