THE MUSE, MARY AND ME

 The feet and eyes are for me the most difficult to get right. So it may take me just a bit longer to get this final piece ready for Sawdust Art Festival's Winter Fantasy showing.

Meanwhile, I will continue to look for inspiration and solace in my muse and poet Mary Oliver.

Crisp mornings of sunshine or fog filled with birdsong...aren't we fortunate? I ponder the question of what it might be like not to be able to have these things. What must that mean to someone's life/

And this brings me to poet Mary Oliver and the questions she poses in her poem Gratitude:

What did you notice?

What did you hear?

What did you admire?

What astonished you?

What would you like to see again?

What was most tender?

What was most wonderful?

What did you think was happening?

i wonder how answering these questions, no matter our circumstances, might be likely to bring us to a state of gratitude. So take a deep breath. Listen to the birds, Feel the sun on your shoulders. Enjoy the soft caress of a breeze. Smile at a stranger in passing. Ask yourself these questions from the poem and see if there is even a slight shift in your thinking. Hopefully, you will be brought to gratitude.

Let me know.

IF THIS IS OCTOBER....

 

I think I will definitely need at least one of these sugar treats as the month unwinds (or is it winds up?)

As with most months this one brings both joys and challenges. It's the challenges that daunt me on occasion and I am tempted to drown myself in sugar treats (I AM holding back though...so far)

So on a much lighter note...what is YOUR favorite candy? Or do you turn to something else when the going gets a little tough?

I'm trying art exploration since it usually works, but at some point I am going to have to face the challenges head on and that may call for some sweets 😍 I'll try to keep you posted on the progress. In the meantime, I am creating new pieces for the upcoming Winter Fantasy at the Sawdust Art Festival.

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON A RAINY SEPTEMBER MORNING

 

The rain on the roof this morning surprised me into alertness. What a lovely, soft, gentle patter it was. The humidity factor seemed to increase, but the temperature had not yet reached the point where there was a need to throw off covers. So I snuggled deeper and let my mind wander.

The summer had been a busy one, filled with creating new art and meeting new folks at the Sawdust Art Festival, scheduling and working with the Sawdust Art Enrichment Fund to further fulfill artist John Eagle's vision of providing art for underprivileged while helping to support our local artists. I was tired. This morning with its soft rain was a blessing. I could wait a bit to start the day.

And so my mind meandered as I drifted in and out, imagining new creations and directions that might take me, thoughts of taking care of the little things that tend to slip through the cracks during the summer months, plotting new trails to traverse, and so much more......

What does a rainy morning conjure for you?

CROWS, CROWS AND MORE CROWS....

 

Who knew? The summer seems all about crows in my neck of the Sawdust Art Festival. They fly off the shelves almost faster than I can put them there. 

I wonder if they are off in search of shiny things to add to their stash or gift to some person they have befriended.

Maybe I will never know.

YOU KNOW IT'S SUMMER WHEN...

 

...the festival season in Laguna Beach begins. And this is the week! Preview nights for Sawdust Art Festival, Art-A-Fair and the Pageant of the Masters make for a busy week.

Planning has taken place often for months as readiness varies among individuals. I found myself oddly blessed to be house-bound with Covid, which gave me many hours of art play in March/April that I might not otherwise have had. I wasn't sick...just kept getting positive tests so, with nothing better to do I played and played. And of course my crow friends showed up often in that play.

If you're around be sure to come see me at the Sawdust at Gallery Wall 11. 

WHY IS IT ALWAYS SUCH A SURPRISE?

Hundreds of cards printed, assembled and packaged. Many prints matted, packaged and priced. Originals framed and priced. A booth or Gallery Wall to clean, paint, repair, and get ready in myriad ways to show all of this. Getting ready for any showing of art, let alone a 66 day summer festival is always a surprising amount of things on a long and ever longer to-do list of things needed before one can even begin to think "ready." And I have probably omitted so much, this being only what a mixed media artist might have on the list. Think of the jewelers, the sculptors, the photographers, fabric artists and others, many of whom may have to rely on the timing of printers and such. Just writing this wears me out. But in the end it is always done on time and so very worth it. 

So if you are reading this, come to the summer Sawdust Art Festival in beautiful Laguna Beach and see what everyone has created and how each has mastered the long to-do list.

June 30-September 3

www.sawdustartfestival.org 

AN APPRECIATION

some art from 5/7 workshop

 Lots going on as spring sets in and summer approaches way too fast. 

Even while creating new pieces for the summer festival season I took time to check the calendar and have set dates for workshops through the end of the year. These workshops so feed my own soul that they just have to happen 💓

It does not escape me that I am super fortunate to have regular students who are wonderful and super gracious with new students. There are so many instances in life when the "regulars" are perhaps act a bit proprietary when newbies show up. The welcoming attitude of our regulars is a blessing indeed.

FINDING TIME

 With all that the spring months bring--art inventory, new art, framing, designing space, teaching,etc--there still needs to be time to create something to include in each month's round robin journal. 

For April I had some ideas all drawn out that included bird drawings.... As can be seen here that is not what ultimately showed up (no surprise really...this is often what transpires.)

Nothing is glued down and the words aren't here yet, but, heck, it's not due til next week. I will manage to get it done....and the inventory and the artwork and and and.........

SOMETIMES SERENDIPITY...

 So much fun at this past weekend's mixed media workshop. Five hours of creative energy, laughter, good food, shared stories and more. These workshops sure do feed my soul. Guess I'll have to just keep doing them.

The pieces pictured here are not both from the workshop. I was digging around in a box of 'fodder' and discovered the piece shown on the bottom that I had done about four years ago. I had completely forgotten about the process to do this, but as we played and explored on Sunday the techniques came back bit by bit. I was able to pull off the one shown at top and a couple of others. Think I'll have to keep playing and exploring the ways to go with this as it's a whole lot of fun.

MY, OH MY, WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY...

 "Mr. Bluebird's on my shoulder..."

The song has always brought a smile to my face and joy to my heart, lightening my step on what could be a challenging day as well as lifting me higher on good days. So to find that it is getting such a bad rep from its association with the film "Song of the South" makes me sad.

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah was my first "favorite song" at a very young age. I would listen to the record over and over and even today often find myself  humming the tune. It feels kind of like having a BFF who is a bit less than wholesome and yet you love them just the same.

Please, world, don't throw this  "baby out with the bath water."  It just seems like this is carrying things a mile too far. I wish the "happiest place on earth" had chosen to see the joy in the song rather than its political downside of things.

Just sayin'!

LEMONS TO LEMONADE?

Something about this image calms my cluttered mind. It is tranquil in so many ways. The first of several vintage pieces I've been working on, I just keep returning to gaze on it for some reason.

Sure, the recent storms have been rattling my cage--high winds, heavy rain, and more keep me cooped up and restless. And yet....So many others have it so much worse. Who am I to complain? So I turn to focusing on some of what brings me joy...yes, creating. It never fails.

Color, texture, image....all of it softens the edges of the restlessness.

What do you do when things are our of whack, when life seems to bring lemons?

ROUND AND ROUND WE GO

 

Have you ever taken part in a Round Robin Journal? If not, I highly recommend it. 

Some years back a former student--Cindy-- invited me to join a group in which she was participating. What a treat! You start with creating a book using watercolor paper. You need half as many 8 x 11 sheets as there are participants. Fold each sheet in half, poke some holes in the fold, insert binding thread and off you go. 

Using a variety of mixed media techniques each person creates cover art before sending on to the next person on the list. Once a month you get a journal to create and experiment in and at the end of the time you have a journal to keep with a variety of art techniques to enjoy.

Sound like fun? Give it a try!

WHAT A GOOD WORD TO SAVOR FOR THE YEAR OF THE RABBIT...LET'S HOP TO IT!

 

When I participated in the Winter Fantasy at the Sawdust Art Festival the past two months I was a little handicapped for space to do my demonstration time.  Luckily, I came across a fun way to fold and cut bird ornaments that I then offered to attendees and fellow artists as "Freebirds."

Using strips of magazine pages and maps and whatever other papers struck my fancy I could walk about with scissors in my pocket and create these fun birds, which could be hung on a holiday tree or whatever else struck someone's fancy.

In cutting these creatures there was a bit of discard, which I simply dropped into a bag at my feet. When I took this bag home and dumped it I realized that I had an abundance of holiday trees. So....

A good start to the hop down the joy rode I'd say !!

And as Corrie ten Boom has reminded us..."joy runs deeper than despair."