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.

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.

ONCE IN A WHILE...

 

I have long thought that many of us who create do so in part to make connections with others through our art. Recently, I have been blessed to make a few of those connections and I would like to share this one with you because it is so beautiful:

As I do when I can, I reached out to the purchaser of an original piece--Crow in the Snow--and the following is the reply, which I have permission to share. I think it is pretty special.

"Dear Cherril,

Thank you so much for reaching out to me and I am fascinated to know that you loved this picture so much that you did not want to let it fly!

Let me tell you why I wanted to buy it.

Firstly, it is a beautiful picture and I was attracted to it immediately due to its style and feel.

Beyond that, let me tell you a short story. A true one.

I am English but I live here in Orange County. My daughter was born here. We went to England in June. She had previously bought me a book called 'England's Most Beautiful Villages.' We decided to pick few local ones and make them the centerpiece of individual days.

One day we picked Heptonstall in Yorkshire. On the way there we drove through Mytholmroyd. I knew that Ted Hughes, a former Poet Laureate, had been born there and, according to our charter that all interruptions and segues were to be followed, we stopped and looked for some record of his existence. We found the house he grew up in (until age 8), did some pics, and then I made her listen to me read 'Hawk in the Rain.'

We moved on towards Heptonstall but, in case you didn't know, Ted Hughes' 'Crow:From the Life and Songs of the Crow' was considered his masterpiece.

In Heptonstall, quite unexpectedly, we came upon Ted Hughes' wife's grave. His wife was Sylvia Plath, an American, who was the author of The Bell Jar.

We had a wonderful day.

When I saw your Crow, I wanted it to remind me forever of that day during which we saw Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath but also ourselves and I knew that every time I looked at your Crow it would remind me of that day and my daughter forever.

So thank you for all that!

Keith

WOW! Right? Such a delightful connection for all of us. And now I find I see Crow in the Snow through different eyes and I am soooo glad that I decided I could part with it.

Connections are beautiful things and I thank Keith for sharing.

(I thought to shorten his letter, but found I could not leave out one word.)

AH, YES...THE ANSWER....

 

And of course the answer to "Will there be crows?" is a resounding YES! Whether one, two, three, or an entire murder of crows I seem to not be able to create without including at least some of them here and there.

At the summer's Sawdust Art Festival this year you can find them in many forms, from cards to card collections, to prints, to originals. Several have flown away, but we will be there until August 28th is you want to meet the remaining ones. And of course, there are likely to be new ones coming along too.

WILL THERE BE CROWS...?

The blank gallery wall at the summer's art festival awaits. Shelves and signage and more will go up on Tuesday awaiting the fill with art work on the coming weekend. 

The festival gates will open to the public on June 24th at 11 am. You can check out the scheduled hours and events at http://www.sawdustartfestival.org

Will there be crows? Well, I guess you will have to show up to find out 😀 Let me know if you want tickets placed at the box office for you.

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY...

I kinda like it when "work" is all play. Somehow crows always do that for me. This time it was adding color to the crow prints. Once started, I was totally mesmerized. WAAAAY too much fun!

So the fun attribute satisfied, I moved on to (well, of course!) more fun.

I'll keep you posted.

WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

 I have to admit that often I say my inspiration arrives, as for Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes, in last-minute panic.

This time the arrival was far more peaceful and kind of developed over a bit of time.

In September student Camillia (always full of laughter and joy) brought me a crow card she had purchased on her magnificent summer trip to visit baseball parks. I was enamored, but did not see myself doing anything like it.

Yet, the seed was planted. Seems as soon as everything was boxed and ready for the Sawdust Festival's Winter Fantasy I had time on my hands for pure play. Why it went to creating stamps that then became printed cards I can't really say. But there it is. Six individual, different designs--all crows of course! It was a lot of fun. Now what to do with them? Send short personal notes, I suppose. Or make more. Or......????

STANDING SENTINEL?

Watchful waiting

So much of time lately seems to be done in watchful waiting. Still, it behooves us to do more...to live life even as changes roll over us.

So...haircuts on the street. Dining only outside (Question:What about when weather comes?Answer:Deal with it. We are resilient humans after all) Wear a mask. Keep social distancing. Give up a few things to gain even more. Gardening (Who knew so many had a green thumb?) Zoom webinars (There are so many interesting things out there with which to connect.) Long walks. Reading (Again, so many good books and finally the time.).......

What are you doing to live life as the changes come?

COME WALK WITH ME

Just come along with me...

in peaceful meditation

ENJOY

MURDER OR SUICIDE?

Not sure if five counts as a murder of crows, but it's not a suicide and I don't know why not so here goes. These are crows I have been working on for the 2020 summer Sawdust Art Festival. It would have been my 21st consecutive year of showing in this great Laguna Beach festival. Sixty-six days of art, music, food, classes, and more. But, alas, I will be taking a leave of absence this year. 

It's time. I need to close this door at least for a while and see just what other doors might open. Road trips, time with grandkids hopefully, sunset watching, long walks, and so much more.

But what will I do with my crows now? LOL with them I suppose.

SO MANY THINGS I DON'T KNOW

Work in progress...stopped

Seems I'm always finding something I didn't know before. Take this crow info:
Crows aren't so much left-or right-beaked as they are left-or right-eyed. The birds' extreme binocular vision--characterized by an unusually wide field of view in comparison to other species--actually helps crows see better with one eye at a time.

Surprise! I'm really a crow.

No, not really, but the monocular vision is certainly something we have in common. Fun little fact...and something I didn't know before.

So, while I wait for my new lenses to correct my monocular vision to be put into my frames, the piece to the left will probably just have to stop for a while. Closing one eye is sometimes just too much like work. Guess the crow has one up on me, after all. Guess I knew that.

CAPTIVE AND CAPTIVATED

Gonna do it til it's right

The crow commands,
the captive must obey...

I hear them in the morning hours...they seem to call to me. And then throughout the day, even as a breeze blows through the canyon and the screech of a hawk can be heard...still they keep calling.

And so, captivated as I am, during these fallow days of winter, I strive to turn the tables and captivate them. I'll get it yet!

WHAT'S COMING?

Even as end of year thoughts and questions are being pondered in regard to what this next decade might bring, I find myself happily picking up previous unfinished pieces to work on.

This piece just wasn't working for some reason and then, as it languished, I somehow spilled alcohol inks on it. DRAT! So I merely set it aside to be dealt with later. Well, I guess later has come because I find myself longing to now complete this.

What does this mean for future work? Hmm. More to ponder, I suppose.

Meanwhile, back to playful creating!

NATURE CENTER?

While there is a wide variety of artwork in my Sawdust Art Festival booth (#205) this year, there is a strong feeling of nature going on. I have originals and prints featuring crows, of course! But, in addition I have been blessed for the second year in a row with baby birds. 

This year, the nest is tucked tight up under the roof above the power strip. All day there can be heard chirping in hunger and the garbled chirping of feeding time. 

There is a potted milkweed plant at the corner of the booth. Because of the monarch butterflies I had painted large and small, I thought it might be fun if I could attract the read thing. Well, as of today there are three caterpillars readying to become monarchs. The cocoons are so lovely and jewel-like that I await them with eager anticipation.

It may take a bit more tidying to keep the booth clean with all this nature going on, but it is so worth it and I thoroughly enjoy the many conversations sparked with festival guests.

Won't you come visit? We are open 10 to 10 every day through September 1.

WINDING DOWN....AND UP

Festival season...and the summer...are winding down. Early morning walks have a slight chill and the light has changed. Clouds are edged with pink and lilac and the colors are reflected in the sea below.

This is one of my favorite times of year, in part because of the possibilities that arise with change. And change is definitely in the air. I am looking forward to what is on the horizon...in my walks and in my life.

Early morn

If you are local and have not yet made it to the art festivals here in Laguna you do have a few days left to do so. The Sawdust Art Festival goes through Sunday, September 2nd and the others are either on the same schedule or just a bit earlier so you had better move to come soon.  The days are getting cooler (at last!) and the evenings are delightful. So I hope to see some of you soon.

CROWS AND CRONES

Counting Crows...#3 of the series

At start of festival season I was sorely tempted to call my display of work "Crows and Crones," but the women weren't all old enough and there seemed not enough crows. It must have been the alliteration that captured my fancy :)
Meanwhile, I think I may have done enough women for now except for the exceptional custom one I can't resist. And on to more of the corvidae family. 
I know not everyone feels the same way I do about these intriguing creatures, but I cannot let that stop me from exploring new and different ways of capturing them. And I am curious to try a scrub jay or two as well since they are family members and reside here in the canyon.
Meanwhile, the little bird couple--some sort of finch, perhaps-- who have built a nest in our booth at the Sawdust Art Festival are sitting on the nest, singing along with the Tavern music.

WHAT SIGNALS SPRING?

In the Pink!

In California we certainly do not have the groundhog (not that he is really so reliable anyway) so what does signal Spring to us?
Is it the sparkle like diamonds on the ocean's blue-green waters? Is it the brisk breeze on a clear sunny day? Is it the call of baby crows in the trees? The chirping of myriad birds everywhere? Or is it the blossoming buds on ornamental fruit trees? The sound of laughter in the streets?
For me, probably all of the above are signals. What about you--what signals Spring to you?

AS THE CROW FLIES!

On the road again

Following our hearts, daughter Jenna and I have hit the road for ten days filled with adventure...no plan and no destination involved.  Thus far--a bit over halfway--we have hit on some great spots, some beautiful scenery, invigorating hikes, and more. This is the stuff of creativity. It keeps the juices flowing and opens eyes, heart and mind to the new and different along the way. Off we go again!

QUESTIONS AND REMINDERS

Crow call to remind you to follow your heart

Can it really already be September? It does feel like it as the early morning temperatures seem to drop and the evening light fades. What lies ahead?  
As I pack away remainders from the summer's festival season I find myself wondering this more and more.  Where do I go next with my art? What do I want it to do? Online sales? And, if so, which one(s)? Studio sales? That seems cumbersome.  Other festivals and/or shows? I tend to resist this, having tried before. I feel that some of what I did this festival season worked really well, while other things did not. With the "not" things, is it only the venue or the art itself or some other of life's vagaries?
This is all head stuff.  What does my heart say? I guess what is best is to just let that crow call remind me, as somehow it so often does--follow my heart and it will show me the way.  Here goes....

SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD

This fun little guy caught my attention as he landed atop this light post. As with all the birds these spring mornings he was making quite the racket.  I was reminded of a friend who calls her design studio Laughing Raven Design. I figure my studio name would be Giggling Crow Design.  They DO so make me giggle.

Summer festival preparations are in full swing now and yet the daily morning walks with their many bird sightings keep me in the happy, giggling place from which I seem to create best.

Looking forward to June 21st Preview Party at the Sawdust Art Festival, though right now I feel far from ready for that date just a mere two weeks away.

Guess I had better get back to it, eh?

Perched above it all