NORTHERN EXPOSURE



Empty Northern California sky



 Empty blue sky and the wild sea each served to soothe and calm.  Five days enough to satisfy and leave enough unseen to want to return in the near future.  Good food--stinging nettles and potato pizza...yum.   Good lodgings--even the wonderful Inverness Inn where we were five minutes too late.  Tunnels of trees.  Rugged coastline.  Quaint towns.  Art.  Blue expanse of a tule-edged bay.  A whoop of joyful discovery at Glass Beach. What's not to like?

FOR THE BIRDS

Not at all sure how it has come to pass, but I seem to have birds on the brain since late spring.  Is it because I have spent far too little time in the great outdoors or if the birds are simply sending out some sort of call to me?  At any rate, even the raucous neighborhood crows have had their way with me, making their way into my art in myriad small ways.  A "Fun Bird" of packing paper is making its steadfast way around the Sawdust Festival, spreading good cheer.  The air-dry clay birdies continue to titillate and excite me and prod me to, for some unfathomable reason, enlarge their feet and lengthen their legs on each go-around.  Stay tuned.  Who knows what crazy bird stuff lurks...

The real deal

THE BIG TEASE



A little birdie told me...

 This week my muse is just a big tease.  We had Preview Nite at the Sawdust Art Festival on Tuesday night and somehow my muse and I managed to get new work completed and up for that.  Then I crashed, sick with a bad cold that had me down and out.  The only problem is my muse is not finished with me.  Feverish, hacking, runny nose and all, the muse expects me to listen to its persistent urgings.  I am trying, but only able to follow in short bursts.  Hopefully, my scanty note-taking will help me recall some of what seem like really cool ideas.  But...maybe it's only the fever.  I wonder.  Meanwhile, I'm sure having fun with these new "Little Birdie" sculptural pieces.

WHAT JUNE GLOOM?



The McNamara Family really enlivened David's class

 This Saturday is a sun-filled, breezy beauty of a day.  I am sitting at the Sawdust Studio Art Classes venue listening to the lively chatter of our two fun classes scheduled for the afternoon.  David Farris's pendant making class has a family who bought three spots to celebrate Fathers' Day together.  Full of lively stories and conversation, they have perked up all of us tired artists within earshot.  The other class--Maggie Spencer's fused glass class is full and the glass glistens in the afternoon sun as they industriously make Origami Bowls.  Beautiful!  Never a dull day and never a moment of gloom.

MAY AND MOTHERS

Daughter Kendall and her three boys--tired but happy!

In this crazy chase after the muse, sometimes the very sweetness of life wins out.  This has been one of those weeks.  First, there was a delightful day of creating in our Sunday Studio Workshop.  Then, grandson #3 arrived on the same day as grandson #1--age 6--was in his school's talent show.  What a treat!  And the week is not even half over.  As mother, grandmother, creative spirit...these are the best of "creations."

ATTRACTION

"Fall in, Fall in!"  life shouts.

In this mad chase after the muse, life attracts me in its endless variation.  Color, sound, sensation, touch, fragrance...the thrill of it all moves me toward MORE.  Promised joy lingers in the twitter of small wrens just outside in the trees.  It titillates in the irridescent throat of the hummingbird.  It shimmers in the dancing light on the sea.  It seduces in the sweet smell of jasmine.  In all its infinite pleasures, I am attracted by life to the very center of things.

THE NATURAL WORLD

Wall Art

For me, there is nothing quite like time in nature to waken the stirrings of the muse.  These sunny days, with dappled brilliance on the ocean and cool breezes wafting across my skin, are just the best and I cannot get enough of it.  Even while I know that there is much to be done in the studio, it is difficult not to be outside gathering the delights of nature.  These wonders will be stored as images in my mind for future use.