brilliant new day
This has been a heady week. I’m still feeling light as a feather and enjoying the blindingly bright mornings. It felt like January 20 would never come. Even my sixth grade daughter was excited to be watching the inauguration of President Obama at school. She voted in a mock election prior to November 4, and the school elected Obama in a landslide. This was a good sign. In the cosmic game of tag, youth is IT. All we can do is watch them outrun us, and be glad for the forward movement of the universe. Having children in the White House again brings an important dimension to the...
Read Moresix degrees of revelation
2009 has been mighty chill so far. On a recent morning it was six degrees, which prompted a discussion of Kevin Bacon with my daughter. Now there is a Facebook experiment attempting to prove the theory that everybody is 6 connections away from everyone else. Who needs proof? Just let every day be an inspiration and connection to nature, family, and the world at your feet, I say! The intricate frost on the window became curvy fronds of grass in a revision for my current project. When in doubt, I cut paper. My collage aesthetic runs deep. This drawing is a montage of sorts. Not going to be...
Read Moreho ho it’s over
Ahhhh. Twelve days of Christmas. Done. In the blink of an eye. Does time seem sped up to anybody? Seriously, this holiday season was a blur of activity. Around here it begins with cards and calendars. My apologies if yours hasn’t arrived yet. Here it is meanwhile. And my daughter crafted this on a snow day from school. And Marty did his part with a design for the follow-up correspondence. We had a plentiful haul of gifts, despite our vows to get simple, buy less. I annually dread the obligatory shopping. Not that I mind buying gifts. I prefer birthdays, when I can think about one...
Read Moreelemental nature
I’ve been working on a pile of preliminaries for a poetry book about animals and their habitats, the kind of assignment that has me making keener observations of my own habitat. My dog gets me outside even on those icy days, always with my wee camera in a parka pocket. The ice here looked like brush marks. And this one looked like an ice head, crowned by moss. This barn felt like a Bauhaus exercise in 2D design. And look, a figure drawing in the woods. Some findings are a bit mysterious, like offerings to animal spirits. And others are downright inflated signs of the season. All these...
Read Morefuzzy thoughts
Sitting by a crackling fire after an ice storm is a true luxury. Another is knowing a fine artist like Russell French, whose show of photographs at Rabelais is a stellar example of the richness of Maine’s rural traditions. Russ was party to a pair of sheep round-ups, in the fall of 2007 and the spring of 2008, that took place on an unnamed island. With indelible shots, Russ documented this venture, in league with Sam Hayward, renowned chef/owner of Fore Street in Portland. Their efforts led to an article in The Art of Eating, and paid homage to the hard working Maine farmer, notably...
Read Moremeca lekka high
meca hiny ho! Does anybody remember Giambi, from Pee Wee’s playhouse? Whenever I get raving (often ranting) about Maine College of Art, my significant other chimes in with that catchy spell from that blue-faced, turbaned genie. Classes are over, whew. What a whirlwind semester it was. I had the largest class I’ve ever had, and was hustling to get to everybody. Some really great work came out of it, although there were classes that left me feeling completely defeated and ready to crawl into the nearest hole. You’d think that being in art school would be a fabulous picnic,...
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