Play Ball

                    Play Ball, Drozda 2008

                                   8x8 inches

                                Acrylic on woodIt's been a week 'gone to the dogs' from meeting Minnie, the rescue Dane in the last post, to having a lot of ball time with my Jack Russell, Valentine. She got me inspired to create this little piece on an 8 inch square piece of wood that I found on a building site, along with many other planks and possibilities.

Speaking of wood...I stopped at the thrift store this week and found three benches that were just calling out to become part of my painted furniture inventory.

Over the years and particularly when I owned my gallery (a hundred years ago) I loved to find wonderful wood furniture cast off's and give them a new life.

So there's lots of fun in the studio and something wonderful will be emerging over the next while.

Today it's primer and base coat.

Follow Your Moon

Last evening I attended the annual Poet's Pot Luck at Dr. Robert Christin's home. Dr. Christin is my memoir writing teacher, editor of my book and an all around magnificent being. For 10 years he has hosted a monthly poet's forum attended by a dynamic, bawdy and highly talented group.

Several years ago my poet friend and member of this group, Sharon Poch, purchased my painting 'Follow Your Moon' to add to her collection. At dinner Sharon mentioned that she had written a poem on November 11 interpreting the piece.

I call this 'painting with words' and feel very honored by this translation...thank you Sharon!

(and so sorry blogger will not allow me to space the piece as you wrote it...aarrrggghhh :-( )

Follow Your Moon

ancestral seas swell

under a turtle back moon

that lights my soul's path

to the island of Now

where I am born from the ground

fertile with petals of

all mother and fathers

before me, behind me

each humming in my cells

an eternal evensong,

infinite hosannas

to the universe for

all that I am

all that I was

all that I ever will be

Gifted and Talented Kids

Each days projects happen simultaneously ...so while the younger artists are creating birds the older are painting using a style of layering and carving that I demonstrate...the piece on the right can be followed though its three stages...nature is the theme.

Here comes Hanna

They're calling it a tropical storm. The sky is darkening instead of lighting up and the trees are beginning to dance in large circular patterns high high overhead. There will be no computer use the remainder of the day and my hope and prayer is that the car can be loaded with 70 paintings between Hanna's passing by and Ike's arrival. ...sometime on Monday.
Batteries, water, extra ice, food stocks, all in place...now if there was just a way to prepare the solar plexus we'd be in business.
This is a test. This is only a test.

A Mild Obsession

'Fishin' is the last piece in the series titled 'Bird Watching' and it measures about 4 by 6 feet. An unstretched canvas tapestry.

I traditionally begin a piece by applying large abstract shapes and then layering in on top of them allowing the building of the piece to take place spontaneously and intuitively. Rather than layers and layers of paint this baby asked for charcoal, oil stick and India ink (applied with Q-tips) directly on top of the base coat.
I find the work becoming more playful and loose and that seems to be indicating a threshold. Ya know, when you realize that the time has come to crack open and 'let everything be new'? Like that.

I appreciate the surprises in the studio that make me ponder 'what next'.

Something Even More Wonderful

The Painting titled 'One Hundred Steps Along the Lynnhaven River' will be installed in the library at Kingston Elementary on Monday. It felt great to bring her home for the weekend, let her rest a bit and then with some additional time in the quiet of the studio to come to a point of... 'OK, now I'm a ready'.

Always a mysterious process, this allowing a painting to appear, this week's circumstances brought another opportunity for growth and discovery. It's the first artist residency where I simultaneously taught and painted. It was fun. I really enjoyed it. The kids were terrific and the entire experience provided a good stretch and a new level of flexibility.

Something Wonderful Day 3

We're at the mid point of the week long residency and the canvas has been trimmed to the actual size of 52.5 by 93 inches. Excitement is growing and clearly the students, from K-5, view this experience as performance art....and it is. Simply witnessing an artist walking on a canvas as its being painted makes for an electric atmosphere.

It will be a grand two days as we all watch the 'One Hundred Steps Along the Lynnhaven River' project come into form.

It's Such a Small World

My first day of posting (November 2) over at Art Calendar's Artscuttlebutt.com I received a contact from an instant 'old friend' ... http://orionwhitedog.blogspot.com/ who so sweetly reached out to say that she remembers me from my gallery

owning days. I've posted an image 'Temple Garden' that would have been in my gallery's front window at that time....so long ago.

She lives in my old neck of the woods, literally in the forest, loves to paint and watch birds (here here) and is a poet...what a gift to 'meet' and chat and create friendship with a kindred spirit.

Gotta step outside the ol' comfort zone and even this baby step of starting an artist's blog has brought benefit. It's my two week anniversary and I'm beginning to feel a groove.