Agave adventure

Agave drew my attentions while visiting Liisa's yard and my camera kept wanting to get in there closely.  I seemed to be looking at it differently than ever before and now with my new macbook I am playing with the images in a simpler fashion.  Are these art or nature studies?  Will I paint from these images or will some of what has been observed come out in another media.  I was seeing some of the lines and colors as part of silk paintings, elements in silk scarves or the textures cropping up in beeswax work.  Is what we do as artists continual food for our artistic creation or are we just fooling ourselves as we play that we are working?

Ukrainian egg

As I wait for the snow drops to open today, I'll make this small post with the Ukrainian egg image I took for Artisans Hand promotion. Theresa Somerset is the artist and I marvel at her ability at control of the fine line....so neat, complex in design and unusual in coloring. Just in the season for eggs, these have taken off in sales even before the ad came out in paper. Oh! I see outside the window a wood pecker working on my ancient apple treee. What a sighting! Grabbed my camera, but didn't get the image I would wish for, still exciting and makes me want to get outside again....so....Spring wishes to you!

Hanging Lucinda Mason's exhibit at VT Supreme Court

It has been my honor to be able to hang a show of Lucinda Mason's paintings at Vermont Supreme Court.  It is a grand space and large paintings can actually be seen in this venue and Lucinda's paintings need to be seen.  She was only 32 when she died suddenly in March 2 years ago.  She had just completed her Super Colliding Super Conductor series and she had used up all her paints and perhaps all her energy.  She died peacefully in her sleep, but too young.  Now with her paintings out to breathe again, I can feel her spirit still searching and being joyous.  They are truly magical and wondrous.  She was asking herself questions such as  "What does space look like inside the nucleus of an atom?  Can one paint immeasurable space?  Can one paint the essential makeup of energy?"  Because I was asked to take some photos of the installation, the true size of these paintings shows up when men are lifting them.  I was grateful for the help of Torin, Darrell, David, and Tracy to hang this show and for the faith of Ticona, Lucinda's mother, that we could honorably bring Lucinda's paintings out for show.  The reception is this Thursday 5-7 and the show will be on display through May 1.  It is worth seeing again and again. 

Pit firing at Liisa's

While visiting Liisa outside Tucson, she did her first pit fire of this year.  It was quite  a bit of work for her visitors gathering the grasses and the mesquite  and getting the pots closer to reach as she was within the pit.  But what an experience to bury beautiful ceramic work deep into a pit and cover with minerals---copper and salt and one more forgotten item---and then build a fire on top of these forms...carefully, and really in this case too carefully, as the fire did not smoke the pots enough.  Such a gamble to offer up your work to smoke and fire to charm it into a coating fit for galleries and customers.  Liisa, who has been making pottery for 35 years, is finding herself experimenting and learning, making mistakes in the process of discovering her way with clay in a new area, a new arena.  The pit was loaded before we feasted and then lit as the stars came out in the vast desert sky and the flames leapt orange as they strained from their confinement, but it smoked too little and the results were not thrilling enough for this master potter and she will need to make another fire soon again and commit her work once more to the test.  The pottery shown is all pre fire but for the unloading which seems to want to be first in the list.

Meeting artist Nick Georgiou

Open studios in Tucson this weekend. Finding our way through an alley studio Ron Nelson has been working on for the past 35 years was fascinating to us all. So much of this man's heart and thought and process was exposed to us. We were awed. Yet the finding of Nick Georgiou--

was the high light of the afternoon. As i entered his upstairs studio in a high ceilinged space taken over by artists..the Citizen Art Studios---I felt the presence of Peter Schumann in the faces created. when i got closer to them i wondered at the texture created, all from newspapers, the news of the day. the horror of the news of the day and i saw that horror in the eyes of his faces. We were fortunate to be the sole beings in Nick's space and to look into his eyes and speak through our eyes about the world troubles, to learn that he is a NYC artists who will son be showing at U of A gallery and that he has a month to make some new work in this artists space. Nick's family is from the occupied half of Cypress, an island that i visited 8 years ago and stayed with a family who have an orchard which has one side in Cypress and the other side beyond the dividing fence with military patrol tower. A guard watched our every move as we picked the citrus fruit and heard the story. All this came back to me as i stood witnessing Nick's art and sharing stories ourselves. Circles and circles...so many in this traveling.

Desert textures

Here I sit in a cafe after delightful soup and fresh bread, drinking coffee, with computer connection.  I feel like I have joined the younger set of the country.  Rather amazes me.  While traveling I have been missing the computer connection and the ability to throw photos up and about.  Yesterday we walked in Sonoran desert...so much deserted land with so much active life force.  Wild flowers draw my sister's attention while I have struck by the textures and the forms.  I am loving the desert air...here I sit outside in March...even not in the sun.  Marvelous.  I have more to write, but feel I must move along.  I feel expanded by the climate in AZ's March.

ancient home

ancient home

Traveling

A beautiful day is calling me out, but since I am finally with computer access and realizing that I haven't made an entry for 10 days, I am delaying my sunshine walk. Out in the desert now and the air is invigorating my constricted VT winter self. My feet walk easily when there is no ice and my eyes are relishing the sights. Camera has clicked and perhaps I will figure out how to post some images through another's computer. There is also time in this day for some drawing which i have only brushed upon before today. Being with my sister who has always run at a higher looks delightful on line but sense the online vision is velocity than myself has kept me jazzed and i have traveled with her to many environs in the state marveling at the diversity and grand beauty. Could I live here? We are exploring that question. Tomorrow we will head off to visit the local intentional community which overblown from the actual. And walking in local mountains after a lunch of excellent food prepared by Liisa who has a real knack for tasty, natural and local fare. We are grateful!

Shifting of the masses

When I began this painting in March a few years ago, the river was breaking and the worry of flooding was on everyone's mind. I visioned the ice jams breaking and the river flowing and I painted...the river did break and there was no flooding. With paint mixed and urging me to apply it to a canvas this past week, this painting jumped into my hands and the river became more like the earth which is still so very buried in depths of snow and earth tones came upon the river and the shifting of the lands moved my soul. Amazing what can happen to the soul while one is painting! When I posted this to flickr someone felt the peace here with this painting. Is there peace in the shifting of the masses? I wish to think that maybe there is. I am fond of hope.