Escaping & Retreating

Wow, the countdown continues & the month is nearly over. Fall is definitely in the air & the days continue to get shorter. Unusual for us: we've had little rain for this season, & the clear days/nights make for cold temps & uncommon color all around.
Five days remaining until we know the outcome of the elections--we have some hotly contested ones locally, as well as the 'whole-world-is-watching' presidential race; so much is at stake. On the work front, he-who-shall-not-be-named has finally made the move--the coup has begun (otherwise described as careening down the ravine with a fully loaded bus without a driver..). I'm only adding that (major) fact to the economic & political stressors to set the scene: I'm outta here for almost a week!
My twice-a-year and much loved retreat at Warm Beach starts Thursday (evening, for me). Then on Sunday, I start a design class 'retreat' with a teacher I really enjoy, Reynola Pakusich, in nearby LaConner that goes through Wednesday evening. Fun town, great class, new friends.
Wow, six days of creating--I can hardly wait! It's a bit daunting to be 'away from home' for the November 5th returns when our whole future hangs in the balance. I'm sure we'll all be taking turns Tuesday night running back to the TVs in our rooms to follow the events (the 'rules' have already been provided: no politics! Right!).
Wishing calmer & saner times for all of us--with peace on all of our minds. I have no doubt there will be plenty to talk about after I'm back! Take care...may the force be with us all.

Art Quilt Workbook - Next Installment

"Art = a mad search for individualism"--Paul Gauguin

I've been remiss in sharing some of my projects, progress. It's been a distracting couple of months!
My Round Robin group is continuing to work through the Art Quilt Workbook--the latest was the chapter on fabric collage (or an artistic composition of materials & objects pasted over a surface). Collage can be representational or abstract, themed or apparently random, simple or complex, but usually demonstrating the sum is greater than the individual elements. Color & design greatly impact the result. Does it have a theme or focus? Or just interest, harmony in a variety of elements?
One of the exercises was aimed at using color-specific organic-shaped elements to explore balance and grouping. Which one do you like best? Is there something that makes you feel that way? (I might try to do something with this little grouping later...but they will be little diamonds in the rough until later).
For the homework: yes, you guessed it, make a collage using concepts from the chapter. Here's my finished product (remember these are 9" x 12"). The focus for the collage was one of the fish I printed (less than successfully) on cloth at our recent NPS workshop--and then built on that. Water, seaweed, bubbles, sea colors, and of course--the square-in-a-square theme that is following along with me through these projects. For interest, beads on the inner borders, beads for bubbles & accent, paintstix and wool roving for seaweed.

I Voted . . .

We don't have the benefit of going to the polls this year...all the ballots are mail in this time. I always look forward to the trip--place to see everyone, get a sense of how busy or not the day has been so far, etc.--and getting my sticker! Will have to 'award' myself this time. Mail-in ballots do give the advantage of open-book answers, though, so there is some benefit to that--less 'point-and-shoot' by many I think. Anyway--don't forget to do the same, whether it's November 5th or before...

Palin Pranks

Wow, less than two weeks to go & the pressure seems to be building. Or maybe it's just my internal pressure cooker with 'anxiety' on high--what will become of us November 4th? The electoral college projections now have Obama with a 2:1 lead but I can't quite adjust to the fact that we may actually win this thing.
So--with that in mind, I'm easily distracted into 'let's play with Sarah' land--it's just so easy! (I'm thinking the McCain campaign would have done better hiring Tina Fey for the last two months--she's better at Sarah than Sarah!) I'm amused at the flurry over the RNC spending $150 K to dress the 'hockey mom' for the road--and especially at McCain saying 'it's not important; we'll be donating the wardrobe to charity'. Somehow, I think a street person wouldn't view Sarah's ensembles as the best road gear available. (Are they thinking they will be museum pieces?!)
So with that little whirlwind in mind, I just LOVE this picture of Sarah in Nevada with her patriotic scarf; do you think she hasn't learned her animals yet? Come on people, this is truly embarrassing...even from the other side of the ticket! Gotta love it though! And if I were Sarah, I'd keep having fun while it lasts, because going home to her ever deepening quagmire must look pretty sobering. Troopergate is expanding, there's been some 'let's impeach' efforts, and now she's getting nailed for allowing the state of Alaska to pay for her kids' travels-along-with-mom.
So, meanwhile let's keep fighting the good fight--we can't let up now. EVERYONE has to vote. Estimates are this will be the highest voter turnout any of us will have experienced in our lifetime. Bring it on! I'm hoping I (and you) will sleep better come November 5th...

Anniversary Post: Blog On?!

Today marks one year of blogging. Gotta say, I've not been very disciplined about it--averaging about one a week, although not on a consistent basis--as this is post #48.

Pros: I've learned a fair amount about blogland--how blogs work, potential power in the connection, communication; I've been able to keep in touch with people I care about. the big surprise at the end of the year is how many new 'connections' I've found--not people I've met or know, but I truly am glad to have found other's blogs that inspire, encourage, educate me, and make me feel a stronger kinship as I find folks of like-mindedness; they are like new friends.

Cons: hard to stay focused sometimes; staying inspired & not embarrassed in sharing; one more thing to feel badly about if I miss for awhile; sometimes wondering how best to proceed--or do I?
Overall it's felt more positive than negative--it's certainly been an adventure.
So: whadya think?! on to year two? Just was reading another blog that identified 'adopting a blogger'--more experienced bloggers with a similar interest mentored newer bloggers--trialing it for about 3 months & then re-evaluate. Seems like a good idea (in hindsight). But I certainly have had help, suggestions along the way from others with more experience--when I've asked 8-) and that's certainly been appreciated!
In any case, here's hoping we all find more encouragement in coming weeks! And yes, I do hope for world peace...

Happy Birthday, Dev-Man!!

LET THE PARTY BEGIN, Devin turns 20 today!!

We can say 'we knew you when...'
Happy, happy day--let's all do the Snoopy dance!

Best Wishes & here's to the next great year of adventure!
Love you Buckets! XXXOOO

Sticky Ideas

Last month, Jim & I went to the Seattle Art Museum and while we were there, of course we stopped in to the museum store. We both laughed when we met at the cashier with some of these in our hand--aren't they wild?! They're African porcupine quills--and no, the pricklers aren't harmed to get them, they are gathered after the animal sheds them. I tossed a pencil into the picture to give a perspective on the size--don't think I would want to cross paths with one of these guys on the move; they obviously are much bigger than the American version (these can get up to 60 lbs)--and these are so sharp! That being said, as soon as I saw them I started thinking of ways to use them--how about you? Any ideas? I have some peace scrolls that I'm making that are just a perfect width to use these as a hanger. Beyond that, I'll still be imagining some other applications--as will Jim with his pile!

P.S. ...and what were we seeing at SAM, you ask? I'll go for ANY impressionist exhibit, and was again thrilled with this one; the bonus was essentially a second side-by-side exhibit of the many artists predating the impressionists that obviously influenced their techniques & styles. Fascinating to realize how much impact the pre-impressionist artist(s) had on what was seen as such innovative work. Quite fun. So fun in fact, that I couldn't resist the wonderful companion book to the exhibit that was on sale for 1/2 price as the end of the exhibit was looming. What a score!

Jim & Judy Vacation - IV

OK--time to move on from this topic; but thought I would end with a few more ways that 'nature' can be 'printed'. Some are quite easy--and fun to incorporate into various uses. (The first pictures are of a journal I made; we printed the pictures using different approaches & then compiled the journals. Pretty fun--& now I know some better uses for my brayer!)

One of the great benefits from the time with this group was getting a chance to experiment with a variety of inks, paints, papers, techniques, supplies--MUCH greater than you would every do alone. Gives you much better direction for what you might purchase, what you prefer to use, etc.
The other benefit is now having a network of resource people that you can ask questions, compare notes, look for classes, etc. Next year will be on the east coast but we might return in two years to the workshop slated to be on the Oregon coast. (These guys travel! They've had meetings in France, New Zealand, Hawaii, Canada, etc. We thought we were lucky finding them on the west coast this year--turns out on the continent was lucky!).

The last four pictures are more of the 'show & tell' session including block prints, irridescent ink prints, & silver casted jewelry.

Some Encouraging News as the Countdown Continues...

Hey, I just checked a blog site that I haven't been to for awhile "Five Thirty Eight"--it was a Blog of Note in September & I visited then a few times. It's a pretty heady compilation of 'all' the polls, trends for this November's election--more than you ever care to know about the national, as well as some state info. (The 538 is the number of electoral votes available when electing the president, in case you'd forgotten as I did...)
Anyway--in September it was just after the GOP convention, and things were certainly trending into McCain/Palin land. Today, though, the numbers look much different--and for me, much better than I was currently feeling; definitely trending way up in Obama's favor. I know things can change alot in the days left ahead, but I find it encouraging. Take a look; I'm including it in my list of sites to follow (in the margin).
Also--I mentioned the Mudflats site right after the Palin bomb was dropped by McCain (i.e. "Mudflats: tiptoeing through the muck of Alaska politics"). I've continued to read regularly; he's (or I assume it's a 'he'...) such a great writer & it is worth some brief moments of comic relief (if not sadly ironic tales & factoids) while watching the Alaska experience up-close-and-personal not only in the Palin craze & the investigation on the home front, but also the Ted Stevens drama. So if you haven't yet, take a brief drive-by--the link is in the right margin.
The time is now for Obama--on to tomorrow night's debate...

Jim & Judy Vacation III - Gyotaku

If anyone had said I would be stuffing absorbent material into the many varied orifices of a fish within the first two hours of my first class, I might have had a bit more hesitation about signing up! But the 'nurse-y' side of me decided it was not that much different from many lab/work situations so I waded on in!
One of the Santa Barbara folks is a marine biology professor at one of the universities & has a special diving permit that allows (careful) collection of some exotic species. There were coolers of fish & seaweed that provided many oohs & aahs to the experienced folks as they had the opportunity to work with rare & difficult specimens. For my part, a less challenging rock fish was plenty daunting enough (as noted by the fact that someone needed to TELL me it was a common rock fish!--and a good choice for a beginner!).
Preparing your fish for printing really is a serious process (several hours)--but once it's done, the fish can be printed over & over--so we could then trade specimens around & learn more. Some tell tales of freezing & thawing really special specimans over & over--these folks are pretty much NOT the homemaker types, with a freezer full of preserves & spcial pastries!
Here's my story: first you wash your fish--use dish detergent, taking care not to compromise scales, etc. Dry carefully, and then really dry with a careful alcohol bath--suddenly the topography of the fish comes into clear relief. There is some difference of opinion about how the mounting should portray the fish (i.e. fins out for identification, or fins against the body that usually reside there for swimming...definitely something better discussed over happy hour than in class!) but all agree that mounting is key; we used foil-covered insulation sheets--forming a 'cradle' for the body & then platforms to arrange & pin fins, tails. Noses (yes--they have two each), gills & 'poop holes' all need to be stuffed, sometimes repeatedly, as no organic 'material' (yes, that would be snot & poop!) can reside on the print for archival purposes. If you have breakout--there are emergency measures with peroxide to be taken! So the 'stuffed', pinned fish is ready for the final drying phase: blow dryers for as long as it takes. NOW you can start. There are also differences in opinion as to type of inks & use of only black vs. colors; we used permanent oil-based inks, thinned with poppy seed oil, with a variety of colors--and used the 'direct' method. Direct method: ink the specimen and turn the paper front side down on the fish. Indirect method: paper (or cloth) front side up on the specimen and ink or paint is applied, picking up the relief of the object beneath. (Jim did some seahorses & an octupus by the indirect method--see the pictures further down.) The more you ink the fish, the richer the prints become.

Eyes do not really come through in either method--and there are clear opinions re: adding in the eyes after the fact--as the 'soul of the fish' is missing until the eye is added (in the end I was surprised there wasn't a class only on that--as there are many approaches, it turns out!). So here are two prints after eyes have been added. Not bad for first try, first day--but clearly a beginner. Experienced printers then go the next step--adding additional fish, seaweed, background papers that emulate water, etc. (Examples at the end.) Final step is adding the chop (red stamp); most experienced printers have developed their own as a signature; my print has a generic chop that means gyotaku. Mineo, the Japanese expert that comes regularly, is known worldwide for his skills as a nature printer--so he gets called to print anything rare & exotic that appears. This summer he did an 88 ft print of a giant squid; he's also done orcas, whale flukes, horses, etc.
Probably more than you EVER cared to know about the how-to's but this is NOT your elementary school fish print t-shirt; I truly have a great appreciation now for some of the wonderful prints I've seen without recognizing the skill involved.

Jim & Judy Vacation - Part II

So what does one DO at the NPS workshop? There were four day-long classes offered each day--so between the two of us, eight classes definitely immersed us in the topic. This group was started in the seventies by a small group of 'science guys': Pennsylvania botanist & California marine biologists. They had also met & explored nature printing craft with two Japanese artisans (one of which still faithfully comes to the annual event--he was such a sweet inspiration!); Japan had almost lost the old art of Gyotaku (fish printing) that was prompted by the desire to document the 'big fish' before being eaten! Gyotaku deserves a post of it's own (coming up) but is not the only type of nature printing.

NPS is still an interesting mix of science & art: the desire to accurately portray a scientific 'specimen' whether plant, shell, fish, octopus, etc.--and conversely appreciate the art form potential in using natural objects via many mediums. A true blending of left brain/right brain--something I've appreciated in my life balance (or lack of) & here's a whole group doing the same! Of note, it's fairly evenly balanced men/women, and the group has many 'couples', either as active participants or faithful support people that come to each workshop. Besides the classes, we had a great outdoor banquet at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History--and later a personal tour of same, both of the public areas, and also the 'collections' side--with an impressive collection of preserved fish specimens (and their parasites) both large & microscopic; also one of the four largest shell collections in the US. We had a special education session on Japanese papers--how they're made & how you know what you're finding, buying (also a nearly lost art). One of the papers I most enjoyed using during the classes actually came from Nepal--brought by one of the instructors. The last night was 'show & tell' night for the 16 classes that had been completed: it was SO interesting to see the variety as well as the beauty & creativity of all in attendance. We were most definitely 'newbies'; but the folks who have years of experience were very helpful & patient with us.

The Jim & Judy Vacation - Part I

Our eight day adventure in California came & went--as most vacations do, much too soon. We had a GREAT time, the weather was wonderful, and we had a great experience at the 2008 NPS workshop.
I thought I'd do a few brief posts & give you a quick glimpse. Suffice it to say, it was a much appreciated (if not overdue!) vacation for the two of us! Here is the first of a few installments about the week spent with the Nature Printing Society--a diverse, interesting, welcoming group. You can skip this & future parts, if 'what I did on my summer vacation' is not that interesting!)

This one is about the environment--both the center where we stayed--as well as the (well moneyed) Santa Barbara area. South of Santa Barbara, in the foothills above Montecito, is the 25 acre site of Casa de Maria. It's got a long history (in west coast terms)--first as a private home/farm for two colorful entrepreneurs, and then a site for the Catholic sisters in the 1940's.

It became a couple retreat site for the (Hollywood) stars in the late 50's/early 60's. The sisters left in the 70's, and the church/ supporters continued the retreat environment theme for both individuals & groups. The orchards are over 100 years old and going strong, along with the gardens, both offering wonderful items for the table each day. On arrival you're greeted by the wise, very old Eucalyptus tree with an old Monkey Puzzle tree nearby. Puget Sounders are always a bit a-gog over hot weather vegetation--although less green, everything seems so exotic: so many palm types, wonderful flowers with brilliant colors--& great smells; even the farmers market seemed exciting!
We spent a week at Casa de Maria with a final night at Carpinteria (little further south) before winging back home. We were truly incognito for the week: no phone, TV, internet, paper, etc. Turned out to be a good week to miss!

Got back to civilization just in time for the Presidential debate (there was a re-entry reality check!).

(In addition to pictures here, I got some great 'road' pix that I'll be adding to my margin picture that changes periodically.)

Every vote will count--your future depends on it!

You may have already seen this--but was new to me last night.
Besides a great message, it's just plain fun to watch.
The final month countdown has begun . . .

Really Wish it Made Me Feel Better...

Joe Biden has been 'my guy' since I moved to Delaware the year he was elected to Congress. I've followed him all these years & was thrilled when he was Obama's choice. After watching the Couric interview with "her", I was sure last night was going to be a slaughter--and I was so ready for it!!!
Alas--although Joe didn't disappoint me, it was not the match I was hoping for. Who loaded SP's little memory/speaking banks in seven days? Although a less than lustrous performance, she held her own better than I would ever have guessed (despite those ridiculous winks Joe M. described so well!). And who has stolen all of her -ing endings?! It is NOT folksy--it just sounds ignorant! No one seems to care that she seldom answered the questions posed--and do we get it now that she's the little energy diva?!
OK--*sigh*--onto the next presidential debate...