Almost Summer

On Saturday I was at home, and it really felt like we were in mid-summer - hot in the sun, pleasant in the shade. Blue sky filled with huge clouds. Scents of the early roses, cut grass, growing things. The gardens are spectacular this year - every time I look there is a new Beauty somewhere. The Foxgloves especially captured me last week - they have been busy crossing and scatttering and finding their own Perfect Places to Thrive - my definition of NICHE. As we sat in the shade after some soul-satisfying work in gardens and yard, Ron and I agreed that this is our very Favorite Planet. It is incredibly beautiful, amazing, and hospitable most of the time.

Yesterday I woke up in Fernville - the place of our lovely old rustic cabins, in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. It was cool (53 degrees in mid-afternoon), spitting rain, and at least another three weeks from the fullness of leaf and warmth we had 162.5 miles south of here. (To be honest, it rarely gets as warm up here as it does at home - which is fine with me, although the leaves do come out fully eventually.)

I spent the morning with some wonderful people, co-leading a birding trip by canoe on the Osgood River as part of the Great Adirondack Birding Celebration. My co-leaders Dave and Bernie are always great company and the folks saw many quality birds (meaning: not-all-that-common-to-most-people bird species). We saw a pair of Grey Jays with 2 immature young, some Palm Warblers, Nashville Warblers, and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, among many others. To top it off, some of us went to another site to see a pair of Black-backed Woodpeckers at their nest cavity tending their young, who we could hear peeping in the nest high in an old spruce.

March 26th Collage Class

Look at these!

And these!!!

Our Mixed Media Collage went really well this week. We had a nice group of 12 women - all so amazingly creative! I was knocked out by what they did. And I learned alot too. They gave me some good suggestions for making the class better next time - I really appreciate knowing what works - or not! The collages you see here are theirs - more coming soon!

February - April Art Classes

I am so looking forward to teaching this new series of classes! Here are they are:

Basic Drawing 3 Thursdays - Feb 26, Mar 5 & 12 4 – 6 PM $50
Anyone can draw!!! (REALLY!) Using non-judgmental and easy methods, you will amaze yourself at what you can learn to see and draw.

Intermediate Drawing 3 Saturdays – Feb. 28, Mar 7 & 14 9-11 AM $50

Drawing for those who have taken Basic Drawing or who have some experience with “drawing on the right side…”

Playing with Watercolor Workshop Friday – Apr 3 10 AM - 5 PM $60
Watercolor painting is joyful, expressive, portable, and fun! Spend a day experimenting with the delightful properties of color pigments in water, so you can take these techniques to your own art projects. Specific materials are required and will be available for sale.

Mixed Media Collage Workshop Thursday – Mar 26 5:30 – 8:30 PM $35
Papers, stamps, paint, photo transfers, used text, old books, pressed flowers - whatever you want to use to express your idea can be included in an artful way to make a beautiful piece. Most materials included.

Botanical Drawing 4 Saturdays - March 28, April 4, 11, & 18 9 – 12 AM $75
How is a plant constructed? How does it grow? How do flowers differ from one another? Short botany lessons combined with drawing instruction will provide you with an enjoyable learning experience.

December Candle Photo - How To

My friend Colleen asked how I made the pretty candle holders in the Decmber photo. Here you are:

I froze a little water in the bottom of a short drinking glass. Then I arranged some small sprigs of cedar and chopped cranberries between the glass and smaller plastic cups filled with water (to weigh them down) and placed inside the larger glass. I carefully poured water over the sprigs and cranberries. After it all froze, I removed the inside cups - this where the candles went. I kept them in the freezer until dinner time. They were frozen and reused them a couple of times. Easy and lovely.

Today is another sunny perfect Winter day. The birds are starting to sing their Spring songs. Hormones are powerful things!

The Sun in February

February 1st was a spectacular day - one of those days when you know for certain that the sun is getting higher and the light stronger the instant you get out into an open field on snowshoes. I love the geometry of the corn stalks and their blue shadows on the snow and the tracks of the crows that show their toenails dragging through the snow in the soft places. Several Eastern Bluebirds were communing with some robins in a sheltering swale, feasting on wild grapes and bittersweet berries. Some small grey bird is roosting at night in the hollow tree - see the tiny feathers clinging to the wood at the edge of the very round hole.


Some watercolor painting is in order - the blues are too beautiful ....

Late December 2008

The holiday season is winding down, but not before we go to our cabin to be with some family and friends. The weather has been frightful many times already this winter, and although I love snow, it has hampered my need to celebrate with those I love. So, a few more gatherings in the next week, then many more little ones to help us all through the Cold Dark Time.

I have been busy in my studio. Here are some of my new Reminder Pins - helping me remember what is important sometimes.

Sea Shells

Lucky to be in Florida this week, visiting Mom. We spent this afternoon at the beach. As usual (and ever since we lived down here when I was a kid), I was enchanted with every shell, every piece of sand dollar, every strand of algae. I should know by now to bring a bushel basket with me (a slight exageration) to collect all the beautful bits that I want to look at and make into lovely reminders of that salty, mysterious world.