An Experimental Approach to the Shifting Landscape of the Face...

This isn't a new photo, one like this is hard to come by. I'm taking the fabulous Susan Tuttle's Visual Poetry class and I wanted to make a statement about Fall, so I thought I'd accomplish both with one image. I like the original photo and was a bit perplexed about how to improve it, so in experimenting I went warmer, more vivid. I'd love to know what you think!

I took the original (below) last year while trekking through the neighborhood. It cracked me up because, being the Queen of Procrastination (thanks to arthritis and habit) it looked like something I would call an experimental approach to the shifting landscape of the face, rather than simply saying I'd left my pumpkins out too long!



Maybe it's because I am a procrastinator But this year, I think it happened even earlier!! I heard it while still picking Halloween candy out of the dog's fur and pulling the fake cobwebs out of the bushes - a Christmas jingle. Two days after the ghouls and little witches and zombie parades ceased it suddenly became Christmas. Now that it's nearly Thanksgiving, it's everywhere of course. I even participated in a Holiday Gift Market last evening, my table garnished with beaded garland and all things Merry.
I certainly don't mean to offend anyone who cannot wait to get into the spirit. I don't know if it's my tendency to put things off, or my wish to enjoy what is happening now, at the moment, beautiful leaves still drifting from our trees, bold blue afternoon skies and the preparation of small pumpkins for their transformation into pies. Giving Thanks with family and friends.
I did have to think about the season a bit early, since I wrote three devotionals for our churches' Advent Devotional Book - I may even post them here, on the corresponding dates. I loved researching, reading, trying to find a new angle on annual-favorite scriptures. But, an early Christmas? No thanks, oh, except for the Peeps. Yes, I was shopping for festive goodies to adorn my table at last night's show and I saw them. I bought 3 boxes and they were great conversation starters. Christmas tree Peeps with little dots for ornaments! The first I've ever seen! No longer a ritual at Easter, they are now part of the beginning of it all.
Oops, I think I just found another Nerd in Henry's fur...

Waiting...

Waiting seems to be a very popular pastime these days, though it wasn't the motivation for this piece... I keep saying I'm going to change my 'look' and here is another in that series of color and style. I do, though, feel as though I'm evolving. Maybe waiting to evolve?
It's one of my favorite collages and Cassie likes it too because when I showed it to her she said, "I have to have this - let's go to the frame shop as soon as I get back." That, of course, was before the back stuff with Jim; I hope she still wishes to purchase it, I'll wait and see.
Nothing like a kink in the works to put your priorities in order. I'm so far behind in every area, sadly with my Life is a Verb coaching class, although I feel the effects profoundly. Prior to this, very deep and life-altering work, I would not have gotten through the past couple of weeks without anxiety, fear, maybe a bit of depression, and definitely feeling overwhelmed.
Always being in choice, letting go of what I can't control, focusing on what is really true... those are among the many earlier lessons that created a foundation for the work we're doing now, which is the transformative, path-finding work.
But still, it's not fun to look around at the extraordinarily high mountains of unfolded laundry, all the projects I hadn't finished before Jim hurt his back and now the calendar... yikes! I have a few more journals to make for the client who ordered 8 way back in October at that Gallery Hop.
I'm having great fun with them. And enjoying the rewards of the art exchange I entered. It seemed very hectic at the time, but it's amazing, beyond words to receive art from across the world, artists I don't know, some that I do... Nothing better than art mail! In a few days I'll start posting some of my goodies.
So I'll wait for some more to arrive... come to think of it, how many times and occasions are we in that stasis, limbo, sliver of time between the now and what is going to be, what we're hoping for... I think I'll forget about the laundry, do my coaching assignment and go to bed! There's no waiting for sleep:)

Meet Wendy

Meet Wendy Burton, the winner of my Fall Giveaway, from Saskatchewan, a hauntingly beautiful place. Like me, she's an artist, photographer, writer and mother. Kentucky and Canada don't have much in common aside from an amazing landscape (check out her photos!)being home to art loving women on the day to day journey of life:)but we sure seem to share plenty, and we've only started! And, fortunately, she's infinitely patient - my husband's back problems have waylaid so many projects... sigh. But it's coming, not to worry!


Here's what Wendy has to say in her bio:

Creativity allows my voice to float up in echoing reverberations from that place in my soul where emotions thrive. It gives wings to my words, flight to my thoughts. Creativity allows my hands to share a piece of my heart with those who take time to see. Nature brings inspiration ~ colours and sounds, taste and touch. I thank God for this gift ~ this wonderful gift of creativity, the wind in my wings.

Check out her blog and her Flickr page - fabuloso!

Happy the Clown Saves the Day!

What do you do when life throws you a curve? Create, console, consult, make a clown? Lately I haven't had to go far to see how many of my art/blog and other buds are dodging so much... stuff. Pain - from the life threatening to moderate discomfort is, of course, part of life. My prayer list grows, though fortunately my gratitude list is longer.

I've been away from the computer (and behind, again, on swaps, projects and sending a package to my new friend Wendy in Saskatchewan) tending to my own DH, who is weathering a back trauma unlike any he's ever experienced. Several bulging disks and one herniated disk that triggered sciatica have, until today, rendered him completely immobile, except for the writhing pain of trying to find a position that hurts a little less. We are hopeful that the relief granted by a fabulous, tiny Indian woman (physician:) who administered a guided injection/epidural yesterday, is the beginning of his recovery and that our appointment tomorrow with the neurosurgeon will be for treatment protocol only.



One of the only things I had completely finished was my polymer clay workshop project. A week or so ago, Debbie and I got together in her cozy, warm studio and stitched on arms and wings and things that looked like feet, and adorned our 'creatures' with baubles and beads. I had no problem, well, not a big one:) anyway, when I finished my scrappy, happy little clown; being the ace sculptor that she is, Debbie didn't benefit from her ideas about the perfection of limbs and such. I had to make her repaint on the loud, clangy oranges and reds; we realized her clay clown was evolving into one of her amazing raku princesses and we had a good laugh.

The imperfect and the perfect are really just ideas after all, and life is still what happens when we're making other plans. Hopefully we remember the important, stay connected and our circles widen, open into the universe and our prayers are all heard and answered as they are meant to be.

So hugs and blessings to all who are waiting for test results, new treatments to work, hearts to mend, business to pick up, or just having a lonely day. Thanks be to God for clowns and the creative process that keeps us all sane.

And the Winner Is...

After a bit of technical difficulty earlier in the week, Random.org selected the winn-er of my Fall Giveaway; I'm happy to announce that it is Winn's Angels.
Why am I so excited?? Well, I've never 'met' her before; but, we're the same age, we're both taking Susan Tuttle's Visual Poetry class, and, while I haven't written as much about my philosophy - aside from my Art Angels - we both have strong views on the presence and guidance of angels on our creative journey. Could that be any cooler??
I have spent a great deal of time perusing Wendy's blog and I'm in love with her art and photos and, did I mention, she lives in Saskatchewan? Please take time to check out her amazing blog and art displayed on her Flickr page



Her favorite season?? She has published a book entitled Autumn Richness! Here's her winning post:

Ahhh, my favourite season. In truth there is so much beauty in every season. If I pause to contemplate for any content of time, this is a very difficult question to answer. I love Christmas and the hoarfrost, heavy mistiness of some winter days and yet cool crisp chill of others. Summer brings so much beauty in the multi hues of green as well as flowers both tame and wild. Spring, brave spring is all about new life, birth, rebirth. So hard to decide. But as we are in the richness of autumn - for this moment I will choose autumn. I love the smells of apples and cinnamon. I love the textures and colours of warm woolen sweaters and mittens. I love the patterns and layers. Yes, for this moment in time, I will say my favourite season is autumn.
Thank you for the autumn pictures.
Thank you for offering this lovely give away... you are giving of your heart to each and every one of us. Angels be with you.

Thank you Wendy - I hope you'll send me a photo or two to post here... enjoy Autumn in Saskatchewan!

A Thrilling Night

I don't ordinarily post photos of myself, particularly one that is hideous beyond belief, even though it was deliberate - I didn't want to stand out after all. It is a bit disconcerting to walk downtown and step over and around hundreds of zombies, (and I'm talking movie set realistic) on Main Street, still as corpses strewn everywhere - on the sidewalk, slumped over benches and garbage cans, in stairwells.









As a faint rift of Thriller rose from the silence, 'Michael Jackson' appeared... the zombies slowly rose into formation and the procession began. Michael led the ghouls, swaying and lurching, shoulders and legs stomping in unison toward the courthouse, followed by a shrine to the late king of the Halloween fest and us! The March Madness marching band - ghostly glam dancers in vintage wedding and ball gowns, nurses uniforms and an amazing array of slips, shawls, veils and boots, followed by four of us playing cymbals, moroccos, and tambourines. Behind us, the full percussion and horn section (including my son, Dylan, on the snare). Oh what a night.

more pics to follow, along with the winner of the October giveaway!

March Madness Marching Band

marching to the beat of a different drummer...


I know where to sit - back row, third from the right:)

Prayer for a friend

waiting

deeper than spoken
word, prayer rises from the
well of silent hope...

What is more difficult than dealing with illness? Waiting... those interminable days or hours between test and result. The slivers of time that no matter how thin are sharply painful, as we hover between the not knowing and the finding out.

I have a friend who is waiting right now, to find out exactly what is in that tiny lump. She has hovered longer than her share of time between hope and sanity. You probably know a handful of co-workers, acquaintances, friends and family members that are enduring those elongated moments, in similar situations.

The hardest 'waiting' I ever did was in the late '90s. I had a great deal of trouble getting, rather, staying pregnant. After two losses, the third time was charm. Weeks went by until finally, the third trimester. Then a routine blood test indicated that the fetus had an 80% chance of being a Downs' Syndrome baby. I was 38 years old after all, though I passed for a decade younger and still lived in that bullet-proof zone... life before any real bad stuff. It was also the beginning of my faith journey, which didn't erase the pain, or make me forget, it was just there.Not that we wouldn't have loved and cherished a child with Downs, it was the not knowing, the waiting. Fortunately the specialist, kind enough to appreciate the suffering, called on Saturday morning to tell us our baby would be fine, genetically perfect.

If we've reached our 40s and 50s relatively unscathed, we begin to experience the loss and/or illness of family and friends, our own burdens, those life changing events that nudge us into paying a bit more attention to our priorities, how we spend our time, communicate to those we care about and open our circles and hearts a bit wider. I've traveled quite a distance on my own path to spiritual fulfillment, gaining wisdom with every test of strength and endurance.

So once again, I say a prayer for a friend who waits. Hoping not only that the news is good, but timely, not delayed by human or technical error. That in the murky depth beneath our conscious thought, the prayers will be answered.

I took the photo last Sunday at church - Maxwell Street Presbyterian - where the light always shines bright.

Polymer Clay - not my forte?

(Sorry, no intent to dis myself, the title just rhymed:)
Still drenched in the flavors and sights at Hotel 21C, we ventured across the street to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft for our afternoon with Polymer Clay. Our wonderfully talented and gregarious instructor, Lisa Simon, began by talking about the basics and showing us a few of her wonderful creations. Yes. She's the kind of teacher that makes you feel like any and everything is possible, if not in a four-hour window! Looking at the variety and complexity of her dolls was quite daunting for me though, a newcomer to clay, as well as Cassie, who is enormously creative but says she doesn't 'make art.'



We started unwrapping colorful blocks of clay without a clue about the shape, appearance, personality of our creations. Rolling shapes, making beaks, bulging eyes, crazy appendages, the time passed all too quickly. Especially for Debbie (on the right, glasses on her head) who creates and exhibits Raku sculpture women that are to die for (her finest to date graces my living room mantel:)
I'm not sure about the expression on instructor-Lisa's face, we thought we were off to a fine start; the head for mine, cut off below the eyes, is at the very bottom of the frame. Wasn't what I'd hoped for but there's no perfection, second chances even, in a four-hour class.



The class description said that all materials would be provided, and they were. Some of the more experienced gals arrived with a plan - and gorgeous embellishments like felt pieces and jewels, designs sketched out in detail - and finishing their pieces while ours came home in body bags.



Like Clarissa, a fellow Lexingtonian, the only one to create a round doll - quite fabulous!



And Ellen Yunker, who was wearing a doll-pin that she'd made in an earlier class (gee, I really wanted that pin!!). I didn't get a photo of her doll - it was fabulous!



But we hung in there, cut out little bodies and sewed cloth pieces together on machines with tension 'issues' and a bit of our own:) I'm ashamed to say that I haven't used a machine since senior-year home ec class when I made a skirt big enough for the school's quarterback.



Debbie made great progress, her creativity and talent shining through; Cassie and I are learning to love our little clowns... the class was finished before we were so we grabbed bits of embroidery floss, extra clay and fabric, bagged up and drove back home, with plans to gather at Deb's studio on the 30th and finish. I can't wait!

First Stop - Hotel 21C

My friend, aka art angel Debbie Westerfield, invited me to join her on a trek to Louisville for a polymer clay class, with Cassie Harpel, one of the most fabulous, sparkly women I've ever met. So incredibly in need of fun, companionship with kindred spirits, adventure and creative play, I jumped at the chance.
After the hour and a half drive we started at Hotel 21C, recently in the news for being voted number one hotel in the country by Conde Naste readers (November issue). Click on the link and check out the MSNBC video with Matt Lauer. It's not hard to imagine why, though Kentucky doesn't generally top the list when it comes to vacation destinations.



The first clue that you're there is the red penguin on the roof, one of the many that appear in random - often changing - locations throughout the hotel. We considered a spin in the hotel's limo, covered in red shiny dots, but got busted. Cassie is so gorgeous and charming, we were off with a warning and went in for brunch.



Just inside the lobby, there are glass cases filled with, well, interestingly busy little people doing lots of different thing, a modern spin on the dollhouse - as you can see in the middle there's a guy standing outside with his luggage...



Here's a close up...



No need for a closeup here, the statues against the wall behind the front desk...



More engaging than fun house mirrors, the giant screen that, when you stand, then change positions, the letters surround your outline and make words, at least I think there are some real ones in there somewhere...




It would take pages and pages to begin a fitting description for the place - take a virtual tour or stop by if you're in the area. Our brunch was delish and not expensive at all, just filling enough to prime us for the workshop!

Fall Giveaway!

What's your favorite season? Read on, leave a comment and on October 31st I'll pick (randomly, of course) the winner of a seasonal box of goodies.

took a walk the other day and yep, the air had that unmistakable chill, unlike a random cold snap in the summer. the leaves turning, bulbs waiting to be planted and roots going dormant for the winter that are felt more than smelled. unlike the triumphant scents of blossoms carried in the limbs of honeysuckle and rose bushes, mimosas and lilies in spring.



Cats curled in nooks and tight against porch railings; I believe they, too, know it will soon be time to go inside, aside from the daily foray into the bright slant of sun that is another sign of fall.



the pumpkins laugh, already, at the thought of Halloween, a wild night of surprise and celebration in our neighborhood.



the mums almost look out of place, the bright color alongside the browning grass...



autumn and spring are my favorite seasons, though they are the hardest on those of us with auto-immune and other illnesses susceptible to changes in the weather - the thick gauzy summer air and the steady, gray cold of winter mean a more stable barometer and that makes my joints happy. But in spite of the difficulties presented by warm, sun toasted afternoons followed by a crisp plummet into the cold, rainy nights, the sheer beauty of fall is enough. crisp apples, roasting marshmallows over the fire pit, hiking in the bounty of color, cozy afternoon, cup of tea in the window seat and yes, the pumpkins, a reminder to bake three small 2 pound pumpkins for Thanksgiving pie.



I smile every day at the sight of a neighbor's enormous pumpkin, marvel at its sheer size, smooth even color... and know that my kids, although in middle school, will insist that we put out a few of our own. We used to trek to the pumpkin patch in the fall when Alice and Dylan were young enough to marvel at scarecrows, the cider stand and the bumpy ride on the hay wagon out to the field to pick out the exact right ones. This year I'll pick up a few at the corner market... sigh.

So, what is your favorite season? Is it tied in with a holiday or celebration? Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter, the 4th of July? Leave a comment with the season and the reason (not entirely necessary) and you'll be entered in the drawing. I'll post the prize in the next couple of weeks, but it will be worthy!

Old Friends

changing seasons

old friends consider
another morning, same says
one, the other nods...

I've been writing haiku since summer, for the first time in years (and years?). I wrote one for a challenge in Life is a Verb and it hit a nerve. I wrote a few more after completing the exercise and then a few more and the floodgates opened. I've been scribbling them in church (after the sermon of course), at traffic lights, the grocery store, in meditation and prayer for friends whose deep, troubling needs fill me with anguish.
So neat, so compact, like an ATC, a small collage, a photograph... an entire story conveyed in a glance. Or, in 17 syllables. Probably for the same reason that, when I wrote fiction, I focused on the short story. Not because it's easier; anyone familiar with the mechanics of a good short story knows that it has to do the job of an entire novel in a fraction of the space.
In my teens and early twenties I spent a great deal of time writing poetry and it was deeply meaningful as self-care; however, I must admit, it was quelled by my longing is to read a good poem. Now, every morning I scan my inbox for an email from Joe Riley, who under the Yahoo group name Panhala, pairs an amazing photograph with an equally compelling poem. Ahh, Joe, where were you twenty-some years ago?!
I do appreciate the fact that I created this collage using one of my photographs and a haiku I wrote, so I'm satisfied with what feels like an integrated expression.
In early days the challenge was to fit words that sounded good together into 3 short lines; now my goal is deeper. It's an attempt to phrase an emotion, maybe even cause a reader to stop and consider. Two old chairs that, upon closer inspection reveal coats of paint too numerous to count. A metaphor for the most sacred kind of friendship, one that endures an equal number of changing seasons, cycles of sun and snow, witnessing the passage of joys and sorrow, life stages and journeys that are not always predictable and never the same but weathered with the peace of kindred spirit. And, often without the need to speak.


Technical note: This haiku doesn't include a seasonal reference so I suppose it's not technically correct, but I did include the kireji, (no translation in English) the dash, or ellipsis placed at the end designed to bring the reader back to the beginning, forming a complete circle. Asleep yet?