Vase with Flowers Still Life

I wanted to just have some fun playing with my new Golden acrylic surface texture set - a birthday present -  and acrylic paste. Just out of my head no effort to make anything look like anything exactly or even closely. Although the flowers may resemble specific types, I really just made them up. I like the idea of the cracked vase surface. There is some symbolism there - not intentional. Partway through I decided the flowers were too plastic and the whole effect was too much like bad motel room art. I did some more texture layers and shading. Finally I felt the image gelled just right.

20 by 24 inch masonite primed and textured
using my new experimental grounds by Golden

almost done

done

Blue Sky and Shining Crowns

I have been drinking in the beauty of the trees when I go on my daily walks. The fall has been especially lovely.
For this painting done in acrylics, I wanted to capture a porcelain and glass feeling - clarity and brilliance.
I also love the look of the feathery tree tops, the end twigs expressive as they meet the sky, and so very appealing with nut husk ornaments - on the left the shagbark hickory and in the foreground and on the right, black walnut.

Treetops in October

Framed by new owner - great choice!

glaze drying 

V Formation Painting

I painted this over the course of a few days using acrylic paints.
The weather generally cooperated, though the light and colors,
and the volume of leaves kept changing. It is Fall after all.

Virtual Family Reunion Composite

Putting together a composite makes for a virtual and visual

FAMILY REUNION

Dance of the Geraniums

I decided that I can, using one hand, put the finishing touches on this painting that I had to abruptly abandon when I broke my wrist. It was a challenge to open tubes, but I managed with feet and knees to get a grip for twisting. It was such a perfect day for painting outdoors - en plein air.

Summer Reading etc.

 Broken Wrist

While my completely fractured left wrist heals, it turns out I have an opportunity to slow down and savor the unexpected sea of time. I am living in the slow lane for a change, with a valid excuse to do minimal physical labor. I spend most of my time either reading, (one-handed) at the computer, listening to music, watching videos, studying and having long conversations. There is time to update Shelfari, unsubscribe from the excessive emails I receive (d!), look over photographs, think, and incubate ideas for when I will be fully healed and going back to using my hands and body fully, no holds barred. I have wonderful friends and family who pick me up and take me places, show me the photos from their travels, bring me food, teach me and entertain me. Switching from active to passive is good for a vacation I have discovered.

Taken by my friend on her mini vacation to the Camden, Maine area

great documentary

from 1972 - 2003

taken by my friend Rita the Photographer in Santa Fe at the
Santa Fe International Folk Art Mart
http://www.folkartmarket.org/

Give me a break!

I think I have uttered the expression "Give me a break!" one too many times. Within the space  of a week I got two!

This is not my X-ray, but it represents approximately what happened to me.

I will have this surgery done  tomorrow. A titanium plate is secured to the fractured area to assure proper alignment in healing.

Overburdened this treasured peach tree spilt. All the recent heavy rain swelled the ripening fruit that should have been thinned, we realized too late.

Milos raised the trunk back in position after pruning back several branches.I helped by guiding the clamp into position

Luna Moth

I was crossing the road to get the paper today and saw what looked like a leaf in the middle. But the green caught my eye more than an ordinary leaf would. This led me to look closer. I discovered what I noticed was a luna moth that had been hit somehow. Its underside oozed guts and it was stuck to the macadam. I gingerly lifted it up, sure it was dead, but its six legs began scissoring! I set it flat on the newspaper and carried it to a planter in the shade. I figured it would be happier there than in my hand or on the paper. If it could possibly heal, it would do it best away from me! Then I looked up on the Internet about luna moths. They like black walnut leaves, where they lay their approximately 200 eggs. They do not eat. The adults only live about 1 week. We have a black walnut tree. I broke off a
stem and set it next to the moth. It immediately nuzzled over and put a foot on the leaf!

For me, finding the moth was very special because moths and their symbolism were integrated into my novel The Moon in the Morning: A Fairytale with a New Twist. I have a moth character called Sikee (aka Pysche, a mythological figure). The word Psyche in Greek means "soul." Curious as to why, wondering if perhaps my own soul has suffered damage from the fast pace of the modern world, or if going to get news somehow means I put my soul at risk, I felt good to do what was humanly possible to help this poor creature. Afterwards I went to work in the garden tending to seedlings.
 I was digging in the dirt of a planter and pulled out a luna moth caterpillar. This made me feel rewarded and hopeful! I set the caterpillar in the dirt under a rose bush.

Note the foot on the leaf

"Apparently luna moths are a symbol of spiritual transformation. We all know the definition of spiritual transformation not only varies from culture to culture but from person to person. Luna moths also signify rebirth and new beginnings as they represent a continuing quest for truth and knowledge, gift of intuition, psychic perception and heightened awareness. I suppose these things are associated with “seeing the light” since the luna moth is nocturnal but will gravitate toward light in the night. Of course, these symbolisms are lore passed down through the years but is interesting to wonder what started these beliefs."

"Throughout history, butterflies and moths have frequently been shown as symbols of rebirth, regeneration, and renewal – even depicted as a spiritual guide through transformation to a new self.  They are the archetypal example of the soul itself, a creature with a unique gift endowed by nature to completely alter its physical form.  Their ability to undergo metamorphosis and emerge as an entirely new being, from the ground-restricted caterpillar to the free-flying winged beauty is certainly a wonderful metaphor for hope and transformation."

Remembering Camp Kehonka

On my mother's side of the family there were five sisters, all of whom went to Camp Kehonka in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Keeping with tradition, my mother sent my sister and me to the camp too, though we each only went one summer - a month at that - whereas my mother had gone for entire summers - in the 30's and 40's.

While putting together family reminiscences I searched on the web for images. The following are a few I found that particularly triggered memories of the place for me, though I only attended one summer.

This photo is probably from before my time but the camp still looked exactly like this.

Cultural enrichment activities were part of the fun.

We all lived in tents. 

The blue goose was a  mascot.
One week my tent got  a goose to display for being the cleanest.

I first saw handweaving at Kehonka.
I used an inkle loom to make a belt.

There was a small building by the lake where we could make silver jewelry.
Making a bracelet was a rite of passage in the shop.

Delving into Family History aka Genealogy

Soon I will resume painting after a hiatus. Besides keeping up with family and friends and the occasional social event, my time has been consumed by four main areas this spring: garden, house, family history, and rest.
When I get antsy from researching and typing, I sort/clean a closet, vacuum/dust, bake/cook, and weed/plant... and I also like a nap now and then. 
I have discovered some very interesting things about my family background on both sides of the family. It is hard to describe the impact these discoveries have had on me. Knowing more about where my forbears lived and what remains of their lives and life stories - often very little - brings home the truth of how very important it is to make good use of each and every day we have during our very short time to live, and also to keep records that go beyond birth dates. Clerk's records do not a life describe!

Red dots represent where ancestors of our family came from.

My mother's father  - my grandfather in his garden- a feature article on him in
The Thermos News.

One of the four mills from my grandmother's family. 

My Great Uncle Fred was a mentor/friend of Eugene O'Neill the playwright and was the newspaperman and editor who gave him his first encouragement when he hired him to work for him as a reporter on the morning Telegraph in New London, CT.

Through my mother we are related to many of the founding families of Norwich Connecticut

My paternal side Grandmother worked at the Triangle Shirt waist factory but quit her job before the fire because she didn't like the management. She fought the fight with the likes of Samuel Gompers.

My Great Great Grandmother Rosina was related to the artist Peter Pelham who was stepfather to John Singleton Copley. An accomplished artist himself - he worked primarily in mezzotint engraving -  he taught Copley painting when a teenager in his home after Copley's widowed mother remarried to Pelham,
 my great-great-great-great-grandfather.

My father's father - my grandfather - was a singer and actor in the Jewish/Yiddish theater scene - Lower East Side, New York in the first two decades of the twentieth century. He performed with Molly Picone. 

My Great Great Grandfather took a clipper ship to California in in the Gold Rush by way of Cape Horn and kept an illustrated journal that was eventually published. I discovered a copy of the journal, a collectors item, recently sold at auction for almost $2,000. I wish I had one!  He also wrote of his trip to the Sandwich Islands - Hawaii.

Lee's Surrender Weaving

Now that my sprained ankle has healed I can return to the loom!

Knitting and Masonry