Canaan New York, Town Hall, Dorothy Cloak

Canaan Town Hall

as seen from the Park
March 2012

Modeling Shaker style
Dorothy Cloak
 on consignment
Gift Shop
Hancock Shaker Village

Mystery Self Portrait

Me as my shadow on the driveway.
Or?

This is how I see myself most of the time
 - as a shadow in front of me... 

but I like the concept, the cracks like nerves,
the blue tones,
being of the earth/stone, grounded,
yet  ephemeral and temporary,
gesturing with my hands.

Look another way too.

Turkeys at Dawn

Queechy Lake View

new painting
Queechy Lake

Detail

Detail
Queechy Lake Motel

A Month of Painting

Round Barn at Hancock Shaker Village 

Completed today. My plan is to spend the next month focused on painting. Canvas number one done.

I enjoyed manipulating the painting by adding a photo of a felted Shaker angel in celebration Mother Ann's February 29th birthday.

Novel Efforts

I would like to make available, to anyone interested, a free advance copy mp3 recording.

 I am looking for early reviewers. My goal is to get the novel distributed through Amazon Kindle Fire, and very soon after, (I hope!!!) the audio version through audible.com. Now that the basic "product" is almost done, my mind is trying hard to wrap itself around all the technicalities of marketing, very new territory for me.

Cover Design "proposals" Jean is working on refinements

The Moon in the Morning:

A Fairytale with a New Twist  

Set in the present, this magical realism novel is a coming of age tale in the digital age. The heroine is a 12-year-old girl named Jean, an only child who learns to cope after her grandmother dies using the power of creativity in words, stories, music, and art.  Alone in her room, she encounters Dust Bunnies representing the Three Fates, a few special goddesses in animal form, and folk, fairytale and biblical heroines. She rescues Grandmother Spider, a Native American Goddess by releasing her from a spell. Through various activities such as designing a quilt, learning to use a sewing machine and a spinning wheel, helping on a farm, cleaning her room, using the internet, and sorting through books on her shelf, she sheds her childhood, gains wisdom, and earns respect. A blanket made for her by her grandmother is unraveled and reused to create something new that helps her through her transitions in her quest for truth, inner beauty and self-confidence. Family life, school, and the farm where her aunt and uncle have a horse she loves, weave in and out of the narrative. Over time Jean grasps that she is part of the evolving family of women on earth stretching back centuries through many cultural traditions. By the end of the story, Jean has gained in wisdom and maturity, expressed her grief, connected with the feminine divine and is ready to move on.

The Moon in the Morning has been three years in the working on and off already! Twenty six paintings, and about 175 pages. I believe I have finally edited the manuscript to a place where I am comfortable. I liken the process to sanding - first the heavier sandpaper to get rid of the obvious rough spots, but now I am at the fine grit stage and the polishing cloth. Another metaphor I like is "combing out the snarls." The biggest hurdle has been the audio version of the book. There are seven and a half hours of listening, which is a lot to comb through, rerecord and tweak.

Authentic 60's Caftan

A neighbor some years ago was not well. I kept her company and
helped her out. We had an interest in sewing and needlecrafts in common.
To thank me, and also glad to find
someone who would value the work,
she gave me a few unfinished projects that she no longer could finish.
Now I have a little time and I am cleaning out
the cluttering piles in my workroom.
I found this authentic 60's Family Circle Magazine craft kit.
She had completed the embroidery and beading
but never cut out al the pieces or sewed it.

Now it is done!