Art Daily: SOiNTOiT

breathing.....in spurts

2011-12-31T23:25:00.000-08:00

(from California)
rushed forward to meet the end of the year that's unexpectedly upon me;
I'm not finished so can only greet the new year with a breathless
'to be continued'.......laying the past down and taking a new breath, grateful for my God and faith, family and friends,
confident there will always be the opportunity for new beginnings, a fresh perspective and more opportunity to learn, I can only turn and step forward.
Wishing the best of the New Year to whoever stops by. All my best...Pam

Stretched Winter Thin

2011-12-19T19:41:00.000-08:00

I love this season....it's bright and cheerful, icy and cold, the sun stretching the shadows long and thin, lights in the evening: sparkly, the sense of expectancy: energizing. I'm grateful for the warmth and comfort we're blessed with and a life of peace and safety.

I am living out of a suitcase (have been since the 13th) trying to get a Space A flight back to the states for the holidays. In between requisite time spent pacing the airport terminal floor, the art room and cookie baking has helped in focusing excess energy. This painting will eventually go in my Etsy shop (in vacation mode through the holidays).

2011-12-12T00:30:00.000-08:00

Unidentifiable ...

2011-12-10T14:34:00.000-08:00

There is a smell, or rather, a remembrance of a smell, that pops up at the most unexpected times....today, while relaxing under the strong, warm hands of my masseuse..... soft, gentle, nature-inspired music in the background, candles flickering, soothing sounds of a bubbling water feature, muscles relaxed, lavender and eucalyptus oil slicked onto every exposed skin surface....and there it was....subtle, ephemeral, transitory...hazy, like a dream and just as elusive.

It's a smell that has something to do with childhood, perhaps, but I can't pin it down or even conjure it by will. It eludes and is fleeting....it's source: a mystery. I've been trying to remember it forever. I don't think it's the smell of my first doll (I still have it) but something on par and maybe more meaningful. It might have something to do with my mom....maybe the scent of her skin with my infant nose pressed close...It could have something to do with my grandmother... Maybe it's the smell of a crib mattress cover or a blanket.....it hits in the back of the palette...almost a taste. I can't assign to it a range: savory to sweet or acrid to bland. There are no accompanying images. I wonder at its rare appearance and what stimulates my brain to trigger it. It's a memory, far back....a part of me.... with no sound, date, shape, place or name.....a part of me I can't grasp, and like a shadow: unidentifiable.

http://www.artomat.org/home.html

2011-12-09T05:38:00.000-08:00

Newest color combos in my latest batch of bubble art blocks ready to ship....

and it snowed today.....glorious, fluffy, white, cold, crisp, lovely flakes. Snow: 'yuki' in Japanese.

CONTRASTS

2011-12-01T20:51:00.000-08:00

     I made a million Japanese origami cranes, threaded them on heavy silver embroidery thread and wound them around the tree as the finishing touch. Small bits of antique kimono material were recycled and sold as drink coasters, but I added a hanger and used them as colorful ornaments instead. Red Chinese paper lanterns adds to the festive collection this year, contrasting with the plastic Rudolf....hanging on my tree for 57 years now.....old with the new, Asian and traditional Western. So pretty, so sparkly....the earliest I've ever put up a tree. Being so far away from family and home, it adds a warmth, festivity and comfort that keeps me connected and makes coming home wonderful.

     Many Japanese homes are heated with kerosene....I was wondering if I was going to be able to get my tush as warm as I liked, without my wood stove, and I'm happy to say, kerosene heating is lovely: a toasty even heat that will keep us comfortably warm this coming winter. (When I walk outside, there's a faint whiff of kerosene in the air, as neighbors fire up their stoves against the cooling days and nights of the waning autumn season.) I won't have the crackling of the fire but then again, no wood to haul, no ashes to clean out. I'm happy.

     We spent Thanksgiving in Tokyo and walked a million miles. Every neighborhood offers something different and the thrill for me is in the contrast. We can go from cutting edge technology, super modern, upscale and high fashion (women shopping in stilettos and furs) to rows of Edo era housing, five foot high doorways leading into tiny, windowless establishments filled with pottery, household goods, fresh vegetables or tofu or bean cakes. There are restaurants with enough stools to cater to a maximum clientele of three: at a small counter you can slurp piping hot bowls of soup with udon noodles, eat sticky rice and warm yourself with a cup of hot tea. You'll be shooed out if you linger; a practical business necessity. We ate French pain de chocolate around the corner from a Shinto shrine. For a hundred yen you can buy your fortune, tie it up with the others to assure your good fate walk down the street and sit at a velvet chair, be waited on by clerks dressed in Armani selling diamond studded Louis Vuitton handbags....

     On Wednesday, I boarded a train to Kawagoe, met with two of my three 'students' for a tour of the city and lunch and thoroughly enjoyed the female camaraderie and the sights, smells and tastes of the town. Venturing out on my own for an hour train ride adds it's own spice to my day and I made it home in time for the annual Christmas tree lighting on the base and dinner out with hubby. Life is full and very busy. Tomorrow, we will be boarding a bus and heading to Chichibu to view one of the three largest night festivals in Japan. The festival features Geisha dancers, taiko drumming, a large parade with elaborate floats and culminates in a fireworks spectacle at ten...we're slated to return home at 1AM...phew. It goes without saying we will be eating.....

I am working in my art room.... sporadically...... have a batch of art-o-mat blocks almost ready to ship back to the states and will post some artwork updates soon. Meantime....here are a few pictures taken over the last couple of weeks of traveling adventures. Take care.

left gasping by the colors found in a geisha house....

2011-11-13T22:17:00.000-08:00

The trip to Kanazawa was chock-full of visual stimulus. Our bus followed a western route over the Japanese alps, just skirting Nagano of Olympic fame, and wound down toward the coastal region of the Sea of Japan, then south, hugging the steep slopes above the sea, still in central Honshu, reaching the cultural mega-city of Kanazawa after a six hour ride.

Fallen orange, red and yellow autumn leaves, wet from the rains, padded the slick, mossy, rock-lined streets. Homes once inhabited by samurai, and now their descendents or very rich businessmen, were surrounded by meticulously manicured gardens, serene in their layout, softened with the sounds of running water and birds. We were allowed to walk through some of the gardens that had gates opened to the public and we quietly and respectfully tiptoed through these private spaces, glimpsing the serenity, for a moment, of such a life spent amidst such beauty. A few homes had their rice paper doors slid open for the breeze, offering tantalizing views of tatami mats, sparsely furnished expanses and rooms that had never known clutter for even one day of their hundreds of years. We doffed our shoes and stepped into shops offering local crafts, mostly pottery or silk, and stores offering sweets: tastings proffered by clerks on the sidewalks, bean-paste filled pastries and traditional sweet cakes eaten before tea.

One of our stops was a geisha tea house where, kneeling on bamboo mats at low-lying tables, we were served small tea cakes topped with gold leaf (a specialty of the area) followed by macha, handed us in delicately decorated tea bowls. Macha is the bitter, green, frothy tea of Japan and is meant to be drunk in just two to three swallows. Two or three swallows nicely dissipates the cloying sweetness of the cake, more would be too bitter to enjoy...so a lovely balance is achieved. Our table surrounded a large, square, ash-filled fire pit where the water was traditionally warmed in the heavy metal pot suspended by an iron rod from overhead beams. Later, our server, dressed in beautiful kimono garb and with the help of an interpreter, took us upstairs to a tatami mat room to answer our questions about geisha life and history.

We toured the Kenroku-en Gardens in the rain, watched rubber-booted workers brushing the rocks in the stream beds with brooms (to keep them free of moss and debris) and watched other workers clipping lichen with very small scissors, piece by miniscule piece, under the spreading arms of a carefully formed and very ancient fir. In readiness for winter and to ward off the damaging effects of a heavy snow, tree branches were being wrapped in rope and upheld by maypole-looking affairs and the branches were propped, as well, from below, by strong bamboo poles.

The Museum of Contemporary Art showcased current Japanese artwork and installations and another high-light was a tour through a ninja temple, built in the 1640's and full of secret passages, traps, escape routes and mystery. We got up early to walk through the Kanazawa fish market, just opening for business, and marveled at the busyness and massiveness of the fish market itself... street after street (covered overhead) of stalls filling with the days fresh catch, dripping with sea water and in some cases still live seafood, every kind, every description....octopus, snails, crab, lobster, roe and the vegetable and flower stalls mixed in, small stalls selling prepared food, slippery walkways and always the smell...

Some final observations:

Coming from a culture that is, by its very definition, a melding pot of diversity and where individualism is the norm, I am experiencing culture shock. People, places, sites, sounds, smells, ideas, objects, tastes all tangent into my field of vision unexpectedly, without explanation or forewarning often and I have been left wondering, breathless, embarrassed, curious, uncomfortable, excited, pleased, puzzled... you name it....it's run the gamut. I have landed where conformity is prized. This is not a concept I understand. Our two cultures have managed to, certainly not blend, but co-exist, side-by-side, harmony is maybe not the right word but, certainly not disharmonious, in the few places they touch, but the contrasts are extraordinary. Maybe it's in the contrast that makes this work so well. We can't blend, that much I have already determined...only observe, copy, wonder at and learn from. The Japanese value harmony. If the rules are followed, harmony will follow and result in a life of ease. They have a love of nature but it is in the subduing or shaping of the wildness to meet a standard, following very precise rules (ikebana and bonsai being two examples) that leads to the state where the beauty can be appreciated and measured and explained. It is in some of the unexpected juxtapositions that give me pause and allow me a glimpse into a culture I'll never be able to comprehend. The kimono with it's contrasting but perfectly harmonious obi. Explain it to me please, I can't but I do appreciate on an aesthetically visceral level the impact. The simplicity and sparseness of a geisha house, the grace and rules within contrasting, shockingly with colors that palpably hit my senses by their unexpected placement and please me but leave me curious and hungry for the next sensual 'hit'. If I asked for an explanation of the color placement, I would be given an explanation....I'm not sure I would understand.

One encounter from my recent trip I will not forget: We decided to graze the local grocery store for dinner rather than find a sit-down restaurant. In the basement of every department store, one can find grocery stores that are a medley of merchants supplying cooked, cured, pickled and fresh produce displayed enticingly and hawked irresistibly; a great diversity of produce, fun to peruse and nibble one's way through. We made our selections (what we thought was a cucumber salad with daikon radish turned out to be baby eels...eyes and all) and placed our purchases on the counter and while our items were being rung up (checkers singsong prices and items as they are scanned and ours was diligently and dutifully following the norm) and as we were distractingly digging through our purses for the correct coins, the checker looked up, not realizing we were foreigners and gasped at the sight of us, so strange and tall and white and different and was embarrassed by her own sudden and public lack of composure. We were frozen and staring....so we laughed.... and I babbled something in English and she smiled, and was flustered, her hands over her mouth, regaining her composure and laughed, too, and we both sort of stared at each other, sharing in the amazement of the encounter. I understand her gasp. It's in the letting in of the unexpected that doesn't have an immediate explanation that gives rise to shock. Except right around the air base where we live and in some parts of the larger cities, diversity is not known in Japan...even today. I have 'shocked' so many people by my mere presence....I am truly outside looking in. It is an amazing perspective to be living with and I can only be inspired by the differences and am also seeking similarities. I am truly an ambassador here and must be mindful and self-conscious and I can certainly understand her gasp....in that we are sisters.... as I am personally left gasping by the colors found in a geisha house....

fanatically obsessed....

2011-11-08T19:11:00.000-08:00

I can never get enough of this figure...if I go into my studio with nothing in particular planned and just want to play, this is what comes out. Over and over and I never tire of it because it's always just a bit different...one from another. It looks lovely matted in white, under glass in a matte black wood frame. I like using acrylics with this figure, usually mixing it up with India ink. This is oil pastel. A peaceful and fun playtime with a satisfying result....hmmm, wonder what it would look like in blacks and greys....monotones....I'm off again

Autumn Colors...back to the circle

2011-11-08T00:08:00.000-08:00

These lovely persimmons were given to me yesterday and they are a double treat.....an organic autumn inspiration for my visual palette: form, color, texture, relationship, shadow and depth and a sweet, sensory explosion for my palate: (ha!)....soft and sensual, sweet and juicy, warm in color to contrast this blustery steel-blue grey day and a delight for my tongue. What a gift. I am pleased and inspired on all counts. Thank you, Harumi.

Jack's back......

2011-10-30T02:59:00.000-07:00

boo!

Nikko

2011-10-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

The three to four hour trip to Nikko, I'd heard, was well worth the effort, so Monday I boarded a bus and set out. We hit countryside quickly and were accompanied by gardens, rice fields and agricultural flat lands soon giving way, as we started to climb, to steep, lushly green, thickly forested hillsides.

Nikko is in the midst of their autumn festival. The evenings are getting cooler and the leaves are just beginning to turn. Walking through the temple grounds was reminiscent of a stroll through the California Redwoods with the towering, massive trees filtering the light and providing the perfect environ for vibrant moss, fern and lichen underfoot and giving glimpses of crimson and orange in the foliage. The sound of running water was everywhere. It was lovely and peaceful.

The temple buildings were magnificent: colorful, heavily carved and painted in brilliant colors. The main temple area was staging ground for the annual procession giving visitors a close-up view of what life must have looked like 300 years ago under the ruling shogunate. I got lots of pictures, ate some great food, made some friends and thoroughly enjoyed myself. What a beautiful day. One day was not enough. (Some local women I met today and a sweet traveling companion I met on the bus, out for a jaunt like myself. I'm in the center.)

Japanese Culture Class + sake = karaoke

2011-10-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

In Hatchioji, there is an upscale mall complex just outside the train station and one of the shops caters to the well-dressed, traditional Japanese woman. I picked out three kimonos that have silk designs and colors that took my breath away. The handwork of the material is fabulous (the photos do not do justice) and here are the pieces that I've asked hubby to buy me for Christmas....of course, with a price tag averaging $5,000 apiece...I suppose I'd better not hold my breath too long....

After a wonderful time exploring the gift shops, clothing stores and the food market (I test-tasted everything)...we (there were about thirteen of us on this foray) were taken to a restaurant for our first Japanese drinking party.....that's what they're called....where we feasted on......(the word 'banquet' comes to mind) plate after plate of everything from chicken on a stick to pot stickers, sashimi and noodles, rice and vegetables, Japanese pickles and salads all accompanied by beautifully served sake (hot and cold). (I revel in the artful serving dishes, table and room decor as much as the flavors and smells. It's all eye candy and a sensory explosion for me.) What a fun, fun memory with truly enjoyable company interspersed with karaoke (pronounced kah rah o keh): a first, for me. My attempt at a Norah Jones song will probably go down in history.......

I've done a little playing around in my workroom and can only say that I'm not a tidy worker, it all starts out well and then....sheesh

ah well....I had fun. This canvas is going to get painted over.....sometimes the best part is in the doing....not the outcome.

Choices.....

2011-10-06T19:43:00.000-07:00

Always feels good to get to this point and get another box off to Art-O-Mat.
My work table is now cleared and calling out for a canvas..... the 'anticipatory' stage I relish.
The sky is a lovely blue and cloudless and it's balmy with a gentle breeze. I know I'd get a terrific view of Mt. Fuji.......
I am a lucky woman to be facing such choices in my day.

Miro, Jackson Pollack, Monet, Picasso...oh, and Godzilla

2011-10-03T06:21:00.000-07:00

Inspiration is everywhere; in the people, the sounds, the buildings, the odors, food and the display of it, the hodge podge mix of it all together: one great big soy sauce laced soup for the slurping. I'm intoxicated and loving it.

We toured the Museum of Western Art in Ueno Park, Tokyo, lunched under a towering fortress of a gate by Le Corbusier, caught the subway to Kitchentown in Asakusa (should have done that last because I had to lug all my treasures around the rest of the day) and walked over to the temple of Asakusa which was an amazing combination of color and grandeur, show and wafting incense, play and relaxation. We stayed til almost dark, then wound our way through some streets til we found the bay, watched the moon on the water and dinner boats lit with paper lanterns float by and under a Chinese red, double arched bridge. Of course, we had to cross it and then, back underground, find our way through the subway and on home again. What a day. The pictures are in no special order and not the best photography, but bring back the memories and the flavors of the day. I hope you enjoy.

Japanese Culture Class..week 2

2011-09-28T21:03:00.000-07:00

.....and no, I am not going to post a picture of myself with a newspaper Samurai hat on my head. Best to just leave that to your imagination; think: pirate hat on sideways with bunny ears and you get the picture.

Hats from Hamura

2011-09-27T23:30:00.000-07:00

Yay! They can use my crocheted hats at the orphanage. I've been making and giving these away for years; busy-work that's relaxing and fruitful. I can never just sit.......although give me a hammock and a balmy autumn afternoon.....

creative collage with kids

2011-09-24T21:49:00.000-07:00

collage/framed cards:

I was invited to go to Tachikawa yesterday with a group from the base, visit an orphanage and provide a two hour art/craft project for the kids. What follows is a tutorial covering the project. It was fun and easy and the actual collages were wonderfully colorful and diverse. I had a blast. I was wondering how I was going to do in a group, speaking a completely different language than them, but all those classes and training I've taken for teaching non-English speaking students kicked in without a hitch....there was no barrier and I had a great time.

I didn't photograph the kids (ranging in age from 3 to 10) or the session to protect the kids privacy. I loved that some of the adults joined in and seemed to being having as good a time as the children. Of course, it was the young (ten-ish) boy who initially walked up to the project and gave a 'nah' (in effect) that I really wanted to snag, and by the end of the two hours, he shyly returned and started making his own, beautiful, museum quality collage and greatest thing of all, he was proud of his creation and enjoyed having it shown off. Lotta fun.

Start with an old playing card or an ACEO card or even a piece of cardboard. Have some ModPodge, scissors, and tissue paper on hand. Of course, you can get more complex and add clippings from magazines or books, hand-drawing, bits of thread and other ephemera but we just used playing cards and tissue...simple, simple.

Brush on a bit of ModPodge, tear or cut shapes from the tissue and glue down (underneath and on top) and continue until you're pleased with the effect. Air dry or dry with a heat gun and trim. Slip the card into a sheaf of plastic and slip that into a framed card (you can buy these at craft stores or make your own). Add an envelope, and you're done. This is a great personal gift-giving idea, as well, and takes hardly any time at all (when you don't have 20 gluey hands involved!) Mysteriously, one of the kid's finished cards ended up tucked in my supply box so that is photographed here....the last one shown, a real gem. Let me know if you're inspired to try this, I'd love to see your outcome. Take care. Pam

Hamura in the Blue Car

2011-09-18T03:52:00.000-07:00

'Impressions' mixed media collage on 10X10 cotton canvas

2011-09-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

Guess it's time to re-open my shop........

Are we on the right bus?

2011-09-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

....when you don't know what your destination looks like and the announcements over the intercom by the driver are undecipherable and you're not one hundred percent sure you're really on the right bus in the first place and you don't have the ability to ask because you don't have the words...it gives the ride a bit of an edge...the train ride is the same way. we're pretty sure we're on the right track but there's always a bit of a question because we've never been here or where we're going before and it's all new and very, very different

even the smallest venture is an ad venture when you can't read the language or communicate beyond a rudimentary hello, thank you, good-bye or excuse me and it's making us have to decipher, interpret, remember and pay attention much more than we're used to. I like it. Stimulating. It's almost an awakening.

So we took off from Atsugi Naval Air Base and managed to negotiate the train system successfully (coming and going) to spend a few hours at 'Vinewalk Mall'....an extraordinarily huge outdoor mall about an hour below Tokyo and just west of Yokohama in the town of Edina... where....if there's food to eat....it will be displayed in incredibly detailed plastic....

.....and where nothing is done small-scale. It was a fun place to explore, we added to our collection of miso and rice bowls, had an incredibly delicious meal of buttery tender salmon and roe over rice, a delicate broth accompaniment, good green tea and, of course, the requisite sake.

I had my Bubble Art project with me at Atsugi, so was able to make a bit of progress and hope to get these finished by the end of the coming week and off in the mail to Art-O-Mat.

We felt a bit of an earthquake at the bus stop on our way home.....the ceiling of the train station was wobbling and now we've been met with the tail of a typhoon and it's pouring down outside (although wonderfully warm). They say tomorrow it'll really start pouring and I thought this was really pouring. I'll be inside with my project and glad to be home.

Getting settled and back at it.....

2011-08-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

Crocker Art Museum

2011-08-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

What I didn't tell you....

2011-08-22T07:39:00.000-07:00

is that the first night here in the new house, I woke up about 1AM, couldn't sleep....I don't know if it was the excitement or exhaustion...but I walked downstairs, keeping the lights off, opening windows to let in the wonderful breeze, poured a glass of water and sat in the darkened living room enjoying the newness and strangeness of it all, when I noticed a young man, maybe early twenties, Japanese, walking down the lane out front and stopping, kinda checking out our house. Because it was dark, he couldn't see me and he seemed to be acting a bit...well, furtive. He started toward our side yard, which seemed a bit strange.....there is a park there but no public access from the side....and then he doubled back, turned on a flashlight, checked out the inside of our car (it was full of belongings from the lodge) and....sheesh, unlocked. He started to open the passenger door and I climbed over the couch to the window and yelled 'hey, what are you doing??...hey, hey you and of course, he turned and high-tailed it down the road and around the corner. We had an entertaining time trying to sort through the details down at the local police station the next day, giving an account through an interpreter who had been studying English for the last three years. They profusely apologized for this 'bad guys' behavior, tried to take fingerprints off the car but it was raining too hard, and told us...ahem, lock your car, if you would be so kind, and please, don't leave valuables inside.

So.....that sushi dinner we had? Repeated tonight....but on real plates (we're making progress). Hubby made the sake set in the pottery class we took last year before we even had an inkling we'd be sipping sake in our own living room in Japan, of all places....will wonders never cease? I took my first Japanese class today. As soon as the kitchen is in order, it's to the studio.....Art-O-Mat says they're running low on my blocks and to please send more (yeah!) of course, that will be after a 5 day trip to Atsugi at the end of the month....(hubby has a seminar and I don't want to miss the chance of exploring a new area). Take care.

a peek into my new studio

2011-08-19T23:45:00.000-07:00

Moving day was actually two....we're finally in and in quasi chaos, all of our earthly belongings strewn throughout the house in the craziest jumble....pots and pans in the bathrooms, linens and books in the kitchen, washer and dryer in the kitchen...yes, that's where they're supposed to be....

For our first dinner, I drove down to the local Seiyu grocery and brought us home the most wonderful, delectable, freshest, tastiest variety of sushi ever, eaten with chop sticks, of course, on paper plates balanced on our knees in the jumbled mess of our living room.

Our house sits on the edge of a small community park and every day there are four workers who come to sweep the blossoms that have fallen from the trees onto the grass. I'm in heaven. As I type, the cicadas are in full chorus.

We've got a lot of sorting and settling to do...since the kitchen is the most daunting, I've left it (ha!) and focused on creating a calm, quiet retreat in the bedroom and bath and today unpacked my art supplies...sigh. A few pictures follow to show the progress and yes, every time the movers walked into the house, they kicked off their shoes.....in our housing agreement, one of the stipulations was that we not wear shoes in the house, only house slippers. What is not to love? (Also....one never uses soap in the tub....the tub is for relaxing after the soaping up part.....)

sigh.................................................................................

Art Fair 2011 and food (of course)

2011-07-31T19:22:00.000-07:00

The Tokyo International Forum is beyond what the word 'building' can ever possibly connote: its' glass and steel atrium a 200-foot-high architectural wonder built in the shape of a ship's hull, crosshatched with overhead walkways and flanked by curvaceous promenades. Stunning light-emitting supports from floor to ceiling intersect a large, spacious gallery where the 2011 Tokyo Art Fair held it's venue and I got to go! Hundreds of artists from local and international galleries exhibited artwork: paintings, installations, pottery, sculpture...it was marvelous. (We passed up a Picasso...just a few million yen and it could have been hanging over our borrowed couch in our temporary living quarters....appalling thought.)

We spotted this icon after leaving the forum, heading to the Tokyo Train Station:

We got off the train at Tachikawa to grab a bite to eat and tour my favorite grocery store. The food display is an artform unto itself: fresh, vibrant and beautifully displayed.

We had tempura, miso soup, Japanese pickles, rice and green tea. The waitress brought us two silver spoons on a tray to help us with drinking the miso soup. They were probably the only 2 silver spoons for miles. The Japanese are beautifully hospitable and gracious. I don't think we've pulled out a map at a train station or the subway that someone hasn't come over to help us find our way.

Picking out food is a pictorial delight. Plastic mock-up or pictorial menus. Works great for us.

and after checked out some of the local dress shops before heading home:

Update: we've got a car....suffice it to say it's blue and small and I've successfully driven on the left side of the road with a right-sided steering wheel and it's not as hard and scary as I thought it was going to be and except for continually turning on the windshield wipers when meaning to signal a turn, I haven't made any huge mistakes. Our first load of household goods (the 1000lbs. of 'essentials') is in the warehouse and we're awaiting a moving contractor to pencil us in. Rainy here, a small earthquake yesterday morning and one brush of a typhoon with more expected. Language classes are signed up for and I may have 3 Japanese students being handed me for English lessons by an outbound teacher. I've been told they prefer discussing Hollywood movie stars and like to do it over lunch at the officers club.....hmmm. I am from California....I can probably wing it. Sayounara.

fish market sushi and the MOMA

2011-07-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

I'm loving the food....who ever thought raw fish could be such a delight?? We walked into a small stall of a crowded restaurant, down the most stereotypically back-alley-near-a-fish-market (the world's largest, btw, Tsukiji fish market in the Chuo ward) wet, dank, dark and narrow out-of-the-way place we could find, were greeted loudly with what we hope was a positive 'hey, hey...look here...some gaijins ('foreigners'...the only word I recognized) have just entered lets give them all a loud hello welcome!' to our red-faced embarrassment, and sat down to some of the best sushi, tempura and miso soup I've ever had...and all for a pittance (well...3500 yen).

And all this after a day roaming through the MOMA Tokyo, where I was enraptured with an extensive exhibit of Paul Klee....lucky me!

Our hold baggage (1050 lbs. of basics...pillows, bedding, cookware, art supplies (!!!)) is slated to arrive in a C-5 today so theoretically, we could be moving into our house this coming week (oh...gotta get a car). We will need to borrow a few things in the interim...chairs, bed, table, appliances.

And the art urge??? Strong as ever, heightened due to lack of access to supplies (though I hear the Happy Honda a few towns north carries supplies....) has pushed the urge a bit and so I scrounged a piece of cardboard from a local frame shop, bought an exacto knife and started on a 'memories of Japan' piece...who knows, maybe it'll be finished in time for a local art contest slated for September coincidentally of the same theme, ha!

Warmest regards,
Pam

We've made it.....a quick check-in

2011-07-16T23:52:00.000-07:00

We've made it. We're enconsced in a lodge on Yakota AB and have been walking a million miles a day, exploring the area, eating everything, playing with the language as best we can, looking at houses with realtors and in general getting accustomed to the climate (muggy with a breeze) the time change (a day ahead and military time) and to look in the opposite way when stepping off a sidewalk because it's all wonky here from what we're used to.

Passed my driving test, looking for a car and think we've found a house. The houses in the pictures above are in the neighborhood we'll be living in. Roads are narrow, most houses two-story and built right up to the roadside (and next to each other) with potted plants taking up any available space and any unused piece of dirt planted with vegetables and flowers I-love-it. Any open area is also used for gardening: beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, flowers, squash, corn, herbs and a host of plants I've never seen. Land and space is at a premium here and every space is used for something.

We've spent a couple of days in Tokyo (taking subways and trains) and I'm in love: the sights, smells, throngs, sounds it's all amazing to me, and given a life time, I couldn't explore it all so, lots to do. I don't have many pictures....keep forgetting my camera and haven't figured out my new phone camera yet (all the instructions are in Japanese, of course.....) so, more soon, as I stretch my wings.....and breathe.

Travel update

2011-06-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

My next post will be from Fussa, Japan. How can packing and preparing for an overseas move take 2 months of my time? Needless to say, I haven't picked up a paintbrush once except to pack. Tonight is the last night in our home, movers will be here tomorrow morning and all will be cleared out by Thursday, then the clean up, ah, well...I'm exhausted and teary and likening this experience to labor pains....that point where you swear you will never, never, never, ever do anything to get into that situation again...and then hours later, eh, it was nothing and I suspect when we board our flight, July 4th, that will be my moment to say, wow, this is going to be amazing and well worth the upheaval. I have packed some painting supplies into a portion of our gear that will be delivered in 2 to 3 weeks (well before the 2-3 months it could take to receive everything else) so I'm looking forward to the peace and the calm and the excitement and the euphoria of painting and wonder what will be expressed....I'm not the same person I was 2 months ago so who knows.
So.....a time of good-byes; bittersweet in the sadness mixed with gratefulness for everything I have. I appreciate any distraction, at this point, and we woke to a bit of fun this morning. There have been baby owls in the boxes and this morning they fledged....we walked out to the garage and were startled to see two babies out of their box, clinging precariously to an oak tree, at eye height, and flapping from branch to branch. Everybody was in on the excitement, from a cacaphony of bluejays and titmice to mom and pops hooting and the babies clacking their beaks...it was great. They're still next to the house, over the deck, hours later. What a treat to catch them before we go.
Anyway.....sayonara. I've got a lot to do today :0!!!!

Gabby

2011-06-02T00:38:00.000-07:00

April 10, 2004-May 27, 2011

Grief has come calling, wrapping her shawl tightly over my rounded shoulders and head like a shroud with the weight of a child too heavy to carry but too tired to walk limply draped down my back I-feel-its-pall. Grief is an old friend, a crone; unbidden, familiar, unwelcome, expected and accepted like the years that line my face with their wrinkles and stories to tell.

Gabby was the perfect companion. She was warm and snugly, playful and sweet. She was a great traveler, loved going for rides in the car and to the park on long walks. She would join us in howling sometimes. She was afraid of bees but would stand up to a turkey and bravely barked at squirrels. She loved to run across the ball field with that funny, bunny rabbit kind of run. She loved her treats and her toys (the soft kind that squeaked) and being covered up at night with a blanket and sleeping right in between our legs.

She greeted us with enthusiasm every time we returned to the house, whether it was from a full day of work or a quick jaunt outside. We were always welcomed back like long lost friends. Gabby knew she could lick his whole face but only sneak a lick to my nose once in a while and that was okay. We knew her language, she taught us her sounds. I will always miss the firm little bump of her nose on my leg, especially when I was making sandwiches. Gabby made me feel safe when I was alone and comforted when I was sad. She loved being fed scraps from the table and was a polite beggar, though she never did learn how not to smack her lips. Chicken was her favorite. (Or was it steak?) She diligently buried all her doggy bones in the carpet or under pillows. She loved having her tummy scratched. She dreaded the bath and the brush but loved being blown dry and wore bows and hair clips, a Gap sweatshirt, on occasion, dressed up on holidays and preferred the color pink. She wore bling on her doggy collar.

Gabby loved us both, the most, and Gabby needed us. Like I need her now but have only memories and grief. I will always miss you, Gabby....my sweet puppypuppy.

changes.....

2011-05-06T11:45:00.000-07:00

In going through the garage and pulling out boxes that have been stored...ten years plus in this home.....from a full life of gathering and storing, I'm met with my past.

When I was a young girl, I loved the outdoors and filled my room with collections: butterflies carefully mounted, labeled and boxed; beetles categorized according to size; pressed leaves and flowers; ('specimens' I called them) and samples of bark, moss and rock. I sketched cloud formations into journals and kept track of rainfall and temperature.

I ran around in shorts (bubblegum ironed into the pockets) and keds, wore my skate key on yarn around my neck, bicycled the neighborhoods in the summers and had my nose in books or my eyes on binoculars or my telescope. And of course, there was music. I own 2 flutes, a beautiful clarinet, a piccolo, violin, upright bass and electric bass, any number of guitars and every kind of percussion instrument from all around the world you can think of. What to do, what to do......

I'm clearing out. It's a true cleansing. We'll be leaving for Japan at the beginning of July and I can't take it with me. My house has been rented and I've agreed to help my new tenant by clearing out my artroom first so she can store and slowly move in while I'm moving out. My paints and canvas' are packed. It's disconcerting, these changes I'm going through.

I've decided to put my Etsy shop in vacation mode during this packing up time. Shipments of household goods to where we will be staying can take up to 3 months to find us so it's necessary. And so.....my blog.....

My blog is like a carefully nurtured friendship, not something I like to neglect. It will simply have to change along with me and when life settles a bit and I once again find routine (as if life could ever be thought of as routine!) I'll get back into the wonderful rhythm of writing and painting daily. Meanwhile.....my list:

1. breathe

mixed media collage

2011-04-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

there was a song

2011-04-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

a mourning dove in the bougainvillea

2011-04-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

No, there's no bougainvillea growing here in the Sierra foothills where it stormed today, was cool and had skies heavily laden with thunderclouds welcoming us back home. I've been to Palm Springs. The mineral baths are wonderful and the hot springs come out of the ground at 160 degrees. The biggest effort was in moving from one bath to the next (depending upon whether one needed to cool off or heat up). The sunsets in the desert were stunning and the temperature was only just beginning to warm. Of course, the early springtime winds had begun, but it was pleasant. To get into the front door to where we were staying, one had to duck beneath a beautiful, fully blooming arch of gloriously colored bougainvillea and right next to the front door was this nest with a completely fearless mourning dove patiently sitting on three small eggs. She didn't seem to be even slightly perturbed by our coming and going. Very peaceful sitting out on the patio first thing in the morning with coffee and sharing her space.

The rest of the vacation, after leaving the desert, was spent on the north coast in the redwoods breathing in the silence and of course it goes without saying we've been eating. This morning alone: asparagus and thinly sliced grana, lemon filled pancake and delicately poached salmon with a lemon buerre sauce, lamb stuffed with artichoke and eggs Benedict, scones, chicken salad and brioche with dill infused cream cheese layered with thinly sliced salmon and capers, deviled eggs topped with crab. Champagne, of course and strawberry trifle (with a hint of fresh mint) and I think there's a lot I'm forgetting though my hips won't so....I've got my work set out before me.

Big changes here: hubby and I are moving to Japan in early July. At this point, I'm in the peculiar state between coming and going...things appear to be whirling around me and I'm at a confused standstill wondering what to do next.....I have to consciously remember to breathe.

1. first things first: good fresh vegetables and fruit and back to a routine at the gym
2. breathe
3. Japanese: two hours minimum study daily
3. start in on closets, files and bookshelves.....
4. breathe
5. that's plenty for now (oh....and no lists yet)

adding some spice to life

2011-04-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

The NYArt Marathon deadline entry is April 15th. Most of the submissions are on canvas, some installation work and a few dimensional pieces. To view the artwork, you can visit their webpage at: http://nyartmarathon.com/

I submitted the first 3DCarveBoardArt piece that I'd created and am curious to see if I get any feedback. It's titled 'habitat pastoral' for the disparate and somewhat incongruous elements: country, farm, natural; grunge, graffiti, pastoral. It's almost unsettling.....for me anyway. This piece is matted and framed under glass. One 'peers in' to this piece and roots around, not unlike viewing a memorabilia collection in a shadow box. Let me know what you think and keep open to creative possibilities.

mixed media abstract collage

2011-04-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

a rural language

2011-04-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

raccoon eyes

2011-04-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

I love skiing. I love being in the higher altitudes; I love the fragrance of the firs, especially now, on a warm spring day when the sap is rising. I love the panoramic views of the lake from the top of the lift, the exercise, the fresh air, the exhilaration of sailing down a slope. I love sharing this with my husband. I love having lunch out on the deck around a fire with music and laughter and to-die-for scenery as backdrop. I love the clunky ski boots and the funny walk (wearing goggles and helmets: like being in a moon suit....it sets you apart somehow from 'normal') and I love the sound of cutting a sharp edge of ski against the snow. I love the drama of skiing and the risk....that 'edgy' dangerous element and the high that comes from skiing away from an 'almost biff'. I love being on a ski lift and looking down and the planning of where to explore next. I love the satisfaction of safely negotiating a black diamond.
So......I've got one week to heal......got any good remedies for a blistery sunburn?.....there's a snowstorm predicted this weekend. I hope it dumps.

Art Blogs by Etsy Artists

2011-03-27T01:40:00.000-07:00

I want to capture that state of exhilaration I've experienced when standing in front of a Diebenkorn. I want to capture it and incorporate it... fold it gently into my life in a melding sort of way.

Head down and distracted by the timeless beauty of the inlaid marble floor I was walking over, I stepped into a portico of light. Glancing up I gasped, my very breath torn from me, I was frozen in mid step: the image of Michelangelo's David moving toward me... vibrancy and electricity in the lighting and air a physical palpitation. I saw him move.

What I do? Play. Self-taught doesn't really accurately describe me. A more apt descriptor: self in-the-process-of-learning. I'm enjoying this exploratory stage. Painting and drawing, collage and encaustic, oil pastels and mixed media all whet my appetite. This is truly for play and I'm grateful for the luxury of time to do it in. That quiet, peaceful excitement that blankets me and lets me breathe while I play: an addictive intoxicant that keeps me coming back.

Tell us something about your art.....and when you have more to say, come back and share again. It's those wonderful epiphanies....maybe we've shared something similar, or maybe you can help me share something of you vicariously that I may never have the opportunity to experience otherwise.

About this team

A venue for Etsy artists to share, promote, explore and create community through their world of blogs.

Who can join?

If you consider yourself an artist and your shop and creativity overflows into the world of blogging, please join and share your creativity and excitement, writings, questions, critiques, photos, techniques, observations and new posts here:

http://www.etsy.com/teams/7748/art-blogs-by-etsy-artists

Progress on 'San Juaquin' CarveBoardArt

2011-03-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

trout and art and everything in between

2011-03-23T00:21:00.000-07:00

When I'm a housewife, I am not an artist. When my children come to call, I mommy and hostess and cook and listen and watch and anticipate and try to read all the signs, all the clues so that I can understand and gain insight into what they're experiencing and run interference. When I cook, I am not an artist....I am hungry and want to provide and appreciate the smells, the flavors and nuances and subtleties each dish can provide. When the sun is out, I am a land owner, gardener and caretaker of my plot. When I think of our next venture to Japan, I wail.... and cannot comprehend the loss and devastation these people are facing as I sit ensconced by the fire and know that soon I will be immersed in this land so foreign to my own understanding and I am a griever. When I feel the ennui of a day not planned, I am not an artist; I am a seeker and sometimes flounderer. When all else is cared for and nurtured and tidied and the wood is stacked and the pantry full, bills paid and the sun comes out or the rain falls and my roof is tight I can begin to breathe and there is excess that turns to creativity or a mopped floor. By the way....the trout was very good, cooked in lots of butter (I've been unduly influenced by a new memoir of Julia Child's) and stuffed with freshly picked, thinly sliced lemon from a bush I've been nurturing for a few years in a pot on the front deck, a few sprigs of rosemary snipped from the yard and sauced with a very good voignier. This has been a long winter and spring awaits. I did begin to work again on a very large (my largest) CarveBoardArt today and am enjoying the process. Thank you all for your encouraging comments and interest. What a special and sweet gift your following has been to me. It does not go unnoticed nor is it unappreciated.

moonpie

2011-03-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

visage II

2011-03-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

saving the world through art....inspirational (it takes a moment to load)

2011-03-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

visage I

2011-03-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

it's all about the circles V

2011-03-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

it's all about the circles IV

2011-03-09T09:54:00.000-08:00

it's all about the circles III

2011-03-08T00:04:00.000-08:00

it's all about the circles

2011-03-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

it's fun to go and I'm glad to be back

2011-03-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

my childhood home

2011-02-25T06:20:00.000-08:00

We're taking off again.... so I'm closing down shop, so to speak, and we're heading up to the condo where we plan on nicely ensconcing ourselves indoors next to a roaring fire with little better to do than watch it snow. The kids (and grand kids) will be up, part of the time, and we've invited a couple or two for a ski day..... I don't know if I like the skiing more or the appetite and subsequent feast after...good food, good wine, good company and all the broohaha that goes with it. (I do love to ski. And good food...and good wine and good company)

And I love Tahoe. We used to vacation there as a child and finally, after one more hating-to-leave packing-up session, before we were even fully packed (and I loved that my parents were so spontaneous) my folks said, 'get in the car' and we drove to a realtors office where that afternoon we bought a piece of property on the west side of the lake and a year later, house finished, made it our permanent residence.

I was in elementary school at the time and vacation and school became equated for me. Life was one big vacation and I loved it. I explored every nook and cranny (our property butted up against national forest land and the lake was only a quick jaunt downhill) and spent the next 7 years of my life more in the outdoors than in. Good memories..... so when hubby proposed getting a place we could spend a week or two a year at (and still head up for day trips to ski) I gave an emphatic yes and so, we're off. There is internet connection, so I can keep up with Etsy goings-on and continue my blog-hopping hobby, but watching the snow fall is going to keep us pretty busy. Oh....and....I'll be taking along a new edition of RosettaStone.....Japanese. (Life throws one interesting curves, now and then.....I'll expound later.) Back in a week.

something about symbols

2011-02-24T10:33:00.000-08:00

somewhat of a mystery

2011-02-22T07:06:00.000-08:00

Crocker Art Museum

2011-02-21T12:23:00.000-08:00

My BubbleArt blocks were placed at the Crocker Art Museum! If you're in the area, the newly refurbished and expanded museum is absolutely delightful: an eclectic mix of old and new with focus on artists of California and a strong dose of early California history. A delightful addition to our beautiful capitol city.

The building is a fabulous melding of rich Victorian and modern; you have to see it to appreciate the genius behind the architects fusion of the two styles. With the added space, there are a number of galleries devoted to current California artists, beautifully displayed and easily negotiated and a special treat for me to discover......they had a Diebenkorn. There's simply nothing more to be said.

So, look for the Art-O-Mat machine while you're there and expect a lovely and deeply satisfying day.

they all fall down

2011-02-19T00:18:00.000-08:00

Pomegranate Street

2011-02-18T05:59:00.000-08:00

reaching for persimmons

2011-02-17T01:32:00.000-08:00

The Secret Garden

2011-02-14T14:04:00.000-08:00

A short fall off the face of the earth.....

2011-02-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

It happens and is cyclic and necessary, a sort of re-gathering or sorting, of sorts....a remembering to breathe, or at least a figuring out of why it's necessary to even think of breathing.

Sitting in the early morning sun, listening for the quiet: a daily regime.

Frenetic activity at the feeders is pleasant, as is the honking of the geese overhead as they return to the lake from their nightly retreat inland.

Raking up winter debris and spreading a fresh layer of bark near the fire pit.

The rock that lays in the back yard, like some great leviathan, breathes through the moss along its back as does the green fronds just popped out on the bare tangle of branches of the buckeyes....a quiet respiration, a chlorophyllic breath, just a whisper.

The wind, a bare breath, shaping clouds against the blue, dialoging with upper reaches of the trees.

It goes without saying, there is no artwork being done here. Nothing tangible or even 'in the works'. I'm on some kind of break, from what I haven't a clue but know that joy is in the quiet and the breathing and the outdoors. Rain is forecast all next week and snow in the mountains.

Meanwhile, I've got a few good books to read and a couple hours a day attached to my studies with an iPod. Food and family this afternoon.....remembering to breathe

at the docks

2011-02-07T16:44:00.000-08:00

30X24 acrylic abstract on canvas

2011-02-05T02:10:00.000-08:00

2011-02-04T22:10:00.000-08:00

Art Blogs by Etsy Artists
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7748/art-blogs-by-etsy-artists

52nd Street

2011-02-04T18:03:00.000-08:00

in progress....12X16

2011-02-03T20:16:00.000-08:00

2011-01-31T21:50:00.000-08:00

Hmmmm...unpack suitcases and clean the guest room and bath, catch up on laundry and tend to the million little chores that come with coming back from vacation or head to the art room?? Head down to the post office and get the next batch of blocks off to art-o-mat and stop at the gym and do a work out to start the process of peeling off the pounds of buttery crab and morning muffins or see what comes of that idea I had for an assemblage, or that painting I keep thinking about? Uh, get dressed......birds need fresh seed, deck looks atrocious, I have to sub tomorrow and my nails could use some attention, the bills need paying and hubby wistfully asked about dinner plans.........

northern coast of California....vacation

2011-01-30T23:03:00.000-08:00

A tranquil view of the bay at sunset.
This has been a glorious week. Sitting on the deck in the morning sun with a cup of steaming hot coffee, watching birds come in to the feeders and feeling the muffled quiet only a grove of towering redwoods can create has helped me to breathe slowly and deeply, releasing tension in my body I didn't even know I was carrying. To listen to the flapping wings of a raven overhead and a flush of quail from the huckleberry copse as the only sounds invigorates and restores my ability to relax. Long walks down the beach collecting gem-like smoothed stones and artistry-for-the-taking in bits of weathered and sea worn driftwood, lick the salt from my lips and clear my aural conch of noise and replace it with the pounding of the crashing waves pulling and shifting megatons of sand at my feet rejuvenates my soul and heals like salve smoothed on an abraded patch of roughened skin.

Evenings were easy....a dvd and kettle corn; a table loaded with fresh cracked crab (sweet cream butter for dipping and splashes of fresh squeezed lemon just picked from the trees outside); a jaunt down to a local pub and eatery with artisan pizzas fired in brick ovens and appetizers of garlic baked to a soft buttery spread with pesto sauce on floury, thin crisp crackers. One of the evenings brought a drenching rain as a backdrop to the fire crackling in the hearth. (Sometime during the night, the clouds cleared and the stars through the skylight over the bed sparkled with an intense clarity and brilliance); snuggling back on pillows on the couch, tucked in with a soft blanket, enjoying a particularly engaging memoir saved for the trip and brought along to savor.

It's good to be back, for all that. My thoughts were frequently on the paints I left behind. We meandered through several art galleries and a museum and there were artistic efforts in almost every shop and cafe we stepped into. Inspiring to be met with so much artistic creativity.

Tomorrow, first thing, the art room. I finished another batch of blocks for art-o-mat and will box them up for posting. An assemblage or a painting....I'm drawn both ways and curious to know what happens...it'll all start though, with a cup of steaming hot coffee and the morning sun

2011-01-24T01:08:00.000-08:00

We're heading over to the coast for the week; the weather forecast looks good and I'm ready to fill my head with the sounds of the surf, eat my fill of oysters and crab, and soak up the lush silence of the redwoods.

There's no internet access (well....limited); I'm taking my art-o-mat project to work on and a ton of reading.

Our bags are packed and have been set by the front door along with the doggy carrier stuffed with doggy treats, a bully chew, a blanky, a raincoat and a sweater, a couple of favorite squeak toys and a freshly bathed lhasa apso who will not get out and come to bed: she doesn't want to be left behind.

Hubby's picking up a car in the morning while I fill the cooler with fresh produce and staples from the fridge and close everything down. We'll meander over (we tend to do the 'tourist' thing) and plan on getting there just before dark, open up the house (there's a fresh stash of firewood) get the hot water turned on, clean up a bit (sometimes there are mice...and the last time there'd been an earthquake: we had to sweep up broken glass and pick up knickknacks and books that had fallen out of bookshelves) settle in and make ourselves cozy for the week.

We both like hitting antique stores on the north coast (always looking for fifties furniture and kitchenware) and cruising through art galleries; topping off the tank at coffee bistros and forgetting diets with crumbly topped muffins and fresh baked cinnamon rolls (slurped down with steaming hot coffee on a quasi foggy day...couldn't get much better). Take care. I'll enjoy blog hopping to catch up when I return.

A very special visiting artist.......

2011-01-22T20:45:00.000-08:00

My Izy came to paint today. She's 3 years old and completely focused. She placed each color after careful consideration (and a thoughtful chewing on the end of the paintbrush) and told little stories about her painting as she went. She 'knew' when the painting was done, without hesitation, and walked away satisfied and proud to show her mommy. I asked permission before cutting and mounting her finished piece and she was perfectly happy with the whole process. I tried to talk my daughter out of the painting to no avail.....next time I'll make sure it's a painting for gramma. Now we're off to other important business.....Toy Story and a before bedtime snack. Here's her painting and I think it is perfectly lovely ......being gramma is the best.

my life today

2011-01-21T13:18:00.000-08:00

cold creek

2011-01-21T00:09:00.000-08:00

heathmoon rising

2011-01-18T22:56:00.000-08:00

2011-01-17T13:33:00.000-08:00

rockface down

2011-01-16T18:35:00.000-08:00

4X4 altered paper and ink mixed-media collage, matted, framed to 9X12

jardim gramacho

2011-01-15T19:51:00.000-08:00

4X4 altered paper and ink mixed media collage matted and framed to 9X12. 'jardim gramacho' from the world's largest garbage dump and home to thousands in Rio de Janeiro

4X4 collage/altered papers, acrylic medium mounted on 9X12 archival artist paper

2011-01-13T20:56:00.000-08:00

I've been having fun. I don't think I've named any of my pieces....just not something that I've felt compelled to do, beyond the size information and the type of material I use or the genre. I'm beginning to think that responding to one of my pieces moods with a verbal reaction might be kinda fun and add a dimension to what I do that extends the experience of creating it and make it more personal. Is it important to you, the viewer, for a painting or collage to have a name? Does it give a glimpse into the mind of the artist that created the piece that you like to relate to? Would you name a piece like this with an emotional gut reaction or take the abstraction and try to apply something that is tangible and concrete? Curious to know what you'd name a piece like this if you'd just set aside the chemicals and scissors, paper cutter and mediums, brushes and rags, breyer and glues, ruler and pencil and said, yes....this is it....it's finished and I like it....I am pleased :)

2011-01-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

I've met a lovely, talented artist friend whose blog can be found here:
http://maryzeran.blogspot.com/
She's posted some of my artwork and done a lovely write-up. When visiting her blog, be sure and click on her auxiliary blog and check out her artwork...unusual, vivid, colorful and dimensional: MaryZeranDesigns

collage/mixed media altered paper and ink 4X4 matted and framed 9X12

2011-01-12T16:30:00.000-08:00

the sharing of a messy room.....

2011-01-12T01:38:00.000-08:00

Vulnerability.....my private work space, home, intimacy revealed. Not a pristine, ideal environ. Not vacuumed, tidied, organized or even dusted. It's messy, it's crowded, it's what I've got to work with, for now....(certainly I'm optimistic). If one loses hope, one might as well resign, succumb , give in, curl up, give up.
The place....(what would you call it???) is in constant flux. It's certainly a place where there is produce. It's a productive room. My husband calls it a cave, I haven't asked why. It's got two lovely windows looking out onto a serene and natural setting: buckeyes, leaves, oak bark, rocks, hypericum green.....

I subbed today. I've been out of the classroom (music teacher) environment for almost a year and a half (retired). I took the position of special education substitute and as soon as the kids started coming in I was in my true element. It was back to business as usual and I was at my best. Doesn't really matter what subject, I'm a teacher, and know how to reach children. It is a gift, a direction, a talent and a learned experience. Most teachers can relate. I've missed it. I'm feeling grief tonight. I miss how quickly I can fall in love....with total strangers; little strangers with needs.
Grief.
When one has felt profound grief, then even the smallest hint of grief seems with tentacles to clasp on to that one big momentous, life changing, life wrenching experience and tie it all in together. Life was simpler before the 'big grief' occurred. Life was a series of little griefs to learn from, experience, tuck away and move on from. Now when grief rears its head, no matter how small, it taps the fount, the source, the mother lode, the unleashed torrent....will it ever subside?
I digress...blatantly, obviously. My picture....the workroom.

We tore the door jamb apart upending the loom and forcing it in. There is lack of organization. There is clutter. There is productivity and creativity. It is certainly my space and a repository for the unclassified, mismatched and the surplus. The vacuum and ironing board lives there, as well as a cross trainer exercise machine, an extra T.V. and one of those closets that when opened are best immediately closed.

It's all jumbled up. .

All of it. I walk into the euphemism that is my work space and find it a cataclysmic expression of my experiences. It's the sum total and the tilling of the field that yields the eventual weight of the harvest all at the same time, how can that be? There is the dreary contemplation of how to order it all and for what purpose and the joy in the moment lost in the purveyance of teaching and creatively producing. There is grief....there is the vulnerability of sharing a messy room.

4X4 collage/altered papers, acrylic medium mounted on 9X12 archival artist paper

2011-01-10T02:52:00.000-08:00

2011-01-09T21:52:00.000-08:00

Well, this could get confusing. Pam, not me, another Pam also with a blog and Etsy shop and also into art and crafts and writing and such, featured my Etsy shop on her Pam blog, so funny. She did a lovely job and it can be found here: http://www.paintingpam.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, I've been scanning the collages I've completed to date and ordered matts for them (even with a matt cutter, 20 cuts are a tad intimidating) and bought frames and am getting ready a display. I'll post some of the collages here soon.

retirement leaves lots of time for.....

2011-01-08T15:05:00.000-08:00

It's yet another dreary, foggy day outside, (does not reflect my energy, btw) so decided to shoot an indoor picture of the finished weaving. If I wait for sunny weather, at this point, I may never get around to it; being a fair weather skier I'll probably be swooshing down a slope.
It's 110" in length and about 21" wide so about 9' long, almost 2' wide. The actual weaving took me only a few days once I started dogging at it. Of course, set up took, phew....probably 12 hours, start to finish.
I can see all my mistakes and missed threads or incorrectly picked up threads, though when I pointed them out, not everybody could see them. My mom would show me a mistake a few feet back in a knitting project and think nothing of tearing out hours and hours of intricate detail work for a 'mistake' I couldn't even see. I'm not as picky and left one in toward the end that simply didn't bother me.....of course, I thought it was the only one in there (ha!) and like a quilter, it's tradition to put in some variance or zig when it should be a zag, so as to remain humble, not prideful and respectful that nothing is perfect except God. (If only it was that easy to be humble!)
Anyway, it's all done.....my sketchbook project is going in the mail on Monday and I'm clearing my plate and anxious to make time for painting (and I can't forget an unopened box of art-o-mat blocks sitting on my work table).......and skiing (on Wednesday)...oh, and a couple of days of some substitute teaching I've scheduled this coming week (Tuesday and Thursday)...and 4 days of volunteering for the Wild and Scenic Film Festival this coming Thursday (evening) through Sunday in Nevada City, a quick trip to Chico and back on Monday to pick up my new glasses....sigh

Confession time......sigh

2011-01-04T23:36:00.000-08:00

Ok.......it's the fudge and cinnabons that got the best of me. Lots and lots of fudge (with walnuts, my favorite) and probably more sticky cinnabons than anyone else. And sticky orange rolls, too. (First thing in the morning, pad out to the kitchen, heat the oven and put a cookie sheet of those to baking and brew a fresh pot of good Peets coffee (serve with real cream)....that and the sound of crinkling newspaper for lighting a fire gets even the laziest out of bed.) Oh, and cookies..homemade sugar with sprinkles and those wonderful little hazelnut rounds rolled in powdered sugar (my favorite). I downed an entire batch. Dates stuffed with walnuts and M&M's (plain and peanut, all red and green....perfectly festive). Sugared walnuts (the same recipe Mom used when I was growing up) and peanut brittle (plain and chocolate covered). There was a box or two of chocolates floating around I put some pretty good dents in (nuts and chews). (I love the coconut-filled, too). Pumpkin pie dolloped liberally with whipped cream. (Just typing that brought a smile to my face....) There's nothing like warm pumpkin pie smothered in whipped cream....unless it's a cold piece eaten first thing in the morning right out of your hand standing over the kitchen sink. Escargot dripping in garlic and butter....Manhattans and Sidecars and a bourbon-based holiday bit of cheer called a Ginger Snap (adorned with a thin slice of lemon and a few fresh cranberries on the rocks). I downed some good red wine and some bubbly (no laughing, Katie....I don't have to confess everything),,.and I think I recall a pretty good pinot grigio somewhere or other. hmmmm....and a good pound of Turkish Delight. Lots of seasoned nuts (both sweet and savory). Melt-Away mint confections and apple pie....no, I didn't eat any of the apple....strange. And somebodies loaded-with-nuts-and-fruit fruit cake that was rich and dense and reeked of brandy. Eggnog (properly beefed up and nutmegged). Brie wrapped in pastry and filled with cranberry sauce and pecans. I think there's still a bit more of that wrapped in the frig....Fresh crab and a cream cheese and chive concoction on puff pastry (to die for). A wonderful jalapeno spiced homemade jam spread for crackers and goat cheese rolled in crushed pistachios and dried cranberries. One whole chocolate orange (the kind you slam on a hard surface) and I'm dipping crisp buttery crackers into the last of the clam dip as I type. It's some kind of miracle that I've only gained a pound and a half after this season of pure, unadulterated gluttony and I'd sure hate to take a tour of my arteries right now though I must say, I've enjoyed every last bite....and sip.
Well, I think that just about covers it....signed: The Happy Eater

Brooklyn Library of Art Sketchbook Project: collage, mixed media

2011-01-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you close a sketchbook and the paint is still wet...ha! And it's certainly not the first time. The first couple of pages in the book are permanently glued together....I can't even remember what I was working on.....This was an experiment with some new paint colors my mother-in-law got me for Christmas. The one underneath uses embossing, aluminum foil and acrylic paints. The third a combination of plastic and neutrals and the last: papers I created then sanded and embossed and combined into a collage. I've got 6 more double pages to fill in before the deadline of Jan. 15th and then it's being dropped in the mail.

It's beyond me.......

2011-01-02T16:28:00.000-08:00

January changes

2011-01-01T22:55:00.000-08:00

Today I distracted myself by assembling a treasury on Etsy.....something reflective of the icy cold, wintry and soon-to-snow day. We stood in the driveway under a drizzly sleet, waving and shouting our good-byes and I-love-yous to the last kid and I knew the rest of the day would be well spent quiet and reflective, close to the warmth of the crackly fire, no agenda. As the car pulled away, a flicker, disturbed by our commotion, flew from the owl box in the oak tree off the side of the garage. He's probably taken up residence for the winter....I'd noticed the opening had recently been widened....I figured a squirrel.
So....a treasury to distract me from the latest transition that never fails to rock me....a kid, well, an adult, my child, my children, driving away after a visit. Now what....my purpose changes. No longer the role of mom: cooking, talking, listening, laughing, tidying, providing, making things comfy....now it's me and hubby and the dog.....an adjustment. The tree is down, the decorations stowed for another year, I stand with hands on hips and assess the newly uncluttered room. It feels fresh. Simple. A clean slate. Almost expectant.
There's time now to absorb all that's gone on the last couple of weeks; all the exchanges, news, emotions, jokes, shared stories, reminisces.There's a change to the quiet. To a different schedule. To new plans. A different routine, a looking forward. To a new year.
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d200f37d73d6d919bb61cad/january-ice

an abstract and a quick study in the sketchbook project

2010-12-30T23:46:00.000-08:00

Just returned from an afternoon spent at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. The artwork can finally breathe in the wonderfully expansive new addition and there's no worry about maybe missing something; the flow from exhibit to exhibit and wing to wing assures you haven't left a collection behind from taking a wrong turn. Beautifully laid out and seamless in its blend of old and modern, impressive and elegant and something for everyone. They even had a Richard Diebenkorn.....what can I say? I'll go back. Two daughters in tow and hubby, what a delightful way to spend the afternoon. The traffic down 80 was murderous but smooth sailing home after a lovely dinner in a lively beer hall with way too much to eat, great locally distilled beer and the best in company. I'm content.

Have not been on the computer this holiday season with a houseful of guests and so much coming and going. Ski season starts next week for us (after the hoards of no-fear teenagers on their new snowboards return to school and the slopes are thinned out during the week) so its time out of the art room but welcome and I'm anxiously looking forward to a long ski season with tons of snow. After the last ten days, hoping I can still fit into my ski pants but I'm going hell-or-high-water; I love downhill.

I did finish my weaving and the table runner adorned our Christmas dinner table. When it sunnies up I'll take it outside and see if I can get a decent shot of it to post.

I have done several collages and abstracts this week (somehow!) and was given some acrylics by my mother-in-law for Christmas and combined them in a quick study in my Sketchbook Project journal....which is due for postmark by the Jan. 15th deadline.....I've got about 15 more pages to do so that will be my focus this week and maybe some long overdue blog-hopping. Here's the latest abstract and the study in green, blue and yellow.

Stay warm. Pam

weaving Christmas memories

2010-12-22T12:11:00.000-08:00

I guess it starts here.....the large square board....called a warp board, is what I measure my 'warp' with (the threads running vertically on the loom) for any given project; in this case, a table runner of orange and red, started some time ago, after a trip to Mexico inspired me to capture the colors and memories of some beautiful traditional dancers....the blackened Carribbean a backdrop, a full moon and fiery torches the backlight.

The trick, of course, is setting up the loom. Every thread must be accurately placed. The pattern I've chosen is a tad complicated, not for the beginner, and uses 4 of my available 8 harnesses on the loom. Here's the pattern and source: the absolute bible of handweaving patterns.

This is a bobbin winder and I take my thread (100% cotton) from the cone, wind it on the bobbin and place it in the shuttle. The shuttle is thrown between threads through a 'shed' created as I depress the treadles with my feet (yes, I weave bare-footed so that I can count and keep track more easily which treadle I'm depressing).

I'm using two shuttles for this pattern, one with the orange warp thread used to create a tabby or basketweave effect in between the red thread that actually creates the blooming leaf pattern. I shoot the shuttle through the shed and depress different treadles to bring up different combinations of threads to create the pattern......does that make sense...phew.

Yes, I'm wearing jammies in this picture...sheesh.

This is the thread after its been passed through the shed and next you'll see the beater that beats down the thread to become a part of the cloth. After I've done this a zillion times, I advance the warp from the back beam with the ratchet, adjust the tension and continue. As you can see by the photos, the warp is almost done, most of the weaving has been completed and is on the front beam and I should be taking the project off today....in time to move the loom out of the sunroom (the whole point to finally working on this) and into my den (where I do most of my painting) and bring the red leather couch in so that I can actually use the queen fold-out bed for some of the twelve guests that are coming in tomorrow!!!! (Yes, those are my guitars, stuffed behind the loom....electric bass and acoustic...anybody else play??)

When I've finished the runner and the fringe is done...I'll post it here...hopefully soon.
So while I'm putting this in the computer, the oven serviceman has finally arrived and has informed us that the oven panel is indeed irrevocably broken and cannot be repaired, the part will not arrive til Jan 4 and my oven will not be working for Christmas dinner and the holidays.............sigh. What can a person do but smile? This will probably guarantee a good Christmas Eve bonfire in the back yard and some creative cooking techniques and more than a few good laughs and memories (and I think I'll double that ginger bourbon holiday drink recipe I've got planned, maybe even do a preview tonight!!) The best to you all and Merry Christmas! :)Pam

fact: collages are addictive

2010-12-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

2010-12-03T22:02:00.000-08:00

Ah, glorious day! I finished this latest batch of block art (put my artist info. on the back, wrapped each one in cellophane, boxed it all up) and got to the P.O. two minutes before closing to ship them off....phew!....then enjoyed a good work-out at the club and the dessert: a hot sweat in the sauna. Not so fun for the hubby.....he had to crawl through the attic and fix a mysterious pinhole leak in the copper water piping running above the ceiling...yuck. But he was a trooper, lets keep our fingers crossed it holds...sheesh! The second leak in a year...I thought copper piping lasted forever???

Tonight, the rain let up and it was wonderfully foggy but warm and the air felt crisply fresh so before going home stopped in downtown Grass Valley to check out an art showing in the Center for the Arts. Lots of ceramics (the main theme) and some wildly different acrylics on canvas on display. I love looking at artwork....it never ceases to intrigue and inspire. AND...tonight was Cornish Christmas in Grass Valley: the streets are blocked off, there's a fire pit for roasting chestnuts in the street, vendors are peddling food, more artwork and crafts, all the buildings are lit up with Christmas lights, there's music and shops open late. I love the ambiance and appreciate this venue that will go on til Christmas. Nevada City has Victorian Nights on twice a week til Christmas and it's so festive especially when it snows ...I love it.How many places can you take a horse-drawn carriage ride and debark in front of a Victorian hotel on a Victorian street that seems not to have changed since the Gold Rush? These two towns I call mine are delightful in so many ways....I feel blessed to be a part of them both.

I love the fall....period. I have boundless energy and love the dramatic change from a hot dry summer. I absolutely relish the weather and know that any day now we'll be getting the skis out and heading up to the slopes....YES!!!!! I could go on but think I'll take some of this excess energy into the art room and work on another collage....here's one I finished yesterday and a photo of the last stage of block production. Hope this finds you well. Pam

live and learn.... or..... you would think I'd figured a few things out by now but nooooooo

2010-12-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

Something I learned today: if your art bench is a series of hollow doors propped up by bookshelves.....(even with a newly slim and trim body)... by kneeling ever so gently in the center to reach an item off the overhead line hanger, your knee will punch a hole in the center. sigh.......and....ironing a newly dried collage with any kind of gel medium on it WILL make it stick to what ever you put it in the middle of to protect it....

I got an e-mail from Clark Whittington of Art-O-Mat saying one of my works is the display piece for the new Las Vegas venue...keep sending them....yahoo! (They've installed 6 new machines in the new Cosmopolitan) so I've been plugging away at the latest batch; they'll be in the mail this week. And I've been working on some collages today and one is dry enough to photograph so here it is along with some photos of the latest batch of miniature masterpieces

abstract on 12X12 canvas: acrylic, mixed media

2010-11-26T20:46:00.000-08:00

Yosemite vacation

2010-11-23T16:55:00.000-08:00

The lodge at Tanaya is lovely. We had a good foot to two feet of snow over a few days, but the roads were kept open with diligent plowing. When it was time to leave, except for shoveling out the truck....we were fine. The fires in the lodge were roaring the entire time we were there, someone came around about every half hour or so and threw 6-8 huge logs in at a time (!!) The tree was being trimmed when we checked in (they drove a cherry picker into the lobby to reach the top) and finished it (complete with presents) by our second day there. I got just what I wanted....good food and drink, a jovial and relaxed atmosphere, lots of time in a luxuriously appointed spa and almost continual snowfall. We followed the plow out so didn't need to chain up and had a leisurely drive back. We've had a pretty good storm here today but looks like it's clearing to the west and we'll be in for a cold snap tonight. Emptied some of the outdoor water lines for the expected freeze tonight, have a crackling fire going and are settled back in and relaxing. The turkeys set to thaw and I'll be making pies tomorrow. Wishing you a safe and enjoyable holiday. All my best, Pam.

Yes....that's ice. (We stuck to the indoor heated pool and Jacuzzi!)

CarveBoardArt by SOiNTOiT

2010-11-17T12:19:00.000-08:00

You can check out more of my CarveBoardArt (c) by going to the top of the page here on the blog and to the right click on 'CarveBoardArt' (as featured in the May/June 2010 issue of Somerset Studio Magazine) under 'pages'.   I have some listed in my Etsy shop as well. Most of my CarveBoardArt is for sale, so if you find something here on the blog you're interested in, convo me through Etsy and I can let you know the price and details of the piece and if you like, create a listing for you.

     Hubby booked 4 days at the Tenaya Lodge in Yosemite (!!) so I'm packing today and we'll be heading out in the morning. He'll be taking in a seminar on wildlife (bird) rehabilitation and I'll be taking in the plush chairs in front of the fire in the lodge, the spa and the glorious scenery! We should still get the fall colors and maybe even some snow by this weekend. New tires on the truck and a new set of chains....just in case..(I hope we need them).
      Anybody else a Yosemite fan? My father was a collector of model T Fords and I remember being driven up in the model T to go camping when I was a kid....what a hoot! (Always running out of gas and having to help get the car going while my dad cranked the front!!) What memories......the g.i. tents (with no floor) and the bears along the side of the road in the big meadows.....

4 Sweet Little Abstracts...just finished today

2010-11-12T20:12:00.000-08:00

CarveBoardArt by SOiNTOiT

2010-11-11T16:23:00.000-08:00

This is the largest of my CarveBoardArt that I've attempted so far and I've finally started laying on the paint layers. I've been working on this for almost a year and I've got a long way to go. It's called 'San Joaquin'.

Brooklyn Library of Art Sketchbook Project: collage, mixed media

2010-11-07T17:39:00.000-08:00

This has been a fun weekend. Friday evening was the Neighborhood Center of the Arts 6th annual art auction in the Nevada City Miners Foundry. The building itself is amazing: original, very thick stone walls (from the gold rush era), enormous hand hewn beams overhead, walls punctuated by large iron clad windows reaching from floor to ceiling. The main gallery was decorated with artwork by local artists and artists from the Center of the Arts.The theme was For the Birds so all artwork (paintings, sculpture, birdhouses [including mine!] jewelry, ornaments, etc.) was bird oriented and the ceiling was festooned with colorfully decorated paper hanging birds floating amongst large banner-like waves of draped cloth. There was music and food and wine all topped with a fun, well-orchestrated auction that brought in some generous donations for this worthy cause.

Saturday night was spent at a friends 50th birthday party; live band, dancing, bar-be-que, too much food and some good company. Lucky for me my daughter and grandson live right down the road, so before tooling on home I stopped in for a quick visit.

Today has been wonderfully low key: stormy and wet outside, toasty and warm with a fire inside, a hearty three-bean soup on the stove and some fun time in the art room. Decided to work on a collage and do it in the Sketchbook....best to you all. Pam

Textural V: acrylic abstract

2010-11-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

BTW, these abstracts are all on cradled panels: some pine and some birch; each either 8X8, 10X10 or (mostly) 12X12. I'm having fun.They look good grouped and better out of the photographic glare where the texture and tone colors can better be appreciated.

Textural III and IV: acrylic abstracts

2010-11-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

With these last four paintings, my focus was texture.....one is very grainy (I started with a gel textured medium mixed with acrylics; the next I layered thickly with paint from the palette knife; one canvas was plastered with a cotton gauze before paint was applied and the last used a thick tar gel mixed with acrylic pigment. The texture doesn't show in the photographs but is distinct when viewed first hand and I enjoyed my exploration of texture., so much so that I'm going to continue for a bit. I think I might try a combination of texture and collage with a focus on lettering (or words).

(Of course this will have to wait until after the gym....(I'm down 10 pounds with 6 to go and that's priority). The rest of the afternoon will be devoted to art....what a lucky duck am I.)

Textural I and II: acrylic abstracts

2010-11-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

packed and ready to ship....

2010-11-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

Have fun tonight! Watch out for zombies....they could be anywhere....oooooh!

2010-10-31T12:23:00.000-07:00

Our masks from the Lake Wildwood Art Club made the front page....fun! Be safe tonight :)Pam