opening and walrus

an enormous thank you to the many folks that attended my opening and then the open studio the next day. it was amazing to see so many precious friends, and one family member (you know who you are, o bringer of lunch!) i had lovely conversations with so many of the people who have touched my life over the 30 years i've lived in the north country. 

my nephew rob macdonald is a wildlife biologist in alaska. he sends me pictures. sometimes the pictures remind me of my life, here, in (what i call) the second to last frontier. i've felt a little overwhelmed lately, but had a delightfully easy day today. (do you see, SEE, the hands on these creatures, so different from us, but look!)

my photos from the show that opened on friday night are lousy. i whipped through and took a few. but hilary had beautifully arranged many of my books on ecodyed cloths. above are four books with shifu pages with stationers' bindings in vellum on cotton printed with eucalyptus from the local florist. the book on the left is a deep gold--that's how far off my color was. i'll get better pics when i can.

the print book and august, 31 days placed on cotton dyed with pomegranate and iron

this woven photograph (on my paper) of my barn's back door got lots of positive feedback. it's under glass, sorry.

the three vessels that i showed, two from pbi, one i made a few weeks back. on ecodyed cotton. the tiny hemlock spruce (reddish with white rim) piece was the first sale. below, is how i felt after the opening. dead. and then i went back to the gallery yesterday for open studio, i sat and demonstrated and talked and talked. and talked. i found myself unable to remember how i had dyed cloths, or what kind of paper was in different books. pure exhaustion.

this poor walrus didn't make it. rob (legally-i have the documentation) gave me a "chip" from a walrus tusk, one that resulted in breaking from a massive fall by many walrus off a cliff, a mistake they made on their way back to the ocean.

this was what i saw on the way home yesterday, after open studio. hope and weariness here. after the opening, i drove home, sobbing a bit. exhaustion can take us strangely, i was not unhappy, anything but. saturday i came home to a luscious eggplant lasagna, a surprise prepared by my sweetie. we celebrated his birthday, my opening, and the november that we both love so much. 

i'll end with a pun. do you see it?