Thursday, May 29, 2014

LUNA: the season of big moths

last summer 
i taught a class in eco or contact printing on special papers
at the morgan conservatory.
something really neat happened;
two sisters traveled 
all the way to cleveland
from maine
to take my class.
they were lovely,
really focused, 
though if i remember correctly one 
was pretty under the weather with a sinus infection.
these two returned to maine
where penny got to work printing.
this is the result:
Luna Moon by Penelope Hall 
exquisite details 
 ~a carousel book~
deep woods 
penny says: 
"the book, including text is copyrighted 2013.  The paper was dyed here at home. I started as soon as I got home from Cleveland. Interesting, since I think you told us about the different palettes of color you get in different geographic locations. This was late summer for a lot of it and I used leaves that I think had a lot of tannins in them."
 ~~~
i saw penny in portland in april:
she brought LUNA MOON for me to see and hold
and it's even finer than the photos say.
it's really perfect.
the moth figures 
are floating through the great northern forest:
maine.
~~~
my book, actias luna,
made several years ago, 
holds a conversation with penny's book.
it's a poem 
about a moment
when i found two dying lunas
spent after mating
one june morning, in the weedy border next to my house.
i added a beaded luna 
purchased from a penobscot woman
in bar harbor, maine
which really works with my daylily paper 
and the poem.
sometimes books, like people,
have conversations over wondrous things,
like, perhaps,
a full moon-lit night 
in june
and the drive to live, LIVE!
beautiful
 for what reason?
circling,
like the moon.
thank you penny, for permission
to share this.
and thank you for letting me hold,
and enjoy
 it.

Monday, May 26, 2014

trivialities

pairs everywhere
 tonight's walk
these geese are in a different meadow

 baby sugar maples
all along the roadside and in my yard
the reward for walking
 killdeer playing keep away
 one nest box is empty
and it wasn't last week.
the other
not a bluebird

this morning
relocation project number 
700
chipmunk, again.

boro overalls
my sweetie keeps his work clothes
going.
the four days are almost over.
it was very good.
~~~
tuesday morning update:
brat!

Saturday, May 24, 2014

juxtapose and tears

 this is one of the four chipmunks i've relocated this spring
 this is what keeps me sane
 and some of the insane stuff:
photos that won't rotate
shanna leino made the etchings on this little snippie
 the spine of the binding from my book from tim's class
with some of tim's paper
 and the text block
 the stairs are almost complete in the new place
all the woodwork is yellow birch.
harvested locally.
 the living room looking into his room 
 white trilliums on the turn
 i think this is the seed head from coltsfoot
 indigenous violets
at the new place
 a new rodent has appeared!
a black squirrel
first i've seen around here
 i've caught 3 woodchucks 
this year
two live trapped and relocated
you can see both traps here,
chipmunk and woodcock hostels.
i take them far enough away 
they won't return.
 postcard from gabby
again the photo problem!
 a print from suzanna
whose pup insisted it come to me.
 i don't usually get this sort of message
but today
after going to the after hours clinic
(why? i'm cleaning the garage and barn
stepped on a nail,
and it's been too long since the last tetanus)
and you rule was with this amazing book--
 in maine i sold some paper
and had several conversations,
one with todd and his wife--
i don't remember in that great rush their faces,
but i do remember talking about 
the book he wanted to make with my paper
and katie mcgregor's paper
for the pages, and i asked
for a photo (i always do-i love to see what people make!)
 well, todd sent me a book!
 beautifully bound
 with sky blue mcgregor paper
after the morning's medical intervention,
i found this beautiful gift in the mail.
thank you.
thank you all who have sent me 
little somethings in the mail.
this week has been rocky in several ways.
but i feel sustained by affirmations 
of the importance of fine craft. fine work. good work.
and those amazing human beans (as the bfg called us).
thank you.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

stream to river to ocean

sometimes synchronicity or connection just occurs: 
i got an email
asking me for a sheet of printed paper,
warm colors and fairy wings
were what gabby was thinking about
(this IS my kind of order!)
and last night she sent me a little link.
you should go there.
gabby is finishing up the rigorous two year course at
north bennet street school, studying binding
and aiming to be a designer bookbinder.
 my first bookbinding teacher was a total surprise
someone i met in the tiny IGA in star lake
the late sally smith
 renown designer bookbinder
spent several hours with me
helping me make my first hardback book.
sally worked wonders in leather
and taught in london.
gabby is following a similar path.
meanwhile fiber has always lead me
to new and startling adventures
as did jean
who knows all about the difference one small stitch
can make
my three melbourne books,
oz books, 1, 2 & 3
~~~
i am so hoping htat
this class with dorothy caldwell
at lovely longridge farm
will deepen my making into work that is richer
than i have dared go before.
why else do it?
to gabby and to jean,
thank you. 
this week i have been playing
with a few pieces of kozo graciously given to me
by nancy jacobi at the japanese paper place.
interesting results, and GOOD learning.
mixed in with tim ely's teaching.
seeing what these papers and plants and waters and pigments
will teach me
is enough to keep my brain dancing
as i sort it out and push myself forward.
this is good work for spring.
~~~
then there is a little rest
and then off i go to the morgan
to teach two classes, one a new one
four days with aimee lee and me, laughing and playing and working and making fiber/paper/textiles.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

light this spring

one of the things
that keeps startling me this spring
is the light
 it's everywhere!
i'd forgotten.
(last winter was serious business.)
light plays reflection games
 near and far
 so do the geese
 and a tiny primitive painting 
 displayed at the deli
 near school
others are watching the ladies, too,
not just me.
 and besides the mouse trouble here
(caught this morning, yay!)
there is chipmunk trouble!
but
 some people plant themselves
where they're welcome--
i think--they may not be bluebirds--
birders?
 and on the way home the geese
 seem to be pairing up and prepping
for some goslings.
i'm decidedly not a foodie
but i like to eat.
i used to have a wee flock of 
dairy goats
and made cheese and milked daily and
even sold a bit.
i like the idea of being able 
to eat from your place
just the way i know the land where i live
the plants mostly.
i love my hortus siccus that continues
as i explore the wild garden called home.
anyway. 
kathleen rose smith's book 
is something i'm enjoying.
it feels good in my hands. i love it when
machine made books feel right in my hands.
~~~
there have been some little snippets of news:
i'm going to be a student again,
taking a class with someone i've long admired:
dorothy caldwell!
just think: tim ely AND dorothy caldwell in one season!
and
i will be adding two teaching gigs to my list
one near algonquin park this summer
another for university students
early next spring.



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