negbw mini conference and home

this image has become my recent favorite

from maine, in acadia

these are the bits i made 

working with nancy leavitt at cclc

(near lubec.)

who came by each of us at work

and wrote out our names

just my name

i have lousy lettering skills

but nancy spoke about the COLOR

and i began to treat it

more like line and shape.

and there were delicious experiments on watercolor

and gouache 

with quill

and pen and brush

nancy prepped a portfolio for each of us

filled with sample papers to try

my favorite was one of katie macgregor's

who was my afternoon teacher.

i could kick myself for not taking, 

not

one photo

at her studio.

but this is the tiny keepsake

she gave us all

and of course the two sheets i pulled

will be along presently.

this is my table currently

with two printouts of the first photo

one on my daylily paper, one on glossy stock

plus there are several sheets of katie's paper

that i brought away to experiment with.

sometime ago i fell madly in love

with these small depictions

of first nations people's

work and living spaces.

the mapping of how we choose to live

interests me,

and the maps themselves

dance with play.

monarch(s)

 after work i fetched the mail, 

and saw a monarch feeding on the phlox.

i went for my camera,

came out and was delighted to see two as i tried to catch

the magic without disturbing it

so i was behind the camera so much

when i looked i saw not two, but three!

there really are three in this shot.

signs and wonders

melissa put me on to this

review written by ann starr 

about 

revive and renew, 

the morgan show i was part of,

all of us working in/with eastern paper.

thank you ann!

i'm proud to have my

work included

in a stellar group of paper artists.

yesterday i had to go

unexpectedly to the dentist mid-morning

(another broken tooth)

so i took a back way and 

encountered five deer, two does, three fawns,

on the road. 

they were fine until they became nervous and they all panicked.

like wildfire fear flashed, 

and

one ran directly off the asphalt and into a marsh--

a wild leap and a huge splash!

i've never seen such a thing!

the deer right here

is very used to people

 but did get nervous.

it's the edge of autumn and they are twitchy.

 so are the clouds

and the sky

and there was hard frost before work

 i couldn't catch it,

but it was glowing and steaming in places

 and there was evidence in at home in my library

of mouse wantonness. 

right in the middle of the floor! 

there was knocked down a little gift from carol

which

scattered bits of red clover about!

 very strange, indeed.

and then i found another wonder--

 a black eyed susan that had three eyes, 

and two sets of petals, 

and one stem!

signs and wonders

are here.

everywhere.

time to make some art! quick,

before the magic fails!

september days shortening

 over at thee new place

arbor vitae shingles 

 the first books in my studio

 friends

 late fall greens: 

kale, lettuce, broccoli rape, spinach

 back home, 

the neighbor's harvest

 near their stripey roof

 asters and goldenrod

autumn neighbors

a light show nearby.

day three of students, check.

it's a busy and rich

group of students... very different

but good.

this coming weekend: a book arts event 

in maine, near new brunswick.

yay!

~~~

i forgot to mention monarchs--

it used to be that

you could see loose clouds of them

along my hedgerow

as they prepped for whatever migration they were on.

but lately there are few.

today i saw maybe ten which made my heart soar.

and when i saw two sky dancing 

in proximity, and,

well, i just had to dance a little myself.

blueberries and red cabbage

blueberries and red cabbage

 this is indeed something i don't usually do

reuse dye liquor or

throw in (aged and inedible) blueberries

or food

for that matter

but there was an excess, a lovely excess of purplyness

along with some red cabbage.

 it was my pot, 

my maine class.

and incredible energy.

~~~

i went back to school tuesday

my class doubled in size, 

and those newbies need totally different programming.

three grade levels.

we have a new room

with loads of space

and it's on the first floor!

(my knees thank the powers that be).

but oh, my, huge changes in two years...

thank goodness for the best assistant in the universe.

we are planning a bit of cooking and making

along with academics.

~~~

 there are a couple more of this edition

 of poplar covers

coptic bound contact printed books

still unbound, 

but waiting!

my edition binding friends tell me that it's

challenging to finish.

geesh! they're right!

labor day

labor day,

the port in a storm

called schooling.

today i got some things ready for school

and 

found a few things to make me happy.

 elder almost ready

(and some joe pye weed) 

at the new place.

which reminded me to look at the wild grapes.

they are looking good, too.

 a friend visited this morning.

it was very large, over three inches, 

dark green and fiercely white 

and i couldn't 

identify it.

i scared someone with it

before i returned it to the garden,

he he he, 

do you know this caterpillar?

families are spectacular.

this is someone who is hiding out

in viking mode.

have you seen this person?