BOOK ARTS BAZAAR

coming up:

i will be teaching the day before the book arts bazaar

in portland at USM,

and then exhibiting at the BAZAAR.

it's a good time, busy and fun.

i've heard the class is full.

i've even heard from a couple of students!

after this event, i will be at the WELLS COLLEGE

WAYZGOOSE in may.

another fair.
if you come by, please say hi.

a little press

this week our press time

was saturday

and my words and prints are growing into a

book.

 every step to me is magic

and a puzzle

working in fits and starts like 

this spring.

 this large neighbor is very furry

and so are the dogs that visit here still wearing

thick thick winter coats.

 in my barn a yearling was found

 there is no such thing as free lunch.

 the second returned from south turkey vulture that i have seen

 was on my barn ridgeline,

greeting me.

 waiting and watching

for opportune moments to eat

that whitetail good food.

one day this week i had meetings in morristown

on the st lawrence

where this building lives.

and on facebook:

susan j tweit and robin wall kimmerer 

both showed this from a conference they attended 

on the west coast,

i was motivated to think about hope.

hope is one reason i live and teach here

in the north country.

hope is always necessary.

a weariness

i'm feeling a huge weariness.

it irritates me.

spring is really coming

 but i am feeling this great

heavy blanket of weary.

it will leave

  as the snow finally leaves for the season.

the land will absorb heat.

 the long days

increase the thaw

 and the punky snow 

 will completely decay,

leaving behind piles of road salty-sand

the crews will shovel up and away.

 this little doe had an entire field.

i wish you could have seen her shake her head

as she found a nice morsel,

corn to chew off the cob,

the leaf went flying, 

but my camera wasn't quick enough!

 there are reminders of flowers in the garden

and the meadows,

if no blossoms yet.

i've been using these black eyed susan seeds

to print with.

that and hosta seed pods

and many more plants,

goldenrod and sensitive fern and aster skeletons

arbor vitae 

there is so very much out there, 

even when thigh high snow kept me on the edges.

who knew i needed to break and maintain trails this year

so that job got away from me.

i have almost enough perfect prints,

for the edition.

and a few not-so-perfect.

EQUINOX

changes

i was thinking about work today

and how i can't make change happen

for a teenager...

or for anyone,

really,

only myself.

i can count on some changes, though.

mud season

 begins with melt.

 snowmelt in the fields all week long,

sunshine most days

but not today. 

this is a time i love.

march

&

november

are both favorite months.

 i've been visiting caliban press

 and printing

learning 

arranging type

a new grammar 

em.

i know what that is now

(at least, i know it when i'm there) 

i'm taking a risk with a poem and

a press

and a weft-faced shifu piece

contact printed 

 that looks remarkably like

the landscape right now

 detritus 

and colors muted and 

mud.

glorious and messy 

mud season.

 a sky 

everchanging 

 but that old sunset

sneaks through grandmothermaple's 

boughs.

six feet deep

march

turkey trail

everyone knows this winter's a tough one.

snowshores

it's been so cold

highlanders

i'm ashamed to say

that i've not skied since before

the bitterness set in.

the experts have said that the frost

is six feet into the ground.

new neighbors

now that's pretty darned cold!

and problematic for several adirondack 

and north country municipal water services

not to mention 

people with wells

and frozen faucets.

found roadsalt heart

 bear with me: 

our national bird--almost

this morning it's snowing. 

hard.

 round bales

the "english" farmers

 and the amish farmers

 corn ladies

have moved so much snow around

just to do their chores.

i know what that's like. 

once upon a time,

i hauled 12 five gallon buckets

filled with warm water

 every day to the barn

from my bathtub.

backyard visitor 

i am thankful that this winter

i don't have any animal chores.

i buy these in town.

 susan's eggs.

yokes are a marvelous orange

and the shells and sizes are delightful!

delicious.

and i'm working away 

between school dayz and full moon sleeps 

on a new hortus siccus book.

and

have heard that my april class in maine

is filling up.

it will be a wonderful and busy class.

with the book arts bazaar 

the next day.

april workshop!

if you would care to join me for

a day of contact printing 

on paper

in portland, maine

in april,

give this a look see.

i'd love to have you join in.

or come by the next day

for the book arts bazaar.

this, below, from the new england

guild of bookworkers:

Spirit Papers: Mapping Place with Velma Bolyard Kate Cheney Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts Date: April 11, 2015 Location: Wishcamper Center Multi-Purpose Room, Portland, ME Fee: $125 Register on line at http://usm.maine.edu/bookarts or call (207)780-5900 In this one-day intensive we will explore the art of the eco- or contact print, on paper. Students will learn the basics of creating prints using the flora available in their ecosystem, essentially making a map of the plants inhabiting this particular place on the east coast. Each student will prepare bundles for the dyepot, using found metals and local waters for mordanting. The resulting prints will describe place and we’ll discuss the possibilities of how to use these printed papers in book arts and further printing processes. ...and my friend ann  said that the snow on her cat's coat  when she came inside yesterday  smelt like spring.  now THAT'S news!