october richness

i've been

watching carefully the i am ai, we are ai project led by 

rowland ricketts

and the natural colours exhibition
that i wish i could attend

and then there's all the energy

at the morgan this week

and i go back to this...

remembering what asao taught

in syracuse

and i smile.

it's good to have limitations, yes?

i do however, have the newest mary oliver

a thousand mornings to 

savor.

i will take words and wendy  

and enjoy my everyday

everydays.

(milkweed and silk) 

working with a master

in 1997 i attended a wonderful workshop

given by asao shimura at carriage house

we worked with pina

so 

when aimee lee told me asao 

was coming to the u.s.

and I found that he would be teaching in syracuse

i asked holly greenberg about it 

and received a gracious invitation to

sit in on the class.

so i drove down yesterday

 asao creates magic: a table full of color
(pigments, dyes)

 placed  by asao shimura

master papermaker

 who is on his kon'nyaku tour

from new york to syracuse to cleveland to iowa city

 so we ogled the dyes and pigments he prepared

and used them

asao wearing pina shifu

up close

asao clothed in shifu with dyed paper yarns

bengara (for jean)

holly and a sutra by asao

printing 

kon'nyaku thickened pigments and dyes

holly's papermaking students got to play

with the "paste"

genevieve nordmark
a lover of hand papermaking
and a friend 
who may find her way to my mill sometime soon

some of her lovely paper

working into her paper with kon'nyaku and pigment

coating sheets with kon'nyaku

the lime cook

a short immersion

rinse and dry

printing blocks

and a final note:
pina spun paper, colors to dye for.
i almost jumped over the table for these treasures.
it was a good day.
making marks, making friends.

trillium

 trillium

wake robin is the red one

deep red petals

*stink pots*

*stinkin' willie*

beloved of northern woods

wendy plays with a stick

spontaneously

on our walk

once common,

now very occasional

as she ages

 asao shimura's book

 came today 

with little shifu samples

i mean tiny

and it was wrapped in this lovely thai kozo

a treat

after a fine day 

at bittersweet farm.