Near Future Project

Latent Dream: I want to write a book on Astrology. This desire has become stronger in the last few weeks. But more importantly in the near future - this image will  begin to become part of a project idea...whether this project ever comes to fruition is another matter. But there, I have said it! I want to use these in some sort of visual creative venture. Thinking about taking a little deeper of a dive into fiber arts and into 3-D things. All brought together with the camera. Mark my words, I will try to actually make this happen. I need a photo studio...yes. I do. And I may just be coming into the means to acquire one very soon. What a dream that would be.

Yuki-Akari

Yuki-Akari, "snow light" in Japanese. One of the many interesting facts I learned while reading "The Snow Tourist" by Charlie English. And it is here!! Finally, it feels and looks like Winter. Rooka apparently loves the snow and is much better able to march around in it than I am. She is in her element...my little snow dog. We should have named her Qanuk, "snowflake" in Yup'ik (also from book). A Naturalist and Other Beasts by George Schaller is arriving via UPS today, along with The Snow Leopard  by Peter Matthiessen. One Lord of the Rings book down and two left to go. I am so blissfully content in this little apartment, with my partially painted walls (an ongoing project that is often broken up by photo editing and reading and NYTimes crossword puzzles) and BOOKS. My mind tingles with new information and stimulation and I never want this little vacation to end. These are a grown-up's "snow days." I love it.  

Pets Pets and Lamps

Oh this is lovely. I think this is something I am ready to try now (pet shelter photography). I've been thinking about doing this ever since I had a dream I did it and then I was given a link to a story about a woman that did it. However, equipment is expensive, and it's difficult to know exactly what to get that is essential when I would consider myself and my experience as "natural light" photography. So...research and maybe a purchase or two...one studio light and a standing reflector perhaps...so glad I got the flash with "remote" capabilities. Everyday I fall more and more in love with Rooka and I've become a "guardian" with the ASPCA. I like this cause - action!

Rooka!!

...Still saying, "I'm not paying attention to you." She's so cute though!! Little Rooka-Boo...my lovely. 

Merry Christmas!!!

Yay all around.

The portraits are finished! (And have been since Sunday...I stayed true to my promise!) And now I'm working on business cards for the studio. This is the one I'm leaning toward the most at the present moment. Because I absolutely love this photograph. And, I guess, in essence, I feel it best represents me as a photographer. So, yay! I'm off for the next week and Rooka and I will be spending time together, walking, sniffing, stretching, yawning, eating...you know...fun things. Alex has vowed to make me a logo for my studio because apparently doing so is impossible without illustrator and my current computer set-up will not allow such advanced work. Color-correcting in photoshop is about where her capabilities end. Another thing to fix in the near future. Classes start in January. YES! A perfectly timed vacation now to prepare me for all the fun things soon to come in 2012. 2012 will be my year of correct "yes" and "no." Wasted time irritates me. So does baggage. No more baggage. Mine or otherwise. Baggage does not belong in my life.

Painting progress...

Well, it isn't finished yet. Tomorrow though, it will be. I woke up the other morning with this in my head (and for me it is forever linked with Kill Bill). My god, I love Nancy Sinatra. And well-made movies...or well-made anything.

I guess I miss painting. Perhaps it is time to drop one of my jobs and return to long hours of chasing some artistic vision with these smelly tools and seductively textured materials...there will always be something so correct about this medium for me. Toxic and finicky as it may be. But so full of incredible chemistry, intelligence, intuition, patience and urgency...I could go on and on. A year and a half of painting "silence" goes by and with this I feel like I'm speaking a language again, that I haven't had the opportunity to speak in that long. And something is coming through correctly. This is not an example of my current preference for "concept" perhaps. Though I find it very enjoyable. It is straightforward. Perhaps the last year and a half have been about the mind. And now, more mind can be applied to this practice. It's just easy. Like a native tongue is. Maybe it is my native language. And it isn't about how it looks. It's about how it feels. It feels like a language I should use more often. I think there are new things I would like to say this way.

The upside to being sick...

...is that I have to sit on the futon all day and do something. That something turned out to be updating my website with some of the latest shoots. Yay. And speaking of latest shoots...here is a little goodie from a studio session with my two loves. Those two portraits will be done by sometime this weekend if it kills me!

Portraits & Family. :)

Latest...

Latest projects! Commissioned portraits! And my hair. These portraits will be done soon, (finally have time to work on them, dear god!) and my hair is no longer anything remotely resembling this color. Woohoo. Changes. Progress. Fun.

And my photo studio needs a logo. Stat. That will be a holiday break project.

Happiness.

Sometimes, it is as quick and invisible as wind and it will just take something right out of your hands, out of your mind. The way time or distance can literally just take a feeling, a thought, a burden and remove it from you. In the best way. Or feelings and thoughts that cling, unwanted, can just be blown away if you aren't actively gripping them. And you find that you walk differently. Like a limp that goes away after a weight is taken off of you. And you act differently. I am so happy in this place right now. So far from where I've been before-not that those places weren't happy as well. But this, is better. Each is always better than the last. I move forward. That's what I do best. And as of the last couple of weeks, I feel not simply moved, but catapulted.

Happy Holidays...

'Tis the Holiday Season, and I'm just now starting to notice and enjoy it. Cue the Vince Guaraldi Trio and hang the lights! I'm thinking about just buying World Wildlife Fund adoptions for everyone I know. I don't know how many of them would like that though.

Things I Love.

"Mom, stop taking pictures of me. I'm going to pretend you aren't here." I love her. 

4 months, over 2,500 guests, 3,000 programs, more hours than I can count and 3 performances later...The Nutcracker is over. And the Civic Center did a great job of keeping personal cameras under control so there aren't any YouTube videos that I can post. But suffice it to say, there was some absolutely breathtaking dancing and I'm so happy to have been a part of that. Granted, I think I grew some of my first wrinkles and my hair may have gone permanently straight from pulling, but it's completed. Now I have some SERIOUS photo editing to get crackin' on and some painting to do. And some martinis to drink. Phew.

November 10, 2011.

I'd rather be editing...proof that I'm doing all I can when I can. but press releases, ticket invoices, order organizing and decision making on behalf of someone else's company keeps me mostly occupied.

I want to be a professor. For more reasons than I can list. And I will be. I can't wait to start working towards a Master's. The prep work begins in January, thank god. Then I want to publish a book on Astrology. Then I want to retire and open a flower shop/boutique where I can sell soaps, herbal teas and flowers and perhaps I can read natal charts in a little back room full of heather and blue.

And then I can get old and wrinkly, being happy, working for myself, making soap with old hands, reading, meeting and interacting with people, growing and arranging beauty and having spent a whole life professionally learning and sharing in knowledge and in thoughts and ideas. With a house full of framed photos to remember life by. In the meantime, I would like to fill up other people's houses with things like this because things like this are lovely to remember. Today was the full moon. Full and clear.

And I'm told it's time to get a wordpress or something. Okay...soon. Time, you slippery thing!

Attic Toy

I thought this was hilarious. And this is a perfect example of why I love kids. I told her to show me her toys and this was the second one she decided to present to me. "It was in the attic."
Fantastic. I really liked this shoot.

Discovering that the great thing about being busy out of my mind is that my mind is literally too full to hold on to crap-thoughts it should let go of. I find this insanity to be quite sane-itizing, as it seems to be propelling me to new perspectives and breakthroughs. It could also be the Mercury transit right now...either way. I feel clean. And nearly weightless. Direct. Slightly manic, but in the words of my coworker, "this will all be over in a month." Oh please, November, be kind, and go quickly.

And oh music...I will make it back to you, I promise. You make me so happy. Devendra, again...saving the day. Most every day. The ballet never sleeps. And so neither do I! Onward...

just a few

In the last week I've shot over 2,500 photos and now will be editing them as quickly but thoroughly as possible. Three shoots in one week! How did that happen? Thanks to those who have helped this project get going and I'm looking forward to so many more projects, shoots and surprises! There is nothing...nothing...that compares to working for yourself. This is a much-needed boost at a challenging time and I think I'll be full steam ahead in just a short while. This is just the beginning! Back to editing and story-telling...

Happy Busy

Here is a little snip-it of what I'm working on now. I had the wonderful opportunity to do a little family shoot this weekend with two of the cutest little kids I've ever seen. Denim, fallen leaves, adorable sweaters and new sneakers. Fall is nice. 

Today, I will be dedicating the better part of the day to being exuberantly happy-editing photos, maybe reading some Lord of the Rings, and there might be a nap in there too...because being a Crazy Cat Lady for Halloween was tiring.

Mmmmm, my favorite season.

I'll fight for fluffy things.

This is the only thing either one of us has had time to make in the last week. A four and a half day stretch of lost dog torture.

The only thing that keeps me from saying it was nothing but awful was the fact that she got lost in a very pretty place and Alex and I got to watch many a beautiful Fall sunrise and sunset while looking for her. We also met a lot of incredibly nice people in my parents' neighborhood who were more helpful and wonderful than we ever expected and I would also like to thank the DEC, Madison County dog wardens (except maybe one...), the Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators of CNY, that nice man in Manlius, local trappers and most of all...my parents' next door neighbor for having a lovely, unblocked, safe-feeling back deck under which Roo could hide...later to be found there by me. She's back...again. And I am so glad that is over. Back to normalcy, hopefully. Oh I missed her so.

Art Museums, Lost Dogs and Life Lessons

Here are some art highlights from the Modern Museum of Art in Fort Worth, Texas. We looked at all of these (some goodies include Shahn, Still, Pollock, Rothko, Kiefer, Ando, Bacon, Innes and more!) and then went up to the Diebenkorn Ocean Park Series and saw some really beautiful paintings, prints and drawings from that. Then we had to leave because Rooka had gotten loose back in Dallas and the rest of that day was a blur...ending in a miraculous, somewhat fated-feeling finding of the dog resting under some trees next to a major interstate just in time for all of us to make it to a rehearsal dinner and happily begin the next few days of wedding affairs. 

After nearly losing my little dog and then getting into yet another accident that was ill-fated and again, unavoidable and the fault of another driver, leaving me feeling...again...scarily helpless...I am beginning to feel that my life is a little out of sorts and needs some restructuring. That which I care most about is being teased away only to be given back the last minute after I've nearly surrendered inside completely, and I am literally getting two-ton metal machines thrown at me, forcing me to stop. Look around. Appreciate that I (and others) are still alive. And proceed, perhaps differently, somehow. This brings me to the point I have been considering considerably lately. That there are lessons to learn. And you must learn them. And if you push them away or try to make them wait, they may change form or person or shape or whatever, but they will always represent themselves to you. Because it is never the detail, the person, the exactness of anything that is the challenge, but the underlying feelings and personal difficulties this "thing," let's say, raises within you. If something or someone is difficult, it is because there is something in me that I have yet to understand or confront. An animal could make me feel the same way a person does. Or a car accident could make me feel the way my job does. And one way or another, one form or another, these things have to be worked through. Or we'll never break out of the cycles. And I am TRYING. In more ways than I can count, I am throwing myself at every thing that I find frustrating and challenging. And that's the best I can do. I never stay stuck. I miss art. I'm leaving my second job so I can get back to making it. And I realize the lack of "creation" in my life is a huge source of the disharmony.

Texas 2.

Here I am in Texas again. It is sunny. People are nice. And there are a lot of fun things to do. Sometimes, I'm not sure "because I have a decent job" and "I can't afford to move yet" make any sense as the reasons we are still living in Syracuse. 

Hmmm...but, alas, we are still living there...so I get to take magical plane rides over the country at sunrise sometimes. And take pictures. 

There are dogs everywhere. Pretty cute.

And I've seen scorpions and a black widow spider for the first time ever. Nasty little creatures. And black widows are the evilest looking living thing I have ever seen in person. I can't believe anything is naturally THAT velvety black AND saturated red. Closed toed shoes!

9.29.11

Maybe these photos are already getting old, but the point is that they've given me material to continue to work with in between all Director duties when I'm at home. Sometimes I still laugh at that title.

Thinking a lot of childhood as of late. Not sure why. But I see it in these things as I write/make/art/edit and so on. 

Texas soon. A wedding. Dresses. Drinks. The Texas sky. Warmth. Sun. And family, friends and my little Rooka. A good week coming up, including some fantastic art exhibits to go see. Just have to get through tomorrow and Saturday, which looks like it will be easy thanks to Krista. And finally reading The Alchemist to get me through the airports and flights, upon multiple recommendations.

Where are we going going going going

Study Two of Self. 9.27.11.

I want to sculpt. I want to paint. But I don't really have time for either. So I choose to shoot. And to find the three-dimensional and the painting a place in the act. Thank you, Kirstin, for being a wonderful partner in Arting.

Sometimes I like the Libra.  

Ritualism

I am beginning an old ritual again. I used to notice myself, meaning I had a sense of my own identity within any space, dynamic, or environment. This is something that never came naturally, but that I had been working on. I tend to pick up on the feelings, traits, energy of others and assume it myself. This can be a wonderful accident sometimes. But a terrible spiral into confusion other times. There is nothing that surprises me more than when you go six months without putting your hair down and when finally you do, quite suddenly, you realize it is so much longer than you've thought it to be for some time. How did you not notice? I don't like not seeing myself. And I use that word loosely. With the hectic nature of work lately and all the time spent doing, being, working FOR others, to produce what others need and expect for one reason or another, I feel more loose-footed than I'd like to. Yoga helps. Having a dog helps. Having a stable home helps. But, alas, these are not quite enough. So in an effort to make it THIS obvious to myself, I am going to continue "self" studies of one sort or another-one day a drawing, another a photo, another some free association ramblings...in order to literally reacquaint myself with something I have lost touch with. I am a horribly mutable person. I like this when I know I am working well with it but that takes constant checking in. And perhaps more solitude. I have about two and a half months ahead that will surely be trying in so many ways. And I want to come out better and happier. And more likely, in the future, to not suddenly find myself with hair down to my knees without having meant it to be that way or knowing how it got there, so to speak. Study One of Self. 9.26.11. 

Oh the portraits I shall do...if I can get the time away.

Logical thinking...

Aww, painting. 

I would like to have time and energy to paint.
I would like to enter pieces that aren't a year old into group shows.
Also, to read.
And to have weekends off.
And to work on developing the portrait photography part of my "studio."
I would really like to not be anxiety ridden all the time.
I WOULD LIKE TO COOK.
And to spend more time taking long leisurely walks with Rooka.
I want to finish my curtains.
And sculpt.
And to feel like my creative and inquisitive self again.

Unfortunately, there may only be one solution to this problem. And I'm probably going to have an ugly couple of months ahead getting to the point where I can get back to all these things. But there are these things I am not willing to sacrifice. And lately, I feel they've been hijacked. I want them back. And I do not feel like myself without them. Aww, crud. Sometimes you piss people off just trying to do the right thing. That is never easy. Just keeeeep swimming just keep swimming! What a whirl.

Over and under!

Today started wonderfully...Rooka wagged her tail. I was early for work. I had a delicious dirty chai tea latte. AND, I got these tickets for the opening reception at the Everson, Friday. Sadly, this event which marks a milestone for me also happens to be at the exact same time as another engagement...I am going to make this work somehow! But yes...these are all good things that happened today. Though the rest of the day tried very very hard to bring me down, I will say it did not completely succeed, as I am still happy about this event coming up.

The tickets are horribly ugly, so here is a silly picture of me WITH the tickets to better illustrate the excitement and merriment they have inspired.

About all the rest...asdfaiodfalsdfadghajfadfadsfl. Something's got to give. Depending on the day, what that thing looks like it will be changes. But I can say...it is more and more clear with time that I want to go back to school. I have for a while, and though I weave on and off the path that I think may lead there, I like to think that it is, albeit indirectly, getting me there. I've always been swervy.

 

Helloooo Tokina.

THIS...my dear friends (and mom) is Alex at 11mm and at 16mm. THIS LENS IS AWESOME! Wide angle everything! I feel so good about this purchase. I waited 9 hours, biting my nails and when the UPS man got here, Alex laughed at how high pitched my voice was while I answered the door. 

Today, is a good day.

I gotta go find me some vistas.

This is my Still Life. That is always moving.

Candles, old chairs, the New York Times, wedding invitations, grandpa's woodwork, shims, lenses, dog treats, succulent arrangements, New York Times bags and plastic grocery bags, lighters, bills, math scribbles on backs of receipts, Iverhart Plus heart worm medication, pottery, clothing tags, water bottles, paper towels, sunglasses, bottle openers and peanuts. 

This is what I look at when I start and end my day. And it sums it all up. The efforts, victories, failures, frustrations, challenges, progress, hurdles...it's all here on this dining room table.

But there is this at about 7:45 every morning-the very first thing I experience every day...and this little wagging tail is so special, I can't even explain how it makes it all so much better:

 

Rooka/Ruka/Röka

Since familiarity with umlauts in the US is a little uncommon (veterinarians, vet assistants, friends, strangers on the street that we pass on walks...however art historians would do well!) we're debating how we will spell this name. But it is chosen! Pronounced more or less like Rooka, but spelled Röka, properly. The name is loosely derived from the Norse mythological event Ragnarök, when the wolves eat the moon and the gods and then the earth is reclaimed by nature...then there's more, but that's the part we liked. Anyway, as dramatic as her namesake may be, she's still silent as ever and still shy. To be expected. We don't anticipate this changing for some time, but we do everything we can in the meantime to make her as happy as a dog can be. She generally stays put, so she's an easy doodle subject. I like drawing her fluffy little face!

I miss actually CREATING art. I've been facilitating the creation of art by others, professionally now and as rewarding as that has been, I do miss doing it myself. I wish so much I had taken dance when I was younger. It is AWESOME getting to scout for dancers and watch reels (they're so GRACEFUL!). I love that job. But lately it gives me a little twinge of pain to be so busy. I am supposed to paint Alex's mother a cat. It shall be done! I have a couple of professional shoots of this kind or that coming up in the somewhat near future. The new lens is only a couple days away from being mine! (at least monetarily...:( shipping takes time too). Who knows...feeling generally confused about directions lately. If I were in the Hobbit...I would be in Mirkwood without the faintest idea of when or how I'll get out. Waiting for the wood elves to scoop me up any moment now. Then I have to find the river.

Three party pack.

Hello, Birthday. And good-bye. We toasted this one out with Brother Thelonious and a steak to share with currently nameless dog-companion. Mmmm, birthday meals. Our little wolfy is still too confused about her recent life changes to eat kibbles in front of us or from us. So we tried a bit of steak. It turns out neither shock, shyness nor caution stops a dog from accepting steak out of our hands. Awesome. Glad to share it. Glad to be sharing so many things...

My new moon birthday.

Hello New Moon. Look what you made me do.

She doesn't have a name yet. Well, I'm sure there is one that is her. We just have yet to find it. We're learning slowly. She doesn't give much away.

What we know is that she was picked up somewhere in Tennessee as a stray and she had 10 puppies. We don't know what happened to the puppies, but we know she was taken to the pound and then later, to a kill shelter where a rescue service found her and brought her to their shelter to be rehomed. She was there for what we guess was about a year and then transferred to a shelter in Virginia. That's where we found her post and Alex requested more info. She's between 3 and 4 years old (vet's guess) and she may have been born a stray. We went into it trying to stay objective and were ready to say no if we didn't get a good feel about it when meeting her. Then the minute I saw her, all I could think was YES, whatever it takes, we'll help her. We have a bit of work ahead. But she's brilliantly smart. She's my little wolfy.

Art Park, photo studio and Ingrid Junga

This weekend, we went to the Stone Quarry Hill Art Park for the 31st Annual Pottery Fair. We walked the grounds on a beautiful day and won a piece of local artist Ingrid Junga's pottery in a raffle. Feeling some good luck coming this way lately.

Latest news: I have launched the Third House Studio website!! (Had this cooking for a while...)

There is still many an update to be made in the coming months (lots of events and little projects scheduled to shoot). But the beginning is there! And it's enough to get things rolling. Really excited about this and about the acquisition of a new lens (and a couple other important things) really soon.

A bit of my life and my love

Well, there are some things brewing...they have nothing and everything to do with this.

We adopted these chairs that have been in my father's side of the family for an undefined number of years (maybe decades...maybe generations). We took them from my great-grandfather's camp. They just happened to be unused, the perfect colors and sentimentally loaded already. Perfect.

Slowly, we complete our home...one little detail at a time.

I remember the first book I ever loved. I remember hearing the sound of the paper against itself, I remember the way the ink would smudge a little on my little 7 year old fingertips, and the smell of the glue, the paper, the ink. I would fall asleep with the book open over my nose, resting on my little face. I remember my fingerprints on the shiny paper cover. I remember wondering who this strange dead man was that wrote this thing, object, idea, picture, feeling that I possessed. I remember when the littlest things, like the color of the book cover, were magical. I remember the way the story inspired me to draw pictures, to illustrate...and I remember the realization that it was not an image, but a feeling I was trying to "illustrate" and I found that my little pencil failed me again and again. How I was never satisfied. Because this feeling had a smell and a temperature and sounds, not just a look. I drew packs of wolves, running. I drew them running toward me, running past me, around me, away from me. And the trees and the snowy ground with their prints and the right moon-lighting. I was romantic. I still am. It never represented what I meant it to. I think these sketches are still in my parents' basement. I'm still 7. And I'm still frustrated with this challenge of limited dimensions and with the limits of the physical world. With material. But I think when I was little, I used to try a lot harder to get it right. I used to better believe that I could do it.

post bike trip recap

Oh goodness, what an adventure...for many reasons. 310 miles, no bears, lots of toads and frogs, a million loons and four crazy people. Some of the prettiest lakes and campsites...legs of steel...and some very unattractive tan lines. This was a great trip. So glad we did it. Thanks, Alex for planning it so well and for helping make it possible for me to come along. Mmmmm, Adirondacks.

A somewhat botched attempt to video record a descent below.

Today, I had a nice conversation with my grandma and grandpa on the phone. My grandmother basically told me, "don't forget you can draw too" when I was telling her about the Ballet. Touche, grandma. Spending a week on the road, without cell phones, computers, city noise, cars, technology, news, etc. was sort of devastatingly cleansing. To be back and facing the return to all that is arduous and only "for money" is a little maddening. There are other ways. I don't know what they are yet, but I know they exist.

I'm hunting for a violin. Looking for a nice used one. Wanting to spend time with music. But what time?

I feel small and surrounded by noise. I think when the trip ended, I was just beginning to hear myself...and other things...again. And now I'm on the edge of losing that clarity. Stress is such a monster. I got an interesting voicemail while my phone was off for a week. I don't think it will lead to anything. But I am taking it as a sign. It was so incredibly random...that it must mean something. I just biked 310 miles, and I am more rested, relaxed and happy than I have been for months. Hmmm, the winds are blowing something in and it's coming from a long way back...

and I'm reading the Hobbit.

I love you, friends. I will be back on the planet soon!

This is part of a growing effort I'm making to let my friends know that I THINK ABOUT THEM A LOT AND LOVE THEM (so many of whom are so far away :/ great for them...sad for get-together chances). I've missed a lot of phone calls lately because of this or that or just stress. This year has been so intense and my chances of going to Boston, or Philly, or New York, or Chicago or etc. etc for visits are a big fat zero. So here are presents! Which can be thrown away or put on refrigerators or whatever you choose. It's a way to get back to doodling even if it's with the only thing I have at the apartment currently: markers? Okay. Drawing for fun has been a non-existent practice in my life lately and it shouldn't be, given it is so relaxing. So I get to feel like a kid with crayolas again and I get some mail-love out too. I ran into a friend while we were out last night and it made me so incredibly happy to see her...I'm not a very good leisure phone correspondent but there are some things I definitely can do in the meantime while I try to free up some time.

Hello Woodchuck. You go out as soon as I can get to the post-office!

Know your elephant.

So much work being done and so little visible output. It's not that kind of work lately. But I've felt a flurry of energy today and, well, if for no other reason than to play with markers, I sketched an elephant. I consider this "sketchbook." The first of it in a long time. Ah, doodles...you do wonders for the spirit!

I really like elephants. I like chickens too.

I told Alex I originally sat down to draw a chicken. I think I'm going to sit down and draw all these chickens now...

Market Day!

Another beautiful day at the Regional Market. Freshly cut flowers and lots of vegetables, legumes, and baked goods. Then we stumbled upon the Arts & Crafts Fest in Columbus Circle. There were so many vendors! Lots of great pottery. I got this lovely stoneware pitcher from Roockware Pottery. My only two regrets from SU are not having taken a ceramics class and not having taken a weaving class. In due time...

Week's close.

This is the general feel of today-of the end of a long week-of body ache and of rest-of feeling like rejuvenation was a long time coming-tired, finally clean, satisfied-quiet wakefulness and the realization of subtle sensation, life, growth, and the need for nourishment-how nature is mirror and self.

I love my job. I love my new job, that is.

And weekends are for making music and staying up late.

Colorado.

In Colorado! It's gorgeous...my temporary "office" is a rooftop terrace looking out over the mountains and the air smells remarkable. We made it in time for a Saturday morning market and bought fresh flowers from the Zephyros Farm and Garden tent as well as some fresh bread and vegetables. This farm makes me want to open up a florist shop/herb garden/apothecary/plant nursery even more. Pipe dream for if I'm fortunate enough to retire early. Or win the lottery.

Lightning storm in Denver as we landed...if lightning doesn't interest you, this will be boring. But if you're from the Northeast, which I am, you don't see this everyday.

Latest thing...

Functional. Practical. Creative. Unusual. Homespun. More progress made à la maison de Zehr-Biegler. I enjoyed making this right piece so much and frankly, I love it and could produce it quickly and happily over and over again with variations galore. Nothing makes me happier than beauty and creation in the home. And this was so simple (part of why I like the solution so much). I would love to share it with those of like taste (thank you internet for your infinite sharing possibilities). Working on that.

Bookshelf! I have you back! I have lived over a year without them...the pieces of me that other people have written. Never again. They are part of me like my eyes are part of me. I pulled W.H. Auden off the shelf, flipped it open to the first poem marked by a torn piece of napkin and wept as I read "Song for St. Cecilia's Day." The power of words...how so rarely you find someone who understands the medium. And wields his or her fluency and mastery like a wand, rendering any reader or listener speechless. And perhaps in tears. But most importantly feeling something so completely. A feeling not created by, but summoned by the artist. Words are art. All the time. Like any other creating is. Sometimes I forget their value. And I am reminded to make an effort not to cheapen it.

A hint of life.

Moving! Again. Well, there is a silver lining, new designs for a new space and new inspiration and projects! Here is just a little bit of what we're creating. Curtains, shelves of all kinds, bars, wine racks...so many trips to Lowe's. It's fun! Tiring. But we both have an uncanny knack for nesting and we can't stop until we're "settled" just like we want to be. More to come!

Slowing Down

Today is the first day within short-term memory that I've had an entire day "off" from work, short trip traveling or a schedule of any kind. I found myself not knowing what to do. It didn't take long to get the hang of the freedom though. I danced, I cleaned, I went for a walk to the Co-Op and bought some fresh lunch ingredients and then I began to make home-made peanut sauce for a delicious rice noodle dish.

I've really begun to love food photography. I sort of accidentally started this practice of photographing the process of cooking or preparing food as well as the food itself and I find that it slows me down in the most wonderful way. I think the necessity of nutrition and food are at the most fundamental level of the Body and when we sustain the body well, we are all the more able to sustain the other aspects of ourselves. And when I slow this basic and necessary step down in order to make beauty of it and to appreciate it, I feel like I am nurturing myself in every way and steadying myself. I love doing this.

In other news: I've accepted the position of Associate Director of the Syracuse City Ballet! It is a part-time position that I'll be doing in addition to my other job and I'm so excited! I can't wait to jump in and join their mission.

Untitled.

Jackson Pollock
Louise Bourgeois
Loie Fuller
Yoko Ono
Joseph Beuys
Helen Frankenthaler
Henry Moore
Alfredo Jaar
Mark Rothko
Richard Diebenkorn
John Cage

These are some of the ideas I can't get enough of lately. I want more mind in the practice.

Framed!

She loved it! So glad! She went to get it matted and framed as she liked, and this is what it will look like post-framing.

I have a few "paint" and "expression" exercises I want to do thanks to some concepts introduced in class and just life in general. I'm open to some pretty radical (for me) changes to my usual modus operandi and excited for a little much needed time off coming soon to try them out.

Life is good. Busier than ever and I don't know how. Subtle but significant changes coming soon though I can't tell you which way the changes are going yet. Still waiting to find out myself.

Present...

I painted this copy of another painting (the original is part of the University's Archives and I have no idea who painted it). My coworker has requested this painting accompany her to every new office she's worked in at SU. And now she's retiring, so it is being handed off to another admirer. I've decided to paint her a little interpretation of the painting to keep. It's also great practice, as I haven't exactly been a practicing painter lately.

Market Day!

Visits to the Regional Market have now become ritual in our weekends. There is something incredibly satisfying about knowing where our food is coming from and meeting the people who bring it to bear. I never want to buy eggs from anyone other than the wonderful elderly couple next to the cupcake table ever again. There is something really holistic about supporting your local markets, and I've come to enjoy it incredibly.

RadioActiveStormCamping

'Tis biking season! We did a 90-mile two-day trip to Sonyea State Forest south of Rochester. The ride there was sunny and lovely enough to burn us to a crisp and the weather held out long enough for us to enjoy some Georgia Moon Corn Whiskey in the great outdoors (I cannot explain why this makes such a great bike-trip/camping ritual!). Then came a lightning storm like I have never seen before and we ended up nearly trapped in the campsite. The river we easily forged the day before to get to the campsite had become a raging rapid. Alex somehow managed to carry two bikes, all of our camping gear and my entire body across the river without us dying. 5'3" and small is not optimum river forging stature. Noted.

These photos were from the tent the morning after the epic storm. I thought they were weird-I liked them.

Now I'm off to read the Futurist's Manifesto for my Art History class. Life is good. Being open and receptive. Understanding Kripalu Yoga more and more each day. And enjoying the warmth and sun that is now enveloping central New York.

Discoveries

When we moved into our new temporary residence, we found this in the freezer. A beetle and a moth. A funny thing to come across, certainly. But I cannot help but commend the leaver's poetry, whether meant or not meant. It was kind of a lovely thing to come across actually.

The painting of Alex on the step was chosen from the SU employee On My Own Time exhibit (by the Cultural Resource Council) to be part of an exhibit at the Everson Museum of Art from mid-September to mid-October. The exhibit features selected works from several CNY companies and organizations that participate in the OMOT show. "Alex" will also be used in the OMOT exhibit catalog coming out sometime before the exhibit opens. Some good news.

Moving, taking classes and Everson

Well, we've moved! Down the street and around the corner, and another corner and another street. But it's new. And it's ours. We've managed to make it comfy, even though it'll be short-lived. Celebrating with a Co-op supplied meal, we settle in. Here's to a year of working, taking more Art History classes and having fun with the Everson as a volunteer!

Speaking of classes, my summer course began this week. It is a strange feeling returning to studenthood, but a year of life away from academia has made me realize how much I do miss it. So I return as a non-matriculated Graduate student to freely jump into whatever classes I choose, and my heart leads me to the Arts. Again and again.

Ode to the single lens reflex...

A return to photography. Not that I ever really left it. I just had a dead battery for a while...in one way or another.

I think the greatest thing photography ever taught me was/is patience and acceptance. It, more than any other medium has taught me the zen-like calm, focus and reflection that is necessary for compassion, empathy, and regeneration. In its natural frankness, I find comfort that I struggle to find elsewhere.

Side-Note: Saw Naom Chomsky speak about US Foreign Policy on Wednesday. An inspiring and worthwhile way to spend an evening. The program was put on by the Syracuse Peace Council, who had some wonderful messages to give about giving locally.

Whale watch.

It has been a quiet past couple of months. Quiet in the way that the sea is quiet.

The making of recent weeks has been more internal than external, hence my physical output has been less than usual. I've made a number of lovely additions to the book shelves and now piles. I've replanted and tended to a tree that mysteriously and spontaneously decided to grow itself in the pot of my now 5-year companion houseplant...in the middle of my bedroom. And I've made a few japa malas for myself and as gifts to a few who might appreciate them.

Three pieces (granted, they are not new pieces, but oh well) were put in the SU employee artwork show. They're now on display in Hendrick's Chapel on campus. I begin again into the world of Art History and academia in just over a week when my summer class begins.

Welcoming Spring.

Welcoming renewal.