Waiting for spring...

If you live in an area that gets an early spring....I have to admit I'm a little jealous. Here in New England we sometimes don't even get spring, especially if you live in an area close to the sea like I do...

It is true that living by the sea keeps us cooler in the summer and warmer into the fall and winter but that cold ocean water delays our spring here as well.

After a week of milder temperatures and mornings full of tentative birdsong...we woke to snow and sleet and drizzle over the last few days so I thought I'd post this cheerful robin as a reminder that spring will arrive...

Back to Etsy

Back in November I was dealing with all sorts of health issues that needed my immediate attention so I closed down a lot of what I was doing, including my Etsy shops. Somehow I had ended up with 4 shops, including a vintage shop. 

 This week I reopened my original shop and will be listing small watercolors, prints and ink drawings as well as some other odds and ends there. As much as I loved the vintage part it was too much about storage and mail order for me. It was taking over my very small house. So I gave it away....

 Anyway, I am back working in the studio and will be posting pictures of my progress from time to time.

And please feel free to stop by my shop any time. You will find it here.

Ideas and Illustrations

One of my projects for this winter is working on finishing a kid's book I've been working on for a few years. It's for young readers and will have spot illustrations in it, probably black and white but I have been working on character ideas in color. There is a young girl with her trusty dog and binoculars....

 A young boy who loves baseball....

 and bikes....

 This is probably the earliest drawing I did of the two when I was figuring out the basics. I think I like the longer, taller, skinnier characters the best. What do you think?

 This is another character, one of the younger sisters....

 and this is an attempt at a group illustration...can you tell what they are doing?

Any ideas or suggestions are always welcome....

Zen and the Art of Being Edited....

Years ago when I first began writing for publication a woman told me she wrote all the time but that she would never send it to some idiot editor to read, judge and change. It was perfect just the way it was. She still has a drawer full of writing and is bitter and angry that she is unpublished. One might point out she has never sent anything out to be looked at never mind accepted but why bother? She believes she is right and they are wrong.

Back when I was still wet behind the years, as my grandmother loved to say, I thought writing and art were all about creativity and self expression. If I were to be a writer or an artist I could be free to be me. I could share my special version of my special world and tada! I would be published and hang my work in galleries for the whole world to see. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's not really the way the world works. We learn early on that in the real world there are gatekeepers. There are rules. We have to knock politely and beg or storm right through them to get past those who would keep the talent out. When we are young and eager the gatekeepers, ie. editors, gallery owners and critics, seem cruel. We think: They don't understand us. They wouldn't know talent if they fell over it. And mostly, we are wrong. 

I have had some success both with my writing and my art. I am not famous and never will be. That's okay. I do get paid for my work and every week hundreds, even thousands of people read what I write and see the drawings I do. And yes, I have to pass everything by an editor. I have worked with many editors over the years and I have learned something useful and often inspiring from all of them. I have especially learned from the ones I thought were wrong. Guess what? They were right. After my initial shock at my own wrongness I agreed to changes that did indeed make the piece better. Now I'm just glad they keep me from embarrassing myself. It is hard to read your own work objectively. It is even harder to edit it.

I will probably never be Zen about my writing or my art but thank heavens the people who read, edit, publish and show my work are pretty Zen about their jobs and in dealing with people like me.

Mellow Monday Making Prints....

As part of my sorting, organizing, cleaning out the studio and basement process I came across some old wood and linoleum blocks from way back when. I used to do a lot of woodblock printing, switched to linoleum for a very short time and then put it all aside to do other things.

 Mondays are pretty mellow around here so I decided to see if these blocks were worth saving...

 The little panda was the first to get inked up....

 The top one of these shows the back of the paper once it has been carefully placed on the block. I then use my thumb to rub outward from the center in all directions which helps keep the paper centered and not moving while all areas receive some ink. The bottom one has been carefully rubbed over with a smooth back of a wooden spoon.

 The panda bear had some broken spots but this little owl that must date from around 1975 (because I know I sold cards made with him while still in college and selling them at the student center) is still in pretty good shape....

 This cat, cut in linoleum, did not fare well at all and will join the panda bear in whatever heaven old inked blocks go to....

 Here you can see some of them hanging to dry by the fireplace.....

It only took a half hour or so to print these and now I know for sure which ones (or one) is worth keeping.

Stories in the landscape

As a writer and an artist I am always listening to or reading stories as well as telling stories myself. One of my favorite childhood memories is sitting with my mom or dad or with my grandmother, all snug and cozy and listening to them read. I would get lost in the stories they told me and in later years I would listen to the stories of their childhoods in the same sort of way.

 When I see old falling down ramshackle houses or barns I can't help but wonder what the stories are that they could tell. It is easy to make up stories about them but what were their real stories?

 Imagine living in this log cabin overlooking this sight...who do you suppose lives there? A rancher? A sheep herder? An artist or writer? A hermit? A horse trainer?

 And what about this old place? Who used to sit on the porch drinking tea or lemonade? Who made the curtains that now hang in tatters in the window? Who raised the chickens and hoed the kitchen garden? How many children called this old place home?

It is not hard to find inspiration for stories when I have all this richness to look at and ponder....

What kind of story are you thinking of right now after looking at these pictures?

It's a sorting through, backing up, organizing type of day....

Over the last few months I have really been going through all my old files, both on the computer and in my file boxes. As a writer, an artist and a prolific amateur photographer....I have a lot of files to sort through.

 One of the fun things about sorting through and organizing old pictures is that you get to relive a moment, even if it is just for a minute....That is me drawing at a pueblo in New Mexico just over 6 years ago. It was an amazing 10 day trip I took with another artist friend....

 We loved everything about it. We stayed in Chimayo, between Santa Fe and Taos and we also spent a few days in Taos. Chimayo was our favorite, though our day trips were also pretty spectacular.

 We had to visit Canyon Road and see the galleries and buy a brush or two at the art store Georgia O'Keefe frequented...

 We couldn't stop oohing and ahhing over the scenery....

 But the wild horses we saw everywhere were even cooler than the rock formations....

Though these red rocks on the way to the Ghost Ranch were pretty amazing...

Now that I am getting all these things in order I have to decide how to save them. Do I get them printed? Make small memory books? Leave them on a thumb drive? I'm thinking books....but haven't decided yet...

What would you do?

Keeping a sketchbook

If you are a visual artist you probably keep a sketchbook. I've been keeping a sketchbook since I was about 14 years old and I still have almost all the sketchbooks I filled in high school and college as well as many others I've kept through the years.

 Like most artists I use my sketchbook to take visual notes, write pertinent information in the borders and to make observations or record ideas. The top page is from the workshop I attended last weekend and has a few notes on the side.

 The rest of these are from a trip I took to Amsterdam two years ago. This was a small sketchbook, about 3.5 x 5" moleskine, perfect for fast ink sketches.

 Sometimes I draw just for the fun of it and to practice keeping my eye and hand together. Drawing this shop window was a lot of fun even if the drawing itself leaves much to be desired.

Amsterdam is full of visual delights and I took a lot of photos as well. My sketchbook, however, takes me back in a way no photo can. When I look through these pages I can feel the spring air, hear the tour boats passing on the canal under the bridge I'm standing on and see the bright colors and bustle that fill the city.

Over the years my sketchbooks tell a truer story than my journals and these days I don't even bother to keep a journal. I do, however, carry a sketchbook in my car and in my pocketbook everywhere I go.

Do you keep a sketchbook?

Arlo

For those of you who haven't met Arlo or who need a little Arlo fix, here he is. He will be 2 years old this spring and has grown into a funny, smart and energetic little companion. He goes almost everywhere with me.

 This is Arlo in his bird watching gear.....

Actually it was just his Halloween get up for a picture to send to one of the blogs we check in on daily....The Daily Corgi!

Going to workshops....

Just as many professionals in the financial or business world constantly keep up with new trends and ideas by attending seminars, classes and workshops, so do most creative types. Our workshops just tend to have a different focus and are more about process than outcome or desired results. Not that artists of all sorts aren't interested in results but for most, the journey is more fun and interesting than the destination and seeing how other artists work is always interesting.

I have belonged to a local pottery co-op since 1980 and every year the group hosts workshops by well know n artists and potters from off Cape as well as some of our own members. This past weekend, Cape potter Steve Kemp and his potting son, Matt Kemp, hosted our group for a two day demonstration and workshop.

If you know me you know I am not a potter. I did make and paint tiles for over 30 years which put me in the clay category but I do not throw pots, construct pots or do anything with pots except cook in them. Over the years I've attended countless pottery workshops. Yesterday a friend asked why I go. It is pretty simple. I go because I always learn something.

Listening to another artist describe and analyze their own process is always interesting for me and often illuminating. I have found over the years that I can learn as much from a weaver or a potter or a basket maker as I can from another painter. It is the process, the approach, the thought process that matters to me and I always walk away with at least a little nugget of new and thought provoking information.

Do you attend workshops? Why or why don't you go?

Sharing a little love....

This stone heart is from a walkway at St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, England. We were there this fall and walked out on the stone walkway at low tide and up the long and steep stone walkway to reach the top. It was so lovely and serene....

This is a view of the castle and the walkway....

Creative Sparks

People often ask me where I find my inspiration and to be honest, I find it pretty much everywhere. I write or draw every day. I read, I go for long walks. I ponder the universe. Those things usually fill up the creative well for me.

 In winter I often paint indoors by a sunny window. I especially like to paint with a friend or two or three and any little plant or flower will do....this cyclamen was my friend's holiday plant and is still blooming away. I painted the dainty blooms on a tiny pad of watercolor paper that I think was meant to be for  postcards. Perhaps I will mail it off to someone as a surprise.

These are also cards. They date back to the 1980s and were a gift to my grandmother. She never used them but had them tucked away in an old photo album where I found them recently. Back in the day I used to do these kinds of cards at night and sell them by day in Central Park in New York City....

These cards make me feel like sketching some birds out my window this afternoon....

What sparks your creativity?

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog. As an artist, writer, naturalist and educator I live and work on Cape Cod. I grew up here. I love it here. And I have another blog that focuses totally on the nature of the Cape which you can find here. This is where I will be posting about my writing and art processes, my long rambles with the dog and the various ways birds fly into and across my landscape.