Greetings! Time for an update from the studio. In my last post, I reported on my prolonged state of ennui and proposed a shake-up to cure the malady. I thought I'd draw from observation...from the landscape in front me. Well, that didn't go so well. Rather than giving me a new direction and spark of energy, it was an exercise in frustration. I half expected as much. I don't work from the outside, but from the inside....through my hands. So, on another afternoon, I just played in the studio, making small drawings and then cutting them up into smaller drawings that I could stitch together. The fragments seemed to tell another story and I like that...watching something surprising unfold. The unexpected....that's the cure for ennui! This little piece above is now in my shop, along with over a hundred other little pieces awaiting good homes.
That little nest above, perched precariously on the tiny ledge of the column just under the roof of our front porch, is filled with 5 baby barn swallows. We watched the parents build the nest and anxiously awaited the hatching of the eggs. It's been weeks now and we've watched those 5 little birds grow day by day. Most of the time they spend with their mouths wide open awaiting every morsel of food brought to them by the tireless mother (or whoever is making the endless trips back and forth to the nest). But at this point they are so big, we're not quite sure why they haven't left! I hope they haven't crushed the one that was always shoved to the back. There doesn't seem to be room for them....time to leave the nest birdies!
We are in the heart of summer here with hot days, warm nights and the usual pesky insects. The days go by far too quickly and already I find myself thinking of fall. But, I quickly bring myself back to the moment to bask in the warmth of summer days....fall and then winter will come in due time.
