Fits & Starts

Greetings! Spring is here, at least on the calendar. The reality is that it feels like spring only in fits & starts, as the temperatures fluctuate and we cast our eyes on the forecast, waiting for the steady upswing in temperatures. There are some days pushing 80 degrees, with the ones in between sometimes in the upper 30s or 40s. And, with so little snow (the big secret from this tiny southeast corner of South Dakota is out!) this year, we are desperately in need of moisture. I'm anxious to get moving outdoors, working in the garden beds and shedding the winter weight gain. Soon....

In the meantime, life in the studio has also come in fits and starts. As I've probably mentioned, my husband, Johntimothy, and I have a show together here at the university that will open in just a few weeks. We've based the exhibition on the notion of a daily practice and have both been making new works each day. His is based in printmaking and the process of taking a plate through an amazing array of changes, so there are over 100 prints based on the same two plates. I have been making daily drawings in the same format, so whatever time I can muster in the studio is dedicated to making sure I get my drawing finished. The pieces are all based on a 4" square or a 4" circle diameter format on 10x10" paper. Mine will be shown in a grid, like a calendar and his will be shown in a linear format, reflecting the sometimes subtle changes in his engraved plates, day after day. We are also collaborating on some works that will be in the exhibition, so that process is becoming more intense, the closer we move to the installation. All this is to explain my absence....well, my presence here in the blog world only in fits and starts. My library job takes up a lot of my energy and I find that I want to spend more time reading than ever before....as we all know,  there are not enough hours in the day, that is, if you value sleep as much as I do. If anyone unlocks the secret of being able to do it all, please pass it on!

Once the exhibition goes up, I will have extra pieces that I will share here and in my Etsy shop for sale. But for now, everything is still under wraps! However, as I look around the studio, I see so many pieces....a lifetime of work, much of it from the recent past, staring me in the face. I've just listed the framed piece below in my Etsy shop, Missouri Bend Studio. This is no. 6 from the Nocturne series, made a couple of years ago. The piece has been in a few exhibitions, but here it is, needing to find a loving home. The work is fabulously framed by Mary Selvig in Sioux Falls....when it was shown at the Bemis Center in Omaha, I swear as many people commented on the framing as they did on the drawing itself. I've listed it with the shipping included (the trusted folks at FedEx do a fine job of packing and shipping) within in the US. If you are interested and overseas, please let me know and I will get an exact shipping cost to a particular location and adjust the price accordingly.

Well, hope you are enjoying a lovely spring where you are....or autumn, as the case may be. Here, we are just seeing signs of leaves on the trees....flowers, not yet. Soon.....

Nocturne no.6

Spring Dreaming

What happened to Monday!? Oh, that's right, since it was a holiday, my husband was home and we actually had a weekend. So, today feels like Monday, although it is now clearly Tuesday evening! My trip to the big city (Omaha) went off without a hitch and I was home before dark, with a small bundle of groceries that included fresh fennel (impossible to get in this town) and 2 loaves of bakery bread (cranberry walnut and asiago-garlic), along with one new book from the used bookstore and a new supply of paintbrushes!

This has been the strangest winter...the snow falls rarely and when the ground is blanketed even with a few inches, it's all gone within days as the temperatures rise again into the 40s. It was in the mid-40s today and it will be over 50 degrees tomorrow....craziness! By the end of February, even in the worst of winters, one is itching to see signs of spring, but when one is perpetually on the verge of spring....well, every day is like a tease. I'm really starting to think about that perennial bed in the back of the house on the edge overlooking the river.....this one....

What a mess!!  I'm determined that this year we'll use it to grow "crops"....obviously, I use that term quite loosely, since it's quite a tiny space and we're not farmers. We've had good luck with squash and pumpkins, some luck with tomatoes and blue potatoes and little luck with leeks.  Oh, and absolutely no luck with watermelons.  Each year we learn a little more and want to expand our edibles to include peppers, carrots, chard and any number of other possibilities.  We were going to take over this bed last summer for this purpose, but as anyone who has followed this blog since then knows...last summer took us by surprise with a tense time of watching the Missouri River waters rise way beyond flood stage.  This summer should be quite a bit calmer, so I'm eagerly anticipating getting out there to move all those perennials and give them a new start in other beds around the house. But, it's still February....I have to wait.....winter could still arrive with a big wall of snow!

The reminders of last summer's flood are ever present. There is an incredible sandbar in front of our property that goes on for probably half a mile up the river....massive.  There used to be small sandbars scattered here and there in the river and they changed almost daily, but this thing is so huge it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. And just down the river, there is that big tree limb visible, no doubt stuck in a big pile of sand lurking underneath. When I photographed the bed in the back this evening just as the sun was setting, I peeked over the edge of the neighbor's property and was once again reminded of the huge sand deposits that seem to be everywhere, this one complete with overturned plastic red lawn chair!

And the dailies continue....details and other views of these pieces at MissouriBendMusings....or click on the links to each day's drawing...

2-18-12

2-19-12

2-20-12

2-21-12

Enjoy the rest of your week....spring is just around the corner!!

Spring Into Summer

I posted this piece, Spring no. 24, from the Season Cycles series today in my Etsy shop...the last one for spring as we move into summer.  Doesn't quite feel like summer here in South Dakota.  Nights are still cool, as are the mornings and we've had so many violent storms, like many other places in the midwest.  This bunch of daisies is a delightful reminder of the garden and the cheeriness brought by all those flowering gems out there.  I suppose I know it's summer because the weeds are gaining a foothold and the daisies need to be cut back, but I'm happy to report all the varieties of day lilies have begun to bloom!  Perhaps they'll be featured in the first piece in honor of summer!

Season Cycles/Spring no. 23

I posted this piece, Season Cycles/Spring no. 23, in my shop this morning! This is all about the wind, which once again, has stirred up and rustles the cottonwood trees noticeably. The wind is a fact of life on the Plains, but seems like this spring has been more-than-the-usual windy! Plants are blown in one direction hour after hour and the next morning, when the calm returns, they stand upright none the worse for wear...except for the daisies, that is.  Those little flower beads on this piece are about to get blown off the little piece of paper!

Had a productive day in the studio today.  Don't think I've mentioned it here, but I went ahead and quit my day job, which was only 1/2 time anyway, so that I could be in my studio full-time.  I am so much happier and hope that my creative life will also bring some financial stability--that would be even better!

Here's to all the artists and craftsperson creating something out of nothing--bravo to you all!

Season Cycles/Spring no. 21

Season Cycles/Spring no.21 was posted this morning at my shop on Etsy.  Now, I'm excited to get down to the studio to begin some watercolors!  I'll keep up with the Season Cycles, but have been getting excited about branching out and working in a looser way in a medium I haven't touch in decades...should be interesting!  The weather is quite cool lately...rain on the way I'm sure, given this overcast sky.  A great day for working in the studio.

The Beginning of May

Season Cycles/Spring no. 20 was posted the other day at MissouriBendStudio on Etsy.  There are still a couple more in the works in the spring series, but am planning to switch things up a bit and begin some watercolors.  I'm not bored with the Season Cycles, but think that the watercolors might help me be more spontaneous...besides I want to do it all!  Took the weekend off from the studio, working the yard, etc. and today was my husband's birthday, so we had a fun day.  I have two more weeks at my part-time library job and then I will leave to be in the studio full-time...can't wait!  More time to focus and create!
It's May and I am expecting the return of the Baltimore Orioles any day...with great anticipation, as they are great fun to watch!

Season Cycles/Spring no.19

The latest in the Season Cycles Series, this is Spring no.19, which has just been posted at my Etsy shop, MissouriBendStudio.  I'm having fun abstracting plant forms from nature...the variety is so vast and amazing, there's probably nothing I could make up that isn't already out there in the universe in some form or another!

These little pieces are great fun to do--always a surprise by the end, since I never know what I'm going to do when I begin.  Often this means, lots of layers of paint and drawing until the little item announces itself and I know what it wants to be!

I think I'll begin to delve into some watercolors very shortly and see how this changes the way I work...never a dull moment!  It's kind of a cloudy rain day here in South Dakota and while, I'm itching to get out and work in the garden, think I'll be happy to head back to the studio!

Enjoy!

Season Cycles no.18

I finished up a couple new pieces in the Season Cycles series last night, no.17 and no.18.  They're both now posted in my shop at etsy.com.  Pictured above is no.18, a whimsical piece that has a column of beads strung in rows, like an abacus...fun to move and play with!  Somehow it's hard to get the color to translate on the computer -- the actual piece is so much more vibrant and lively in person.

Season Cycles no.16

A couple of new postings in my shop this morning...featured here is Season Cycles/Spring no.16.  Can you tell I love sewing on paper?

Cool with a gentle rain today...the plants are thirsty and are soaking it up.  Getting the herb garden underway, but hard to tear away from the studio these days.  The days are longer, but still only 24 hours!

Please visit my other blog where I post a daily found text poem: www.missouribendpaperworks.blogspot.com

Color on Color

Pictured here is one of the latest postings in my shop at www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio.  From the Season Cycles series, this is Spring no.13 and it's loaded with tiny random stitches in the cloud and the bush.  One of the delights of my art making practice is seeing the way bits of color interact and work next to and top of each each other.  But I always wonder when it's enough...when are there enough stitches.  I guess that moment comes when my finger is too sore to poke the needle through the heavily stitched paper even one more time!

Day by Day

What a difference in the color of the landscape day by day.  The unfolding of green seems to be accelerating at a pace I can't quite remember from years before.  A nice rain last night and this morning has given the plants a nice long drink!  Posted a couple of pieces in my etsy.com shop today and am busy working on a several others, which I hope I can post over the weekend.  We'll see...one can't quite control the creative process.

Season Cycles/Early Spring no.11 is pictured above.  Visit my shop for others in the Season Cycles series, all with detail views.

Amazing Color Everywhere

It's a windy day here in South Dakota and the Missouri River appears to have whitecaps, reminding me of my earlier life on the west coast of Florida!  Since coming to South Dakota five years ago, I have been continually amazed by the color in the landscape--in the grasses and weeds, the trees and fields.  I think that people probably view Florida as being very colorful, but I still maintain that I have never seen so much color in the landscape as there is here...no matter what the season!  I find it delightful and now, when I see the softest green glowing on the trees set against the blue cast of the bluffs of Nebraska across the river, it's so beautiful it almost breaks my heart!

Just finishing up a couple pieces in the studio and will post them in a couple of days in my shop: www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio

Here's a quickie shot of one of the
workspaces in the studio I took
this afternoon...

Thanks for looking!

A Soft Green Unfolding

Spent most of the day in the studio...almost finishing three pieces that have been in the works...didn't quite make it before I needed to stop to get in a little banjo practice.  My husband are I are teaching ourselves to play the banjo (clawhammer style), so I try to get in at least a half an hour of practice every day, although I don't always make it!  In a moment of inspiration, I named my banjo Martina...after Steve Martin, a fabulous self-taught banjo player. My favorite time to practice is in the late afternoon or early evening as the light is glowing against the cottonwood trees in the front of the house.  Late in the winter, that was the time the deer would come through, crunching through the snow, munching on twigs and any brush that could be found.  But now, in the early spring, I watch the nuthatches flitting about and the robins hopping through the yard....and I take note of the cast of soft green appearing on the trees as I watch the spring unfold slowly into summer.  Tomorrow I look forward to getting out in the garden to begin digging around...it's time!

Posted a couple of new pieces on the MissouriBendStudio shop at etsy.com today.  The sample here is Season Cyles: Early Spring, no.9

Time in the Studio

I am having a wonderful time in the studio these days.  There's really no place I'd rather be and that's something special.  So often, no matter what we're doing, it seems as if we feel pulled in one direction or another..."I should be doing this"...or "that needs to be done"...but all that stops when I'm in the studio working.  It's a place of engagement, creative process and flow....and it's really quite magical.  Watching a new work unfold, slowly and often haltingly, is just a joy! Something out of nothing, but a seed of an idea or a mark on the paper. Posted new pieces from the Season Cycles series on my esty.com space today.  Early Spring no.7 is pictured above. Have a look and feel free to comment!

View of the Missouri River from MissouriBendStudio

Worked happily in the studio all day and finished up another small group of work for the Season Cycles, which I'll photograph and post on the Etsy shop in the morning.  Evenings are chilly lately, but the light is wonderful and the river looks especially beautiful in the morning.  Trees are showing signs of leafing out and plants are working their way back up through the ground--it's glorious!

Thinking About the Garden

Can't wait to get out to the garden...I hope it's not too soon to trust that the weather won't surprise us with another round of snow!  As I think about being outside and how the rhythms of my day will change gradually as I spend more time in the garden, I wonder about our collective ancestors whose lives were much more attuned to the change of seasons.  I am reading about the different activities engaged in by people living in the Middle Ages and how their lives were governed by the seasons and by the changing light.  While our lives our vastly different now, we still feel and appreciate the changes and ponder new activities that take us outside...for me, it's the garden.  This year, I'll start a real herb garden...looking forward to getting my hands in that dirt!

New postings in the MissouriBendStudio shop on etsy today.  Season Cycles/Early Spring nos. 4,5, 6

The Four Seasons

For some reason, this year the change of seasons has been on my mind alot.  I'm not only keenly aware of the change in weather, but also thinking about rhythms, cycles and the ebb and flow of time.  The heavy snows of winter have melted away finally and things are quickly beginning to turn green and come back up through the ground to begin anew. Coming to South Dakota only five years ago after decades of living in Florida, I am still astounded when the plants come back to life!

I've begun a new series of work, Season Cycles, focused on the four seasons.  We're in the early stages of spring now and the first of many pieces have been posted in my shop (www.etsy.com/shop/missouribendstudio).  The pieces will remain a consistent 5x5" with the idea that they can be mixed up a bit and shown in any combination of multiples.  All are mixed media works on handmade paper, combining painting, drawing, embroidery, collage and beads, mounted on masonite and ready for hanging.  The first in the series is shown below!

Please send any comments or queries about the work and I welcome your thoughts about how the change of seasons affects the rhythms in your life!