Notes From The Field: Rainy Day Blues

Well, like much of the Midwest it seems, we have had another day of bleak skies and soaking rain. I'm sure the trees and flowering plants love all the the moisture, but the humans I know are anxious for sunshine and warmth. We two-leggeds are ready to get on with our spring activities like gardening, taking brisk walks and relaxing on the deck....our time will come soon, I'm sure.

Such dreary weather calls for a delightful visit to the library! Amid my errands today, I stopped by the public library to exchange books, some of them half-read and abandoned. I don't like giving up on books, but sometimes half way through, I admit that I find the writing lackluster and that I'm just plodding through. I know some people who will plug away and finish any book once started, but I'm not one of them. I do admit to being a bit disappointed in myself for my lack of that bit of stick-to-it character, but I love reading so much that it doesn't seem worth it to waste my time on something that doesn't engage me. I suppose it's related to that "clean plate club" thing many of us grew up with. You eat whatever is on your plate, whether you like it or not. I didn't grow up in such a home, so I take my library books back half read and when I don't enjoy what I'm eating, I leave food on my plate. 

But, this also means that when I don't finish a book I don't get the small pleasure of listing the title and author in my little green book that contains a running log of books read since 2009. I suppose I could win this one too, by starting another list of "books unfinished",  but I'd be afraid such a list would be longer than the one containing books read beginning to end. I do always check out far more books than I can get read in the time I have them, but find myself picking up all manner of things, especially from the new book shelf, that catch my eye. From the stack above, I'll probably dip into each of them a bit and stick with one....for awhile anyway. Maybe if it's good enough, I'll be enthralled and transported and the memory of it will be noted in my little green book with the title, author and the date the last page was turned.

Today I also photographed the last suite of pieces from the Art of Wonder series, as I plan to add them to my Etsy shop in the coming days. I'll share them here now....no.1 through 9 of the The Art of Wonder, Suite 3. This suite has some of my favorite pieces from the whole series, so it's nice for me to see them again in the light of day, so to speak. All are mixed media drawings dipped in beeswax.

Enjoy the rest of your week....see you soon!

So Many Books, So Little Time

I know there are other things I should be reading related to school, but can't help squeezing in time for some other finds. Here are the latest items in my reading repertoire!

I  just finished this delightful book by a wonderful author from here in the midwest, John T. Price. Daddy Long Legs: The Natural Education of a Father, is another excellent memoir from this author, that combines humor, with a strong connection to place and the poignancy of everyday life. There are definitely laugh-out-loud moments, even when you are all alone in the house and with no one to share the humor!

In my ongoing effort to connect my interests in food, in the land and to the place where I find myself (rural South Dakota), I have been delving into ever more serious topics. I have to say that if you haven't seen the film, Food Inc., well it will give you some things to think about and may very well change the way you view the simplest act of going to the grocery store. Since seeing that, I've been broadening my horizons and now have checked out from the library two books that have been on my one-of-these-days reading list: This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein and The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert.

It's all a bit serious, I know, but everything I read becomes food and nourishment that ends up in my work in the studio. Along with that, I'm trying to be more proactive in life, working harder to understand what seems most perplexing and learning to make more intentional choices. I'm overwhelming myself here...I do think I might seek out a can't-put-down novel for balance (any recommendations?). Meanwhile, I must now tend to Chapters 5 and 6 in Nonprofit Leadership and Management for my class.

Happy reading...see you soon!

A Rearranged Life

A new week beginning and so far, so good. According to the calendar of course, the week began yesterday, but as my entire life has been wrapped around the academic calendar (even now, because of my husband), the week always feels as if it officially begins on Monday. Our weekend was spent in reorganizing the studio spaces....a task that needs to be repeated endlessly, it seems.  This time, though, I think I've got it right! There was just so much clutter in my space, in John's space and in the large outer shared area, that it was hard for me to concentrate.  I would have cleaned up before, but we didn't actually have places to put things, so bits of this and that were piled everywhere, including all over the ping pong table, which we'd like to actually use sometime to play ping pong!  A trip to Target netted two sets of wire shelving on sale, and with a swing over to Lowe's we came home with a number of nice looking garden bricks and two more 6 foot boards for my studio.  Having the new set of shelves in the outer area allowed me to use the space for storing art supplies that we often need to retrieve, but don't need cluttering up desks and spaces underfoot.  And I finally figured out the ideal arrangement for my studio (how many tries has it taken!?!), so that the room doesn't feel like a trailer (12' x 24')!  The spaces feel just right now and the clutter is slowly disappearing everywhere....even into the newly organized storage area, which I am now referring to as "deep storage"....available, but not visually in view!  I was pretty tired by the end of the day, but entered the studio with a new enthusiasm, since the spaces had a better flow and the clutter was gone....at least temporarily!!

The little sitting area is now somewhat sectioned off and the 

brick/board instant shelving extends the entire width of 

the space (the bookshelves moved to the other end of the room)

so everything above it can be "pin board" space!

The sewing machine table/desk is also where I do my morning 

meditation drawings and my morning pages (a short writing practice)

The tables now form kind of a rectangle....the table closest to the 

front is all the work in my shop, MissouriBendStudio.

One of the things I'm making sure to incorporate back into my life is books...reading them, that is.  John and I both read a beautiful little book while in Wyoming, The Solace of Open Spaces, by Gretel Ehrlich when we were at Brush Creek.  A little reading throughout the day kept my mind open and fresh.  Now, I've just finished Bird Cloud, a new book by Annie Proulx.  I'm very sad to have finished it, but it was the perfect read for easing me back into life here....Bird Cloud is her property in Wyoming in the very area where we just had the residency.  This is a lovely memoir about her life in Wyoming, the search for the property, as well as the trials, tribulations and joys of building a dream house.  There are sections in the book about here French Canadian roots, about the wildlife in the area and about the deep history of the land.  I identified with every last inch of that book....I too have French Canadian roots on both sides of my family, I too am in love with land in Wyoming and although I've not built a house anything like she has, I have built two houses and was able to share and delight in the tale of Bird Cloud's construction.  Needless to say, I loved this book....but must tear myself apart from it and move to other things.

I've mentioned numerous times my interest in the rocky landscape of the area where we were in Wyoming and how it has influenced my work. Since I know very little about rocks and the earth sciences, I'm happy to be learning all kinds of new things in this book I just bought to assist me in my amateur geological pursuits!

That's it for now....there is enough time left in this day, I hope, to post some of the new pieces on my website...FINALLY!

Thanks so much for reading and sharing your comments....always great to hear from you!

When In Doubt, Read A Book

Things haven't progressed so well lately and in often I find that my frustrations are running high.  I figured I was putting too much pressure on myself and trying too hard to make something happen in the studio, instead of letting things evolve.  I realized by the end of the week that I had nothing to show for myself...not even any new fragment pieces, so it was clearly time to take a break.  A slow, dawning realization hit me just about that time...why, I needed to read a book....input, food, nourishment....I was running quite on empty, which was part of the problem.  

So, I gave myself time for some delicious naps and reading time on the front porch.  Sometimes it's too sunny to sit on the back deck in the afternoon and lately I've come to feel the river as kind of a menacing presence, so I'd rather be in front.  I have several books going at once, one of which is this latest Bill Bryson book, At Home, and of course, after lo, these many months, I'm still reading Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (almost finished though!).  My new issue of Selvedge arrived on Saturday and that's always a delight for the senses.

Alas, just as I was really starting to relax about this whole Missouri River flooding saga, since we're still dry and the water releases are stable (still high but not going higher)....a really big storm came in the middle of the night last night and more erosion on the banks, rock down in the water and bare dirt in spots on a number of lots.  More cash out to re-stabilize....it seems endless these days.  I'm hoping to have a more cheery report in a few days!!!