Explorer's Notebooks

Explorer's Notebooks, no.1

I've started a new series of drawings inspired by a delightful book I recently checked out from our local public library, Explorer's Sketchbooks: The Art of Discovery & Adventure.  A delicious feast filled with wonderful images, narratives and biographical information, this book makes you want to get off your duff (is that still a word or is it too old fashioned?) to explore the world....from far flung locations across the globe to your own backyard! There are sketchbooks and writings from familiar names such as James Cook and John James Audubon, but countless folks I'd not heard of....such as Ranulph Fiennes, Vivian Fuchs Henry Walter Bates. Curious and often fearless, these men and women explored the unknown and left us the record of their treks.

While this book presents the sketchbooks of explorations into all corners of the globe, it occurred to me that it might also be an inspiration to explore the frontiers of the imagination and inner worlds that lurk deep inside each one of us. Everything is ripe for discovery and the best news is that even if it has been discovered and/or claimed by someone else, it hasn't been discovered by you and seen with your eyes.

Part of what I'm drawn to in the pages of this book and the pages of other such journals of uncharted territories (I'm thinking of Lewis and Clark and Maximilian de Wied and their journeys up the Missouri River, for instance) is the actual beauty of the layout of the words on the page...often just lines of handwritten text interspersed with drawings. Attempts at capturing something novel, the unknown, a revelation...all while the perceptions and the visions are fresh. Writing and drawing serve as ways of processing. Someone from another far distant future may no longer be able to read and decipher these words, but they will appear in the abstract as marks on the page, interspersed with images. I'm not so sure why I find that fascinating, but I do....and worth exploring.

I'm not a sketchbook keeper myself, but am inspired enough that maybe this is the impetus I need as I explore my own locale. Though I have a series of grumbles about where I live (and who doesn't!?), I cannot deny the beauty and history that flows across my path each day as the waters of the Missouri River make their way down south to join the Mississippi on the journey to the Gulf of Mexico.

Missouri River, looking southeast, from our backyard one recent evening

But, back to that delicious book, now laid open on my lap as I type. I want to share just a snippet from an introductory bit by Wade Davis looking back on his early explorations and what it means to be curious and delight in the many worlds we inhabit.

"The work you do is just a lens through which to view and experience the world, and only for a short time. The goal is to make living itself, the act of being alive, one's vocation, knowing full well that nothing ultimately can be planned or anticipated, no blueprint found to predict the outcome of something as complex as a human life. If one can remain open to the potential of the new, the promise of the unimagined, then magic happens and a life takes form." -- Wade Davis

We are the lens....each one of us sees and experiences the world in a unique way....there are countless ways to explore those worlds. Cheers!


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Out of the Ordinary

Greetings, friends! Johntimothy and I recently returned from a trip to New Orleans for my nephew's wedding. We had a wonderful little family reunion, complete with wedding festivities and some sightseeing in the French Quarter. I love this lovingly festooned tree above, which perfectly captures the spirit of the place. 

On the other hand, I was also captivated by the richness of the colors on the buildings up and down the avenues....I found myself mostly photographing color swatches!

Those colors, especially in combination, are good enough to eat! Now we are settling back in, reacquainting ourselves with the studio and watching our world slowly turn greener by the day. A sense of renewal is in the air and I eagerly await the longer daylight hours to relax outside on the front porch.

Out of the Ordinary

I'm adding some new pieces to the Missouri Bend Studio shop, as well as working on collaborative pieces for The Art Filled Home . My daily drawing practice was a bit sporadic last month, but I have gotten back to a steady balance and am making sure to make a drawing each day. 

April 1, 2017

Making these little 4x6" drawings is so rewarding on many levels.....it's always a surprise to see what happens on the page, as I have no idea what will emerge when I begin. But also, the drawings inform me, as if lifting the lid off something somehow just underneath the surface, hidden from view. This morning, as I made the drawing, I acknowledged the desire to go back to drawing small vessels.....cups, bowls....as they are a metaphor for so many things. I'll leave you with that thought and pick up with it in a few days....see you then.

Glimpsing Infinity and Other Musings

Untitled

One of the many things I meant to write about while I was working on the Anonymous: The Diary Drawings series (see recent posts!) was the idea of glimpsing infinity. I know, of course, that infinity is a notion, a concept and not quite something that you catch a glimpse of, but still....the idea resurfaces each time I sit down to draw. The notion of glimpsing infinity lingers with me, so I will attempt to explain and see if the idea or the experience resonates with you.

The Journey

A drawing, or any artwork for that matter, is created through a series of decisions....sometimes split-second decisions, sometimes ones that involve more contemplation and thought. What occurs to me as I am working is that there are virtually unlimited possibilities from which to choose. Any mark that I make could be otherwise, its location could be otherwise on the page, which might be of a different material entirely. If you do a little thought experiment and multiply the many tools you might use to work with, by the surfaces there are on which to work, by the placement on the page, by the countless colors that could be employed, by the ideas in your head....well, it makes me dizzy! 

The Book of a Layered Land

The idea that it's all been done before, that there is nothing new under the sun, doesn't quite hold water if you open yourself to all the endless possibilities before you. Multiply all those things above by all the different moments in time, by the various incarnations of the self that evolve over time....well, it really is endless. I can't buy into the notion that there is nothing new to say or any new ways to say something that's already been said time and again. The world is wide, the possibilities are infinite. There is always room for what you have to express, because each one of us embodies our own set of infinite possibilities. The marks and images that land on the page through the work of my hands are the expression of my experience....that's my calling...to make those marks. And your calling is to make those marks only you can make, through whatever means you have at your disposal....at any time and place in the sea of infinity.

Until next time....enjoy the possibilities!

The Unfolding Story

Please forgive the long absence....I've been immersed in the studio most days working on finishing the pieces for Anonymous: The Diary Drawings. All 36 are now finished, mounted on foam core and, as of yesterday, in the hands of the fine folks at the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings.

In my last posts, I shared with you the most recent pieces along with my musings about the ideas behind the series. I just checked back on my last post and realize that I left off with number 15...wow, that was less than halfway through the series. Well, I won't post the next 21 from the series, but will give you a view of a selection of some of my favorites. Eventually this work will make its way to my website.

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no. 18

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.19

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.20

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.21

One of the things I realized during the course of this work was that while I had these ideas about the content of the series....history and the anonymity that inevitably happens over time, these diary drawings were ultimately my diary drawings unfolding over the course of my recent days. I can see the references and symbols that speak to the events unfolding in my world, both the outer and inner worlds that ground me in time and place. 

And so, these drawings are really, in a sense, the "everyman" diary drawings....that is, the "every person", whether man or woman....we all experience events through the lens of our culture as well as our place in the flow of time. Each of us experiences hope and sorrow, the rush of experience and the press of our own immortality. Each one of us has our own story to tell. And so, these diary drawings are fragments of my story.

Anonymous: The Diary Drawings no.36

As I neared the completion of the series at no.36, I could feel the anxiety creeping up...the sense of loss and the let down that often looms after an intense period of work. I experience this even with approaching end of a book in which I am immersed. I pause more during the reading....I savor and try to forestall the inevitable. But there it is...no.36. The end. 

And yet....there is always more to the story. Perhaps another such series will soon be underway.

I'm so pleased to have been invited to be part of this upcoming exhibition of 18 women artists in South Dakota, Women At Work: South Dakota Artists. The show will open in the next couple of weeks, so if you are within a reasonable proximity of Brookings, South Dakota in the next couple of months, hope you will have a chance to see it. I'm honored to part of such esteemed company! 

Enjoy your weekend and thanks for your support and encouragement....and for checking in here on this blog. 

Anonymous: The Diary Pages

Diary Page no.1

I have a longtime interest in history and in the trace we leave behind, as individuals and as cultures. This exploration if really at the heart of the work that I make in the studio. The quiet intimacy of the details of a life lived out day by day is reflected in the scale of my work. The pieces are meant be seen one-on-one, that is, not from across the room like a large painting, but like one would look at the page of a book...or perhaps...the page of an anonymous diary. 

I've been invited to participate in a show of a select group of women artists here in South Dakota at the South Dakota Art Museum and I'm excited about this new series of "diary pages" I've begun working on. Much of what we know about how people lived in different times and place comes from personal narratives in the form of diaries. The broad sweep of culture is echoed day-by-day in the lives of each one of us, whether we keep a record of it or not. 

Diary Page no.2

The diary page seemed a perfect format to bring together my interests and my joy in making works on paper. Each page is made with two sheets of 8" x 6" Japanese paper. The backing sheet contains the "writing", that is, drawing that echoes the pattern of words on a page. The top sheet is the "drawing" that brings the written word to life, possibly evoking a day, an event...or a moment in time. 

The process of making the anonymous written diary page is very meditative, as I imagine the person who might have written the "words." Afterwards, the page that is the drawing flows naturally and somehow echoes the writing both visually and metaphorically. After the drawing page is dipped in beeswax, it is attached to the written page with tiny stitches in the corners, but also through sewing, beads, buttons, sewn on collaged drawings and other bits. 

Diary Page no.3

These "diary pages" are perhaps filled with the imaginary record of births and deaths, festivals and special occasions that mark time and allow us to look back at the fulness of our days. Yet, while these pieces are filled with words and language, my sense is that they are filled with longing.....for lost days, loves found and then forgotten, for the ability to stop time and to hold on forever to everything we hold dear. 

December 13, 2016

Speaking of marking time, I've just posted a random assortment of some daily drawings in my Etsy shop. I think you can get the sense of how the daily drawings from my own life inform the drawings in the diary pages. Below on the drawing from January 9th...those acorn-like seed forms showed up later that same day on diary page no. 2.

December 16, 2016

January 9, 2017

I don't have the title yet for the series of diary pages, but it will come to me in due time and I will know it when it arrives, I'm quite sure. For now, they will just be numbered as I make them. I plan to have over 40 finished for the show and hang them together in a grid. With their small size, it will take a lot of these pages to hold together on a large gallery wall in the museum. Though each one is delicate, I hope that together they will have enough presence to beckon the viewer from afar.

Hope your year has started off well. Except for the cold that has turned into a sinus infection (modern medicine now at work), my year has started off on a positive note. Cheers!

Yellow

Homing Instinct

I'm drawn to yellow of late, that is, the color yellow. Perhaps it has to do with how my world turns to yellow in the autumn. In many locales, with the change of seasons, there is a predominance of red in the colors of the land, but where I live in South Dakota....it feels mostly yellow. And so many yellows....soft yellows, like the grasses, to the deep rich saffron yellows that cover the soybean fields for a brief period in the early fall.

The cottonwoods and other trees across the river are on their way to a luscious yellow. When I bought flowers at the store the other day, I chose yellow to boost my spirits. These little stems below were left behind on the counter so they got their own tiny vase!

When I sit down to make the daily drawings lately, I find that I reach for that rich yellow ochre ink so it can play a role. I do love the way yellow mingles so beautifully with grays and all the various "shades" of white!

October 14, 2016

October 15, 2016

These recent daily drawings haven't been listed in my shop yet....they need to live in their little pile on my desk for awhile before I am ready to send them out into the world. For now, I delight in the warmth of their yellows!

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead....cheers!

Autumn Suite: Sumac

Those rich, red sumacs! One of my favorite things about fall here on the Missouri River....they line the banks of the river in our back yard. While most of the year the sumacs are not all that interesting, not to mention highly invasive, it is in the height of autumn that I fall in love with them all over again. I forgive them all previous annoyances!

Autumn Suite: October no.2 / Sumac

This is the latest in the Autumn Suite series, inspired by those beautiful sumacs. If you want to see the drawing in closer detail, follow the link above, which will take you to my Etsy shop where there are some closer shots. The leaves are made with many, many tiny dots in various colors....mostly red, of course, but also green, orange and brown. The beeswax only makes it richer.

I'll leave you with another little surprise....a few weeks ago, I started combining some of the little bits from the artworks (unfinished and/or cast aside) laying about the studio. I guess I was inspired by all the prints laying in piles all over the ping pong table in the large open area my husband and I share. He had been cleaning out the flat files and I laid claim to a pile that was going to be thrown away. My husband, Johntimothy, is a printmaker and this pile contained all sorts of yummy printed paper....woodcut, silkscreen, intaglio....it's a goldmine! I made a couple of tiny collage/mixed media pieces....this is one below. It measures probably 3" tall and is practically dominated by that big round button at the bottom that feels to me like a kind of wheel. I can see a whole installation of tiny 3-d collage pieces pinned randomly on a large gallery wall.....I'll continue to make these little items as the spirit strikes!

Temperatures are dropping here....tonight we have our first freeze warning....really???? This autumn business is getting serious and sounding suspiciously like winter is on its way soon. Enjoy the rest of your week! Cheers!

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Welcome Autumn!

Autumn Suite: September Recollection no.5

This morning, here in the United States, we officially ushered in autumn and I'm happy that it's here!

The last few days have been unseasonably warm....too hot and muggy to even have a nice walk. I hope that will soon change, as I'm ready for those crisp temperatures to return. 

The leaves are turning more quickly now and after last night's rain, I was happy to see the accumulation of color and texture on the back deck.

This morning remained dark and gloomy, but so beautiful! I love it when the clouds hang low and the hills of Nebraska across the river are shrouded in mist. I thought sure there was some weather brewing out there, but by noon it had cleared up. Still....autumn is here and I welcome it!

Thinking and Rethinking

Thinking and rethinking, I suppose that's what we spend our days doing. I sort of half expected a huge sigh of relief and a big let down after the exhibition was up (see the previous post) and the reception was behind me. That hasn't been the case, which is a good thing! Creating all that new work energized me and I think it is a good sign that I just started the next day in the same way...let's get to work on what's next. So what has unfolded over the last several days? Well...

There's The Scroll for Meandering Lines that was quite fun to make. And, just finished is a book page inspired by the idea of mirrored histories and parallel lives. It is kind of uncanny to meet up with someone, even in the online world, who has had such a similar journey through life that it seems as if the two of you have lived parallel lives. This little freestanding piece, The Book of Mirrored Histories, speaks to that idea.

As I turn my attention once again to creating more of a living from my work, I realize I need to be smarter about my Etsy shop. Lots of tricks of the trade don't seem to apply to people who make art and especially those sellers who create one-of-a-kind works, but that's who I am. I don't think in terms of multiples and I don't feel good about creating reproductions (often called prints by most folks out there, but not in this house when you live with a real printmaker) because for me, the work I make is about the one-of-a-kind and about the actual mark, the texture of materials, paper, beeswax, teabags, thread....all of it. I can't bear the idea of the flatness that would come of only having an image of the pieces. I appreciate others who make there more expensive originals available in a more affordable reproduction, but for me, it just doesn't work.

So....I just have to streamline the way I proceed in other ways and operate a bit more efficiently. I'm thinking that if I limit myself to working in just 2 or 3 standard formats/sizes then shipping the work won't become a new invention each time. As it is now, each sale becomes a new challenge as I have to find and cut cardboard to the right size and then buy the appropriate shipping envelope at the post office when I trek into town each time I make a sale. Surely, this is a pretty inefficient way to operate, but then....well, my focus has always been the studio. But, the new promise I've made to myself is that I'm going to get smarter and more efficient. I'll have a store of shipping materials on hand, ready to go, in anticipation of an increase in sales!! Well, that would be nice, but I'm not going to focus on it.

For now, I've spent my morning trying to work on learning more about search engine optimization (SEO), using Pinterest in new ways and rethinking the listings I have already on Etsy. I need to get into the studio....I am an artist first and foremost and get a bit antsy when I'm not making. I know many of you are seasoned artists and have learned these lessons in working efficient....I'm certainly open to suggestions and happy to hear from you.

Thanks so much for your interest and support in my work! Cheers and enjoy the upcoming weekend. We're going to have 60 degrees tomorrow here in Burbank, South Dakota. Woo hoo!!

Greetings in the First Days of Summer

Dust to Dust no.4

Dust to Dust no.5

Dust to Dust no.6

Hello! Hoping the summer season is finding everyone well. Here in South Dakota, the temperatures are turning warmer and more like summer every day. I'd say spring was mostly cooler than normal, but we've also had a fair amount of rain, which is a very good thing! Last year's severe drought is still on everyone's mind, so there is a grateful sigh of relief to have rain this year. The garden is thriving, including all manner of weeds. Time to get back out there and do some serious weeding! The irises and peonies have had their time of beautiful blooms and are now turning the stage over to the day lilies which are showing signs of flowering sprouts that grow what seems like inches each day.

Johntimothy and I had a much needed rejuvenating vacation in Washington, DC, where we immersed ourselves for days on end in museums surrounded by amazing works of art. We were there at the tail end of the Albrecht Durer exhibition at the National Gallery, which was a highlight especially for Johntimothy, the printmaker! We chanced upon a fascinating lecture on the Sunday afternoon we were at the National Gallery by author/historian Ross King who was discussing his new book Leonardo and the Last Supper. We now have a signed copy and I can't wait to read it! One of the surprise highlights of our trip though, was the exhibition at the Phillips Collection, Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life. I had seen Braque's paintings before, but not a collection of them and somehow this time they hit us with their subtle power and for both of us, Braque's work stood out as much more interesting and nuanced than Picasso's. Interesting.

So, back at home now, fully immersed in the chaos of daily life and work. Trying to reestablish rhythms and continuing my reading explorations. Just finished a fabulous book by a local author, Jerry Wilson, Waiting for Coyote's Call: An Eco-Memoir From The Missouri River Bluff. The book is beautifully written and centers around the building of his home and the restoration of much of the land to native grasses. It is labeled an eco-memoir and it is definitely that, but more.....a inspiration for living a thoughtful life connected to place and learning to find the wisdom found in nature and within. Highly recommended!

Somehow in recent weeks I finished these pieces from the Dust to Dust series. I believe I showed them to you while in progress, but now I call them finished. I didn't take any shots of the sides which have drawing on them as well, but they are on 1 1/2" cradled clayboard....they hover somewhere between painting and drawing, but lean more toward drawing with layers of acrylic paint and acrylic ink. I'm still haunted by notions of the buried history in the land....time and memory, the lost traces of our collective lives.

And now....it's a beautiful Sunday and Johntimothy and I will take a drive over across the river to Wynot, Nebraska to the St. James Marketplace crossing our fingers all the while that there will be at least one homemade blueberry pie for us to bring home!  See you soon....enjoy the day!

Infinite Connections

No.5 / The Celadon Suite

This quote from Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie has been resonating with me....

"Who what am I? My answer: I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I've gone which would not have happened if I had not come..." 

There is an unshakeable sense in me of a connection with everything....that is, everything we experience is connected. Past, present and future are inextricably linked and there is a rippling flow of energy that moves out from each of us intersecting with the flow of others. If, for a moment, you think you don't matter, you must know that each of us changes the world day by day.....in ways we cannot know or imagine. Life really is a dance and without our brief time on the stage, the music and the dance would be otherwise. 

Winter Mediation With Pearls

This week a new piece from the Celadon Suite, along with a meditation drawing and another little item, not shown here,  have all been added to MissourBendStudio. I've just posted another week's worth of dailies over at MissouriBendMusings, including my favorite from the week below.

February 6, 2013

I hope your creative spirit is flourishing! I'm not saying that mine is on fire, but it's a quest....a constant striving to stay true and to make the work that I must make. Many things get in the way....mostly my own shadow, but there are moments when I know I'm connecting to something very real....I think you probably know those moments too. They provide a fresh glimmer of recognition and lift you out of the ordinary....fine moments those are!

Hope your week is wonderful!

Maps as Metaphor

Hello again....and welcome to autumn (or spring for my friends in the Southern Hemisphere)! Wow, seems it's been a week since my last post.  One of things about my new daily practices and the increased time spent in the studio is that I have become aware how much time I was spending on the computer before...as I'm obviously not there quite so much anymore! Because I am working more on the pieces that will end up on my website, a slower process, I have less to show, so you haven't missed anything! 

I am working on a new series that is still somewhat in development. I began to envision the grid and started folding full pages of inexpensive Japanese paper into  sections, which led me to think of them as maps and that seemed a rather ideal format for many reasons. Maps are tools for exploration, marking a path, charting a territory and, as such, are wonderful metaphors for dealing with the creative process.  Several layers of drawn lines and acrylic paint were laid down and then I began drawing rocks....there are those rocks again. Below are a couple of pieces in progress. More apologies for my terrible photos, but somehow I've got the tripod out of whack and the photographs are quite cock-eyed. I've fiddled with it endlessly to no avail....oh, the trials and tribulations of not being a photographer!  

I haven't got the folds right for a map, so these are just single-sided drawings, but once I begin working on them as maps, they'll be two-sided and will fold up to be held in the hand in their closed form.  Lots of exploration ahead and I hope to have many maps in the future.  This brings me to another bit of good news!

I am very fortunate that this worked out, but I'm going to go to another artist's residency next month....Jentel Artists Residency Program, which is in northern Wyoming, near Sheridan.  This residency will run for nearly a month, from October 15 to November 13th!!!  I'm very excited and will have a nice long expanse of time to explore these new ideas.

I've decided that all the pieces from my Etsy shop, which live in various carefully stacked piles on a long table in my studio, will go with me in a couple easily transportable plastic boxes. As it is getting close to the holidays, I thought it might be best not to put my shop in vacation mode, which would basically take it off-line.  I am planning to check in on things once a day and ship any sold pieces once a week when I go into Sheridan, which is some distance away. In preparation for this time away, I'm offering free shipping now until just before I go, so hopefully there will be less to take with me! If anyone out there is at all interested in a near-future purchase at Missouri Bend Studio, take advantage of free shipping until October 12 with the coupon code FREESHIPPING

See you early next week....with some finished work!

Enjoy your weekend!