I realize my last post was about our trip to Maine in a hurricane but I never showed any of my sketches. Our cabin faced the water with small islands leading to the Atlantic. Steps lead down to a small cove with a beach. So even in the hurricane I could still sketch. Many days were foggy, some were wild and stormy, and some mornings were breathtaking.
Fog came and went
Weather Changes
Maine Mornings
In a previous post (titled ‘Heist”) I described a project called “Bound in Place”. It was dyed and then buried as an experiment. When I went to dig it up I couldn’t find it! Hence the “Heist”. Below are images of laying out the rusty bits, attaching them, and adding seed stitching to create texture.
Testing Layout and Stitching
Dyed and Burying Project
I waited until March the dig it up but couldn’t find it, then in late April, I was weeding in this area and there it was, so covered in mud I almost missed it. The poor thing was torn with very distressed fibers. After washing and drying it it was repaired, attached it to dyed linen and backed with a piece of thin felt for stability.
Found and Repaired Project
I’m happy with the result showing the work involved plus a sense of decay—nothing’s permanent. Another time I will bury one in the warmer weather and will mark it better. I’m still interested the effect bugs and other ground dwelling critters may add to the project—and they most likely weren’t at work in the frozen ground!
Been a while. I did get back to painting. Fall has been busy and I’ve been working on landscapes. I’ve been trying to capture a sense of timelessness in my work. It’s a continuation of some of the work I did this summer with my blue images. This was the first of this session but the rest so far have been studies of images I took years ago in Ireland.
Tidewater Trees and Marshland.
I’ll post the Ireland images soon but they also contain marshland. That area between the land and the sea—so threatened right now— is magic to me.
After a day of regrouping and lazing about (I did do my little tapestry as well as some nature prints to record our time – can’t slow down in one day… after that we headed out early to Canada and Campobello Island—nice lunch and then walks on the beach, photographing rocks and seaweed.
Campobello Island.
The next day we headed to Maine’s Quoddy State Park. We’ve done the light House and really wanted to hike in the forest along the coast again. Much is high above the water, some closer and some through the forest it’s self.
Quoddy State Park.
Was glad to have our hiking siticks as there was lots of elevation changes as well as some muddy spots. But every where you looked there was something to enjoy and want to bring home to work with on long winter evenings…
Quoddy State Park.
All good things end and the next day found us 12 hours on the road heading south… not the plan but how it ended up – by the time you hit NJ you want your own bed…
After the intense art retreat in VT, I really needed some down time before heading home. We headed for a place we have stayed before in Machiasport, ME—all the way at the end of the peninsula—the road ends in the driveway—high enough to see over the trees to the ocean but with a magical path down to it’s own beach. We stopped in Machias at the Hannaford to buy groceries and made it in time for wine on the deck as the sun set. Let the unwinding begin!
View from the deck.
The next day was misty and over cast – perfect to laze about in, but we did take a short run back up the road to Jasper Beach.
Jasper Beach.
I always think the ocean gives you gifts, you just have to look and this day was no exception. Bits of seaweed, sticks and feathers, lichen and of course those Jasper Beach stones!
Jasper Beach closeup and my new treasures.
Back at the house I used the small bit of wood as a tiny loom and wove a tiny tapestry to commemorate our visit.
Jasper Beach Tapestry.
The next few days were sunny and we headed to Campobello in Canada (Important rule – always travel with your passport!) and to Maine’s Quoddy State Park for days of hiking, photographing, and just being! That’s another post…