Poem

January 15th, 2018

Took a poetry workshop this past weekend at Woodmere Art Museum with Ursula Rucker.
Never studied writing or poetry (since high school and…) and want to incorporate words in my work, this sounded interesting as a good place to start—and it was! Small group—5 plus Ursula. We listened to music and just wrote what came to us…several of the women had written poems before and their work off the top of their head was so strong. Mine responded to the rhythm of the music and perhaps where my life is right now.

Image of my writing journal

WE CAN DO THIS …

Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run;
Everywhere — up/down, here/there;
STOP!

Think—what/why/when,
You/me/them/us/all;
Sway—
TOGETHER

Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance, Dance,
Round and round and round and round.
Still a pluse—still hanging on
STOP!
Then start again

Look, Look, Look;
See that, see this -Look, look – LOOK
Closer and closer
I see you. Do you see me?

Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run;
We can run
TOGETHER;
Take my hand—Run, Run, Run;
This way, that way—over and over and over;
Is there anything else?
Life goes on —the world still turns – who knows why
I don’t. BUT, I’m glad you’re here!

Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run;
Together, step outside the race,
Slow down and Dance, Dance, Dance!

Joy in darkness when you are with me—I am not alone—hold my hand—in the dark/in the light;
I am strong —you are too —we are strong—all are strong —we can do this
TOGETHER
Circles, Circles, Circles – Round and Round and Round—all of us
TOGETHER

Night/Day, Night/Day—Work/Play, Work,/Play
Sleep/Love, Sleep/Love —Think/Feel, Think/Feel
All of it—LIFE

Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run;
In this world and the next
Run, Run, Run, Run, REST/Enjoy—REST/Enjoy
Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Run;
All the world —TOGETHER!

Needs work but I had fun. Thanks, Ursula, for opening a door!

Moon Tapestry

January 13th, 2018

Haven’t posted in a while – holidays take their toll on my own work. Did get our cards designed and sent and tried to work on the little holiday project Rebecca suggested… but didn’t get started until after New Years so I decided to use a winter theme instead of a Christmas one. I got out my pen and made sketches of a simple moon lit scene, found yarns among my stash and warped my 6 dent Hokett loom at 12 epi.

Image of weaving set up with Hokett loom Image of weaving set up with Hokett loom

I was excited as I liked my design and was eager to work on curves with eccentric wefts. BUT… in my excitement I worked on the new skills and seem to have forgotten my old ones – as a result my weaving pulls in and I’m not a happy camper!

This was to be titled “She dances by the light of the moon” but has been changed to “She howls at the moon”!

Summer Sketches

November 22nd, 2017

Never posted about our trip to VT this Sept. We had put off figuring out what we wanted to do for our anniversary. Finally it was a few days before and we decided we should do something and we didn’t want to go south as there were terrible storms etc and reports said they could effect the north eastern coast so we figured we’d go to northern VT. Bread and Puppets were having a last of the season performance and that could be fun. We headed to VT and it turned out they had a heat wave—in the 90’s—but we stayed in Rochester VT and saw Peter Brooke’s exhibit at Big Town Gallery and one evening headed south to see Susan Abbott’s exhibit at Gallery North Star which were both great! BUT…Bread and Puppets on a 90 degree day… Once the sun goes down things cool off quickly and the evenings were lovely but that heat and a hot mountain sun… nope!

Image of sketches done in VT Image of sketch in VT

I did these sketches early in the morning before Bob woke up from the window in our room—well not the berries—they were done on a little hike we took. I think they might turn into a print design…
Image of sketch done in VT
This morning was very foggy and this sketch was done as the fog was burning off.

So, we left Sunday and headed home and since we had planned on taking off Monday—we did—we went down the shore—to Cape May Point and the weather was perfect and we had a most wonderful end of summer day!!!

Image of feet on the beach
Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving and as much as I love fall, I miss summer!

Rotator Drawings

November 18th, 2017

When I fell on my face this summer in Colorado while hiking I concentrated on my sorry, sad bruised face and iced my wrenched shoulder. Well, perhaps I should have paid more attention to my sorry, sad shoulder because an MRI finally showed I have “complete-full thickness tears” of almost anything I could tear and they have retracted! Plus other wear and tear… Luckily, I have a lot of movement but unluckily not a lot of strength – so lots of PT, sexy black tape on my arms and learning how to deal… Again, when I angst about things I draw them. So… I got hold of my MRI files and printed them out – another learning event as I’m a mac person and these only open on a pc – but I found a wonderful instructor at school to bring me up to speed and I’ve printed some slices out.
Now I’m studying them, sketching them, researching tendons and the like and starting to draw them. I’m now friendly with words like supraspinatus, infraspinatus and glenoid neck… and lots more. Not my idea of fun!

Image of MRI Image of MRI Image MRI

Like anything I draw I begin by doing factual drawings to understand the subject – then I can move on from there. I explore various media – so far I have worked with charcoal, watercolor, and oil pastel. Here are some of my first attempts at owning my shoulder! There will be more – perhaps even a small tapestry… perhaps…

Image of MRI study Image of Studies of my shoulder
Image abstract MRI study

Oh, and I also sing in the shower to my shoulder about how we’re going to get through this… but that’s another story!

Freshmen Drawing 2017

November 17th, 2017

Only three classes left in my drawing class this semester! WOW – how did that happen?

image of students deawing

Moments of Wonder

October 29th, 2017

One of the great things about having a cell phone is that a camera is always with me. Perhaps not as versatile as my regular camera with it’s interchangeable lenses but the important thing is that it’s there. Whenever I’m walking or wandering about and see amazing pattern or colors I can take them home with me and they end up in my work. Lots of times we might be on a road trip or other planned event and I take my camera and sometimes images happen and sometimes they don’t but my cell is always with me capturing serendipitous unplanned moments of wonder. Here are a few from this summer. Some from Colorado, some from New England, some from walks in the Wissahickon here at home in Philadelphia.
[Click image for larger view.]

Image of twisted bark Image of rocks with greens and purples. Image of curved rocks

Image of bright orange bark Image of torn bark. Image of textured Bark

The textures and colors can keep me busy sketching and drawing for days, weeks, and much longer as my head swims with ideas for paint and fiber translations.