A River of Words

I recently brainstormed about how to transform an ugly rock wall on the front of my studio - I even solicited ideas on Facebook (and got some great suggestions). In the end, I decided to paint the wall a solid color and to add poem fragments and phrases to the grouted area between the rocks. Here is the wall before the transformation began. B O R I N G


My dear husband came over one evening and power washed the dirt and grime off the wall of rocks (and also painted a layer of primer, but that process was not photo worthy).


Howard let me do the first swipe of ceremonial painting . . . .


. . . and then he took over to get the real coverage done.


Yesterday I started writing poetry fragments on the grout.




My friend Sam was over at the studio for a play date, so I enlisted her to add her touch.





I will continue to experiment with the best black pens to use and will also be inviting other studio guests and playmates to add their words. In the meantime, I'll be adding word fragments each time I'm at the studio so that my River of Words will begin to flow.

A Perfect Summer Week

I'm home from spending a perfect summer week at the Oregon Coast -- a cabin nestled in the woods, warm sunny weather, a husband and then a friend to hang out with, all punctuated by an art class. My week in review.
A hike.


A swim.


A dinner.


A treasure.


And then my class began at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Sand Painting and Mixed Media with Judy Vogland as our instructor.

DAY 1












DAY 2










DAY 3











DAY 4

Judy is such an amazing teacher. She is patient, encouraging, generous with her time, encouraging, willing to push us out of our comfort zone, encouraging, knowledgeable, and did I mention encouraging?


Because it was such a diverse class, I thought it would be fun to show some of the highlights of our final Show and Tell where each of us presented what we had been working on, our challenges, and our successes.











Judy and Bob witnessing the work.


The great people I spent four full days (and sometimes evenings) with:


After four days, I managed to move three pieces along, although none are completed (a rarity for me!).