The Sketchers Get Together (but apart)

The Sketchers went down to the Library Park in Camden

(in separate cars.)

It's been many weeks since we've gotten together

(but apart.)

I usually forget to pack one item.This time: watercolors!

It turned out to be a blessing!

I loved focusing on values, lines, forms!

I would have missed seeing some wonderful qualities

if I had been distracted by paint & color!  

And I would have missed the feeling of my pen

dancing on the paper.

Behind me,
a waterfall, right in town, flows into the Harbor.

Yes, it's almost mid-May 

and I'm wearing a parka and gloves.

And loving it!

The Full Moon Rising

I made a point of watching the moon rise, 

the last night before Spring officially turned. 

I sketched quickly from the upstairs window.

This gorgeous ball,

moved quickly as she rose.

Forget science, forget tanky machines & flags 

on the moon, THIS was the poetic moon 

of childhood wonder & awe!

A sketch, once she was higher and...

again, color was added from memory. 

 

I prefer to sketch & write notes.

But sometimes I'm grateful for my little camera. 

 

She is called The Full Worm Moon,

March being the month when earth worms begin to appear.      

   (Well, maybe not in Maine.)

Also The Sap Moon, when maple sap begins to flow...

 Below: Same place, the next morning.

The sun was now taking the moon's place, 

rising in just about the same place, to the East. 

 And while we had slept the night before,

that old moon had worked her way 

across the southern night sky, toward the West.

I went out to see her before she set behind western tree tops.

She was the same size as the night before, 

but she had on a misty, softly lit robe,

instead of her dazzling nightime party dress.

Springtime! A new awakening!

Farnsworth. Bell Ringers And A Crankie

Festive Holiday doings during the Farnsworth Art Museum's

seasonal Share the Wonder events.

First, a concert by the Penobscot Ringers,a handbell ensemble. 

It was music of the angels & had

a number of us in the audience crying for the beauty of it all!

Such beauty in the midst of some real ugliness in the world.

 After the concert, a lecture by Annie Bailey,

creator of a rotating storytelling mural for the Museum's 

front window. It tells about Maine heroine,

Abbie Burgess, a 16 year old who tended 

The Matinicus Rock Light & took care of her family

during a raging storm in 1856.

Her father, the lighthouse keeper, had gone to the mainland

for supplies, but could not get back for 4 weeks!

Bailey said she chose Abbie as a symbol

of focus of in a time of chaos.  

Something that is needed in these times too.     

(This photo of 1 scene doesn't show the mural's true size

& the window picked up reflections. But...)

The scroll's height is 4 ft. & one full rotation is 60 ft. 

The scroll, called a "Crankie", moves between 2 spools 

by way of a bicycle chain mechanism created by Andrew White. 

Bailey collaborated with a number of people 

to make this project work, & she has studied the Crankies 

of the 19th century.

There was, as with all original projects, 

trial & failure before final successes.

(I'm hoping the mural will stay up beyond its Jan. close date.) 

Good Bye to Autumn Colors

This little sketch isn't really about today.

Pumpkins are now covered in snow, 

& green appears on evergreen trees 

rather than in downtown window displays.

But it's one I reworked recently.

The oranges, warm browns & golds that you see on 

all those Thanksgiving cards have been replaced 

by blues, grays, cool browns: & lots of white! 

Brrr!

Common Ground Fair 2018

The Common Ground Fair: 

Delights every year as if for the 1st time!

Put on by Maine Organic Farmers & Growers Association.

Waiting to get in at the gate when you arrive early!

The Fiddler's Showcase, put on by Maine Fiddle Camp,

included various traditional instruments & even a clogger.

Different ages & levels perform. They must wait their turn.

Storytellers Showcase. And a tent across the way.

The Veggie Parade!

 You can bring your own, 

but there is a tent full of costumes made

by a woman who lives on the coast.

 The Farmer's Market, a variety of stands!

Lots of vegetables, dried flowers...

Natural soaps, tonics, honey... 

The scents, the sights!!

The tastes!

Unlike most places, 

here I have healthy, delicious choices!

 The handmade crafts to buy! Pottery, clothes, bags, 

caps, jewelry, wooden furniture...

Anne Brooks woven woolen scarves, my favorites!

Not your traditional horse show.

Riders were putting large workhorses 

through their paces.

Bareback!

The animals!

The Fair celebrates bicycle power, wind power,

& human hula power.

 One of the pleasures, walking over a half mile through 

cultivated woods to get to & from the Fair.

(Though hay wagons are there for those who need a ride.)

It's pretty & artistic, yes, but it is also a place 

where people of good health, good will, of cooperative spirit

and kindness come together to celebrate

traditional arts & local enterprises. 

Back to Acadia, Autumn, 2018

Excursion to Acadia with an art friend. 

I got to add another panel to my Moleskine accordion book.

The 1st panel created in June, 2016 

The one before yesterday's: Last May.

To see some past posts re. Acadia, click HERE. And here.

From the path down to the (large) Pond, 

from the Jordan Pond House,

where lunches, popovers & views are divine. 

The left shore. Some years ago I hiked the trail 

around the entire lake.

The shore nearby, the carmines & corals 

are waving, Look at us!

Rather than hike we walked gently along carriage paths.

 

Design, color, dancing lights & shadows, 

translucence, luminescence, 

sparkling, shimmering, glittering leaves!

In the woods a stream that flows into into Jordan Pond...

...My friend, who takes gorgeous photos, 

captured my physical surroundings: a dark shady pocket 

in the midst of sunny, brilliant color.

What she didn't know is that she had also captured a mood.

I was remembering happy times spent with a childhood friend 

with whom I used to play in our woods by the creek.

I was grieving, because

I learned of my childhood friend's death last week.

Eagle Lake, how different 

from our explorations around Jordan Pond.

Places, flora, time of day, weather, mountains, bodies of water, 

changing light, so many varied images... 

I said to my friend, 

"Sometimes the beauty seems unbearable in its immensity."

A National Park like this, open to the public, 

is one of America's treasures.

It's an enchanting glimpse of Mother Earth 

for us town & city folks.

  On the way home, a Maine Blueberry field, at sunset...

That was yesterday...

Autumn is passing through Coastal Maine.

Watercolor Mixing in Spring

Watercolor Mixing~ Enjoyment!

That is the diagram of my current paint box. 

Ceramic tray, a total pleasure, 

though too heavy to take on on the road.

Such fun to play Let's Mix Some Greens with a friend...

Possibilities, willy nilly were all over my page

with no thought to composition.

So cutouts & collage created a bit of order.

Il fallait les mettre en valeur.

After such intense focus, greens called me

everywhere I looked! 

Now, they are popping like mad outdoors,

minute by minute, vite, vite! 

taking their place in the midst of winter grays.

A friend calls them:

 "Emerging greens of spring..." 

I think they are in a hurry to arrive in time for summer.

Soon they will take over. 

In full bloom & without the gray contrasts, 

they will be harder to distinguish.

Perhaps we New Englanders are like 

the emerging greens of spring. 

The gardeners are out, the bicyclers, the walkers.

On the sidewalk & in shops, livelier hello's & quicker smiles.

It was a long winter...

It's May!

It's May!

Happy First of May, Joyeux 1er mai! 

In France it is La fête du travail.

In Poland it is too, Swięto Pracy.

A long time ago,

In the US

 we used to make & give May baskets.

So here is my little May gift for you,

including un brin de muguet.

Nourishing the Body and Soul in Winter

 Montessori education tells us to surround ourselves with all things beautiful, 

taking care with selecting our environment.

Since my move to the new studio (dining room), 

and since my increased museum attendance, 

I "curate" my shelves, making order, selecting, arranging, re-arranging.

(The book, top right, The Secret Lives of Color, 

Box of cards by a company called Retrospect.)

 Top, from the local Bright Bird Studio. Below, a shrine box by 

local artist Micaela Grasse. (I placed the little sign inside the window that says, "Good Health".) 

 Watercolor painting on my wall by local artist Ben Hall.

I love that it's a local scene, & love its abstract quality!

 Twinkle lights were up in November. 

They and Bright Birds, shiny baubles, cheer me. 

Colorful woven bowl by a local artist, 

& original illustrations by artist Melissa Sweet 

(also local though nationally known.)

   On a recent cold, gloomy, gray day I bought a sampler of glitter, 

to spark my spirit,

at the art shop on Main St. 

 

It worked, & I've used it on my latest coptic book 

which I stitched while sharing tea with a visiting friend.

She knit & I stitched in my sunny warm dining room.

And we chatted while the cold winds blew.

 Feeding my body (organic wild blueberries & organic rice cereal, 

feeding my soul, with color & art tools.

Since January 1, I read & copy passages from the book, Simple Abundance, into my morning diary, 

using the French translation. The author is all about

gratitude, appreciating life, inner happiness...

 The Library Sketchers group, which I have turned over to the group to lead now, 

still nourishes my love of drawing, 

& feeds me with inspiration & comaraderie. 

Artist Leslie gave us a presentation on paint brushes. 

She generously brought gazillions, & let us experiment with them!  

(the other page: sketching without my glasses 

at my local hair salon, looking into a big mirror.) 

 Leslie's brushes! Talk about abundance!

 Saturday morning, my body & soul get nourished at our indoor Farmer's Market. All local vendors & it has a European feel! This time of year, New Beat Farm had carrots, beets, rutabegas, and cabbage. I sketched, 

then bought a bunch of organic carrots, later made a vegetable soup.

My friend has a lemonade stand, adding hot chocolate & cider at this time of year! 

More to show in another post, but, in short, 

to be at her stand for me is like being in the film, Pollyanna, so much good feeling, color & prettiness!

Many older folks go to Florida in winter, but I love finding

sparkle, light, & color right here. All the more intense, perhaps, against the backdrop of neutral winter grays, umbers, siennas, and muted dark greens of the out of doors. 

Question: What do you surround yourself with?