My Prescription for the Flu

Un froid de canard! It's Cold!

For my French & francophone friends, click on the image to read better the above notes. (& please excuse any errors.) My master's degree was about integrating arts into learning. For one of the 1st times in my life, I, as student, was encouraged to learn through my individual style, thereby later accepting various learning styles of my students. I try to study French grammar & vocabulary at least 15 minutes each day, using a traditional graph paper notebook (très linear). But here is an alternate way. French language integrated with my non-linear mode of sketching! I wonder if you have a favored learning style or mode for comprehension & expression.

Little Snow Folks

Snow, all day yesterday. Snow! not rain!

I shovelled & roof raked, conscientious adult, I got it done.

But, for the first time in many years, I also stopped to play.

If an adult needs justification for play,

then let it be for the serious purpose of "Stress Reduction". 

This morning I dressed these little snow folks that were born yesterday.
Just as I was finishing the school bus rode by

& some of the children quickly sat up, pointing. I waved, they waved.

If an adult needs justification for taking the time to play,

then let it be to make children happy.

But, here's the thing:

A little joy, a little love, no better justification than that!

Daily Sketching: Sunday at the Café

Sunday early at Mornings in Paris. What a great way to start the day!

Sip, draw, write, gaze, listen, fully relaxed, fully present. I was so grateful for the time!

Cycles: One Year Ago Today

Sketchbook page, January 12, 2012  Canson #1557 Drawing pad, 9X12, 90 lb paper 

Keeping a journal is a way for me to glimpse into my past. Seasonal patterns often emerge. The annual return of the morning light of January & February energizes me.  

A year ago today I had started a practice of Daily Drawing, influenced by a some of you at Blogspot. By March I was getting ready to go on a trip to France & I abandoned it for my travel journals.

Yesterday I finished a week long art class on creating picture books. It put me on an edge of comfort: drawing from memory & imagination. It's something I, like many (most?) children, loved to do in childhood. Then some outside voices shut that down & sketching the concrete life before me became my trusted process. I'm continuing to play with the new/old practice of creating from imagination. And today I've taken out what's left of my year old sketch pad so I can do one observational journal drawing. Will I do this for the next 365 days?

The future will take care of itself, they say. 

Last year there was a big snow on this day, this year we're in the midst of a January thaw. Looking at the above page, a year ago I was in a state of gratitude. 365 days later, that hasn't changed. 

I'm glad to be here. Good January 12 Day to You!

Fruit Tree: Vietnamese Proverbe

Such a lovely Vietnamese proverb. 

Click on the photo to enlarge.

The potted tree in the drawing is based on one I saw on 

Rue St. Dominic in the 7th arrondissement in Paris 

on one fine April day, 2009. 

What a contrast to our Maine January snow, 2013!

Magical Powers of Snow People

I haven't been sketching much lately, but the other morning I sketched 

a shop window display looking out the window 

of my café in the Old Port. 

 

Several years ago a snowfall created a perfect medium for creating snow folks. Don't you love the snowdog? One year, the Child Me made a snowhorse. You could actually sit on it & rock it as if you were galloping! 

Snowfamilies were out in full force the year of the snow sculpture snow.

Personalities appeared, & you felt the energy of the families working together.

I had few picture books as a child, but I loved the ones I had. One of them was a story of a talking snowman who eventually had to melt (no, it wasn't Frosty). I think there were icicles who told the child how sad they were to leave, but that they would be back the following year. I don't recall the name of the book & can't even find it on the site "Stump the Bookseller". But the impression was deep & lasting.  Then, in the 80's, at my graduate school, I first saw the film based on Raymond Briggs' book The Snowman. 

Here was a snowman who danced, flew, & even visited the boy inside his house, all told in gentle animation with lovely music. I was charmed all over again.I did my final project on an integrated curriculum around the theme of snow.

I can hear my mother's voice right now: "Go out & play in the snow while we have it!" 

OK, Inner Mom Voice, I'm putting on my boots.

The Light is Returning

We took the back road from Belfast to Camden, on our way home from last night's community celebrations in Belfast. The shadows & sunlight played with the snow today, drawing & sculpting masterpieces!

Ducks under the footbridge in Camden, gathering to discuss something of great importance. Perhaps discussing us (rather loudly I might add) & the fact that we hadn't brought them any food. 

As this January first night falls, it offers comfort & well being rather than November's heavy darkness.

The light is returning.

Mornings in Paris

Do you have a favorite hangout where you go repeatedly? I have Mornings in Paris in the Old Port. I love going early, before crowds, & before you have to deposit coins into les parcmètres. (But the parking fees are well worth it, if you want to go later on, like for lunch or midday coffee & treats...)

The coffee is exquisite, 

and the interior is filled with artistic displays.

Illuminated cases show off gorgeous pastries, quiches & bonbons...

This morning, after the early quietude, crowds began to arrive (note a little Portland Maine high fashion here!) & the café buzzed with cheerful questions & answers about the food.

From my favorite window table a dog on the sidewalk was in full view. He watched longingly & attentively for his person who was grabbing a coffee to go...Passersby laughed, & me too, so earnest he was! 

When the clock struck 9 I packed up & ran because the meterfolks would be starting their day...but not without saying au revoir et merci & exchanging a few words in French to proprietor, Isabelle. You can read about her & Mornings in Paris here. The site tells you what a warm & welcoming person she is but I don't know if it tells you how pleasant it is to hear her frequently laugh...It's just as invigorating as her coffee.

Poor November

People around town are already starting to festoon, adorn, trim, embellish & ornament  their lamposts, yards & doors with lights & Christmas decorations. But our actual landscape looks more like this sketch, from November, 2003. 

Mid-November Quebec City, 2012 displayed last shouts of autumn colors...

But signs pointed to next month's celebrations & bookshops were already well stocked with Christmas books. Our month of November seems to get ignored. It lacks the glitz of October & is overshadowed by the anticipation of  December...Still, it's a lovely month...

A Happy November Thanksgiving to you!

Bicycles

I adore bicycles but I'm a little fearful about riding since I fell & broke a bone a few years ago (not on a bicycle). How I loved the freedom & energy generated by pushing those pedals, ever since childhood!! 

Should I ride again? Yes. (But maybe not today...)

The bicycle culture in Amsterdam makes so much sense!

I'm definitely too timid to try this in Paris with, gasp! lots of fast cars & motorcycles!!

 In Amsterdam, such a variety of bicycle morphs! Maybe I could handle this one...

Even when they're parked, they're so wonderful!

The Story of the Not So Simple Slug

News of the oncoming storm motivated me to clean up a garden patch that’s been weedy for a long time.  In pulling up overgrown rocks I noticed a 7 inch slug moving slowly over a flat rock. My first reaction: Eeeeeek!! Impulse to toss it, kill it, destroy it, (or run). But having read & loved The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey I engaged my brain, & understood that it wasn’t going to hurt me. Fear turned to curiosity. After twice going round the surface of a flat rock it slithered down to a lower rock & then crawled there for awhile. Curiosity turned to compassion & even remorse: I suspected that I had uprooted it from its home underneath one of the rocks.That awareness came from having read Suburban Safari by Hannah Holmes. The suburban lawn is a complex habitat chock-full of interdependent life forms!

So I decided to get the facts, ma’am: The slug’s silver slime helps it to crawl & protects it from sharp objects. The slime trails guide it back to it’s tunnels (except in this case I had probably wiped out his trail & maybe his tunnel, oh dear...) the slug has light sensitive eyes on the end of the long tentacles, but it mostly relies on smell to get around. They need dampness & could dehydrate if caught in windy weather. I was relieved to know that the last time I had checked on “my” slug (compassion turned to possessiveness, interesting...) he was back in the soil, so during the winds of hurricane Sandy’s edge he was probably protected.

Just the facts, m’am, but facts are dependent on who is presenting them & why. I watched a film made by a slug poison bait company. I now learned that the slug is my enemy because it eats farmers’ crops. My protectiveness turned to hatred & brought me back around to my initial fear. 

And now? I’m still glad I met the slug & don’t hate it & still find it fascinating. 

What a complex world we live in, though, even in relation to a simple slug.

Joyful Vegetables

  

I was so happy to see you all at The Local Buzz Opening, thank you!! The show will be up through November 12. The Local Buzz Coffee House & Wine Bar is a great place to hang out. Sunday Ronda Dale is performing from 11 to 2! She's a wonderful local songwriter & singer! 

A new vegetable series has begun as many of my little postcard drawings of Maine & France have been going to new homes.

"Eat your vegetables," we used to hear as metropolitan suburban children  But today, in the more rural state of Maine I hear: "Eat your fresh, organic, local vegetables!", or better yet, "Grow your own." I come with no farming skills or experience, so for now I'm drawing my own.

Tomorrow I go to the Deering Oaks Farmer's Market!! Happy & Healthy Weekend to you! 

Process & Product, Introvert & Extrovert

This quick sketch in my private journal makes me think of concepts that have been important to me during my whole life: Process verses Product. This artist whom I sketched goes deep into her spiritual process. She studies technique & also connects with imagery that is important to her spirit. On the way, the paintings she creates, indeed Products, are lovely to enjoy. In my childhood it was the Process of Drawing that sustained me, & the pressure to create Products that inhibited me. The balance between the 2 got lost. 

My Products are currently "exposed" ( the French word for art exhibit is "exposition) on the café wall, & they're being bought. It's a relatively new thing, so I reflect again on Process verses Product, or rather, Process AND Product. I also reflect on the personality types of Intovert & Extrovert. Like Ferdinand the Bull, I am (mostly) an Introvert living in an extroverted world. Ferdinand & his book, in both my childhood Polish version & the English, was my hero & I loved him. I still do. Do you know Ferdinand?

 In the end, he got to go back & sit under his favorite tree, "smelling the flowers just quietly." "I odtąd, chociaż może to plotka, zawsze w tym miejscu można go spotkać, jak sobie siedzi i wącha kwiatki, maki, stokrotki, jaskry, bławatki, słucha jak szumią lasy i niwy." (a lot more detail was added to the translation!) The last sentence: "He is very happy." "I jest podobno bardzo szczęśliwy." 

  My little Products often reflect my places of solitude such as Scarborough Marsh...

Or Portland, from a quiet spot in the distance...

Unlike Ferdinand, I also love being with people, & have a bit of an extroverted side too. The show is giving me a gift of connecting with wonderful people. And it all is working, as over the years I've learned how to wander between the sides of Process & Product, Extrovert & Introvert. 

I'm curious, dear Readers, are you more Introvert or Extrovert? Or do you even think about it?

Boston Rainy Day en français!

A Day Trip to Boston is a complete vacation (though I'm not saying I wouldn't want to stay overnight...) The rain & exhaustion (bad night sleep anticipating making the 5:45AM train) created fewer moments of enchantment than usual, still, a day of travel , of change, of newness invigorates & refreshes. In the afternoon, after many footsteps, my feet & I just  wanted to go home, but we had 3 hours before the train. Finally we found Starbucks at the foot of Beacon Hill. A window bar seat & a latté were just the thing! The view showed pedestrians waiting for the crossing light at the edge of the Commons. It called for fast action sketching. Fun to see the different shifts of people in a rhythmic stop & go dance. (The drawing above is from my sketches, you might have had trouble deciphering the originals.)

My motivation for the trip: The Museum of Fine Arts presents a French language guided tour on Wednesday mornings. Listening to Art History in French is spell binding for me. The guides are super & they speak relatively slowly, merci bien!)

 

These are 2 original scribbly sketches from an English language tour that I attempted to go on later. (click on them to see them larger). I only made it halfway through...perhaps if it had been in French... I never used to do guided tours, but what I'm noticing is that the MFA is very much about art HISTORY, so I might as well start learning with more depth than my own eyes provide. History as storytelling & pictures is fascinating, school book war history: not so much.

I keep a little Boston "kit" in a drawer, so I can be ready for my next trip. It includes my French language Guide de Voyage, maps & Charlie subway card. Imagine if Paris were this close to home, right??!!