Last years debris and a flower of hope...

Leaf Lace, 4/24/2011

Collage, 4/24/2011

Debris, 4/24/2011

Leaf Lace, fragment, 4/24/2011

Overlap, 4/24/2011

Lace, 4/24/2011

Old Lace, 4/24/2011

Stone, cracked, 4/24/2011

 

A little bit of hope... 4/24/2011

We're in the midst of the 6th rainiest April on record, so it just seems bleak up here on our little acre of the world, but it isn't all that bad, just damp and the rain has been much more gentle than the bluster of last weekend that pulled off a dozen shingles from our roof...(have since been replaced by my Fred during one of the few breaks in the rain!)

I know when I see the little white violets pushing through last year's debris that spring is here at last...as much as I love the colts foot, daffodils, and squill, the violets with their sweet scent take me back to times when I was very young, picking fistfuls of these for my mom in the woods behind our house, it was literally a carpet of violets out there, and the smell of them was overwhelming...I spent happy days surrounded by violets so I was very happy to find them here when we moved in...

I'm still focusing my little point n' shoot camera at the debris of leaves and bits of weeds...the pale lacy remains have been beautiful finds...

I've been slowly working my way through Part 2 of Drinking from the Fishbowl, this seems to be in better shape than Part 1, as I recall, it didn't require as much work before...and I believe Part 3 is also going to be relatively easy...which naturally makes me suspicious, so I know I'll back track backwards through the chapters, going line by line, paragraph by paragraph before too long...as I should before I publish it...I'm hoping not to overtax myself like I did while working on The Fractured Hues of White Light and Dusty Waters I've learned so many lessons with those two, this should be easier...should be. You'd think. The self-doubt demons have been nibbling at me again...challenging me...saying mean things...just when I'm convinced that the book is truly awful, I pick it up to work on it and realize there's nothing wrong with it, it's fine, it has it's voice, it has a solid story, the characters have something to say...so I will continue with my leisurely pace, picking away at it, taking my time to make it right...

April Showers...and wind...

Collage #1, 4/15/2011

Collage #4, 4/15/2011

Collage #2, 4/15/2011

Collage #3, 4/15/2011

Colts foot, 4/15/2011

It's Winds-day...the sun has popped out from the clouds tonight making everything golden and green...mallard duck heads shimmer so boldly in this light...today is a sneezy day too, the pussy willow toes have gone to flower today, which sort of makes me sad that they're coming to an end so soon, yet glad that we're moving closer to warmer weather...the colts foot has pushed through the debris to poke their sunny yellow faces toward the sky...

I've had a "time"...I was hiked into the ER by my Fred on Friday night (4/15) because I had a very bad pain in my lower right side that wrapped around to my lower back, which was accompanied by sciatic nerve pain that I was already dealing with all week...yes, it was VERY bad, and it was a bit scary. It was determined that I might've had an ovarian cyst burst...tho' my sonogram was described as "unremarkable"...well, of course it would if the darn thing already burst and went on its way by the time you took a looky-loo with the wand...these things happen, but there will be follow-ups to the follow-ups and double check with this one, call that one... cover all the bases, cross 't's' dot 'i's'...enough already...no one really knows or can really explain to me what happened to cause the pain. I'm okay now, still a bit crampy there in the right side, still gimping around with sciatic nerve pain, but nothing like that night...I was released that night and tucked into my own bed by midnight, although I know it wasn't much ado about nothing because it hurt like the devil, it certainly feels like it now...it's a mystery to me what's going on under the hood...

Crouching Tigger-Hidden Pooh revisiting the barn, pondering faint memories of being very wee once, and now he is a very tubby tabby, 13 years young...

Spring debris collages...

Pale Lace, 4/9/2011

Layers, 4/9/2011

Grace #2, 4/9/2011

Grace #1, 4/9/2011

Collage, 4/10/2011

Dried Grass, 4/9/2011

Feather and Burdock, 4/9/2011

Overlap, Pale Leaves, 4/9/2011

I'm still focusing my camera's lens on the leftover debris on the ground, I can't help it...but this is what sings for me at the moment...

It was a busy week...we were on TV Monday to promote the CNY Art Showcase...it was awesome and awful at the same time, hard to explain, but one becomes grateful for having grace under fire. It was what I expected and yet not, but overall it was a good experience. The auction itself went off on Friday, and again, another good experience, we met more local artists (some new to the fundraiser), and it was nice to see people excited about the art, and it's nice to see it all together in one room...and it pleased me to see my drawing, Lumina #2 go to a young woman who seemed very pleased with her acquisition...it was sweet, her smile was priceless. I didn't get to meet the person who acquired my photo of the rose, I thought I saw it go out the door under the arm of a gentleman buyer...

I'm glad we've gotten past this busy time and I'm looking forward to some down time, I need to get back to a rhythm of life that encourages creativity...with the warmer weather coming in, I'll spend time sitting in my favorite porch sitting chair with my manuscript of Fishbowl, read, edit, rewrite, and get it ready to publish...and of course, working in my garden is the place where I do much of my creative thinking, and maybe, just maybe, I can work on something new...

April at last...

Abstraction, 4/2/2011

Early April, collage, 4/2/2011

Pale Leaf, 4/2/2011

Leaf on Stone, 4/2/2011

Overlapping Debris, 4/2/2011

Chives, old and new, 4/2/2011

It's still cold, and we still have some stubborn snow on the ground in those shady areas of the acre. The pussy willow toes have been out testing the chill air...good thing they're fuzzy, right? They're still tiny and tight on their twiggy limbs. I'm still photographing the flattened debris...there are some little spikes of green life poking through, the chives, tulips, daffodils, crocus, iris and tiger lilies...but nothing blooming up here yet, things down below us in the city are well ahead of us up here on the hilltop...that's fine, we get spring a little longer, my lilacs will still be blooming when everyone else's have turned brown.The sun is shining, and I'm feeling better today than I have the whole week, another FMS flare-up has complicated my week, but I just go with it as best as I can (tho' on Friday I could barely stand being in my own skin.) Whatever, right? I just keep going forward...

I'm working on Fishbowl again, reading through Part I, tightening up things here and there, last time through I was taking out parts that were bugging me, reworking them, putting them back, and now I'm working out any ragged edges that were left behind. I found one in chapter 11 yesterday afternoon, I nearly pitched the whole chapter out of frustration, but after some thought, I didn't...I'll need to think it through a little more...problem solving, it's what I do, and I know that what I make of it will be just right...it feels good to be writing.

Tomorrow morning, my Fred and I are going to be on television (WSYR Ch 9, "Bridge Street" 10-11AM) promoting the CNY Art Showcase, the auction is on Friday...it should be fun.

Elemental...

Butters at 18 weeks...he's mesmerized by a fly so he was standing still...very still...

 The bitty little kitty is growing up, not so bitty any more, he's so handsome and sweet! He's running around being silly this morning, and was playing in the trash bucket under my desk just a bit ago (I did take pictures and a video, we'll have to see how those turned out!)

I just love this little blue stone...the leaf got there on its own...

I don't have an oak tree anywhere on the acre, but a leaf dropped in...blew in actually...

Yup, I'm still photographing the dried weeds and grass on the stones...been lovin' that...

The fog on Thursday morning was beautiful...

Yes, we have snow...it came Wednesday night, it's still here and will linger up here in the higher elevations until it warms up again, down lower about a half mile away there's green...we're just special, I guess...this is typical for us, no shock, no surprise, we've had snow storms on Mother's Day, flurries in the air right up until May 20th...it's not "safe" until Memorial Day to plant anything delicate...it's just been a long winter...

I felt bad for this poor little robin with his fluffed out feathers...he didn't much like me lookin' at him either...

 

The fog in the trees...

My old friend Maple Tree, touched with fog and morning light...

 It's been a busy week, I spent too much time on my feet on Monday-Wednesday and have paid for it in spades, I had the dreaded sciatic nerve pain and it kept me in bed most of Thursday (of course, it didn't stop me from walking the dog, but the poor dude needed to pee and poo, so I brought the camera along like I always do!)  Wretched pain...I slathered on Voltaren, used my electro-stim TENS unit, and stayed off my feet as much as possible. And of course, it triggered FMS pain too, so...when it rains it pours. Although I'm much better, My legs are still tingly and on the edge of "one false move", which is an on pins n' needles existence, so I'm going to continue to take it easy this weekend and hope that everything will calm down...

Our book is finally finished, printed, and beautiful!

Our little art book arrived in the mail on Tuesday afternoon, we were pleasantly surprised how gorgeous it is...we had to make a few adjustments to some things, but still it's lovely...I'm sure there will be other small things we'll decide to tweak over the course of time, but for the most part, the book is DONE and we brought it with us to last night's reception at Moonlighting to show it to our guests, and everyone thought it was mighty nice...it's a fine achievement to put together such a project, it was a bit overwhelming at times, but yet, not...hard work and many years in the making!

Here he is, in the trash bucket having a good time being a kitten...gotta love the little squeezin's!

First day of spring...

Bone of the Earth broken by the winter elements, 3/19/2011

A Woolly Bear, 3/19/2011 (unusually marked, hardly any black on his rear end!)

Crow Feather, 3/19/2011

An old fossil, 3/19/2011

Dried grass and weeds on the stone wall, 3/19/2011

Rust, 3/19/2011

Leaves weeds and stone, 3/19/2011

Butters sunning himself on the first day of spring

It's hard to photograph this little clown...he rarely sits still (unless sleeping)...it is also hard to type captions when the little wiggle-worm is in my lap!

...and he loves to kiss the camera

A lovely weekend with sunshine, a giant moon in the night sky, resting, painting, writing a little, wandering around the acre photographing the mess winter made of things, but finding beauty in the flattened out grasses and leaves, rotten wood and rusty bits...all very enjoyable...

March debris collages...

Inside (bark), 3/11/2011

Debris Collage, 3/11/2011

Husk (wild cucumber), 3/11/2011

Emerging from snow, 3/11/2011

Stone and Grass, 3/11/2011

Collage, 3/11/2011

Rotten (wood), 3/11/2011

Collage, 3/11/2011

I went out for about a half hour walking the acre yesterday with my little point n' shoot, and found tons of things emerging from the melting snow to photograph! Over 100 images later, I sat processing the good ones, deleting the blurry ones, and muttering "Oooo, that's cool, oooo, pretty! (Euuu, that one has bunny poo.)" A very productive bit of tromping around. It's snowing again this morning, but just a dusting, I'm going to wander over to the flooded places in the low places to look for ice formations...the acre has been busy with migrating birds arriving, the blackbirds are very noisy! It feels good hearing them...spring is coming!

My Fred and I should be wrapping up the last go through of our art book, I've made some minor changes, and there's one photo of a small painting that I want to replace...very exciting putting together our own art book...

Other news, we're participating in the CNY Art Showcase auction on April 8th, 2011, which is an annual fundraiser put together by the Rotary Club of Eastwood to raise money for various organizations, this year their focus is Saint Joseph's Hospital...the catalog arrived on Friday and my little photo that I'm donating this year is featured on the front cover! I selected the photo and a drawing for the fundraiser.

My Conversation with Georgia, 2010

Lumina #2, 2008

And...my Fred and I have been asked to be featured artists on a local television show "Bridge Street", the week of the auction...we'll see how that goes...I'll post a link once it's done. (Fun stuff!)