knotted accordion books

I spent two afternoons beading these two for gifts...so many beads that the boxes were difficult to close. They are for my "artsy" friends at school.

mmxi 2

This is the cover page for ART JOURNAL MMXI - vol 2. It needs color and general finishing. I photo'd all the pages for this post.

fall 2011

These lovely beech trees have caught my imagination...

month's events

Hard to believe that a month has passed since my last entry. It's been interesting month with the usual and unusual. We've been cleaning up outside, bringing in plants and wood. School's been  very good; first graders are settling into what's expected in art classes. I've been walking and making art. Now for the unusual we had about 4 inches of snow on the 30th and lost power for about two days. None of our trees were fatally damaged. We only had small branches on the yard. Part of the butterfly bush had to be cut back
The snow has finally melted. We even sat out in the field yesterday afternoon until the sun got low and the temperature started down. I trimmed the butterfly bush and noticed that it's still putting out new growth. Next weekend the rest of the house plants will be in their homes for the winter in the kitchen on the rafters as close to the grow lights as possible. And I'm going to dig up a bush in garden #1 and move the composter to the field.
I'm not an avid gardener in the fall. A neighbor has cut back all the plants and you can see the ground. My gardening needs are directed and limited by my hands' achey joints. I'm careful about overdoing some activities in fear of not being able to do those that require some fine motor control.
I'm off to a class at "all About Paper" in North Hampton. My sister, Anne's also taking it then we'll have a late lunch.
I'll get some nice pictures to post this week.

sun at last having fun with art

Today is a perfect day weatherwise, as far as I am concerned. It was only 37 degrees this morning. It has warmed to a lovely 60 at 2:00. The sun is toasty warm; Deezel has been sunbathing most of the day. Zeek has gone out several times only to come in a short time later.
Deezel and I did 4 miles this morning. The water is very high in the ponds. I saw a great blue heron and we both watched and listened to the chatterings of a flock of turkeys . They were about to cross the road, saw us and turned around in that totally chaotic, turkey style.

Yesterday, I did leaf rubbing with the 4th graders. I liked it so much I did some at home today with water color pencils. I  outlined the leaves with a Micron 005.

The second is of only dandelion leaves.

Here is the owl art work from earlier in the summer. It is based on one from my "doodle book". I used envelope papers on this piece. I liked the richness of the scrapbooking paper. I'd gotten it on sale at Stamped Designs in Dover.

Owls on October 1

We went to Strafford to see an owl program with live owls. Actually she had six: a saw-whet, a screech, a barred, a snowy and a Eurasion eagle owl. I've heard a barred three times over the summer, around 3-4:00 am when the windows were open and no air conditioner humming.

This is a page from my doodle book. I also did an entry in ART JOURNAL MMXI-2, but need natural light to get a good photo.

This great horned owl was hurt as an owlet, rescued and now cared for at their aviary. It is not open to the public; they do shows.

Check out http://www.eyesonowls.com/

mixed media month

September is flying by.... it's the 26th - feeling like August, and us without a pool - gardens are not at their best, my containers do look good. All the begonias and impatients have found a spot in the windows of my studio; I brought them in to avoid the cold weather we had for about two seconds. We've had the hazy. hot and humid weather for several days.
Anne, Ila and I went to see "William Daley Selected Works" at the Lamont gallery on the campus of Phillips Exeter academy. We went to hear the gallery talk on Sept 17. It was fabulous. He's 87 and lectured for over an hour to a large, mixed audience. Lectured isn't close to what he did. We laughed and were awed by his energy, focus and fabulous slides of his work and the work that has inspired him. He'd been at classes during the week. check it out at  http://www.williamdaley.net/

I've done some work over the month. Several pages in my art journal revolved around the 11th.  These show the mixed emotions around the sadness and the hope for resolution around the memorial.

The final spread is from earlier in the month.

Labor Day weekend

We finished cleaning up the brush and wood from Hurricane Irene's visit a week ago today. It's 91degrees at noon.
Very humid day. I wondered about 2009.

 
 a single hungry
hummingbird visits blossoms
goodbye to summer

The hungry hummingbird

                                                       returns  for one last sip of lovely nectar.

I've seen very few hummingbirds this summer. Today's Haiku could read:

                                                          Hidden from view  birds

                                                  rest among faded blossoms.

                                                        Cooler air unfelt..

                                          

September 2, 2011 or 9/2/11

Looks like good numeration for some art journaling.... NINE, TWO,ELEVEN

Wednesday, I added a fun entry to my school blog http://www.ekesartistsworkshop.blogspot.com/. My fall focus is "color". This week I'll have the first graders see what paint can make on large sheets of white paper.

It's dreary this morning, cool and little humid. Deezel and I are planning a 4 mile walk in a bit. Here's a recent pic of the boy. He's actually sniffing a bee on the butterfly bush. So far he hasn't gotten stung and remains curious about the little buzzing things. He weighed 189 at the vet's earlier this summer, but we think he's lost a little. He doesn't eat well when it's hot.

We lost power for about 30 hours and celebrated when the tree and power teams showed up to remove the branch that fell from our locust tree. But we were so lucky to be spared the torrential floods AND power outages.

I brought in most of the containers from my gardens. I feared for heavy rains and branches falling on them. They look lush and lovely now and we'll have about another month for them to be outside. I'll bring them into the sun porch, then to various spots around the house for maximum light in the winter ahead.

This begonia is one I had last summer.

The new guinea impatient will have to be replaced next summer. I've never been able to have one over winter.

Of course, the supertunia is indescribable. 

 The geranium might survive in the house for next summer.

Coleus is always a success in my "container gardens'.

Yesterday, Anne, Ila and I visited the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion on Little Harbor for their art and sculpture exhibits.  We enjoyed the out door sculpture. It was NH scenic at its best with the mansion and the harbor and the blue sky.
nhstateparks.org/explore/state-parks/wentworth-coolidge-mansion-state-historic-site.aspx

With lunch at the Ice House in Rye.

summer's end

It's hard to believe, but today marks the end of summer vacation. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we have a teachers' workshop, Thursday a staff meeting and Friday is a time to work in classrooms.

iris from June

I'm photographing all my container gardens today. They look fabulous. Regular watering and fertilizing helps. My art work has consisted of tangling, making a new glasses pouch and machine stitching new pillow covers.

bird from orioles' arrival

brain

The "brain" was what I worked on when in PA in July when my sister, Elizabeth, had brain surgery. The tumor was the size of an orange. She's at skilled nursing facility until Friday when she's scheduled to go home. I can tell each time I talk to her that she's regained much of her  language skills. She's still not great stamina wise, but considering she's been hospitalized since the beginning of July, that will take a while to get back. 

heat and watering

I watered all my plant pots and the vegetable garden this morning. Rain is in the forecast, but I didn't water yesterday, so decided the plants were in need of a little attention. I cleaned the day lily beds; they look so awful once the stems are dried and the leaves falling down.

coleus

Yesterday I went on a garden tour at the ProvenWinner gardens in Louden, NH. They wholesale to the garden centers and are the Supertunia people.

I'll be documenting my container gardens soon. I plan to use the photos as reference the following year, but somehow just go with what I like and each year they're a little different.
Hard to believe that fall will soon be requiring a different kind of work in the gardens.
My sister's still in the hospital, the rehab section and will soon be changing residence to a nursing home/rehab center. She's still needing a walker and lots of help.  We're looking at moving her here to NH as soon as we can figure out what her needs will be.
Roger's out in the pool after clearing brush this morning. Deezel's sprawled out on his bed in the living room. Zeek is pestering me for a treat; Buck wheats' passed out on the sofa and Zoey's making her rounds in the field hoping for a successful hunting trip.

cool down

Finally, a cooler summer day. I opted to not water, but to enjoy the quiet of my studio. Deezel's resting on the floor. He got hot on the walk downtown even though the temp was much more NE like.

Here's a photo I'm using for a get well card to my sister, Elizabeth. She's recuperating from surgery to remove a brain tumor- benign and they got the whole thing.

These rhubrum lilies have a heady( sorry about this pun) scent. I have one plant with a stem about 2 inches wide and blossoms all over it. Each one is about 6 feet tall.
My art work has been small pieces in a  5 x 3 doodle book and ART JOURNAL MMXI volumes 1 & 2.
I've started new pillow covers to replicate the ones I've had for many years.

I'm getting ready for a lunch of lettuce, basil, parsley, tomatoes, beans and pea pods from my own garden.
I have been watering twice a day for the past four days. I'll be out there later this afternoon after the movie, "Rango" at the library with Ila followed by ice cream.
It is national ice cream month !

catch up... what was 2009, 2010 on May 16

I wondered what last May and the prior May were like... rainy? nice ? what was blossoming...
Neither entry mentions the weather, but I did see a lady's slipper on the walk... have to check my diary to see if I specified where...
Today's the third rainy day in a row, but Deezel and I walked 3 miles. I saw a grey fox crossing the street not too far from home.
Class in Manchester tonight at the Currier's Art Center.
I printed out the 2010 entries to use in ART JOURNAL MMXI. I need to photograph the ones I've finished to post soon.

more bloodroot, on a rainy day

I got up to work on a page in ART JOURNAL MMXX. It's a doodle ( "Zentangles") with a three leafed plant. I did one on a 3 x 5 sketchbook first, liked it so did another on 6" X 8" page.

It's a cold, April rain on this day before Easter.
We're having family tomorrow, so I cleaned my studio. The table has this bad habit of collecting scraps in an untidy pile. Every now and again, I sort, throw, and save from among the pieces. My collection of small  to very small pieces is stretching the box.

A quick trip outside was worth getting wet.

Yes, I took a picture of the bloodroot, again.

On Wednesday, I sewed with the second grade as we usually do.

They do the tracing and painting before we stitch the edges. For many, this was the first time they ever sewed.
For a few photos of little hands and needles check out my school blog http://www.ekesartistsworkshop.blogspot.com/

bloodroot Haibun

Ever since I saw  first saw Ruth MacDowell's quilt "Bloodroot", I have been entranced by this early spring flower. Its leaves grow through whatever is on the earth's surface in a finger-like protuberance. They blend with the ground cover. Then the pure white blossoms pop out of the tiny leaves still wrapped around them. The petals glow against the browns of the newly exposed garden's surface. They are particularly dramatic on a grey overcast day.
                                   Surprise me- again
                                   from brown seemingly nothing
                                   spring color returns.

Each year, and I have a series of photos to prove it, I am drawn to the section of the shade garden(#2 in my collection of gardens) where the  deeply articulated, graceful, rich green leaves of the bloodroot were last seen in the fall. Where are they, those little babies?, I wonder.
I will barely detect their fingers poking up.
I should clean the garden, but worry I will step on any new growths. 
Then, suddenly, I spot them and celebrate each tiny bump.

                                      Sing to me, phoebe.
                                     Sing and bounce on the tiny branch.
                                     My special spring firsts.

Today I picked a bouquet from the front garden (#7, oldest and largest of the collection). Brilliant yellow
daffodils now glow on the table top. Tulips will be next, then irises. But those marvelous bloodroot blossoms, so short lived and little, never make it to the table top. My memory and photos capture them.

                                         I  pathetically
                                         adore your your delicacy.
                                         stay longer this year.           

Am I such a dolt to question the wonder of the return of the bloodroot? the phoebe?
I'd like to think not. I am, however, inadequate in the face of the reliability of  Nature to cycle through her marvels. I am but a struggling keeper of the soil, a paltry observer of all these treasures as they come, and go, before me.
                     
                                         I pathetically
                                         write lines and photo again
                                         clear notes, white petals.



April 19, 2009




April 5, 2010



medallions with students at EKES

this student's best work ever

these are some negative shapes left when others cut circles

marker and cut paper

who knew the paper punch would be so popular

the paper punch added a little something to the rhombuses by taking away



this actually wraps around



cardstock and marker



even a simple drawing with marker is pleasing





the rhombus is the shape from our work with Emile Birch

 


two cardstock rombuses and a cardborad, handcut sun




Amazing what 3 shapes and a little color can do




this has a stanied glass look



3 rhombus, a square and a circle, red, white, yellow blue

Everyone's been making a medallion to wear as part of the "Solar Fest" on June 10th. After spring break, I'm providing supplies in the Teachers' room so each of them can make one.

jon brooks workshop

I was at a workshop at the Currier Museum in Manchester on Saturday. We each collaborated with nature and shaped a branch into a celebration. Mine is now in my garden at home. The Jon Brooks exhibit is a must see. www.currier.org

sunrise

The sunrise last Tuesday was stunning, and the sun was never seen again that day...

I heard the peepers on my walk and saw two great blue herons.
Seems we've gone from winter to spring.
I'm off to a workshop at the Currier Museumhttp://www.currier.org/ with Jon Brooks.
Tomorrow, "art share" with Dawn and Paula at Starbucks !!!

doodle page and snow "Thing"

I mounted this page to send to my sister. My song for the day was a Haiku-
                                 Springtime's heavy white
                                   moisture assists new green shoots
                                  four - one - eleven 

I did zentangles around the edges.

Yesterday, I had to repair my snow "thing" and I gave it a fourth tier. This morning it's standing tall and brilliant white.

The garden still had  snow to use in the repairs.

   Deezel watched. He at least doesn't attack the snowballs as I roll them, like Monty did.

Later, as we walked back from the mailbox, he stared at the stranger in the backyard.