Spring Around the House

Good morning!  My girl, Una, or Lala as we like to call her around here, has the right idea.  She stays in bed, snuggled under the covers on these cool, drizzly,spring days.  I would've liked to have stayed by her side this morning.  Last night we celebrated Passover with another couple and their kids.  Let me just say, I'm paying

the price for those "four glasses of wine" you are supposed to drink during the ritual dinner.  

Besides Lala staying in bed...what else is happening around the house these days?  The gardens are waking up which means I'm getting ready to put the pedal to the metal because it's time to work hard out there.  This past weekend we worked in the gardens transplanting raspberries and blueberry bushes before the rains came.  I was back raking my client's garden and lawn on Monday.  My muscles are waking up. I feel that familiar soreness that comes when I get back to work after the less strenuous winter months. Other things are waking up around the house as well.

The fig tree in my studio is putting out new growth and so are the apple and peach branches I pruned off the trees in my little orchard.  After a week of sitting in the warm house in water they are about to blossom.

It's warm and cozy in here next to the fire.  Here are some other signs of spring...

The hand dyed eggs that I have made with friends over the years are out on the dining table in the kitchen.  Yet another symbol that there is new life all around.

The blossom of the hyacinth that I bought at the grocery store has gone by but the green leaves and hot pink wrapping are a cheery sign of spring.

Now lets venture outside and see what's happening this time of year in the gardens....

I've cleared away wild blackberry canes that have been hiding this beautiful boulder.  I then found a lone tulip coming up in front of the rock.  Sharing space with the tulip is some Siberian iris and fern.  It's nice to meet you all!

If you look closely you might see the garlic that is coming up through the straw mulch.

Happy, wet daffodils are popping up everywhere.

The frogs are back in my little pond.  Look what they left attached to the submerged flower pot...frog eggs!

The Allium bulbs are catching glistening rain drops.

The first flowers are blooming...these pink Pulmonaria, a crocus, coltsfoot...

Green mosses and lichen add such beauty and interest to the many rocks around the gardens.

This week, the gray, drizzly days, have been a blessing.  I'm not working at the poster shop because of the Holidays.  So, I get to work at home on the projects here that are taking up so much time.  I am planning to study and travel in Central Europe this July and August.  I am going to Poland and Hungary to study the folk art of these two countries plus I will meet family in Poland, stay with friends in Hungary and visit the villages where my grandmother and grandfather's families lived before they came to America.  I can't wait to share more about my upcoming adventure with you.  For now the planning for this trip is taking up a lot of time and I have it this week! I'm reluctant to work in the rain in the gardens too so I can happily bask in the glow of my computer with a warm cup of coffee by my side...a little calm before the storm.  Next week I will be in PA visiting family and working. The first week of May I'm off...back to the garden work.

Cats & Dolphins, Roosters & People

I love watching animals communicate.  Especially when the the communication is between different species of animals.  Life is rich in language and it's so gratifying to see when something meaningful is shared or conveyed with out words.  Isn't this video the sweetest thing?  The people, the dolphins and the cat seem to be smiling, laughing, loving and sharing a beautiful day on and in the water.

Today I had a sweet moment with my neighbor and my rooster.  My rooster's leg got caught up and wrapped tightly in some poultry fencing.  He couldn't move and the nylon was cutting into his skin.  I was at home alone and apprehensive to try and hold the rooster for the first time while cutting the fencing free from his leg.  I went and got my neighbor who knows animals really well.  I was nervous to handle my rooster for the first time as roosters can be nasty, peck you or try to stab you with their bone spurs.   Mr. Roosta and I have always respected each others space yet until today I have never picked him up and held him.  Two hens of mine hatched him and raised him so he is used to me feeding them and being around.  I bent down and gingerly picked him up, and there was no fight, no resistance, no aggression.  He was just a big, old love bug....  heavy too!  My neighbor and I pet him.  I touched his warm, red wattles, and then handed him to my neighbor after he cut the fencing free from his leg, while I went  in the house to get some Neosporin to put on the cut.   He was calm, sweet and still as can be!  I think he knew we were helping him.  I always have admired and respected how he talks with his hens and calls them over to choice bits of food or coo's to them in warning if a big bird flies over our land.  Now I feel more of a personal connection with Mr. Roosta while a new warmer, fuzzier place in my heart opened for him.

 

Here's Mr. Roosta in his old home last summer.  Now he's free ranging it with the ladies in the big back area of our yard.  

Sketchbook Sunday #10: Crescent Moon

There was a sighting of the crescent moon lined up nicely with a church spire in downtown Northampton this past warm Friday evening.  In keeping with the shape of the moon, I thought I'd share some recent images from my sketchbook that have crescents in the drawings.

 

Sketchbook "Sunday" #9

Yup, it's Thursday really... but I like the sound of Sketchbook Sunday and I do have every intention of posting from my sketchbooks every Sunday... yet, sometimes life runs away with me, or maybe I run away with life?  I'm trying to be on top of things yet a few things were put off...which I do not like to do.  Well, here we are.

On my end, I've been dreaming and scheming.  An adventure including study and travel is in the making and I'm taken away with all of the planning.  Things are becoming clearer and coming together but I will wait to share my news until I am certain I will do what I intend to do.

My Polish Folk Art class came to a close last evening.  I really enjoyed the time there with the other women and the teacher.  There is somethings wonderful about being in an art class with other eager and enthusiastic students.  It brings me back to the best days in school from Kindergarten through University, which for me was art class day. 

Art class = learning, the imagination, creativity, the smell of paper, glue, paint, tables clean but stained with various art supplies, quiet attention, quiet chit-chat, time flying, looking at your friend's work, experimentation, interesting teachers, the rest of the world fades into the background, time stands still (but still flies while it appears to stop), possibilities loom, growing, happiness.

What does art class mean to you?  Do you have any memories or experiences to share?

When in Boston...

Last weekend I spent two and a half full and lovely days with my friend, Kate in Boston.  Although it was cold,  you couldn't have asked for a sunnier and more brilliant weekend. 

I was saying in a previous post that Kate is my dream museum companion.  Usually I prefer going to art museums on my own so I can take things in with out feeling any responsibility for the passage of time and other's interest or lack of.  After putting in a good half day at MASSMOCA last December with Kate,  I realized she is "the one" for me when it comes to museum companionship.  That said, I thought we'd spend some time in Boston's art museums.  We had every intention of doing so and going to the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston.  We even spent a half hour or so sitting and talking in the ICA building's outdoor amphitheater admiring this view.  

Something else was in the cards for us last weekend.  We ended up shopping, eating, talking, walking, drinking and being decadent girls together.  What fun!

Here's a view as we walked around the South End of Boston which is home to Kate's art studio.  One highlight of the weekend was treating ourselves to a late day cocktail at one of the best cocktail bars I have ever been to called DRINK in Fort Point.  I had a Cuban:  rum, mint, lime juice and champagne served in a champagne glass. 

 

Friday evening we met up with Kate's husband, Jeff and headed back to their sweet apartment in the South End.  Another guilty pleasure turned out to be listening to Pandora's "Sweet Freedom" radio station which played all the songs that got stuck in our heads back in the late 1980's...Micheal Mcdonald, Stevie Winwood, Tears for Fears...nice.  That night Indian food, good conversation and ice cream sundays were on the menu.

The next day we decided to walk off our food hangovers so we headed out and over to Boston Common where we made friends with this magnificent Redwood tree. 

After a bit of nature it was time for a bit of shopping.  These cuties waited patiently for their humans and drew a crowd of people "awwing" out on the sidewalk of Newbury Street. 

Here's a confession... Kate and I spent a considerable amount of time in Sephora at a mall (gasp) in town smelling and spritzing our selves with perfume.  I don't know what came over us...I don't even wear perfume!  It was a huge treat to bask in the possibilities that lie in something new...  a new scent, a new sparkly make-up color, a new way of being.  In a way,  I felt like I was at the movies but instead of sitting back in a dark room watching a life or story pass by on the screen I was living vicariously through the newness of all the items and objects we looked at, touched, tried on and smelled.  We walked and walked from one place to another looking, touching, smelling.

We never made it to the ICA that afternoon either...we were worn out from all the eye candy, new scents and walking.  Instead we had cups of Chai tea and rested our weary feet and heads in Jeff's office which he offered as a haven for us to collect ourselves and our senses after the day's escapades.

Saturday night I had a date to meet a friend and pianist, Andy Lantz, at The Club Cafe piano bar.  We arranged for me to sing a handful of songs with his accompaniment.  Kate, Jeff and I had cocktails and some food and soaked in the warm atmosphere and the great playing of songs from the American songbook.  I had such a nice time singing with Andy and found it a treat to sing some jazz material with just piano accompaniment and a wonderful pianist.

 zzzzzzzzzz

The sun rose to a new day and after oranges and coffee on Sunday morning we headed over here...

... to Kate's amazing art studio.  She shares a great space where she has room to spread out and work on her oil paintings and charcoal creations.  I LOVE her work and where it is going.  The lines, depth, values and colors create organic worlds which for me conjure up nervous system pathways, kelp sea forest, seed shapes, the circulatory system, feathers, hair...  they seem to be both micro and macro points of view and abstractions.  Here are a few more peeks of her space and her artwork.  Her website is being developed as I write this and will be up in a few weeks.  I will post a link to it in the future when it is up and running. She gave me a preview look at the website and it looks great.  I can't wait to share it with you so you can see her and her work in a more professional light. 

Thanks Kate, Jeff, Andy and Boston for a wonderful weekend!

Sketchbook Sunday #8

 

It's a sunny day outside which makes for a sunny palette in my studio.  

I'm in Boston visiting a dear friend this weekend.  It is always inspiring hanging out with her so I know there will be a post or two coming this week about my time spent in the city with Kate.  We make great art museum companions and love to talk about the details found in most anything and everything.  She is a very, very talented artist so I hope to take some pictures or her in her studio with her work.  Keep posted for more to come...

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Sketchbook Sunday #7: ...on a Wednesday

8 1/2" x 8 1/2"

gouache on watercolor paper

Spring is on my mind.  Some rain (and snow here in New England) falls.  The sap is flowing.  Trees and bushes are showing their buds.  The energy in the seeds and in the bulbs fire up for the push of growth that is coming.

I'm still testing materials.  I like the liquid gouache that I used here and the way it opaquely covers the paper in even color however I miss a semi glossy reflection or shine.  I'm on a quest for the paint and surface that will work best with my bold, graphic, colorful and tightly patterned designs.

Duality: Spring Flowers and Destruction

I've been thinking a lot about the duality of time, experience...life.  This past gorgeous Friday evening I took photographs of the the first flowers I've seen blooming outdoors this season.  Spring is here.  How beautiful!  This week as I've been going about my life here at home I'm aware of the enormous amount of suffering and anxiety taking place in places like Japan and Libya.  Feelings of concern, sadness, worry, empathy, disgust come and go throughout the week.  I've been needing to express these feelings...  although it is Sunday my sketchbook post can wait until another day.  Today I need to say these things first.

I feel connected with the people who are truly being touched by horrific and challenging experiences in that I too am human: that despite distance and culture we are not that different,  I share this planet with all people and all life, I have the same basic needs and desires, I feel sadness, joy, love, fear, hope, anxiety, excitement, grief...  I witness beauty and destruction.

Yet how surreal it is that I can spend an early spring evening walking the gardens at Smith College appreciating the beauty springing from the earth while also thinking of those who lost loved ones, homes, entire towns to the power of nature or the destruction of war.  There is such an edge to beauty... in a blink of an eye it can change, transform, destruct, die.  Perhaps this is what makes beauty, BEAUTY?  These two realities lie on the edge of one another.

In times like this, I can feel helpless and lucky and neither feeling feels particularly good while I imagine myself in the shoes of someone who is truly suffering.  Thoughts run through my head, "I want to do something." "I want to help."  "Why am I spared (for the time being, anyway) from a natural/environmental disaster and war on my home turf?"  I can't stop the earth from moving...creating a 9.0 earthquake.  I can't make those in power step down or make decisions that I can feel good about.  I can't stop a nuclear reactor from melting down.  As I'm sure you can relate, this is a scary feeling.  Many things are out of our control.

A friend recently said that creating and sharing beauty in the world is the active work we can do to make and create positive change.  This gives me hope because I agree.  I can share, create and appreciate beauty. Beauty shows itself in many ways.  It is there in the smile from a stranger or loved one,  in the full moon rising...

in the sharing of a home cooked meal, in hugging someone, in the beauty of fragrant blossoms....

in the act of creating and creation, in the beauty of twilight...

Can a form of activism be the creation of and appreciation of beauty and enchantment? 

Sketchbook Sunday # 6: Tree Of Life

...another paper cut-out creation based on Polish "Tree of Life" designs.  Roosters and birds come gather around the tree which roots itself deep down into the earth and reaches it's branches way up to the heavens.

Jonathan Richman

I saw Jonathan Richman a little over a week ago at the Pearl Street ballroom in Northampton.  He is one of my hero's and I think that the snippet below, written by Mr. Valania from the Philly Inquire, quickly sums him up in words better than I can.  Below is a song for you to check out and pretty much expresses the magic Jonathan Richman represents in a nutshell...innocence, sincerity, playfulness, creativity, expressive and lovely. He is a diamond in the rough. 

A charming, disarming, hope-filled minstrel

By Jonathan Valania

For The Inquirer

If Jonathan Richman didn't already exist, we would never have thought to invent him, which is a testament to his originality and to the shortcomings of our collective imagination. For more than 35 years, Richman has been a tireless advocate of hopeful romanticism, rugged individualism, and unyielding optimism, traveling the world like some postmodern Jimmy Stewart with a guitar, telling anyone who would listen that, despite all the hard-bitten cynicism that surrounds him, it's still a wonderful life.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20110303_A_charming__disarming__hope-filled_minstrel.html#ixzz1Fal41VOW
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else

Wycinanki

I started a Polish Folk Art course last week that meets every Weds. night for the next four weeks.  The class is being offered at the Springfield Museums which is a collection of architecturally varied buildings housing museums that focus on fine arts, science, and history.  The buildings form a quad that is home to Dr. Suess' sculptural art garden.  I plan on spending a full day at the museums in Springfield, MA once the weather turns warm and I can enjoy some sunshine in the sculptural gardens.

Last week we were introduced to Wycinanki, pronounced (vih-chee-NAHN-kee).  Wycinanki are paper cut out designs that started decorating Polish homes in the mid 1800's.  Our teacher shared that it's believed Wycinanki came to be after sheep shears were used to decoratively cut up sheep skins. The skins were then used as beautiful, ventilated window coverings.  Here we have a case of function meets art.  Later, after the art form's evolution, the paper cut out designs were used to decorate whitewashed walls and ceiling beams inside Polish homes.  I'm learning that the images expressed in Wycinanki are full of symbolism.  The designs are repetitive, symmetrical, often very colorful, may be circular or rectangular and regionally represent slight variations of style and design.  Flowers, hens and roosters and the tree of life are recurrent themes found in this art form.

Above is my first attempt to create a simple, circular, geometric Wycinanki.  I'm so inspired to run with this... learn more about the symbolism, practice traditional designs and then create my own designs.  All you need is some colorful paper, scissors and a glue stick!  I'm sure there will be more to share on this topic here in the future. 

Sketchbook Sunday #5

I continue to be super inspired by central and eastern European folk art and folk design.  For this painting I worked up a sketch from my sketch book onto a bigger piece of Bristol board and used my gouache paints to add vibrant color.

This process of digging deep and creating new work has been so rich and interesting for me because after, what my friend and mentor, Valerianna over at Ravenwood calls, "stirring the cauldron" or searching within for months and wondering what my next line of work would be, inspiration hit. 

Now that I have, what Twyla Tharp in her book "The Creative Habit Learn It And Use It For Life" calls,  a "spine" to my work I can follow ideas and play with inspirations that trace back to my Hungarian and Polish ancestry and love of this particular aesthetic.  The spine provides support and allows me the creative freedom to build from a foundational idea.

The best part for me is that despite having this new direction I see lines of connection in the way I've been developing as an artist all along.  Lines, shapes and symbols are coming out in my newer work that hark back to ideas and creations of the past.  This is a good sign to me because there is a creative thread being expressed that means I am truly being myself.

Soul

 "And like the sky my soul is also turning."

                                                                            - Ray LaMontagne

I've been having this feeling...just didn't know how to attach words to it.  In nine words Mr. La Montagne sums it up so poetically and perfectly.  Our souls are turning, moving, changing color, becoming light and dark.  The soul is vast, infinite and full of worlds and stars.

I want to share this song with you although it doesn't contain the above lyric.  The sound is Joni Mitchell meets Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and is wonderfully written and sung by Ray LaMontagne here in the 2010's.  It's a song about a soul longing to break free.

The Winter Party at the "Brush Club"

Two weeks ago the Winter Party took place at Sean and Steve's transformed work studio.   The space became a swanky 1930's style music club for an entire evening where around ninety guests were entertained by a group of musicians and a rotating selection of singers performing Cole Porter's music.  I loved that most of the guests played along and decked themselves out in evening jackets and cocktail dresses.  What a special and romantic way to spend the Saturday evening before Valentine's Day. 

I'd like to share some memories and pictures with you since the event was such a highlight for me, creatively and musically, this winter.  I only wish I have some recordings to share with you as well.  So here we go... the following is a visual stroll along with my memories of a magical event created by a group of inspired folks.

Our hosts, Steve and Sean, are the ones who are responsible for envisioning, organizing and creating a platform for these special, themed winter parties.  Steve, using his great eye, created the scene with a sparkly "Brush Club" sign (he said he used five pounds of glitter!), thoughtful lighting, specially designed invitations and show bills.  Sean picked out and arranged the Cole Porter music.  He also gathered and rehearsed a talented group of musicians and singers to bring to life an evening's worth of entertainment.  A number of friends contributed their energy towards a full bar, good food and colorful flowers.  Sean and Steve called the venue "The Brush Club" because their studio is in the Arts and Industry Building, in Florence, MA, which was once a huge toothbrush factory!

 

The stage is set and the musicians gather to begin playing.  Andy Lantz warms up the crowd, twinkling the keys of the piano with his selection of songs.  The Studio 358 Orchestra pick up their instruments.  We have Mike Pfeiffer on upright bass, Jared Libby on electric guitar, Chris Cappello on drums, Yanko Sheiretov on clarinet, Josh Relin on violin and Andy Lantz and Sean Mallari taking turns on the piano.  What a talented group of musicians (and they look great too)!

PJ Helmuth starts off the singing portion of the night with "It's De-Lovely."   He's a class act in his tux with arms raised as he delivers the end to the song.

 

I take the stage for the next song, "Let's Do It," in one of my costumes for the night complete with Darlene's mink and Heather's pearls.  All night long I got to relive the fun I had as a little girl dressing up in costumes to sing and dance.  I find that it's even more fun getting to dress up and perform as an adult! 

 

Whew, the mink is getting hot and it's time to switch gears for my next song.  It's time to "Begin the Beguine." I really like singing this one.  Melody wise, it is the most challenging of all the songs I sang and Sean's arrangement brings a sultry, slow, tropical quality to the music.

Heather Cupo becomes reflective as she asks herself "What Is This Thing Called Love?"

PJ Helmuth, Hank Bingham and I finish out the first part of the show.  Unfortunately, my photographer doesn't capture shots of everyone's performance.  I may get some more shots of the night and if I do I will add photos in the future.  "Let's Misbehave", "I Love You" and "Easy to Love" were performed by PJ.  Hank did a great rendition of "Night and Day".

 

 

Here I'm singing "Love For Sale" ... need I say more?

 

Friends and guests enjoy the show from their candlelit, red clothed tables.

The second part of the night is just as much fun as the first.  I sing "Anything Goes"and "Every Time We Say Goodbye" in my red polka dotted dress.  

I wish I had more pictures because Sean Mallari, Darlene Stone Adair, Hank Bingham, PJ Helmuth and Heather Cupo sing a whole bunch more songs...  "Just One of Those Things", "All Through the Night", "You're the Top","True Love", "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" and "In the Still of the Night."

"Experiment" and "So In Love"  are personal favorites of mine.  For "Experiment" Sean gets all professorial with glasses and tweed jacket.  "So In Love" has glorious three part harmonies sung by Sean, Hank and PJ.

Here's my husband, Josh, dressed to the nines with a top hat.  I'm relaxing and enjoying a scotch and soda after a night of performing.  I don't think the night could have been more fun.  Well, maybe if you were there too!  Cheers!

Sketchbook Sunday # 4

I spent the better part of yesterday trying out my new gouache paints here at my work table.  I'm drawing designs inspired by Hungarian folk embroidery and needed a bright pigment that had less variation and unpredictability then watercolor.  So far I like the results I got with the new opaque paints because the color more evenly saturates the mixed media paper in my sketchbook.  The black pens worked well over the color.  This week's goal is to continue designing these images and to practice a confidant line.

Tree Top Dance, Wild is the Wind

The wind pulled me from my dreams this morning.  I woke up, poked my head over the pile of pillows and peaked out the window to see the tree tops dancing in the wind.  How flexible and strong trees are!  Trees are a muse of mine; how I look up to trees.  Strong, rooted deep and grounded, flexible and bending to the wind and weather with grace even when the gusts whip their tops about, giving off life sustaining oxygen, creating beautiful green leaves that shade against hot sun, giving us so much valuable and sturdy timber to build with and energy to warm our homes and cook our food.  They take in the sun, the rain, the minerals, CO2.  The yellow birch, pictured above, lives on my land.  It is one of my favorite trees and I visit it from time to time.  It's a living, breathing, strong being that gives, takes and is what it is.  It is one of the oldest trees on our land.  When I woke up this morning I was thinking about this tree, where it stands next to a trickling, musical stream out back in the woods, bending, blowing and dancing in this wind today. And this song:  Wild is the wind...