cashio
I’m excited because I’m getting ready for three months of travel, but I’m also mourning because I haven’t been able to work on assemblages lately, and I won’t be able to bring those materials on the road. I will be restricted to working on pieces like this one (which I do love creating), plus a few fiber projects which pack easily. It’s frustrating to want to be making things and not be able to get my hands on the bits and pieces, but at least I will be finding more in the four countries I’ll be travelling through to visit my family.
There are a few things I’m sharing from the garden before I leave – raspberries, boysenberries, figs, pads for nopales (with lentils, yum!), and this lone avocado, very buttery. When I get back there may be a few strawberry and pineapple guavas left, then there will be pomegranates. I’ll miss the peaches – heavenly when they’re ripe and the skin slides off in your fingers, also the ripening of the manzanita bananas and thimbleberries. My stubborn pineapples think they are just for show, all the other bromeliads bloom while they just sit there, but I am very happy because an ancient cycad that was damaged and seemed to die three years ago just produced a beautiful crown of leaves.
I love traveling, but I am dreading parts of the trip, I hate business dealings, especially when they involve family. And I will miss a lot of close friends, three months is a long time between visits, but I will be staying with family and friends, some of whom I only see every few years, and there will be a new bébé when I get back.
tulip rete
Whenever I pass by I admire a beautiful astrolabe in the clock repair shop around the corner. There are many lovely things in the window, but I’ve always been especially fond of these instruments. The Museo di Storia della Scienza has a great collection, and the British Musem has this – a rare ‘pocket’ version found some years back.
weggehen
I was thinking about the process of art – I love how poet Hilde Domin talks about being deeply immersed in her writing, then stepping back. From a poem of hers:
Man muß weggehen können
und doch sein wie ein Baum:
als bliebe die Wurzel im Boden,
als zöge die Landschaft und wir ständen fest
(my not-very-poetic translation:
One must be able to go away
and yet be like a tree:
as if the roots remained in the ground,
as if the landscape moved and we stood fast)
wing
I happy to find this bit of handwriting, it’s so smooth and dense. It looks blurry on this post, but the original piece is quite clear.
Being away from the flotsam & jetsam of my workroom for so long I somehow fell out of the groove of assemblage. Back to work the other day I was at loose ends, mainly in the mood to rivet, but not inspired by anything right away. I finally made mini box with a beautiful dark pearl (from a lovely friend) and copper wire, I’ll post a photo later. I need to get back into creating complications, moving parts, etc.
another sun
Another poem. There has been a lot of writing in my art this year, but not much in these blog posts.
So many small disasters have occurred since December – I think that I must have offended some minor god. Everything from a truck falling through my bridge and having to put one of my dogs down, to a key breaking in the gate lock and the kitchen tap exploding (surprisingly, I managed to fix that last for 38 cents). Each new event happens before I’ve finished dealing with the last, leaving no time for boredom, or writing much here.
In the midst of everything else I’m looking for a place that will reproduce these pieces.
sisyutl
This is not finished yet, the 3-headed monster needs to be integrated and I’m not sure how I feel about the absence of writing.
ephemeral art
Freezing is fun, but dancing – I love this!
It reminded me of Joshua Bell’s Metro performance a while back:
sky
I have guests occupying my workroom for these few weeks, so I am working on digital collages of my photos and ephemera in the meantime.
I meant to open an Etsy store in March, but didn’t get it together in time, I am looking for someone new to do these prints, then I should be set to go.
transom
This is part of a series I am working on. I never seem to translate them onto the blog page exactly, but you get the idea.
