Fragments

There are those days.

When the sun is thwarted by grey clouds.

The weather is of two minds.

Unable to choose. 

Vacillating, just like me.

Fragments are looking better than the complete picture.

Sometimes it happens that way.

Tangent Reprise

More seeds.

Hardly a tangent anymore.

A new direction to be explored.

Time Capsules

I have been painting a lot of seeds lately.

They have great potential.

Little dormant vessels that hold the future inside.

A time capsule of sorts.

A horse chestnut seed has its own unique style.

The outer shell is spiny and alien.

The inner seed is soft and shiny.

It is hard to fathom how something so peculiar

will transform into an extraordinary tree.

Sprouts

A cluster of sprouts.

Seeds taking root.

Cactus Specimen

This past week I was in Sedona, Arizona making paper.

The desert landscape is so different, so unique.

Prickly Pear Cactus abound.

 A fellow artist decided to boil dried cactus specimen in soda ash,

a process we use to cook and soften bark fiber for papermaking.

He wanted to see what would happen to them.

The tough skins and thorns of the cactus washed away.

These beautiful, structural remains were left.

Veins, pathways, almost skeletal.

I was so enamored with them.

They looked like giant wings. Cactus wings.

I made a dragonfly.

Giveaway | Mosquito

I'm having a GIVEAWAY while I'm away!

Enter to win this charming mosquito. He's a tiny fellow.

Simply leave a message and a link or email by Saturday July 25th.

Let me know your favorite insect or winged creature.

I will pick a name out of hat on Sunday, July 26th!

***

The winner is...

EVELINE/TIMELESS

Congratulations!

Tango

Marionettes tethered.

Dance.

Beginning

An ending or beginning? 

Beginning. A point at which something starts. 

Seeds. Full of promise.

Bales

Lulu is grazing just like a cow. The tall grass has just been cut.

Big round bales are dotted through the field.

They are so sculptural.

Subterranean

Underflow I

Subterranean layers.

Underflow II

Underground seams.

Branches

Germinate I

A pair of breathing trees.

Growing thriving, flourishing.

Germinate II

My two loves: anatomy and nature.

Burgeoning

There is something odd about this image.

Perhaps it is the disproportion of scale.

The seed is a bit large, almost an egg.

An egg putting out buds - a hatchery of sorts.

It seems both natural and manufactured.

It's growing on me.

Gathering Strength

Upwelling

A groundswell rising.

Roots

Seeds taking hold. Gathering strength.

Hollow

A hollow pit. An empty hole.

Filling the void with pebbles.

Sorrows

Oh joy!

Perhaps it is a contradiction.

My little Sorrows arrived in the mail today!

These charming papier mache teardrops were made by PickalaPoopa

As soon as I saw this little collection, I was smitten.

They are simply amazing!

I sure hope she will make more.

I can't resist playing with them.

Must get back to work now!

Tangent

Sometimes, well truthfully, most of the time,

I start in one direction and then find myself on a visual tangent.

I like working in a spontaneous fashion.

I keep long lists of words, they are ideas I want to explore.

Today my eyes scanned the list and fell on seeds and pods.

This is the result. I like it so far.

It is both familiar and at the same time foreign.

What do you think?

Secret

Peeking through keyholes.

It seems like there is a secret world.

Do we really want to see the whole picture?

Perhaps we just want to imagine what we might find.

The mystery of locks.

Enchanting

Tucked into the winding roads above our camp

are these enchanting little mountain cottages.

They were built with native field stone and timber.

They have such a fanciful style.

I especially love the the silo with the orange tin roof.

It looks like a giant pumpkin!

History

This is an early picture of Camp Wah Wah Taysee.

A collection of photographs found tucked inside the house. 

We have spent summers on this lake for nearly thirty years,

ever mindful of the old camp and the history of the house.

The pictures tell a wonderful story.

Throughout the 1920's it was a summer camp for girls.

They were instructed to pack two wool bathing suits and caps. 

Here are the girls posing for a picture on the shore of the lake.

Campers spent six weeks enjoying country life.

Activities included swimming, boating, arts and crafts, 

handwork, singing, dancing, horseback riding, and hay rides.

Every evening they had a camp fire.

The spirit of this place certainly lives on.

Culver Lake

Visiting my family for the holiday weekend.

This is our summer camp on Culver Lake.

Our house is called Wah Wah Taysee,

a Native American word for firefly.

A view from the dock.

The weather is perfect!

The water is warm.

One wet dog to complete the picture.

Lulu loves to swim!

Happy 4th of July!

Locks

A study of locks.

Keyholes.