MAY 30, 2007

This is the 6th year that I've participated in a Chinese New Year print exchange sponsored by the Baren Forum, http://www.barenforum.org/index.html, an on line group for woodblock printmakers. About 50 people sign up and agree to make and send a print to everyone else on the list. They don't all come by Chinese New Years, in fact some never come. But it is fun making and receiving them with the surprises coming in the mail all year long. I spent much of a week cutting blocks, printing, and sending mine out. This year is the year of the boar or pig and this is my print:



For the sky, I carved 3 woodblocks and printed with the Japanese technique (Hanga) using watercolor and rice paste. I copied the sky design from Hiroshige's "Three Wild Geese Flying Across the Moon." I was not successful carving the pigs with wood... they looked more like aardvarks than pigs.... and finally carved one pig on an eraser and stamped it 3 times and then painted with watercolor.

The calendar tells me it's time to plant my vegetable garden, but I think I'll wait another week. My tulips are just now showing some color. This time last year the petals were falling off.

I'm missing action in the eagle nest that I view from my window. The pair have deserted the tree after many years. They moved the nest lower a few years ago, but now the nest seems to be angled down more, so probably the limb that its on is breaking. Last fall a new nest was built in a cottonwood about a mile away. I think it is being used now, and I hope it is the same pair.

On the Saturday before last, Marilyn and I went to the lake on the other side of the runway and painted in the morning. Good to see some different shades of green.


I've tried to paint the lake several times..... each time most of it gets cut off the painting.



I've changed the day for getting a group together for plein aire painting from Saturday to Fridays. It seems to be a better day for the people who say they want to come. So far (3 weeks) it's been just one other person and me. JoAnn came with me on Friday. It was raining a bit and we went down to the beach. We set under the dock for a while...I started 3 little paintings and none got dry enough to go back into.... then went and set in the car where I painted this. Some one wrote "the war" under the "END". Probably one of the people who walked with me and about a dozen others in the peace march on Memorial Day.

MAY 18, 2007

Lots of catching up to do here. I was in the midst of preparing for my show when I posted last. The opening was April 6th and I was happy with the sales. It was quite a job boxing everything up. We were planning to take them into Juneau on the boat but the weather didn't cooperate, so I had to fly in with them. On Easter Day, I flew down to Florida for a 2 week visit with relatives and friends. I was mostly in my hometown of Bartow in central Florida, but traveled as far south as Miami Beach and made 3 trips to the Gulf Coast. I met my nieces husband for the first time and 3 new grand-nephews.


I didn't do much painting there. This is one of the few.... a papaya tree as seen above my cousin Madelons back fence after a refreshing swim in her pool in Palmetto. I did see a lot of art, a lot of inspiration, beautiful places. Seemed like I was going somewhere all the time.

On the way home, I stopped in Washington State for a few days and visited more friends. Back in Juneau, I boxed up the paintings that didn't sell.....


this is one of them.... I got home on April 27th.



And now finally spring is here. Green is showing up in the fields, migrating birds are coming through, and "snow birds" are returning to their summer homes. Finally there are a few flowers in bloom... the marsh marigolds in the ditches and my lavender primroses in the garden.


I painted this from my car on the dock road last week... some hint of green in the field.

I have been asking people to join me for plein aire painting on Saturday morning. Kate joined me on the 12th.... I'd better change the date on the painting. We walked the path to the beach south of the run way. I painted from about the same place last year....



This was on March 5, 2006..... probably the way it looked a couple of weeks ago this year.... Its been a much later spring.

This is another postcard size painting I did last year in March.



... and this one also, started on the same day... March 22, 2006. Its larger... about quarter size paper. I added some crows in the foreground after taking this picture of it.

I spent this afternoon walking on the loop south of our house with my friend Artemis. We walked down the Salmon River, had a picnic on the beach, Artemis napped while I painted. Walked up the section-line path. Each year the willows look more and more pathetic from the moose browsing. This is the first really clear days in quite some time and the Fairweathers are beautiful. The sweet gale is blooming, not quite as rich in color as it gets. I must go back and paint there next week.

This is the dock from the beach today.

Van left for his summer of fishing last week. I'm getting into my summer routine, more time to myself and so dear friends, if there are any still checking here, perhaps there will be more regular postings.