Just finished!

I have just taken photographs of this new piece, titled  (for now) Leaving It Behind. It is 78" tall and 56" wide, just shy of 7' X 5'. It's constructed of strips of book covers sewn together with linen thread. I've been working on it obsessively in order to submit it along with two other pieces to the 2013 Portland Biennial.

A New Home for Library

Yesterday I hung my large wall collage in Rockland at the Congregational Church on Limerock Street. I am grateful to Judy Waterman for giving me this opportunity and to Rick for his help installing it. It's great to have it up again and the space there is near perfect for it, as you can get some distance from it as well as inspect it up close at your leisure. Stop by and see it if you are in Rockland. The church is open to the public during the day 9-3 except Saturdays. I believe it closes early (1 p.m.) on Fridays. It will remain up for the next two months.

A few detail shots

Here are a few detail shots of Library.

End of a Good Run

I had a great month of July with my show at Aarhus Gallery, though it was terribly disappointing to have to take it down already. I'd like to find a place to hang Library (And Other Endangered Species)  and Lucky where they can stay for a few months--I don't have the wall space in my studio! Many, many people came to see it, including those who walked by, stopped dead in their tracks, backed up and called to their spouse, "Honey, you've got to see this!" (As I'm told by the gallery partners!) I appreciated the opportunity to give an artist talk on Saturday during the Belfast Bound Book Festival. Thanks to everyone who suppoerted me in every way, by purchasing, coming to the talk, stopping in several times, or just admiring. I so appreciate you, my audience!

Anniversary of the plane crash

It has been a year now. It feels just as insignificant to say that as it feels significant. Though I have been thinking a lot about this date as it approached and thinking that I might write about it finally today I really don't feel like doing that as much as I do feel like doing it. I wonder if by writing theose terrifying details I can finally purge myself of them. It is great to have finished the Lucky project and to have the piece hanging in the gallery. Just some thoughts for the day, in acknowledgment of the passage of time.

Lucky, and then no luck

Well, I succeeded in uploading an image of the piece I made for the show called Lucky, for which I asked people to send me a story about feeling lucky, but failed to get any pictures of the big installation I referred to in the previous post to publish. Maybe they are too big? Don't know, but in the meantime Annadeene posted an image of it on facebook and the Aarhus website will have pictures, if they are not there already, on their website: www.aarhusgallery.com

Opening at Aarhus Gallery in Belfast

Here are pictures of the installation I have at Aarhus. It's called Library and consists of numerous (122) individual handmade artist books arranged into a 8' by 18' composition. I don't know how to stitch the pictures together on the blog so you'll have to use your imagination! Hope those who are in the area have a chance to see it while it is at Aarhus, 50 Main Street downtown Belfast. There are pic

tures on their website, too.

Missing Mexico

Twelve degrees outside and blowing like a nor'easter! I am missing those hot summery days of Mexico and the beach, the surf, the warmth on the body so I'm posting some more pictures, this time of the beach.

Mexico

Just got back from my first trip to Mexico last night. Fantastic time doing a little traveling with my sister Megan and her daughter Meara and her boyfriend Gage who have been traveling in Central America for the last six months. They had met up with a another traveler, from France whose name is Benoit, so we were five going to Puerto Moreles, Tulum, Merida then back to the beach on Isla de Mujeres. They were seasoned travelers and good guides and made sure we ate authentic Mexican food and stayed in authentic cheap hostels, not to mention drinking authentic Mexican beer. Megan and I had fun taking pictures of doorways and elctric boxes, which were always visible on the walls of buildings. The Mayan ruins were magical, the beach soft and the snorkeling highly successful. Next time I go I WILL speak Spanish, at least a little...

Submitting to the Biennial

It's that time of year again to consider submitting to the CMCA Biennial, which I am doing for the first time this year as I have new work I want to share with the curators.

To Do List, Accomplished

Blood drawn.
Cash wihdrawn from bank.
Hair cut (agreed to "product": smelly!!).
Latte at Bell the Cat.
Gift certificate at Left Bank Books redeemed. Picked up two books to be used as prizes for the Pine Tree in March and a copy of Melissa Coleman's book This Life is in Your Hands which Bart and I have been wanting to read.
Gas tank filled: 14.557 gallons at $3.639/gal for a total of $52.97.
Visit with Cipperly at Seaport Marine Museum Library to look at journals in their collection in preparation for the workshop I will give there in April in journaling.
Quick perusal of Searsport Antiques Mall where I scored some old books to use in my work and spent over $100.
Diamond Glaze finally picked up at Fiddlehead Artisan Supply.
Matboard scraps picked up from the Belfast Framer.
Bonus: a short visit with Kat, heard about her recent concussion. Lots of people slipping and injuring themselves on the ice this winter, even though there's been so litle snow.
Hardware store to pick up a small stepladder and broom for the studio.
Late lunch with KC at the Badger. Made plans for the summer!
Hannaford's for some fresh produce and a little pot of tete a tete narcissus.
Trip to Rockland to talk to Bruce Gamage about appraising some of dad's antiques, particularly two decoys he owns. We think they came from Lizzie's barn. They will go into a June auction and hopefully fetch a month's rent.

Crazy dream

Dream last night: I was lost in a huge museum, similar to the MFA in Boston, at least the original musrum, with very high ceilings, lots of marble, no windows, like a train station on steroids. Wandering around, I was looking for Bart. A few of us (four?)stopped by a large shallow pool of water where we climbed onto floating pads the dimensions of a door. We immediately became so weak and so sleepy it was as if we had been drugged. Frightened because I could not open my eyes, I began to cry for help. Eventually I managed to garner enough strength to paddle to the edge of the pool and drag myself off the floating pad. I went searching for Bart in the cavernous empty spaces of the museum, eventually seeing him walking toward me, only to lose him again when we were clsoe to the exit and he disappeared into the crowd surrounding the entrance desk. I ran down the stairs and out a side door into the sunlight where I saw Bart walking toward me. It wasn't until I was relating the dream to Bart that I realized it was a plane crash dream.
I stood all day long in the studio yesterday which was both good and bad. Good because this meant I was hard at work on something, bad because at the end of the day my back ached as it hasn't in a long time and I had to drag out the heating pad again along with the Advil. I assume it was because of standing in one place for hours at a time. I actually have been feeling so much better overall that this took my by surprise, even though it might have been the case even without the back issues. I've been walking every day for at least an hour followed by at least a half hour of stretching and strengthening exercises. AND I have been doing my job on the curling ice, sweeping and delivering my stones with my old slide delivery, a sure sign of healing.