I’ve been deeply immersed in the wondrously weird little world of my crow’s nest studio, much more appealing now that C.P. McDill helped me re-organize it and found a way to make it reasonably warm. Another important part of “gathering mojo” for the working mode has been treasure hunting for dusty old books and their pages. I guess this replaces beach combing and gardening since I do tend to switch to antiquing in the winter months.

I’ve also been listening alternately to two amazing internet radio stations, both of which I highly recommend. My current favorite is the recently discovered Ancient FM which plays medieval and early music. I also madly love the ambient otherworldly atmosphere of Drone Zone at http://somafm.com/ and not just because they occasionally play tracks by yours truly although that is always appreciated. Both stations have a nice flow to them. I am rarely taken out of my own zone or distracted from what I am working on.

The photograph (above) is a corner of the studio arranged with newly adopted books and cheese crates, along with an antique paper cutter, restructured wooden cigar boxes, and more books from the last successful raid.

Gorgeous book from 1905 illustrated by Will Carqueville.

This is not only a nicely tattered old book. It’s actually a useful music lesson primer. I’m beginning classical guitar lessons next week so it’s just what I needed.

Oh yes! Peacocks and columns.

No idea what these are! Embroidery cards?

Last but not least, deep in some arid desert is a cool cave, an abundance of life within finding refuge from the brutal noontime heat beyond. Small luminescent creatures dwell on the walls of the black interior, making unintentional constellations to delight the eye.

Size: 6″ x 6″
Mixed media: oil, paper, ink, and varnish on canvas.

That’s all for now. I’ll be in the cave.

Sometimes we have to say goodbye though. I said farewell and all that to one of my favorite works titled Rabbit, pictured in a new frame chosen to match a lovely new home. This has been a running theme for the past few weeks. I wonder if the “rabbits” are trying to tell me something.

It seems that amulets and talismans are in the ethers lately, which makes perfect sense. It’s the times. It’s the times. These times are strange aren’t they? This is the debut of a small line of one of a kind jewelry with tiny versions of my paintings as the jewel. They are one half inch to one inch square original works (not prints) that I have made into charms and pendants.

These are the art books that were left out of my art books are love post on Valentine’s Day. They were spread all about the studio and when collected made quite a pile. I thought I should include them, seeing as these are the books most currently referenced, they are probably the most important. The difficult to read titles are Ray Johnson’s “Correspondence” and Shirin Neshat’s catalog from one of the most amazing art exhibitions I have ever experienced. It was in Edinburgh’s fabulous Fruitmarket Gallery and it literally choked me up. That doesn’t happen often, especially at modern art shows. The rest of the studio book collection is in this previously mentioned post

This is my studio spook and that right there is a glare of love.

I’m still floating in the mist. I think it’s called a brain fog. The signs of life I refer to are (unfortunately) not mine. Not yet. They are outside, here on the coastal homestead among the flora and fauna and wildlife. Spring flowers, mint, oregano, garlic, purslane, parsley, dandelions, sage, spring onions, rhubarb, and asparagus are all peeking up now. My fig tree and wisteria survived the winter and have new buds. There are signs and indications that I will join them soon. Last week began the long slow tease of a spring which never quite arrives. Then it will be summer. We’ll sneak in gardening days whenever the sun miraculously appears or the whip winds of a sudden storm off the Atlantic. I love it though, living and gardening on a cliff by the sea. It’s like resistance training for the spirit.

The compost came out better than I had hoped and there is plenty of it. Rich and black. Nitty gritty down and dirty with the earth is what really wakes me up and gets me going. Solar power also helps. My cozy by the fire evenings and lazy daze of winter woolgathering are over though…until December.

Wild turkey trot through the garden.

Nemo is fascinated.

“Those are the biggest chickens I ever saw!”

Starting the season.

Transplanting seedlings from greenhouse trays to beds and containers.

Daffodils and driftwood.

We created a micro-climate by hollowing out a bowl for a sunken garden and surrounding it with a stone wall, then installing raising beds filled with generous amounts of organic compost. We still need these walls-o-water to plant tomatoes and peppers. Otherwise the season would be too short to yield fruit. Everything else grows fine in the beds with just an occasional frost cover or extra windbreak.

Garlic! Planted last fall and ready to eat soon. Repels vampires too. So very handy.



Dandelions for dinner.

Layer, glaze, layer, glaze, cut apart, reassemble, layer, glaze, layer, glaze, cut apart, reassemble, and repeat indefinitely…usually until the rare moment of lucidity or financial inclination motivates me to stop long enough for something to be released from this eternal cycle of construction and destruction. It hasn’t happened lately. Now if only I could combine composting with art making. That would be heaven. Hmmm…

C.P. McDill and I just finished completely gutting my workspace and the creative process along with it. The “crow’s nest” that we use for a studio is the attic of our tiny cottage. It has a low ceiling of only 6′ at the highest point. The previous owner had installed a drop ceiling and glued down wall to wall carpet which made it seem even more cramped and office like. We ripped out the drop ceiling, liberated the wooden rafters, exposed and sanded down the lovely hidden wood floorboards. C.P. installed full spectrum lighting and painted the walls and ceiling a warm brilliant white. The difference is amazing. It’s so bright and warm as well as feeling much larger than it actually is. Then we created a more open floor plan with two work tables, one for wet media and the other for textiles and paper.

We’ve been working on it all winter. C.P. is responsible for making such a truly tiny space look and feel so spacious and full of light. He’s so good. The room is 12′ x 15′ which is about a quarter of the size of my old studio and our cottage has no storage. We plan to remove the ridiculously low drop ceiling. It won’t make the room much higher, not even enough for C.P. to stand up straight, but it will feel less cramped with cross beams exposed…and I can then hang thingies from them.

I distract myself with pretty books, ideas for art making. I tracked down used copies of Shining Cloth which is sort of a textiles version of the Amulets book and also Relicarios, a book of devotional miniatures from the Americas. Why do I allow myself to be seduced by books when I am always trying to get rid of my possessions? I think I make exceptions for anything related to my work. Ideas for current projects are considered exempt from the “no collecting” rule but this can be dangerous.

Otherwise, I am in recycle and reuse mode and refuse to buy materials until I find a clever use or a new home for every single fragment and scrap within these walls. I have piles and piles of fabric and mirrors and metals and threads and ribbons so I work with C.P. McDill on torans and tapestries and a large quilt for our bed. This is something that we can do on the porch or in the garden or anywhere else when we do not want to be in the crow’s nest. He taught himself embroidered mirror work yesterday. I did not help him at all. I’m impressed.

From “Shining Cloth”

The Obi is a Japanese wearable art form from the Nishijin region.

This man is a king of the Kuba people. His cowrie shell regalia is a sign of wealth and prestige and a tribute to the Kuba ancestor god Woot! Isn’t he glorious. You will think of him the next time you say “Woot!”

From “Relicarios”

I tend to favor Mexican style of relicarios.

The Mexican tin and mica relicarios resemble some of the northern Indian tin work and I think this kind of frame would also go well with my painting style.