Sue Clancy's Blog, page 12

Art supplies, art exhibits and self-care

In a prior post I wrote about sharing the correlation I see between art and mental health. Writing and drawing your thoughts and feelings can help you check in with yourself. It’s a way of caring about and listening to your innermost self. Beyond any therapeutic benefits a habit of writing and drawing is also intelligence at play. Play is essential to mental health and not valued nearly enough… but I digress. Reading books and viewing the art others have made serves both of the therapy and play purposes too. Telling and showing more of my own work, my own intelligence at play, in my sketchbook is one way I can think of to share this correlation I see. That’s part of why I’ve begun A.M. Sketching anyway. (Btw this week there was a featured bug…)

Longtime readers of this blog know how I like easily portable sets of art supplies. Well, this preference has dovetailed with my above mentioned thoughts about mental health and having a regular sketching, writing and reading habit. Towards this notion I’ve found a company that makes sets of good quality art supplies and maintains an online series of tutorials about drawing. I am now in the process of affiliation so that whenever I share some art techniques (and add to the online drawing tutorial library) someone can easily access the supplies if they want to. http://shop.nil-tech.com/?ref=DmLN4hDZ

Here’s video of me looking at one of the just delivered sets. https://youtube.com/shorts/oat8Wr2q64g?feature=share

I remember teaching art, in pre-pandemic days, and sourcing the art supplies was always an issue. Even for adult classes the list of supplies to buy often overwhelmed students. So it’s nice to make it easier for someone to get the supplies they need to start a sketching habit by having everything available in one portable zippered case.

By the way when I say “a sketching habit” I include both words and images. Writing and drawing are both powerful tools for thinking and living well.

I wrote in my last post about my upcoming art exhibit at the Aurora Gallery. Here’s another video look at some of my artist books that will be in that upcoming exhibit. https://youtu.be/_VqH-Jw9wbg The featured book “Stories we could live inside…or not” relates to the mental health theme… here are some still photos but please see the video.

Besides fine art and artist books there are also limited edition greeting cards… the art, books and cards all relate to each other… anyway here’s a photo of the box of 90 pieces of art. Many of the artworks are the size of an open hand or smaller. It was nice to just carry one 11 x 11 x 14 inch sized box into the Gallery! I’m telling you I’m totally sold on the miniature art genre!

You can see a bit of what’s in the box on my portfolio page here. Needless to say I’m tired. I’m also reading a very good book. So I’ll get back to reading it now.

I hope you have a good book to read too and that your week is as pleasant as possible. See you next Monday.

Ant Hology, the anthology, the sketchbook three and the exhibit ABC

I’ve made a new handmade alphabet book for Storyberries – called “Ant Hology” – it is now a free ebook childrens book on www.storyberries.com

https://www.storyberries.com/anthology-experimental-art-books-counting-alphabet-books-for-kids/

This video link looks at the original handmade artist book which is only 2 inches square. Ant Hology on YouTube https://youtube.com/shorts/qt57rCZPhrs?feature=share

“Ant Hology” is also included in a newly printed anthology (pun fully intended) containing reproductions of 3 of Clancy’s handmade books titled “Juggling Numbers and Letters”
https://www.blurb.com/b/11198251-juggling-numbers-and-letters

Here’s a look at printed book alongside the 3 original artist books so you can see the scale difference. The printed book is 7 inches square

Speaking of threes – on A.M. Sketching this week I wrote about the three sources of inspiration for my sketchbook work: my life, my self generated photo references and my imagination. Details on A.M. Sketching but here is the gist.

As you know this use of the “3 sources” is true of my fine art and artist books too. For example Ant Hology was inspired, as I wrote in this post, by an ant mound along the edge of our patio.

In August I’m having an exhibit at the Aurora Gallery. I’ve titled it: “For you by Sue the ABC’s: Art, Books. Cards”. All of this exhibit too was inspired by my life, my self-generated references and my imagination.

Here’s the artist statement I wrote for the exhibit:

“I see creativity as a very practical thing. Art adorns our walls. Books bemuse us. Cards connect us. For this exhibit I include all three of these essential elements of life because it’s been stressful lately and I am me. So I made these things for you.”

The above photo and this video link below shows a small selection of over 30 related art gift objects created by me that are available. https://youtu.be/iPL6g_2cICw

I plan to do more photos and videos of the various art objects and put them on my portfolio page – you can see what I’ve done so far here.

This week will be very busy but each morning I will sketch and each evening I will read books a while and generate more self-generated reference material so it can percolate on the back burner of my mind while I do necessary stuff for my upcoming exhibit.

I hope your week has at least 3 nice things in it. See you next Monday.

A break, a birthday, more winery art, my sketchbook and Mom Penny

I’m still mostly having a break from blogging and social media: Last week for my birthday my spouse and I went to Oblation Papers in Portland Oregon https://www.oblationpapers.com/ where, one of their knowlegeable staff, directed me to the TWSBI ECO fountainpens with their high volume ink chamber!! I also got a new Noodlers Ink called “Heart Of Darkness”! Won’t it be fun to make my whimsical art from this ink of Darkness?! We rushed home where I immedately filled the new pen and drew in my sketchbook!

Later that day a box from Vintage Books https://vintage-books.net/ came via mail!! I love how they individually wraps each book so they arrive in beautiful condition! In the last photo you can see the titles of the books I got!! This was my first birthday after my adopted Mom’s recent death. It was hard but focusing on things I know I enjoy helps. I even wrote a smidge about keeping a list of self soothing things over on A.M. Sketching.

Quite on purpose not a lot else happened this week so I’ll catch you up on another art for a winery project. This happened over the last 6 months or so and was kept under wraps till the winery could open publicly. For Canal District Wines in Massachusetts I did a series of pet portraits and made them into art prints.

Here you see them being installed.

Here’s a few photos with my art in the background.

Here’s a closer look at a few of the art prints themselves. You can see the whole collection on my Society 6 shop here.

I’ve shared it before but this thumbtacked note on my studio wall containing what Mom said in one of our last conversations bears repeating … she said it in her authoritative Mom voice too! Mom had worked as a psychiatric nurse and she always placed a high value on self-care, especially upon mental health self-care as a way to foster good relationships with yourself and other people, self-care as a lens through which to view one’s choices of activities. When I was younger and Mom learned – before I realized it myself – that drawing and writing were some of my main ways to self-soothe whenever I was upset she would gently direct me towards pens and paper.

Now after Mom’s passing I keep thinking about creativity and mental health skills… what if making stuff is primarily a way of listening to yourself? Not something to be primarily viewed as a way to make money or even with an expectation to make “good art”. What if writing and drawing, along with reading and looking at art, are simply coping skills in times of stress? Something accessible to everyone. What if, as I shared last Friday in my A.M. Sketching email newsletter, art making is simply intelligence doing self-care and playing?

Now I’m thinking of sharing more of my sketchbook work in a step by step way over on A.M. Sketching and possibly here too. Somehow I want to emphasize the connection I see between mental health and marks on paper … but how do I want to do this? How can I do it that also helps me take care of myself by not adding to my already long project list? I’m reminded of this teaspoon page in my sketchbook.

Now I look at the silverware drawer in the kitchen as a homage to grit and resilience.

I wish you to have a good grasp on your spoon too this week. See you next Monday.

Taking a blog break

Taking a break to have sun tea and read. Besides my adopted Mom passing within this last week my birthday is upcoming… I need a break. Then I’ll get back to making the art my adopted Mom liked so much. I miss her and always will. (See last post)

I’m still sketching in my sketchbook though. Mom would expect that. See also my email newsletter A.M. Sketching Additionally I’ve made a birthday poem, a tongue-in-cheek talk between my inner child and my adult self. I know Mom would have liked it. Hope you do too. I read my poem outloud here https://youtu.be/K7SXnI8zOUk

Here’s the text of my birthday poem as written in my poetry sketchbook- which I also read from in the video.

Heres another sketchbook page that I’m referring to often these days – and part of why I did the birthday poem.

So anyway I’m posting this blog post earlier than usual. Now to the sun tea and books.

Keep breathing. I’ll check in next Monday.

Mom, Odditerrarium, A.M. Sketching and rulings IRL

My adopted Mom has passed and is no longer in pain. I wrote in a prior post about her illness. For more than 20 years and before JL and I moved to Washington 12 years ago, Mom and I met for lunch at least once a month sometimes more. Lunch was either at a restaurant or at her house. After Dad and then JL retired they joined us for our lunches. During every lunch I ever had with Mom she had Pinot Grigio. Mom liked flowers and often had carefully curated displays of them in a vase somewhere in her house. She commented on them in the restaurants. Dad had what Mom called “flower blindness” he just didn’t notice the flowers. Lay a book somewhere and he saw it immediately – but new flower arrangements flew above his radar. So I did my best to notice and say something about Mom’s flowers. What I learned and the love I got from Mom would fill a galaxy and could start a new one.

Before getting the news about Mom I had begun working on this blog as follows below. Because my head isn’t here right now I’m leaving this blog unedited as it was in draft form typos, raw text, unended sentences, no links and all… I’ll be back again next week. If ever anyone taught good coping skills it was my Mom. Anyway here’s what I’d planned to share…

I delivered 3 new works to Burnt Bridge Cellars and Kim put them up after Amy from Caplan Art Designs took the sold ones down to be sent to their new homes.

BLAHBLAH about the visit

Close ups of the newest ones, titles etc

After the delivery I worked on the digital files of Ant Hology for Storyberries and sent those in. Photos and such will come later.

I also changed the name of my email newsletter from Clancy’s Coffee with the Green Dragon to “A.M. Sketching”. It’s less of a mouthful and more directly to the point. https://sueclancy.substack.com/

Below is one of the sketchbok pages I shared via A.M. Sketching- I really leaned this week on my alphabetical list of things I enjoy and am still working on the list. So more on this later.

The bulk of the week was busy and stressful so the only work I got done towards the newest childrensbook is some sketchbook drawings of bears bicycling.

I found the Supreme Court decisions stressful. If anyone thinks the ruling about Roe v Wade and the probable striking birthcontrol only affects young women – in 2018 my middle aged lady parts went haywire and an IUD basically saved my life. All of the artwork I’ve created since then is thanks to the availability of women’s healthcare. So after the ruling today I keep thinking about what might have happened to me if the current Supreme Court ruling had been in place and I had lived in a red state in 2018.
I might not have lived. I might not have been here to be photographed working in my artstudio on a hedgehog

The next morning I drew this in my sketchbook and we donated to several orgs including After Roe: Help protect choice everywhere — Donate via ActBlue
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/after-roe

I’ve been happily having coffee with my sweetie every morning for 26 plus years and I plan to continue no matter what. We’ve both fought for womensrights and for gay rights and we will keep doing that too.
Damnit I’m sad, upset and angry about the current Supreme Court rulings and the likelihood of the anti birth control and anti gay rulings to come. I go into action when upset … BTW I consider all forms of creativity practical actions. Maintaining our humanity is direct action. Hang on to your heart, your mind and love wins.

Below are our favorite morning mugs. I had a time in my creative life when I did ceramics.

Here’s a post I saw that resonated

Anyway, becaus we can’t really live in rage let us now go to our happy places … the bookshelves in our living room are one of my favorite places s. Sometimes I like to just look at the shelves and what’s on them.

Please hang on to your heart and be gentle with yourself and each other this week as we all gear up for a fight for basic human rights.

See you next Monday.

Odditerrarium, art, ants, anteaters and books

Ants are making progress… in my new artist book that is! In my last post I was working on “Ant Hology” using a collage of letters, ink and gouache. It’s another miniature 2 inch square book that opens to 20 inches long. Here’s the progress:

The letters I used came from Columbia Gorge Book Arts.

Now to do the graphic design hocus pocus and send a digital file containing all of these ants to Storyberries!

In my last post I shared a sketchbook page that had Anteaters in it … yes, there’s a new children’s book in progress. The text was written by Judy Sullens. Please notice that I used my ant research in this project too! Ha! Here’s the first illustration:

But this new book has been put aside temporarily so I can make new Odditerrarium paintings to replace some of the paintings that have sold at Burnt Bridge Cellars via Caplan Art Designs.

Here’s my studio supervisor dachshund supervising the paintings in progress. They need to be finished by the time you read this post so my supervisor is helping to keep me focused. Says the dog “Hey, where are you going..?”

Here’s a look at the two paintings on my easel now that they’re finished except for the varnishing, framing and delivering. Due Tuesday!

Storyberries contacted me about their release date for the ebook version of my Odditerrarium. Here’s a Reel about Odditerrarium on Storyberries that I did to help explain the visual story puzzle aspect of my Odditerrarium project.

And – drumroll please – here’s the ebook version of Odditerrarium on Storyberries! https://www.storyberries.com/short-stories-for-kids-odditerrarium-by-sue-clancy-art-books-for-kids/

When I was a kid I loved looking at coffee table books with paintings in them. Now I’m enjoying making books for children that contain my fine art because the little kid I once was would have absolutely loved a book like Odditerrarium!

Anyway, this week has been very busy but even so I still played in my sketchbook most mornings (you can see what I sketched via my Substack sketchbook emails here) and each evening I read books. Here’s what I’ve been reading:

And here’s the evening shift supervisor cat who makes sure we have whipped cream on our hot chocolate, maintain a regular reading program and still get to bed at a decent hour. Says the cat “Hey, you with the thumbs, quit poking about on the phone and get back to lap making and book reading.”

I hope your week is pleasant. See you next Monday.

The ants the wetlands and the wild books

In our neighborhood we joke that western Washington is built on a giant anthill. Each spring we all battle ants outside our houses before they can invade indoors. The first hint is a mound of dirt where there wasn’t one before. Like this one on the edge of our patio.

I lifted the bricks and put the ant bait directly on the fascinating ant farm-tunnel construction then covered the bait with the bricks again and swept away the dirt on the brick edges. Of course I had a good look at the way the ants collected and organized  the dirt before I did my acts of destruction.

When ants are found indoors I use a solution of vinegar and Dawn dishwashing soap to clean the area where ants were seen. The non-poison solution is in a spray bottle and it quite effectively kills and deters ants. Between the outdoor/indoor methods the ant activity is usually successfully managed.

After doing some ant battle outdoors I came inside, looked at my bookshelves and realized how many anthologies I have: collections of poetry, short stories, essays… In one set of bookshelves alone I counted over 25 anthologies. There are still more on other shelves. I have an anthology infestation and I’m keeping it!!

For the first time I saw that there’s an “ant” in the word anthology – so I grabbed a dictionary, a scrap of paper and made a list… and with that list I have begun a new children’s book for Storyberries. I’m using a collage of letterpress letters from Columbia Gorge Book Arts and drawing ants in ink. Both my handwritten list and the beginning of the new book are in the photo below.

In case you have trouble reading my handwriting here’s the list…

Anthology: [a gathering] collections, often varied authors, of a similar literary form or topic or time period (in my last post I listed a few anthologies about the Beat Generation)

Ant farms: [a gathering and a structure] a colony of ants constructing a dwelling

Holo: a word element meaning whole or entire

Alphabet: [a structure] a set of letters to be arranged in a customary order. A structure  of language

Hology: [a relationship] – a general relationship  between reality and it’s content

Besides musing about words my wife and I went for a walk in the Steigerwald Wildlife Refuge with our binoculars. I saw the purple blue grey colors of a great blue heron up close! I didn’t realize the extent of the purplish tints to the heron feathers.  We saw lots of other wildlife too – including smiling friendly humans!

During our walk I kept thinking of a work of fiction I had read long ago that had a musician character who sang “Oh I’ll cry when the wetlands are dry”. The wetlands were a character in the story too as I recalled.

I also vaguely recalled some phrases about birds and wetlands from Mary Oliver and Wendell Berry.  But these were fleeting snatches of phrases half-remembered like wild birds glimpsed in the pond reeds.

When we were home I rummaged in my books for where the “Oh, I’ll cry when the wetlands are dry” phrase originated. Turns out it came from “With A Tangled Skein” by Piers Anthony. I had an enjoyable hunt for wetlands in this title too…

The half-remembered phrases from Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver: “I am hardly an ornithologist nevertheless I live among the birds…” (from Leavings by Berry)  and “The labor of writing poems, of working with thought and emotion (or is it the wings?) of language, is strange to nature, for we are first of all creatures of motion.” (from Upstream by Mary Oliver)

I also saw and heard some of the Mary Oliver and Wendell Berry poems about wetlands on this Wisconsin Wetland site https://www.wisconsinwetlands.org/wetland-words/

But since I live in Washington state I went looking for some wetlands related poetry from local writers. Here’s what I found from Salish Magazine a publication located in Washington state https://salishmagazine.org/issue-9-art-poetry/

In the mornings I was still thinking about the herons and the ants so they’re in my sketchbook pages. And it’s been fun sharing my sketchbook pages via email on my new Substack https://sueclancy.substack.com/

Speaking of slurping… I made a yummy fettuccine recipe using spinach and green herbs from our garden: garlic chives, green onion and basil. Here’s the recipe:

https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/fettuccine-with-green-herbs

I also did a Reel this week about my Odditerrarium book and exhibit…  https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cejq5Lap2mI/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

This is the challenge for me – remembering  to promote the project I finished and is currently in public like Odditerrarium. Often I finish something and I’m on to the next project right away … like my “Ant Hology” book now in progress! So, more on that book next week.

I hope your week is pleasant. See you next Monday.

Odditerrarium on the winery walls

Last Wednesday when I delivered 20 paintings from my Odditerrarium series to Burnt Bridge Cellars 4 had already sold and before Friday 2 more sold via Caplan Art Designs! Many nice comments have been said about the exhibit too! Thank you all!

Here’s a photo of some of my art spread out on a table ready to be hung for display. A package of books is ready too.

Burnt Bridge Cellars is a large space and my 10 x 8 inch works filled it pretty well. There are more photos of the installation on my portfolio page here – below are a few pics to give you a sense.

There’s another area in the winery with more of my artwork and a basket holding copies of my book “Odditerrarium: a fine art album and nonsense poem”. (Copies are also available via mail here.)

Later this month the Caplan Art Designs Gallery will pickup the sold artwork and ship/deliver the artwork sold from this exhibit to the new owners. Between now and then I’ll make more art in this vein, beginning “Odditerrarium Too”, which will be exhibited in October at the Caplan Gallery!

I wrote in my last post about the Beat Generation and that I was expecting a book about the women of that era. The book came! It’s titled “Women of the Beat Generation” by Brenda Knight. The writings of Helen Adam and Diane di Prima are particularly fascinating; Adam’s use of rhythm and rhyme and di Prima’s ideas about the value of imagination. Diane di Prima’s “Rant” is wonderful and here’s a link so you can read it too. I am inspired by how the women of the 1960s and 1970s worked together, began their publishing their own and each other’s work, how they encouraged and supported each other, including the men, and generally persevered despite many obstacles. Working and sharing together is really potent stuff.

This cooperative encouraging spirit was in my mind when some of my friends told me that they want to be sure to get all of my posts – especially the ones with my sketchbook pages – and social media feels too random to them. So I’ve decided to send my sketchbook pages directly to people who want them via weekly emails using Substack. It will be nice to have a place focused on my sketchbooks. I’m thinking I’ll send these emails on Fridays. If you’d like to get my sketchbook pages via email please subscribe here https://sueclancy.substack.com/

This blog focuses on what’s behind the scenes in my creative life and I share my sketchbook here now and then to (hopefully) show how it fits into my work on the current project. The emails via Substack will be some of my sketchbook pages, a real-time looking over my shoulder, so to speak, at my developing ideas as they happen without a firm context. Perhaps weeks or months later you might see a sketchbook page, published earlier in Substack, pop up in this blog because it illustrates how I got to a place in the current project that I’m sharing about. For example if I had been on Substack months ago while working on my Odditerrarium project an email subscriber would have seen an email somewhat like this – even now this was a great way to share some of the sketchbook pages related to my current Odditerrarium series.

Anyway the Substack emails will be devoted to my sketchbook pages – which people seem to also enjoy and want a reliable source for! Isn’t that fun?

All of this sharing; this blog, my social media and now Substack is me attempting to follow this advice thumbtacked to my studio wall…

… and echo, at least a smidge, the cooperative spirit of the women I’m reading about in “Women Of The Beat Generation”.

Anyway, we’ll see how it goes with “Clancy’s Coffee with a Green Dragon” – perhaps it will also be a way to eventually do serials of my books? I hope you’ll consider joining me over there too – https://sueclancy.substack.com/

I hope your week is filled with lots of low-level ecstasy and an abundance of imagination. See you here next Monday.

Unwearied fancie, the flowers, the books and the stew

Unlike ball obsessed dogs I get tired and need a break even from my most favorite activity in the world: making art. In my last post I talked of finishing most of the prep for my upcoming Odditerrarium exhibit a week or so early in order to give myself time to rest and recharge before the exhibit opens at Burnt Bridge Cellars via Caplan Art Designs.

Here’s one of my portraits for the exhibit titled “Unwearied Fancie”. It, like the others, is 10 x 8 inches created with ink, gouache and collage on board.

And here’s a closer look at what this dog is obsessed by er um I mean thinking about.

This week the massacre in Uvalde Texas happened. I’m so very tired of unnecessary deaths. I’m bone weary of gun violence. Generally I keep my comments about current events off of this blog but I’m very upset about all of the unnecessary deaths due to one word said by one political party in the U.S. One morning I grabbed a scrap of paper and wrote…

So more than just my hand and arm felt a need for rest this week…

Anyway, all of the frames have been filled with artwork now. Here’s some photos of just-framed works still on my work bench.

My dachshund has a bed near my work area. (See the photo below). As I finished framing the last painting I imagined…

“Is that number 20?” Asked my dachshund art studio supervisor.

“Yes! All 20 of the Odditerrarium series paintings are framed now!” I replied.

“Let’s order new artsupplies and then let’s go wander the yard, eat something, read books and rest.” says the dachshund.

“Great idea!” I said reaching for the phone to order new supplies.

I already have sketchbook notes (due to my almost daily sketchbook routine) and plans for other creative projects that I haven’t talked about on this blog – or anywhere on social media – because they’re in flux. But I know generally from these plans what art supplies I need to buy.

All of the Odditerrarium artwork is now packed in boxes ready to be delivered at the appropriate time. So it’s “all done except for the shouting” as I sometimes refer to the exhibit promotions. Tired ole me is very grateful to have help spreading the word about the exhibit from Burnt Bridge Cellars and the Caplan Art Designs gallery. I’m also beyond grateful to the fans of my work who share about it online. Your encouragement and support helps me a lot! Thank you!

The paperwork for the Odditerrarium exhibit has been done and already sent in to the gallery. I’ve also finished the webpage about the exhibit which includes images of all of the art and access to the printed artist book. As I get photos of the exhibit on the winery walls I’ll add them and other related things to my portfolio page. All of these things are my efforts to make sharing about my exhibit easier plus the portfolio page and the book make it possible for people to participate in my exhibit without coming in person to the winery.

My ultimate point is that you, my dear blog reader, besides seeing behind the scenes in my studio as I have worked towards this exhibit are also the first to see all of the Odditerrarium artwork together and have early access to the book!

I hope you like it! Here’s a few photos of the book…

https://www.blurb.com/b/11149506-odditerrarium

Here’s the visit to the yard my supervisor dachshund and I talked about earlier. The Japanese Iris’s are blooming now and I really love the odd shapes of them! The other flowers in my wife’s garden are pretty too.

In my last post I told about our dishwasher troubles… this week a new one was installed! To celebrate having a dishwasher again I made one of our favorites and served the Coddle in the big mugs that are hard to handwash. Our new dishwasher did a great job!

https://www.blurb.com/b/10863384-favorites-so-far

Here are pictures of my art studio supervisors resting.

My reading stack this week: I finished Christopher Moore’s “Island of the Sequined Love Nun” and P. M. Carlson’s “Murder Misread”. Both of those transported me to a better frame of mind.

Being upset about current events also has me reaching back in history for a somewhat similar past era and the artistic responses to the issues of that time and how, these many years later, that turned out…

Now I’m reading Alan Watt’s “Zen and the Beat Way” alongside some of the Beat writers work in Ann Charters’s “The Portable Beat Reader”. (Here’s a good link about the history of the Beat generation aka hippies.) It occurs to me that many discussions of the 1960’s and 1970’s have focused on pooh-poohing the long hair, the beadwork, the lack of shoe wearing, the organic vegetable growing/eating habits instead of grappling with the ideas contained in the written works of that era. Many of that generation’s artist’s were responding artistically, critically, via literature, poetry, music, etc, to the Mccarthyism, the Vietnam war, the various conventional cultural cruelties of that time period. The conservatives, or squares as they were called in the 60’s, said “no” a lot back then too.

In reading about all of it I wonder is peace, love and understanding really so radical, so threatening that we must distract from those ideas by ridiculing the clothing and eating habits of those advocating kindness?

On the topic of 1960 era food: here’s a review of a book by Jonathan Kaufman titled “Hippie Food”. And here’s another article about the healthy food (brown rice, beans, organic whole foods etc) efforts that began back then. I’m now aware of very real kitchen table progress that has been made because of the ideas originating in the countercultural 1960’s, things we benefit from today such as more food safety, better quality, more wide spread availability of fresh vegetables and more diversity of vegetables and grains.

I have ordered another book, that hasn’t come yet, about the women writers, poets and artists of the Beat era. I’m impressed, by what I’m reading in the titles by Watts and the Charters, with how much work the women of that era did to expand the life possibilities for women living, working, cooking and being creative – things we benefit from today. (See also this tangentially related article) I look forward to reading more. It may be a cliche but we do indeed stand on the shoulders of giants. And I’m finding comfort and hope from what turned out to be the many Beat generation countercultural successes despite the frustration they felt in the 1960’s and 70’s.

As you can probably tell I spent more of my time just reading this week. I took a break from social media too. Here’s an article I read with ways to be aware of current events and still take care of your mental health. Here’s my sketchbook page where I gave myself permission…

I hope your week is as full of peace, love and understanding as you can make it. Please take carrot …

See you next Monday

Teacher, the creative path and seeing beauty

As I alluded in my last post life and art are correlated. In the comments Sherri said it’s like a braid. That’s certainly true for me; life, creative projects and self-care weave together. It’s not a work slash life balance so much as it is what can I do that makes both life and creativity sustainable and as fun as possible? Art and life can teach each other what they need when I’m listening to what makes me glad to be alive at that moment. The thumbtacked quote below is one of my favorites.

Here’s another painting in my Odditerrarium series titled “Teacher”. Like the others is is 10 x 8 inches and created using ink, gouache and collage on board. It will join the rest of the series for my upcoming exhibit at Burnt Bridge Cellars via the Caplan Art Designs Gallery.

A closer look at what this cat is thinking.

Here’s a short Reel on Instagram of me working on this cat portrait- https://www.instagram.com/reel/CdqmKrRphr6/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I’ve been framing artwork almost every day like I mentioned last post in an adjustable rhythm of spray varnish two and frame two. Slowly but steadily I’m getting all 20 framed.

The back looks like this when I finish the framing and write the title of the painting on the backing paper in ink. Then I slip it into a protective sleeve and then into a box with its fellows.

Two of the 20 finished paintings are smaller at 7 x 5 inches but all of the rest are 10 x 8 inches.

At the end of the week I got the the rest of the frames I need from the Aurora Gallery! The new frames are outside the box and the box is full of artwork that’s already been framed. So if I keep this work rhythm going I will have all of the framing finished a week early before delivery. I like giving myself some time to relax before delivery day.

Breakfast one day this past week was lemon scones made by my wife! They were yummy! And here’s my sketchbook page that day.

This week besides my spray two frame two work routine also had a leaking dishwasher in it. We’ve ordered a new one. Then another morning we were having breakfast (not the scones) when suddenly the water heater beeped frantically. We frowned at it. Rusty our dachshund barked at it. We looked at the instruction book and at the app for our heater. Nothing we tried helped. So we called our regular handyman and before our coffee got cold Kyle had our issue fixed!
We’re sending him a big thank you by postcard… (postcard art by Clancy)

Since we’re hand washing dishes until the new dishwasher is installed I made my homemade simple sauce (recipe card here) and added chunky veggies – zucchini, onion, bell peppers – it was very good over pasta! Several meals were had with easy clean up – just the pot I boiled pasta in and the bowls and forks we ate with! The sauce was reheated in the pot it was original cooked in.

When things go wrong I refer to this thumbtacked note on my studio wall.

And that concept of seeing possibilities includes remembering especially during difficult or stressful times to see the beautiful things. Here’s some beauty I enjoyed seeing in my wife’s garden.

And also this thumbtacked thought was good to remember…

… and it was good to practice. Just for fun we got some Daniel Smith watercolors that have shiny aspects; interference, iridescent and duochrom to the colors – and both of us played with them on watercolor paper. Taking time to play is important especially in stressful times. The cat helps too.

Below is another days breakfast and sketchbook page. Since this week had stressful times with household appliances in addition to maintaining my work rhythm I mostly let go of my social media posting and responding. Letting go of the social media part of living a creative life helped too. I will pick it back up… and the break was/is nice. (Thank you in advance if you share this post on your social media.)

This next week besides the framing and will focus on website and promotion prep for the opening of Odditerrarium. It’ll also have some more rest and recreation in it before the opening of Odditerrarium on June 3!! Wahoo!!

I hope all of your household appliances work smoothly or are easily fixed this week! I also hope you make time to see the beauty around you and to play. See you next Monday.