art gallery

Looking at these photos makes me think I need a better way of displaying my girl's creations. Suggestions?

the gallery

on the right, notice the three sheets of handmade paper



watercolor creations



art camp

This week, we did art camp at Belmont. And it was lovely. We made sun prints and handmade paper - which was so much fun. And, of course, all I want to do now is make sun prints and handmade paper. So far, I am refraining.

But, truly, what was the most pleasant part about this two-day adventure was the fabulous people. Parents, instructors, children, grandparents - the mix of personalities and ages was lovely and the result was a really mellow and kind-hearted art camp. A true delight.

I am grateful we got to be a part of this.

sun prints drying

a bit of paper-making instruction



all ears

This takes care of #2.

pony penning

Friends, I've been to Pony Penning Days. The event may sound familiar if you're a fan of Marguerite Henry's "Misty of Chincoteague."

I told myself and others that I was going because I really wanted my daughter to see the wild ponies. And that's true. But if you want something closer to the honest-to-goodness, authentic, turn the lights off and I'll tell you the truth, it's this: I've wanted to go watch the wild ponies swim and parade and do everything that I'd read in that book since I was a kid. A little, powerless kid.

The feeling, the thrill, the internal (and external) smile that the whole day was - even though it was a boiling 100 degrees outside - that is something that doesn't happen very often, I'm afraid.

I felt fulfilled.

Happy.

As I peered through the binoculars at the ponies plunging through the water and as they came so near as they paraded by, it felt right. Like, here's this piece that you didn't even know was missing and ta-da! it fits. And more importantly, it's really important that you have this piece.



watching the pony parade



ponies relaxing at the corral on the carnival grounds

 My pictures are less than fabulous. If you want to see fabulous photographs, check this out.

This takes care of #14.

#28

In junior high, I lived in Nashville: the South. As a result, we spent what felt like months studying the Civil War. I memorized battle dates (and then promptly forgot them), built dioramas, wrote special reports, learned about the great generals.

And yet, I never really understood what the Civil War was all about. Was I too young to understand the complexity of the reasons for the war? Yes. Was I too immature to even begin to fathom what it would be like to fight against your own brother? Yes. Was I too spoiled to begin to guess how exhausting it would be to march hundreds of miles? Yes. Was I too ignorant to guess at what our nation would be like today had the Union been demolished? Yes.

But, I'm an adult now. With a husband I love. A daughter I would die for. A country I love. And I am living in the belt buckle of the Civil War.

Last weekend, we went to Gettysburg National Military Park. Standing atop Little Round Top, I teared up. I felt an enormous sadness. A sadness for all the men: husbands, brothers, fathers, friends killed.

The week before our trip I read The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. And for the first time I felt such empathy for both sides, I understood the different perspectives and I had such a strong respect for the soldiers who fought. (This is a lovely, very easy to read book. I was hesitant to start it because I've never been "into" the Civil War and thought all those reenactors were geeks. No more.)

We are now watching the movie "Gods and Generals" which is about the Battles of Manassas, Fredericksburg and Chancelorsville. There are more books to read, more battlefields to visit and more movies to watch. But I can finally say, friends, that I am beginning to appreciate the sacrifices that all those men (and women) made for us.

Oh yes, back to the subject. Gettysburg was phenomenal. We spent the day, could have spent the week. I wasn't too sure what we would find; it is a battlefield after all. How interesting could it be? Well, very. We followed the CD audio tour and enjoyed every moment.

#17

Frank Lloyd Wright was a genius. My girl and I toured the Pope-Leighey House two weeks ago and I was bowled over by his ingenuity. What an innovative man!

According to the pamphlet I received at the site (the house is protected under the National Trust for Historic Preservation), "The Pope-Leighley House tells the story of Frank Lloyd Wright's innovative designs for modestly-sized and affordable single-family 'Usonian' houses and how two families adapted this dwelling to fit their mid-20th century lifestyles."

Here is a link to its floor plan. It measures in at 1200 square feet.

Here are the details, innovations that impressed me most:

• custom-made furniture, much of it made from plywood, so that the pieces would fit the exact dimensions of where they were to be place.
• an emphasis on the horizontal. See the pictures of the brickwork and screws (below) to see what I mean. Also note the faux stain glass windows. Stain glass would have been very expensive, too expensive for the purposes of this house, but he used wood cut-outs to create a similar look all while emphasizing the horizontal line.
• radiant floor heating. According to our tour guide, FLW invented this.
• absence of clutter.
• using a variety of ceiling heights and ample windows to create the illusion of a spacious house. There is really no way to describe the way that FLW is able to manipulate a person's feelings via architecture. Go to the FLW house closest to you and you'll experience it for yourself. He is a master at it.
• common-sense: positioning kitchen cabinet doors so that when opened they were lit by the windows.
• drawers that tipped out instead of pulled out.
• an outdoor herb garden that was accessible from the kitchen. FLW tried to blur, erase the boundaries between indoors and outdoors as much as possible.
• to this end, he didn't want the owners of the house to hang curtains. The owners won this battle, but when I toured there were no curtains hanging and I could see why curtains would diminish the connection with outside. However, privacy is lovely and if I lived in that house, there would be curtains. Sorry, Frank!



the entrance



an example of how obsessed FLW was with the horizontal line and details:
the vertical mortar is tinted to match the bricks so it disappears,
the horizontal mortar color is lighter and thus stands out

all the screws are aligned horizontally aligned -
I'm sure that didn't drive the construction crew crazy!

view from the rear courtyard

view of the screened-in porch

Here's a fascinating interview with its first owner, Loren Pope.

#8

To cap off completing #8 on The List, "learn some basic French words and phrases", let me share my 10 favorite French words (I've included the pronunciation when I could find it):
1. book - le livre - (luh LEE-vrah)
2. tree - l'arbre - (l' AR-brah)
3. postcard - le carte postale
4. horse - le cheval - (luh sh-VALL)
5. egg - les oeufs - (lay uff)
6. flowers - les fleurs - (lay flur)
7. library card - le carte de lecteur
8. apple - la pomme - (lah pumm)
9. sun - la soleil - (lah sol-ay)
10. mountain - la montagne - (lah mon-tyne)

Learning these words, OK I ended up learning hundreds of French words, was so much fun and such a good reminder that I love learning foreign language. In high school and college I studied Latin. I remember immersing myself in it and reveling in discovering more and more about it.

I relied on a great DK French-English visual dictionary as well as a stack of children's books to find these French words. It was a great starting point.

This brief dip into the French pool has me thinking that I need to study another language in more depth. I'm keeping my eye on Rosetta Stone and the Concordia Language Villages courses. Who knows what may happen? Of course, I have to decide between French and Swedish. Which language would you choose to study?

#4

I purchased this book after reading an article about a successful (published!) author saying that reading it was the equivalent of completing an MFA program. The book was expensive; right now it's listed at $44.81. I bought it anyway. I figured that was a bargain when I considered how much it would cost to actually enroll in and complete an MFA program.

Of course, it took me a year to read it. But, read it I did. And I learned a lot from it.

What I took away from it:
1. If I ever teach Rhetoric at the college level again, this will be my text.
2. I read this book a chapter at a time. I definitely recommend this approach. I enjoy studying grammar, but many of the proper grammatical terms escape me. (They probably always will.) So taking small bites of this book helped increase my comprehension.
3. I will probably never read this book cover-to-cover again, though I will refer to it often.
4. I learned more than I expected to. The authors really revealed a lot of methods that were previously unnamed to me, to change the rhythm and focus and emphasis of a sentence. They revealed and explained some useful tricks of the writing trade.
5. This is a must-read for writers.
6. This means I can cross #4 off The List!

#23

Another one done.

I have been swimming in Shakespeare and loving it. My original goal was to "read six works of Shakespeare (with annotations)" and I did just that, with a little tweak.

At the outset of this project I consulted my high-school-English-teacher friend and told her my plan. She helped me put together a best-of/most-referred-to-in-other-literature list of works. And then, importantly, she reminded me that Shakespeare wrote plays, not novels. This little tip gave me permission to watch the video of the Shakespeare play without feeling like I was cheating.

I quickly fell into a routine: I'd check out the text from the library to review it, read the synopsis on Wikipedia and then watch a video of the play. I've followed this method with the following plays:
1. Romeo & Juliet
2. Hamlet
3. Twelfth Night
4. Much Ado About Nothing
5. A Midsummer's Night Dream
6. The Merchant of Venice.

Of course, I'd like to explore more of Shakespeare's works, namely "The Taming of the Shrew," "Othello," "Macbeth" and "As You like It." However, I will be taking a bit of a break as it seems that many of these works are running together in my mind. Ahem.

Any other Shakespeare recommendations must-sees/must-reads?

#29

We made it to the National Zoo last week. #29 is done.

Several events pushed this activity to the top of the list:
1. the weather has been perfect
2. we wanted to go before it was crawling with kids on spring break
3. and oh yes, there was the possibility that the zoo would have been closed indefinitely had the senate/congress/president not passed the budget

I can be a bit cynical about zoos, but at heart, I love them. I cherish the opportunity to see a panda bear sitting back on its haunches eating bamboo, the Walter-Matthau-like elephants and their knobbiness, the roar of lions (they roared while we were there!), the disconcerting proportions of silverback gorillas, and so much more.

Books are great, pictures of animals are helpful, but seeing an animal move, eat, breathe is revealing.

#24

It surprises me how happy I get each time I accomplish something on my List.

No joke, it makes me glow with happiness. There have been moments when I looked at my List and wondered what I was thinking to put together something so ambitious. (And when I say "ambitious" I am, of course, referring to my little world. I know that I am not even close to winning a Nobel Prize or playing in the Final Four or doing anything truly, globally ambitious.)

The reality is, the truth is, I LOVE lists. They are my great motivator.

Anyway, over the weekend I got to cross another one off the List. I bought that University of Iowa alumni license plate frame, installed it and then washed my car by hand.

Good.

#6

Another one down!

I have submitted my quilt essay to five different publications.

Now, I wait.

#20

Finally.

Finally.

Finally.

Should I say it again? No? OK.

Well, I can finally cross #20 off The List. It doesn't seem like such a remarkable accomplishment, reading a camera manual, I know. But, it is one of those things that has been on my to-do list for 4 years. 4 YEARS. And today I finally finished reading that manual and crossed that beast off my List.

The relief is sweet.

desirous of everything at the same time

Oh, hi!

Well this last month has really gone fast. I apologize for disappearing without warning. In fact, I had no idea I'd be gone so long. I got out my calendar in an effort to figure out what I was doing that kept me from my blog for so long. Here are the bits and ends of my last few weeks:

• Attending many Great Lives lectures. Most recently I learned about (Nelle) Harper Lee and I was inspired by the way she lives her life. There are many more interesting lectures coming and I plan on attending many of them.
• Contemplating entering an art show. Should I? Shouldn't I?
• Completing #25 on The List. Yes, we have a huge tipi in the middle of our living room and it is lovely. I took a nap in it this past weekend and woke with a smile on my face because, um, I woke up in a tipi.
• Taking a road trip to That Little Quilt Shop, Yoder's Country Market, the Tulikivi showroom and then to Culpeper, VA.
• Visiting friends in Maryland and northern Virginia. And, you know, making bread and gifts to share with them.
• Continuing with my drawing class. Learning to draw is like learning a new language. And it also feels that after each class I've both learned a whole lot and realized how very little I know. That old double-edged sword!
• The Hubby was out of town for a week...while I had a sinus infection.
• Attending multiple doctor appointments. All is well. But these things always take so long. So much waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting.
• Contemplating whether to participate in the 150-mile bike ride in June to benefit the MS Society.
• Reading, But No Elephants by Jerry Smath, too many times to count since I found it in a used book store. Is this book familiar to anybody else? I saw this book and it felt as if I fell into a childhood porthole. It is even better than I remember it.
• Enjoying three consecutive beautiful, sunny days which we spent almost entirely outside. What a welcome reprieve.
• Talking with friends: one was just diagnosed with MS, the other is in the midst of a messy divorce and the legal wrangling has reached a high pitch.
• Dealing with the fact that my family keeps eating (and I must keeping menu planning, grocery shopping and cooking) and wearing clothes (meaning I must keep doing laundry).
• Putting together an application for a work-for-hire gig. This has been a long time coming - years! - and it feels as if things are finally falling into place for me to pursue this. But just applying has been consuming most of my evening hours.
• Trying to figure out how to do this blog. I haven't been satisfied with my very shallow, daily posts. I would rather offer something of substance, though not as often. So, the search for some sort of style and balance and substance for content. Bear with me as I find my sea legs.
• Working on The List: I've purchase (but not assembled or used) a pinhole camera kit, I'm methodically reading "Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects" one chapter at a time, I've put together a list of publications to submit my quilt essay to, I'm reading my Nikon D70 camera manual and it is so interesting and I'm not even being sarcastic (if you have a digital camera and haven't yet read its manual, I urge you to do so now as opposed to waiting 6+ years like me!), deciding not to attend the Virginia Festival of the Book (sadly, the only event that was of interest to me was $100 per ticket and sold out), working on reading Shakespeare (4 down, 2 to go).
• Feeling more and more like Jack Kerouac and I have so much in common.

onward

I've signed up for an 8-week drawing class.

Like with my watercolor class, I'm nervous about my (lack of) ability, nervous about the commute (40 minute via car + 40 minute via metro), nervous that making such a commitment with my time will cause me to miss out on a different opportunity.

I went through with it because my fear of missing out on this opportunity was even greater.

My first class is Sunday. And I am terrified.

#22

I can cross #22 off The List. I was expecting this to be a big ordeal because I was planning on making the entire album - cover, pages, binding, etc. And, well, that can add up to a lot of trips to the art store and a lot of time just making a book - not to mention actually getting the polaroids onto the pages.

On a random trip into a bookstore I found a handful of perfect and I mean perfect albums for my polaroid collection. It seemed too easy, so I walked around the store for a while trying to wrap my brain around what I was going to do, how easy and quick and simple and done this could all be if I just bought these clearance-priced albums.

I finally caved and I am so glad I did. The two completed albums look great, though the photograph doesn't necessarily convey that.

2011 & #9

I am not much for resolutions, mostly because of my enormous birthday List I make each year. A New Year's resolution seems redundant and a bit too type A++. No? I do love the clean slate of a New Year. There is something so clean and fresh and possible about January. And the ideas about how I could have a better year, be a better person, they are abundant. Most of these ideas I just put on next year's birthday List and that's what I'm doing now with every idea except for one: I need to give more to others. Perhaps it's been the isolating nature of having a young child, the amount of energy that it takes to keep my household sort of running or maybe I'm just not as ambitious as most people, but I have not felt like I have had much to give to my friends. I've been in "take" mode for the past two years. I am not ready to run out and volunteer. I am not ready to make a sizable donation to a charity. However, I am ready to be a better listener, to raise my hand more quickly when a friend needs help, to invite a new neighbor over sooner than later and to call my siblings more regularly (at least once every two weeks). I'm not going to light the world on fire with my ambitious giving, but I am going to try to give a bit more of myself to my circle of people.


Also, I think I can cross #9 off The List. No, I haven't sold any mixed paper journals but if you were on my Christmas gift list, you got one. And since I'm sort of feeling totally overwhelmed by my List, I'm giving myself a break and counting this as done. Whew! (5 down, 28 to go - what was I thinking when I made that List!)


Went to Border's today to help my daughter spend a gift card she received for Christmas and I walked away with a couple of moleskines on clearance for .98 cents. Oh yes, and she picked out Steve Martin's The Crow: New songs for the Five String Banjo and Natalie Merchant's Leave Your Sleep. Yes. Music is a good thing.


Sorry about my prolonged absence. Insert the usual post-holiday excuse here:_____________.

#31

Me and watercolor. It is so on.

I am two classes into a four-class course and up to my eyeballs in ideas, books, paints and love for this medium.

#19

I can cross #19 off The List.

Saturday, after conquering an obstacle course of metro stations, taking three wrong turns, ascending and descending eternally long escalators (the longest ones in the metro system), dealing with a "stripped" fare card, avoiding drunken football revelers and a swarm of people on the Mall for a march and navigating the diagonal roads of D.C., while lugging a 20-pound messenger bag and my over-sized watercolor portfolio, I spent 30 precious minutes in the Rothko Room at the Phillips Collection.

The Rothko Room is a small room with four walls with a large color field painting by Rothko on each wall. A small (uncomfortable) bench is in the middle of the room.

Rothko's idea in creating this room was to give viewers a chance to view his paintings in a more familiar setting, that is, in a room that is more family-like, literally. The scale of the room was not unlike an average living room. It was far from the spacious, soaring space of most art galleries. The effect is immediate intimacy.

And, it was lovely. I had to move around a lot for my eyes to really see. And sometimes I'd walk out of the room to refresh my eyes before diving back in to see more.

When I was finished looking, my eyes were saturated.

I didn't even try to look at the rest of the collection: my eyes were already full.

rothko redux

I almost didn't go to see the "In the Tower: Mark Rothko" display at the National Gallery of Art (east building). I am an ardent lover of his work; particularly his color block pieces. I love the rich, layered colors and the emotions that they elicit. Particularly, he captures emotions that I have no words for. And that is why I love his work.

So when I discovered that I'd be able to catch a special display of his work, I was ecstatic. Until I discovered that the featured works on display were the series of black (depressing black!) paintings originally created for a Catholic chapel in Houston.

I teetered back and forth about taking the time and making the effort to visit the exhibit until I read that these paintings are seldom displayed.

I went.

And I just sat on the various benches and let myself soak in, or more accurately, be soaked in. Because these paintings, they draw you in. You look at them and forget where you are and what you were thinking about 10 seconds ago. They open up and they swallow you in.


It was remarkable, worth the effort, the energy, the time. I shiver a bit when I think how close I came to blowing off this opportunity.

I didn't take any pictures because there was no point. With his color paintings a photograph is enough to recall the feeling of standing in front of one of his behemoth paintings. At this exhibit, the subtle variations of black, ebony black, midnight black, deep brown, charcoal gray - there would be no way to capture those subtleties. I knew better.

The program asks viewers to "question the simple equation of darkness and despair and to re-imagine blackness as a medium of light - nuanced, expansive, and even hopeful." Go ahead. You have until January 2011.

(P.S. They have some of his swoony color block paintings on the concourse level!)

before i turn 33

I am a girl who loves a list. And since my birthday was last week it's high time to post this year's "before I turn XY" list. This is my fourth list and each time I make one I get better at fine-tuning and completing it. It's a gift to myself - planning what I want to focus my time and energy on in the coming year.


1. read the Old Testament
2. attend art camp with my girl
3. tour Washington National Cathedral
4. read "Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects"
5. explore paper cut (words, scenes, collages)
6. submit quilt essay to 5 markets
7. visit Monticello
8. learn some basic French words and phrases
9. create and sell mixed paper journals
10. make the Ann & Andy dolls for NS
11. practice italic writing
12. sample 12 different types of olives from the olive bar
13. blog regularly
14. attend Pony Penning Days
15. explore bookbinding: spiral, text block
16. knit poncho for NS
17. visit Pope-Leighey house
18. organize my recipe collection in white binder
19. visit the Phillips Collection
20. read the Nikon D70 camera manual - finally!
21. take a trip to Maine!
22. bind NS's polaroids into a book
23. read six works of Shakespeare (with annotations)
24. purchase UI alumni license plate frame
25. make NS a tipi
26. attend National Book Festival (in September)
27. attend Virginia Festival of the Book (in March)
28. take a private tour of Gettysburg
29. take NS to the National Zoo
30. tour the Library of Congress
31. take a watercolor class
32. visit the National Gallery of Art to view Rothko
33. work through "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" or
take a drawing class

I've already completed #18 and #32. #18 was not so remarkable, it just took some serious chair time. #32 was remarkable and worth sharing. I promise more details soonish.

What's on your list?