Home Away

Cabin C will be home sweet home for a happy week starting August 20.

CAMP!!!

I'll have limited access to wifi and little inclination to avail myself of it.

But … painting at camp in my makeshift cobwebby studio space at the ill-lit back of the musty little Grube Library cabin, overlooking Cass Pond through the trees with morning sunlight filtering through, is so in-the-moment that I hate to think of waiting till after camp to post photos.

Can't tell ya whether I'll post or not.

Camp!!!
6x6"; acrylic on gessobord
2015

Rolling In

I selected one of the quadrants from my leaf pile of a few days ago and felt an autumn sky roll in over mountains when I mixed up some gesso with a hint of phthalo blue and used a sponge roller to play with negative shape painting.

postcard #5
4x5"
work in progress

Going Incognito

I cut into quadrants all four 8x10" starts painted over the past so many days, and I now have 16 postcard-sized laboratories at my disposal—little paper canvases on which to explore the painting of negative space.

Took the plunge today and started the inquiry.

The cover-up has begun. One postcard is already going incognito.

postcard #1
4x5"
work in progress

Happy Birth Day

Oh my gosh, can I tell you how happy I am when I play with paint and all the other magical stuff in my studio?

So happy!

Every day is the birth day—the happy birth day—of something new that never existed before.

Wasn't there …  is there!

Magic.

Happy magic.

I especially enjoyed creating this card for the happy birthday of my friend Ruth.

Can you feel the celebration here for Ruth's spark, sparkle, integrity, energy, generosity, and vibrancy?

There Aren't Any Grown-Ups—Not One, in the Whole Wide World 3x3.75"; acrylic, ink, pencil, and pastels on paper, mounted on card stock abstract 2017 [gifted]

Summertime, Summertime, Sum-sum-summertime

Last Thursday was a busy day—multiple pieces to juggle; much to manage; miles on the highway to navigate; an especially tight schedule between when I woke and when my first student knocked at the door.

But it's summertime summertime sum sum summertime ... summerti-i-i-i-ime!, and in the middle of a lively parade of morning minutes, I stepped right out of my busyness into summertime painting, into complete sensory presence.

I love painting in the summer.

The bare feet. The open windows. The soft air breathing on my skin. The trill of a songbird. The tink tink tink of a neighbor's hammer. The whisper of tearing collage pieces. The smooth flow of a brush as it transfers paint to paper. The gentle resistance of an oil pastel stick against surface tooth. The steady appearance of a black line as a grease pencil travels along a straight-edge. The timeless vacation that seamlessly incorporates itself into the fabric of an otherwise hup-to hubba-hubba morning.

Pure magic.

painting start #4,
second layer

Swimming, Swimming

Swimming, swimming
In the swimming hole
Some days are hot
Some days are cold
In the swimming hole …

In my early years at Takodah, swimming lessons for the youngest campers were first thing in the morning. The water was black, my lips were blue, the swimming instructor stood on the dock in her sweatshirt.

During my leader years, when I became a swimming instructor giving lessons all morning, the waterfront director mandated that instructors get in the water with their students. The water was black, my lips were blue, my towel was on the dock.

But now, as a more-than-grown-up family camper, I float in an inner tube on top of Cass Pond each afternoon in a circle with my best friends in the world. The inner tubes are black, the sky is vivid blue, our skin is warmed by bright summer sun—our hearts are full to overflowing.

Swimming, swimming …

painting start #3,
second layer

Leaf Pile!

I have early, early memories of jumping in leaf piles raked up by Daddy in our back yard on Waverly Place in Cranford, NJ.

Crackles. Whispers. Earthy smells. Scratchinesses under my shirt down my back. Laughter. Squeals. Fresh air. Blue sky. Hard ground. Sisters' knees and elbows. Running. Jumping. Dry papery bits stuck to my lips, in my mouth. Browns. Reds. Translucent bright yellows.

painting start #2,
second layer