heading out

Tomorrow I begin a small solo journey to the Far East

where I will spend time with my 

much-missed grandson and his parents.

Don't know if I'll be posting from there--it depends on a number of things.

I'll be taking photos, and thinking of ways

to show you what I've seen while I've been away.

Take good care, good people.  Enjoy the burgeoning spring.

I'll be back!

april's river

The river quickens in April.

There is snowmelt in the mountains in western Maine

and we on the coast have hosted a 

few torrential rainfalls in the last few weeks.

Altogether that makes for lots of water, going fast.

We're at the swinging pedestrian bridge I've shown  you before. 

Here is the river looking downstream toward the rapids 

and the hydroelectric dam.

Quite a difference from the frozen water of midwinter!

This is looking upstream from the bridge.

The water is tea colored--both due to the tannins from dead leaves

that fall into the river, and also from the soil

that gets caught up in the flood and the roaring that is spring.

I live about a half mile from the river.

At night, I can hear that roar in our otherwise quiet neighborhood.

Trees that are ordinarily on shore seem to float in the river, while standing still.

There is light, and color and reflection--

and the power of the water is humbling.

I like the way these trees seem to hug each other

in the face of the spring flood.

In the quieter months, this little spot is just about still water

gently flowing into a quiet backwater pool.

No swimming for Pokey in that backwater in April!!

skydiving for donuts

Yesterday evening, just outside the Portland Museum of Art-- 

wish you could have seen it.  All of a sudden

there was this quick swoop from the sky down to a sidewalk trash can.

A herring gull effortlessly picked up a paper bag in his beak

 and flew it to the sidewalk in one smooth move.

I'm thinking, he's flying along and suddenly sees the 

Dunkin' Donuts logo and cannot help himself.

(Reminds me of me some days....)

Then he started to walk down the sidewalk carrying it in his beak 

very much like an old man with a huge package.

Of course, I followed,  trying to extricate my camera from its case 

and be unobtrusive at the same time.

(Try it sometime...not easy!)

"Hmmm...hope it's Boston Cream.  My favorite"

"I can't stand the suspense--what's for dinner??

...And what is with this woman who keeps bugging me with that little black box

she's got pressed to her beak?"

"I'm getting out of here.  Taking my bag with me.

Sheesh!!!!"

"Lady, go away!  Have a little mercy.

Let me dine in peace!!!"

sharing time

Just a quick hello on this pouring-down night.

I thought today that if I went outside every hour and took

a photo of the same patch of grass, 

I could document things getting much greener 

in the space of a grey and rainy day.

(But I didn't want to get wet, so I just thought about it.)

I'd like to recommend a blog to all of you.

I first found Brian Pfeiffer on a Monhegan Island blog.

He is from Vermont, but comes to the island

every year to witness the amazing bird migrations there

in spring and fall.

I love his posts, and I often come away much

more informed for having stopped by.  His photos

are beautiful, and his knowledge of nature is plentiful.

Today's entry is perfect, as it takes the notion of 

"April is the cruelest month..."

and turns it on its head.

Go see for yourself.  You won't be sorry!

http://www.dailywing.net/

they're back!!

The birds are busy everywhere these days--

looking for dried grass, new sticks, moss,

old pieces of thread and yarn--

anything and everything to make a sweet nest for the 

new life soon to appear.

Just as you are coming down from Witch Spring Hill

into Bath on Rt. 1 heading (north)east,

There is a tall power pole in the wide 

median between the opposing lanes of traffic.

It sports a huge osprey nest on the top.

This nest has been on this pole for almost 20 years, 

maybe longer--since the osprey started to thrive again

in these parts of the world.

(Though one or two summers ago, the old nest was replaced 

by the one that is there now--a few feet away on the same pole.

...I'm guessing she was "updating".)

I have been looking hard every day for the last few weeks,

excitedly anticipating the return of the osprey pair

who raise their chicks here each summer.

On Thursday, I saw the first one.

Cars are supposed to slow down as they descend the hill into town.

But drivers do it most consistently in the springtime 

when we are all looking for the Definite Proof that winter is over.

This morning, there they both were.  

There was nesting material being flown in,

and might I say, 

a little, ... um....fooling around going on between the two of them.

I pulled over into the breakdown lane and got out my trusty little camera.

(I won't tell you again here how much I want a long lens.)

It was a lovely interlude, despite the cars and trucks zooming

beside me,  some entering the highway and all

picking up speed to go up that hill 

on the southwest-bound side.

My flashers were on, and I was minding my own business

(and that of the osprey)

when suddenly I noticed a visitor had joined me.

"Oops!"  says I.   "The things I do for my blog"....

Meet one of Bath's finest--Officer Jensen.   

As you can see, he was not put out in the least bit

by my dallying on the highway.   

He just wanted to make sure I didn't need any roadside assistance.

We chatted about the lovely day, the other osprey and eagle

nests in the area, and then bid each other a good rest of the day

I love Maine in any season.  

Our springtime is short, but it is full of charm.

"book in a box"!

Boy, did we have a good time!

As promised, I have some shots for you of the project

we worked on during the last two days.  

There were five of  us, counting Natasha.

In the group were three artists, all three of which are also teachers,

a woman who describes herself as "the wife

of an artist", (and who has beaucoup de talent herself),

and yours truly--blog writer/photographer (and only in the last

five years capable of seeing herself as having any

artistic talent whatsoever.)

In her quiet, easy way, Tasha had led us into our assignment 

first by giving us a list of things to bring to the workshop,

saying we were going to "work small", and

asking us to bring lots of photos of ourselves from all ages,

and papers, fabrics, magazines, images we love, buttons, lace

thread, beads, sparkly things--

all of which had to fit in two 8x12 envelopes.

Plus markers, paints, pencils scissors and a small notebook.

I don't know about you, but I am 

the principal photographer in my family, and so 

there is a dearth of photos of me hanging around, except the 

childhood ones which live in a box anxiously awaiting

the day I begin to organize my life.

So I brought photos of my "peeps", in former parts of their lives:

my husband, children, their spouses, my grandkids

and my dog.

We discovered when we arrived that the workshop project was to 

make a kind of "book" of small collages

from the materials we brought, and also from 

things Natasha had for us to use: art magazines,

her own art supplies, and the inspiration of all the wonderful work

she has everywhere in her studio 

(see yesterday's post). 

She also gave each of us a small, shallow white gift box

which contained 10 blank pieces of nice, thick,

white watercolor paper.

These were to be the "pages" of our "book in a box".

We were supposed have each page represent a certain theme, 

which you will see below.

We were also supposed to put a picture of ourselves on every page somewhere.

As it turned out, some of us were prominently positioned

on our pages, and some were hidden in a 

"Where's Waldo" kind of way.

(Don't you love how we can all start out with the same assignment

and create completely different finished projects?)

Most of us decorated our boxes first.

We used whatever we had on hand, and were 

told we could have no white spaces.

Inspired by Tasha's ideas, most of us

decided to put some 'legs' on our boxes.

                                                  Even decorating the legs, if we wanted!

*****

Here's the top of my box,

and the inside--remember, no white space!!

(The people image on the inside cover is not mine.

It was made by Betty Pinette, an artist with Spindleworks

in Brunswick, which I'll tell you about another time.)

We also had fun creating the pages, which were not bound,

just placed inside the box as we made them.

First we found images we wanted to use

from the papers we brought, our old art, magazines, photos,

drawing on our pages:  anything we wanted!

Becky had one of the most charming collections for a page:

fabrics she had collected over the years to make a quilt.  (Which she 

hasn't gotten to yet, given that she has two young boys

to look after.)

What you are seeing above are pieces of her old jammies!

See her face peeking out from  under them?

This is Anne Tarbox, a painter from North Yarmouth, Maine.

Can you believe she cut up some of her watercolors

to make pages for her book in a box??

Aren't they beautiful?

Most of us, as I said before, followed Tasha's instructions:

Each page was supposed to have a theme.

There were ten in all, one for each page.

Here are some of the themes.

 

Here are some of the pages people made:

(the maker of the above collage is worried you will misinterpret

the meaning of the page with text.

It is about Christmas, which she loves, but she

doesn't love all the commercial hoopla that goes with it....

This, from "the painter's wife:"

Aren't they just beautiful??

~~*~~*~~

Finished projects, as shown on the lovely handmade rug

in the living room of this old farmhouse.

A wonderful two days, with wonderful women!

Thank you, Tasha!!

Natasha's magic studio

I played at my friend Tasha's all day today.

She is the maker of the stunning quilt you see below.

Tasha is a fiber artist first and foremost, creating her fiber art in 

a collage-like way. She hand dyes and paints all her fabric.

Then she puts together pieces of this fabric, along with embellishments

of all kinds (beads, figures, threads, sparkly things),

lays down some tulle (a fancy name for fine netting),

and quilts the layers together by machine. 

The finished products are gorgeous art quilts, museum- and 

art book- and gallery-worthy.

 Tasha also knits, and makes jewelry and bags and fun figures....

If it is made with fiber and color, she does it.

Tasha is full of magic. Say hi to Tasha:

She is a supremely talented, kind, funny, generous soul.

I love Tasha.  A lot.  (Can you tell?)

From time to time, 

Tasha gives workshops in her studio for humble earthlings such as I.

I've taken several paper collage workshops, and 

a workshop that taught me how to make 'spirit stones" with

smooth river rocks, waxed twine, wire and beads.

Last spring I took a doll-making workshop with her.

Here is the doll Tasha began at that workshop.

She started out with a dowel attached to a block of wood, then

added this and that she had 'just lying around' the studio.

The doll is still a work in progress, and I love her.  Wish you could

see this lady up close! She has dozens of small

charms of hands sewn to her.  Tasha named her

"Handmaiden".

The studio in which Tasha creates her magic is an enchanted place in itself.

Her motto is "more is better".  

Maybe you can get a sense of that as I walk you around a few 

horizontal and vertical spaces in this room full of light,

lime green walls with lots of varied color trim,

 books and beads and quilts and yarns and charms

and glitter and sequins and brushes and paints,

treats for the eyes and spirit everywhere

...and so much more. 

(Like bowls of chocolate nestled alongside the art supplies.)

No need for more words.  Tomorrow I will share with you what

we are making this weekend in our paper collage workshop.

Right now, feast your eyes, and get in the spirit

that is Natasha Kempers-Cullen from Topsham Maine.

**~**

(sneak peek for tomorrow: )

                              (made by my old friend Becky)

                             (made by my new friend Anne)