A New Year

Wow... perhaps it isn't good to say you fell down a hole. Obviously it has taken me time to crawl back out - months in fact. Rather than try to reconstruct time, I will just begin anew.

The new year begins with thoughts of making new art work. After all my dirt collecting on the back roads through WA, ID, MT, ND, SD, WY, OR, and CA this past summer and fall I thought it would be easy to use the materials to express the concept "Sense of Place."

 

It became apparent early on the soils collected wanted

to express their own story -

the story of land from which they came. I tried...

 

 

 

and I will keep trying, but just because you see a place

or take a photo doesn't mean

you know it deeply - down to the dirt level.

You can travel to a place, pass through it or

 immerse yourself in it for a period of time,

but unfortunately you will never "know it"

in the biblical sense of the word

unless you live on it and with it through thick and thin

 for a considerable long period of time.

Perhaps it takes generations of knowing to

understand and feel the rhythm of the land. 

I am sure this is why over half the country is moving all the time.

They are searching for their spiritual land

that was encoded before birth.

 

So, in turn I collected the soil from our own property

(we have been here 40 years now).

I felt a sense of satisfaction and knowing as I painted

 with the rich brown colors.

It was deep work.

I nearly wore my brain out in an attempt to come up

with something meaningful enough

for these special soils.

I realized I was pushing rope so I turned to play.

Rocks came to mind.

I love rocks.

The constrictions lessened... but then...duty called.

 

 

 Items were needed for the PSBA silent auction.

 

I was going to call this desk folder with sticky notes -

rock, paper and scissors. I still need to find a scissor charm.

 

 

Convenient with a natural earthy look.

 

I also wanted to share my new love - earth pigments.

This collection came from Northeastern CA.

 

 

It comes with some suggestions on types of binders to use with the pigments.

 

 

My last item -

 

Who doesn't need some Scandinavian hearts to hang on a heart shaped wreath of birch boughs for Valentine's Day?

 

Hopefully they will make some money for the organization this weekend.