Young Hill

Our first day on San Juan Island Robert and I climbed up Young Hill. Breathtaking!








I've been hanging out with LK Ludwig.... and am warming to self portraits


And I adore moss and lichens!

More Juniper Lane

It was so glorious waking to the bleating of sheep on the hill behind Juniper Lane Guest House. I have always wanted a small farm with sheep. The yard around Juniper Lane is so pretty I can't imagine how wonderful it must be when in bloom!



We stayed in the Mandala Room. It had a little deck and one evening I thought I'd sit out there with my latte. When I went to the door I startled a family of deer.



















I had to take photos all over the house. Juniper's color choices, furniture and details are all so up my alley

Ode to Juniper Lane

This may be overkill, but I am compelled to rave about Juniper Lane Guest House. Robert found this fantastic place online and then Discovery Sea Kayaks recommended Juniper so that is where we stayed on San Juan. this is a magical little haven of a guest house. With our very small budget we'd joked about sleeping in the car! That didn't have to happen because Juniper's rates are so amazingly reasonable. It was the least I've paid for lodging in years, much less such COOL lodging! And Juniper herself is so wonderful. I felt so blessed! I honestly did not want to leave.

Brave Gutsy Artfest Students

Hey there! I know, I know I gotta get onto loading pics. They are so large out of my camera and there are so many! I am photoshopping I promise!
My students who were brave enough to try working with sausage casings over wire were real troupers! They made some AWESOME work! This year I truly had some great goosebump moments. There were lots of people totally new to wirework, who dove right in and did well. It's heartwarming to watch people light up with enthusiasm and excitement over a material. I will share this stolen photo. My student/new friend Sue took it in our Class Insecta workshop. I don't want to spoil all her fun so go check out her blog to see her fab creations in my class! Hey Sue, I LOVE my Bison domino necklace, thanks!
I believe most of the pieces in this photo are Angherod's.

Kayaking in San Juan

There are times you pinch yourself, you know those times? The ones where you think what am I doing here? How did I get here?! When I booked our flights for Artfest I knew things were tight for us. I also knew you only do things when you just DO them! I tacked on extra days for us to go up to the San Juan islands since Robert has wanted to go there for 10+ years. Its only a little farther and I thought heck, we'll sleep in the car if we have to! What a good decision! We went kayaking with Discovery Sea Kayaks. Perfect! Our guide Jesse was just great (we talked his ear off!).


I am a novice to say the least and have never been out in the big wa-wa. So the strait was cool. The return trip the wind kicked up and it was choppy! Fun! I think being in a tandem with Robert was good for me, took the nervous factor out. It was our first time in a boat together and it worked out great.
What a glorious experience.







It was a fabulous sunny day. We are back from the PNW with sunburns! We didn't see Orca but we knew it wasn't the time of year for that. We did however get extensively checked out by more than one harbor seal.































Lime Kiln Lighthouse is all concrete. It took five years to build it I think.
Juniper of Juniper Lane Guest House said her grandmother grew up there and talks about the whales coming and going and no one giving a hoot, except for fishermen who saw them as competition. Imagine growing up there!

What a ride!

This is my last PNW photo, sunset off the back of the Chelan as we left the San Juan islands.
We're home! Man, that's grueling enough! I can't imagine the ride those folks go through who're headed to places like Australia. I feel for ya Keith! I traveled once to Egypt and that's a haul!
We got home from the Raleigh airport after 2 last night and our poor kitty howled ALLLLLL night. She finally laid down sometime this morning. Everytime she howled I would say her name and she'd reply this sad little meow, "where are you?"
It is bitter sweet leaving Washington. I love it so. It is thankfully not hot here, a cold front moved in just so I wouldn't get off the plane scowling. More pics as I slide back into the routine.

Artfestifried

Artfest goodbyes are the hardest.

Robert and I are now chillin' at Juniper Lane Guest house in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, more on that later as we are still Artfestifried!
Since Robert was such a good boy, I am taking him kayaking tomorrow with Discovery Kayaks in the Haro Strait and then we hit the airport Wednesday to head home. Its been a BLAST! We met SO many new, cool folks- all over... AF, in Port Townsend and now in Friday Harbor.
Washington state is just plain magical...

Until next year (The Universe Willing), thank you to all my new friends, my fabulous and brave students and most of Bee and LK who've taken me under their collective wings....
Long live art that is Hairy, Scary and Dead!!!!!

Arfest Vendor Night!

So we leave Monday for Mecca, AKA Port Townsend, WA! I just love Washington State and Artfest! I thought for fun I'd post photos of work in progress that I am making to sell Vendor Night at Arfest'09. I have been frantically, frenziedly etching and enameling into the wee hours. These are some copper sheets I etched with my drawings. I sawed them up into smaller pieces and then die pressed some of them in my hydraulic press. I then enameled them to make necklaces. I am very excited. They are turning out very nicely indeed. I had experimented with ways of enameling them last year, with sporadic success. But Eureka! I have discovered a new, much better way of making the designs stand out under the transparent enamel! So you Arfesters check me out Friday night!

When I am not....

...its why I love her.





When I am not teaching I am driving somewhere; home, to the studio, to get Meredith. When I am not making handouts, or powerpoints or grading, or uploading grades for students I am catching up on 50+ emails. When I am not doing that I am working on a collage for a collaborative, or coming up with a prototype for teaching proposals to retreats, or I am packing-n-mailing something for a collaborative, a teaching proposal or with luck an Etsy sale. When I am not doing that I have Wolfgang every other Friday, a riveting workshop for 8 in my studio Saturday, and when I am not doing that sometimes a random person wants help in my studio with a project for an hour, two last week, then there was Dad's birthday, art openings of friends, random social engagements-a friend I have not seen in three years came by my studio and spent two hours. Then I took an encaustic workshop from my buddy Colleen in her studio Sunday! When I am not doing things like that there phone calls to return, teenage dramas, planning for Artfest, who will feed the cat? Or I am trying to submit to Lark books, planning all the other trips this year....
...and now when I am not doing all that, I must make brilliant stuff to sell at Artfest! oh, and I have a meeting with the Museum gift shop AGH! I need something to show her! and two other galleries that need new work. Oh and then there's dear Robert who needs an occasional watering and fertilizing or he wilts completely! Oh and there's Robert's website and logo and business cards that need designing, tweeking and ordering. Needless to say the house is a wreck! I never cook anymore and when I am not doing all that I am worrying about not exercising and how I will pay for Meredith's college, and various other family dramas. So each night I am trying to sleep and watching the red digital numbers click by on the ceiling all night. Thank goodness Artfest is in two weeks! PT here I come!

Studio Time!

Long days in the studio lately... Artfest 2009 is coming! All during Spring Break last week I locked myself away trying to build a head of artistic steam. It was DELICIOUS! Studio time has become so precious to me as it is scarce. It'd been weeks since I spent more than a couple of hours there, and at that I am usually teaching someone else when I am there. So its nice to use ones own tools! It is hard for me to get an end product quickly when I haven't been making anything for weeks. Once I carve out time, drive down there, unlock, get everything out and on, turn on some music, I feel mental pressure to accomplish something immediately. I mean hey, the clock's ticking! But I have slowly realized that I have to spend two full days in the studio puttering, sweeping, getting acclimated, breaking sawblades, dropping things and basically creating disasters before something clicks. Tonight clicked! I am really excited about my new enamel pieces for Artfest vendor night! I wanted to post photos, but am just too lazy tonight. So I'll leave you with a Clarissa Pinkola Estes quote, as she is my newest obsession:

"The craft of questions, the craft of stories, the craft of the hands - all these are the making of something, and that something is soul. Anytime we feed soul, it guarantees increase."

......can't WAIT til I am in Port Townsend again!!!!!!! Food for the soul...... wheeeeeee!

"Its okay to use the Ocean...

Its NOT okay to use it up" the slogan of Carl Safina. If you have 20 minutes you will be enlightened. Did you know much of the sea life we eat require 30+ years to mature and breed. If orange roughy take 30 years to reach breading age and we catch them by the thousands, have all of them had a chance to make babies? Oh wait are their babies in the net? I found his Pop!cast fascinating!
He talks about the grim picture but he also talks about solutions to the problems. We as consumers and citizens of the world need to be informed. Mr. Safina says yes "the Ocean is sick, but not necessarily dying."
Here's his blog Hope and Inspiration for the Ocean
And his foundation Blue Ocean Institute
Here's Blue Ocean Institute's seafood guide so you can choose more sustainable seafood for dinner!

Lost Generation

I loved this because I get so tired of some of the slack, loser kids I have to teach at CFCC. This rearranged my perspective and made me appreciate those that aren't apathetic, and who do care and try.

Breakfast?

...must wash the breakfast.....

Still Wild

It is comforting to think that in a region becoming heavily over developed that there are still places one can seek out and still find an unchanged vista. I wonder for how long.....

Island Treasures

Island Microcosm

I loved the little raccoon tracks everywhere.


....and the little fossils, miniature islands of drying algae and lichen.

Sunday Walkabout

After a leisurely coffee I tried to follow two redwing blackbirds. But alas I am too big and noisy in the reeds. I also tried climbing the old bearded live oaks. I am also to out of shape and weak!

Valentine's Day Paddle

So for our Valentine's Day gift to each other we kayaked to an island near the mouth of the Cape Fear river and camped. It was glorious.