Grateful in the Forest

Yesterday found me in the studio organizing my work for an open studio & 

holiday sale next weekend. The pinboard with my larger work is like a window 

out to a mostly autumnal forest.  

There were piles and piles of small work to sort and arrange. Next I need to figure 

out a way to present them.. maybe just piles! I will have a stack of large work on

the table as well. I might have had a nice print rack for display, however, a recent 

crisis has slowed my preparations, more on that later. 

And though many of you are far, far away, here is the 

invitation to the open studio next weekend!

Seeing the work together on the board has me thinking about a tryptich... so played 

with some cropping to explore that idea. A tryptich will be visually connected by 

branches and similarities in the washes, but here I wanted to doodle with what 

I already have. The camera is a great tool for seeing possibilities. (be sure to click 

to make it larger to see the details)

My students are working on final projects, and so I become more like an 

on site consultant. I often do a bit of drawing while they work. Enjoyed doing 

some drawings with walnut ink - the backround light brown - and a brown ink, 

which turned out to be quite red-brown. Some wonderfully strange bleeding patterns 

in the background washes.  

Though the golden glow in the forest has fallen to the ground with the leaves, the 

afternoon sun has been spectacular on my walks in the fading light. 

Its been cold... really cold, and this morning's dusting of snow 

transformed my frozen pumpkin into a sugarpumkin.... 

I loved how the snow filled the spaces between stones.

And just after writing the last post, little Pasha had a crisis... and we went to the 

veternary emergency room for many hours one Sunday. They did an exam and 

bloodtests and an x-ray and determined that he was quite constipated, slightly 

anemic and dehydrated. Nothing more sinister was found, for which we were relieved. 

However, they gave him some fluid and cleaned him out with an enema 

and recommended some human medicine to keep him regular. We went home, and he 

was better, but then the human medicine really got things going TOO MUCH. Oh my, 

how I wish I'd followed my intuition and NOT given him that!! He ended up totally 

knocked out after a few days of too much going. 

The good news is that we found an alternative vet, one who does acupuncture 
and treats with Chinese herbs and supplements and who is a very gentle, loving 
and wise soul. We got a last minute appointment and ran over there. Pasha had acupuncture and was given a homeopathic remedy and Chinese herb powder to put 
in his food. He is also getting cod liver oil in his food which he is addicted to now! 
He responded really well to the acupuncture and by the time we got home he was eating like a horse, relaxed and more content and happy than he'd been in months. He's 
been eating and sleeping a lot, pooping easily and day by day seems better and better. 

I feel very grateful for having the opportunity to support him with the same kind of 
alternative care that I receive. I KNOW how well it works and am relieved that he 
will have such wonderful support for the rest of his time here.