Deep Winter

"Moon Night", scratbord drawing, 11" x14", VClaff, 2010

Deep in the forest, on a moonlit winter night, I am curled under 

wool and down, a young cat curled into me, dreaming. I sometimes

 wonder if he dreams inside my dreams, or me inside his.  

"Two Trees in Snow", scratchbord drawing, 8"x10", VClaff, 2010

Cold days are upon us, though there has been a cycle of warming 

up just as the snows come, bringing sleet and freezing rain and lots and 

lots of ice. I have not taken my icegrips off my boots all winter. While 

I walk here, I do not dare wear any other shoes. 

"Moonlit Maple", scratchbord drawing, 7"x5.5", VClaff, 2010

Having pulled these scratchbord drawings out for my open studio,

I've been looking at them and seeing the deep dark they contain, 

thinking how they are just right for this moment. They are now 

listed in my Etsy shop in this deep dark of winter. If you'd like 

to take a look, go HERE. 

"Moonlit Birch", scratchbord drawing, 6 3/4"x 3 3/4", VClaff, 2010

"Moonlit Hemlock", scratchbord drawing, 11"x9.5", VClaff, 2010

"Glow", scratchbord drawing, 11"x8 3/4"", VClaff, 2010

 Getting back to work has not been smooth. The heat is working 

very well, but I've been busy with school and other projects and distracted, 

often, by Rhu who is still young and has lived here only five months and 

I still keep an eye on him while he is out, as much as I can. But I 

have begun, and that is good. 

Always when I am in the studio, and especially on a sunny day, 

my gratitude for the space is deep. If you are new to here, you might 

not know that in 2011, I received a grant to build the studio as I 

would not have been able to do so on my own. I think that sometimes 

I feel I am abandoing this living, loving space when my 

full life keeps me away, and though I try to banish it, 

guilt can find me. Its not useful, I know, but it finds me still. 

Last weekend in the studio, I did begin to find the place I want 

to travel in with new work. Something about the icy winter, 

the storms, the cold and the mystery at the core of being.  

small mystery study, VClaff, 2015

small mystery study, cropped

I can't see the studio door from my worktable, but I can sense him. 

When I go to look, there Rhu is, looking in, wanting me to go out 

as he has not quite yet transitioned into studio assistant. I believe 

he is afraid of the ceiling fan, thinks its a bird of prey, as Pasha 

did at first. Its taking him a lot longer to adjust to coming inside, 

so, I am distracted. 

When he manages to pull me away from work, 

there are trees to climb,

and owls to impersonate, 

and deep snow to romp in, 

and sunshine to warm up by, once back inside, 

before the afternoon nap. 

A Warm Studio & Rhu's Winter Adventures

What better way to celebrate a working heater in the studio,

than to invite folks to come for a visit? The day before Solstice, 

I hosted an open studio, a wonderful way for me to engage 

once more with my work and see some local folks.  

I showed my newest paintings and also some older drawings that will most 

likely appear in my Etsy shop sometime soon. 

After not having painted in such a long while due to the lack of heat 

in the studio, I felt a bit rusty doing a painting demo, but I seemed 

to pull it together. Here, I am demonstrating how I use a very sharp, 

wet brush to pull tree and branch shapes out of a wet wash. 

Here, I am adding a layer over a dry wash. 

Here, I am answering questions about my work and 

generally looking teachery, I think. 

Thanks to my former and VERY talented student, Olivia for 

the painting demo photos. Go HERE to see her amazing jewelry.

I printed calendars to sell at the open studio, and they are 

now listed in my Etsy shop if you are interested. 

My Etsy shop HERE.

Little Rhu Bear has settled in well to life at RavenWood, a little wild 

as kittens will be, now a master at climbing down trees without falling. 

However, poor little guy met a porcupine in a tangled root-cave at 

the bottom of a fallen tree, and, clearly, the porcupine 

didn't want to share her den. 

Of course, it was a Sunday, so, when I'd finally managed to 

gather up the wildcat (with the help of a student who'd just arrived 

for a lesson which never was), I whisked him off to the Emergency 

vet for some help removing the barbs. 

Turns out that its a rare event, indeed, for kitties to get quilled, so the 

vet asked permission to do a Facebook story on Rhu - he's a famous little 

guy now. A few other names have been added to the ever growing list 

of kitty names. Lately, he's been going by Sir One-Sock due to his neatly 

shaved leg post vet visit. Auto-correct changed his name to 

Hu Ear in a comment on the vet's FB post, hehe, though I 

may not use that one much.  

Rhu's adventure didn't seem to phase him much, and he was out 

the door and up countless trees the following day, though, thankfully, I 

noticed that he avoided the fallen tree under which the porcupine might 

still be sleeping.

We had a bit of snowcover for a time, much to my delight as I 

wandered in the late afternoon on Solstice to greet winter

and sing to the trees and the dreaming bears somewhere 

under the snow. 

Dad and I had a lovely visit, and, thankfully for him, just the right 

amount of snow and cold - not to deep and not too frigid. 

He spent a lot of time relaxing and reading by the fire. 

Life here, of course, would not be complete without a few owls 

now and again. This barred owl was sighted on my travels about 

town while gathering supplies for festive, holiday feasts.

Here's a small clip of her flying off into the forest carrying 

Happy New Year messages to all of my friends.