Winter Light

"January Ice", watercolor, 11" x 15", VClaff, 2012

I've been gone from here... gone down into my roots and out into the wintry forest

where the creaking and cracking breaks the quiet and the snow squeaks underfoot 

from the frigid air. There is deep stillness in the forest, and no turning away from 

the fragility of life. Blood on the snow and late night yips of coyotes tell tales  

of winter survival. 

"Late Winter Forest", watercolor, 11" x 15", VClaff, 2012

I haven't been in the studio, either, taking time away for my father's Christmas 
visit and supporting Pasha through another emergency vet visit to get things 
moving along his internal pipeline. After his second visit to the ER, I really thought 
he wasn't going to make it. But the holistic vet sent a new bunch of Chinese herbs, 
and put him on a pill that he said works wonders for elder kitties, and miraculously,
my father and I watched Pasha grow stronger day by day. Outside we trudged for 
several daily walks, to the studio and back, even in the biting cold. Two weeks 
since his last crisis, he seems more stable than in a long while. I am his alchemist, 
adding powdered herbs and homeopathic remedies to his food and drizzling cod 
liver oil over the top which he now won't eat without. 

I record the frozen winter light with my camera and wonder how these images 

might influence the winter paintings to come.  

In late December the forest was full of bobcats, 

and ferns peaking out from the snow,  

and weedstalks still feeding the birds until the deeper snows bury them. 

We sit on the stoop, Pasha and I, and take in the late afternoon quiet, 

and I am grateful for his company. 

A Little Gathering in the Studio

The last preparations for the open studio were completed, of course, minutes before 

guests were invited to arrive. The morning found me banging signs onto the 

telephone pole at the end the road, putting my temporary sign up at the end of 

the driveway (still need to make my RavenWood sign!), heating cider and putting out 

snacks. The week before was spent framing small work and organizing piles of all the 

rest. It was an interesting review of almost a year's worth of work.  

Pasha kept me company in the studio all day one day, doesn't he look better? 

Today he's a tad off again, hoping its just a down day... Thursday we go 

back for more acupuncture and a progress exam. 

A few inches of snow graced the forest the morning of the 

open studio... a nice bit of enchantment for the day. 

I had a small, but steady stream of visitors. I was busy answering questions, 
doing a painting demo and packaging up sales, and I completely forgot to take 
photos of the studio with anyone in it! A few folks had great questions and 
seemed to really understand what I am after with the work. Mostly the work 
has been seen by you all here, folks on Facebook, and friends who have 
visited the studio. I enjoyed hearing the stories people read in my work and a 
number of small sales helps a lot to get through the dry month before school 
starts again.

My students this semester produced some wonderful work. Yesterday was the last 
day of classes - a somewhat grueling day of final critiques, and a messy commute to 
get there. The first photos are final artist's boosk from my 2-D Design and Color class, 
the the rest are from Exploring the Natural World/Mixed Media class. (remember to click 
to see larger)

Mia with her henna-inspired animal designs

Nina with her color theory mandala book

Katlyn's  book of seasonal papercuts

Kelsey's dress inspired by pinecones and the layering of nature

Allie's exploration of the elements in mixed-media collage

Galen's collages based on the book "The Four Agreements" adapted for nature

Courtney's woman in tree

Katie's decomposing cow mixed-media with rusting and burning

Isabel's installation - mixed media with maps and rusting

 A detail of Isabel's piece. I quite enjoy this one!

In the November days before the snow came, a magical

day of blue mists captivated me and made driving about

doing errands rather dreamy! 

And on my shelf, a new owl has come to rest, brought by some visitors.

Owls, both alive and imagined, seem always to find me. I'm hoping to 

be one of the lucky ones who sees a snowy owl as many have been 

sighted nearby this year having journeyed south in search of food. 

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.