SoCS: art from friends

I am privileged to have several works of art that are created by friends.

The oldest of these is a watercolor by a college friend, Catherine Jennings. It’s a landscape with a pond and surrounding trees. It hangs in our dining room.

Also, hanging in the dining room is a still life in oils by another Smith College friend, Lorrie Sandel Lane. It shows an empty bird’s nest next to a vase of branches with berries.

Those are both originals. I also have two miniature prints on canvas from a set of modern icons by a local friend, Yvonne Lucia. I have seen the originals, both in a gallery setting and in a meditation setting around a labyrinth. They were inspired by some of the ancient titles for Mary, the mother of Jesus.

I also have a print of a cat by James Mullen, who is my parents’ downstairs neighbor and a retired art professor. Jim still has his press in his studio in his apartment and produces prints from plates, as well as printing cards and prints that he creates digitally. [I couldn’t find a website for Jim, so the link is to a print that was in a recent show.]

Now, I will embark on a non-stream of consciousness expedition of trying to take photos and put them in the post, as well as some websites if I can find them. Hope I manage to get at least some of them…

Postscript: My apologies to the artists for my lack of photographic skills. I promise you they all look better in person, but I wanted to share the work of my artist friends.
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Join us for Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday and/or Just Jot It January! This week’s prompt was”art.” Today’s pingback link is here:  https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/11/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-12th/
More information and prompts here: https://lindaghill.com/2018/12/31/what-is-just-jot-it-january-2019-rules/

SoCS: pens, pencils, and pixels

I don’t use ink very much anymore.

Although I always carry pens with me and use them for obvious things like signing checks, but most of my writing by hand is related to poetry, which I tend to do in pencil, usually a 0.7 mm mechanical.

Most of my writing these days is via computer. No ink or graphite required.

I do, however, read a lot of ink. I still prefer print magazines and books over electronic. I find it much easier to leaf through a physical book or magazine than to scroll or jump to a page.

I hope to have a physical book of my own published someday, either a chapbook or poetry collection. Or both!

Ink will be necessary.
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Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “ink.” Join us! Find out how here:  https://lindaghill.com/2017/11/24/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-25-17/

Badge by J-Dub @ https://jilywily.wordpress.com/

 

poems and prints

Our first full day of the Boiler House Poets second reunion residency began with each of us doing our own thing. I made an early trip to my studio and completed the first draft of a poem for my collection that I had begun to draft a year ago (yikes!) and then went off to enjoy the farmers’ market and Fall Foliage Festival craft fair. I also delivered a couple posters for the Boiler House Poets’ reading, which will be held on October 4 at 7 PM at Makers’ Mill on Main Street, North Adams. Any blog-readers nearby are cordially invited to attend!

After lunch, the lions’ share of our group participated in a printmaking workshop at Makers’ Mill. Kate and Jim demonstrated the process of preparing the materials and operating the press and then assisted us with our inaugural attempts. We were all novices and I admit that my work was very rudimentary, but I loved the work of the other poets. We needed to let our paper and ink dry, but we can pick them up later in the week or at our reading.

One of my favorite parts of the printmaking was operating the press. We turned a big wheel which was very much like the wheel of a ship. It also reminded me of a demonstration that I attended with my parents at their retirement village. Their friend Jim Mullen is an art professor emeritus who has his presses in a studio in his apartment. He is still very much an active artist; he lends his talents to the village community by designing and producing cards and by donating works to be raffled to raise money for the charitable foundation. He also offers art education experiences and did a very interesting demonstration of printmaking techniques. It was part of the reason that I decided to join in with today’s opportunity to try printmaking, even though I am not much of a visual artist.

Next, we started a poetry workshopping session. I always love to see what the other poets are working on and hear their insightful comments. I learn so much. I must admit, though, that I don’t feel very helpful to the group. So much of what they do is beyond what I could ever hope to achieve. Sometimes, I can make peace with that, rationalizing that I am a community poet and that it is okay for me to remain so. Other times, like today, not so much…

During dinner break, I decided to go back to the apartment to decompress a bit. I was able to talk to B and E at home and was glad to hear that everyone there is doing all right. I touched base with a local friend and made plans to meet tomorrow. I had a relatively long text conversation with daughter T who will soon be returning home from MO. And I went back to my studio and began to put the poems in my collection in order.

Today was chilly and drizzly. Maybe tomorrow will be a bit brighter…