Art is THE WAY

I've been thinking that artists look at other artists' work, or do they? Do they consider other artists' works? Do they visit other artists' studios to see how they're doing, to see what they're selling? My studio is a pack-rat's haven. That's NOT a good thing. But I'm trying, at least you can see the beautiful paper-bag floor the hubby did a few years ago.

It's absolutely marvelous. But I've found I'm NOT my own best salesperson. I really have to psyche myself up to 'sell'. Not a natural born salesperson. Selling other people's work is fine, I have no problem with that.

Wish I could hire a manager/salesperson. Sigh.
Seems the only folks coming up to my studio are OTHER artists wanting to know how/why/what/ and how much she's selling it for???

North Country Artist Trails

Well, folks are stopping by to see the artwork, see the studio and get "stamped". That is, when someone visits a studio, they receive a unique stamp and if they can collect 6 unique stamps from six different studios, they'll be able to get their stamped card into a drawing for origina art. This wonderful feat will happen on September 1st at Studio Five!
It'll be fun, it'll be educational, and always a surprise.

This cyanotype here is from a collection that I began three years ago.

Cyanotypes are fun to make in the summertime, and summertime is not complete without producing a few cyanotypes. It's supposed to be BLUE not ORANGE. I just hope you're looking at a tru-blu Cyanotype.

The Boy Scout Trip New Chapter

After witnessing a blowout on that rocky mountain road, I caravaned with some other Scout folks to Priest Lake, ID on Saturday. A long, hot drive, but it was relatively cool in the morning, with a lot more heat to come on Sunday, when I returned home. Going through beautiful Loon Lake, we took the shortcut to Priest River, locating ourselves at the Beaver Creek Campground on Priest Lake. There, Hayven squealed with delight as we swam in the lake. We setup our tents, with the help of the two oldest boy scouts, Eli and Cedar. Fun! The campground was completely filled up, so our tents would have to be right next to each other making for a familial coziness! We awaited the first boys scouts completing their 30-mile hike through grizzly and black bear territory. It was a long wait! Finally, at 5 pm, Dylan and Marshall showed up, Tim, Marshall's father having picked them up at the trailhead. The logistics of the trip were quite complicated to say the least.

Mary acted as camp cook for that first night at the Beaver Creek Campground in Nordman, ID and I was her helper. Finally, we heard that Jason had a flat tire on his boat trailer, and that some boys stayed with him. His wife, Laurie, had some blisters on her feet, but was OK. The boys straggled in: Jake, Justin, and Garrett. We waited and waited until at 7pm, as everyone wondered where the rest of the boys were, finally, Jerry showed up with his wife Ruth, and a very badly sprained wrist. Cary was with him. They had taken a wrong turn and ended up 1 1/2 miles down the wrong trail. Matt was with them.

All was well, everyone accounted for, and we could have our delicious spaghetti dinner, with chocolate cake for dessert!

Dave and the Drywall

Here's how Dave looked after drywalling our "mud room" two years ago! Look, hon, it's DONE! Remember your past projects and how much you've improved the place. IT looks great, and it's getting better all the time!

What a Wierd Strange Trip it WAS!

Driving the Boy Scouts. My son, Dylan is in a Boy Scout Troop, and that's nice, but sometimes, it requires the patience of Job and a lot of guesswork, emotional and physical stamina--on the part of the parents! I offered to drive them to the trailhead of the planned "50-mile hike". Getting there was an ordeal when I woke up, got the kids up, and the two boys (Dylan and his friend Derek) noticed the Jeep had a flat tire! They quickly changed it, with help from Dave via the telephone, and we were off, albeit one-half hour late!. Getting to the Union Hall in Kettle Falls, we sorted through the gear, got ready and off we went. Hayven went with Mary to spend the morning with her and her two daughters, one of which is Hayven's age: Cassie.

Later, we made several stops, picked up a boy, dropped off a car, and made our way to Colville National Forest's Sullivan Lake Campground. At the Ranger station, we sorted through the meals and placed them in bear-proof plastic traveling bins. On to the trailhead. Connie was driving in her big white Chevrolet Van, with eight adults, and Jerry with himself and two other scouts, Marshall and Garrett. Another hour into the woods on a very narrow forest service road and we were there. The sheer dropoff was quite stunning, the scenery extraordinary.

After eating a brown bag lunch prepared by Mary, THANKS MARY--Connie headed off with her daughter, Johanna, and I in Jerry's Chevy pickup. A little more than one-half of a mile down the narrow mountain road, Connie's tire back left tire hissed and BLEW! She kept driving, unbeknownst to her. I beeped and beeped the horn behind her to no avail, she kept driving--oblivious to it all, as the tire got lower and lower and started to shred. Why didn't I flash the lights? Because I didn't know where they were! IT wasn't my vehicle, and not having driven manual transmission for three years, had to re-familiarize myself with the process!

I kept beeping the horn. I thought, "either they know they have a flat and she's trying to make it down the mountain to the ranger's office, or they can't hear me". It was the latter. The music her teen daughter was playing was so loud, she couldn't hear me beeping. Finally a piece of the tire shredded and flew off and she saw a piece of blackness fly up, and thought it was mud!

She finally stopped as the tire started to smoke. She had felt the bump, but thought it was the rough mountain road. I stopped the pickup behind her, but didn't know where the hand-brake was. I started to roll into the back of her van--not good, as her daughter screamed "put the brake on!". I couldn't find it! Finally, somehow I stopped, right before I went in a ditch and hit the back of her van.

The Chevy Pick-up was inches away, I had already got the lug nuts off the rim of the shredded tire (after much heaving and hoing!), and we were in the midst of reading directions, when suddenly--another car came up behind ME! A white car from Idaho. Two good-looking guys stopped, got out, helped us change the shredded tire to the spare "donut" tire and also moved the truck--that was almost in the ditch. They were on their way to Canada, and their wives were teed off that they took this mountain road, as you had to travel soooo slow and probably they were as petrified driving on the 'edge' as I was!

Fortunately through a lot of prayer and positivity, we made it back to COLVILLE AND LES SCHWAB!

Some of my Favorite Quotes

Psychotherapist Anthony de Mello puts the responsibility squarely where it belongs: "It's an illusion that external events have the power to hurt you, that other people have the power to hurt you. They don't. It's you who gives this power to them."

or, how about:

"Painting isn't a question of sensibility; it's a matter of seizing the power, taking over from nature, not expecting her to supply you with information and good advice." (Pablo Picasso)

Googleing

Just wondering if the CPC and the ADWORD I created for the "trail" will work--who knows? It's quite a puzzlement. Living is a puzzle, it seems you figure it all out (one aspect that is!) to find another aspect of your life is shutting down.

Wierd...just wondering if others have that same experience. Maybe it's all a wash--in the end we all end up with the same faculties, the same everything.

Feeling quite diabolical today, and have to force to get out of this funk...but I do have a lot to be grateful about. No one is going to read this stuff anyway, so it's kind of therapeutic for me. Also helps me to realize what a great speller and typist I am!

Wonderful Day

Today, just regular stuff. Getting ready to hit the "trail". Clean up the studio, get everything out of the studio, THROW IT ALL OUT. My pack-rat-i-tis is coming on strong today, but I'm fighting it.
At least I got my website cleaned up. Dylan's going canoeing with Boy Scouts tomorrow, and Dave is leaving. Tomorrow will be busy, but manageable. Just have to remember to use the Hamilton on-ramp when driving Dave to the airport!

Tried and tried to 'ftp' this blog, but it didn't help -- so I've resorted to using blogger.com's free blogspot. Who knows? Maybe I'll be the next blogger on TV. An e-celebrity! Fine, big, audacious hairy GOALS!

That's me, always on to the next dream!

Hi world,

all is well.

no, it's not.

A friend kind of day

It was a great day today, just enjoying July, set up and playing her tune, like Cat Stevens used to sing. Enjoyed having some friends over, who I've been meaning to invite for six years! Yes, folks, it's been six years since we've moved to the great Pacific Northwest from LA. I had told a friend that we moved on Independence Day, July the fourth, and he replied, "Yeah, your independence from LA!"

Yes, my thoughts exactly. Making art is a full-time job, but I just read a great quote from our crazed friend, Vincent Van Gogh, "I have realized that loving people is the greatest art". (I'm paraphrasing here!

Little Hayven enjoys having friends over and so do we. We had au-gratin potatoes, two kinds of pies, Apple and Cherry-Peach, and delicious Chicken, roasted on the grill and cooked to perfection! Gary and Cher brought over a great salad with red, ripe raspberries in it!