I blush to admit that I had not even heard of Tift Merritt, but after hearing the interview this morning on my morning walk, I feel as if I know her well – she talked about, among other things, how she fears the complexity and glitz of contemporary society tries to be a seductive distraction from meaningfulness – everything she said resonated with me. Merritt’s latest album is called Traveling Alone. The title, she told NPR’s David Greene, speaks to the value of being self-sustaining:
“I think, at the end of the day, I have an outsider’s heart,” Merritt says. “You always hope that you’re going to find that place where you belong — you know, you follow the map or the playbook that everyone in the world seems to have, or understand, and you will arrive at the place where things make sense. And I think … that’s a little naive, and that you have to build that place yourself. And that’s a lonely thing to realize, but also an exciting one.”
Coincidentally, my teaching assistant, Claire Afflerbach, asked me last night to look at some of the photos she took while studying in New Zealand – I think this one is a perfect companion for Tift Merritt’s comments. Beautiful work, Claire.

Photo by Claire Afflerbach

Here’s a second “Bridges” piece I finished tonight. I had the ideas laid out before we left for the weekend, and of course, they changed as I worked on them. I tried some melted beeswax in places on some of the elements and I like the way it works as an adhesive of sorts and as a texture. Not quite encaustic, but sort of.

Earlier in the summer took three small constructions on canvas to Nueva Street Gallery. They are on stretched canvas and have clay shard pieces attached with thread and adhesives. I call them the Bridges series because they are a bridge between my collages on canvas pieces and my shard works. Here’s one I just finished to replace one that sold last month – it will be available at the Gallery after Tuesday:

In the interest of continuity (and “branding”) I now have the newly-named SprigShards for the Herb Market on October 20th. They are cute little guys! I posted a pic to the Herb Society page and have already pre-sold ten of them. Not bad – and only five crisp dollar bills each! (or 25 quarters, or a credit card, or a trade, or . . .)

I heard something that Kenny Rogers said the other day in an interview with Diane Rehm:
“You know, I have a theory that we’re all three people. I’m who I think I am, I’m who you think I am and I’m who I really am. And the closer those three are together the longer your career can last.”
The more I think about it, the more I agree. It has to do with being as honest as you can about the good and the bad in your life. Facades and masks take so much energy to hold up and maintain that could better be spent on creating and communicating. That idea has stayed with me. Hope it continues to.

New from the pottery studio – SprigsPockets! These little guys are for the upcoming Herb Market on October 20th. Just hang one in the kitchen or wherever (bath, maybe?) with a few herb sprigs for cooking or just to sniff – at only $5 each, everyone needs a SpringsPocket. Hey, should I have called them PickPockets? Hmm. Anyway, I doubt I will make too many of these but they are kinda cute and useful and should be a nice item for the Herb Market – this kind of vendor table event is new for me. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe Chia Shards next?? Nah . . . .

In preparation for my upcoming Image Transfer Workshop, I figured I’d better try out a few things – techniques have certainly changed since my undergraduate days when we used magazine pages and lighter fluid. It’s a wonder we didn’t set the Trinity art studio on fire. These two transfer compositions are done with rice paper and with soft acrylic gel. Both use inkjet images. I’m still working with various combinations and timings. It’s tricky, but even the less-than-perfect results are interesting.

What a great workshop this afternoon – it was one of those times when everyone just opened up to their creativity and knew where they were going – it was a beautiful thing to watch! Here’s the video – fantastic group dynamics and I felt privileged to be a part of it.

. . .the Herb Garden Tour! I have weeded and mulched and potted – here’s a video of the result – Texas Eclectic is the theme, and that’s pretty much what it is! Now all I need are ticket-buying people to show up in the morning and add to our Scholarship Fund while adding to their herbal and gardening inspiration.
Report to follow.

Today is Open Studio – I am still working on small Spirit Faces – nothing like last-minute prep. And . . .next weekend is another big event – the scholarship fundraising Herb Garden Tour. Nice article in today’s Express-News featuring my backyard: