Vermont: Inspiration

I have live here for almost 21 years, which is as long as I have live almost anywhere else. So, (although, the died-hard Vermonters will never say I am one) this is where I call home. Vermont feeds me so much history and INSPIRATION.... I am so glad to be here. I suppose, if I was still on Long Island, I would just be working for old CDV's of whaling captains and potato farmers....But I am not, so instead, I give you Vermont school children and gentlemen from eras passed.

At any rate... I have been working on two series at once. The first, prints on old book covers and the second, transfers onto barn board. Each process has had its challenges but has been incredibly rewarding. I'll share with so, some works in progress. I hope you enjoy the little stories Vermont has to offer....

Oh- PS.... I love being PINNED on pinterest... (its an honor and a joy)but please remember, these all my work is copyrighted and I retain rights to all the art/photographyon my blog. Please PIN responsibility and give credit where credit is due... thanks!

Fear is the Mind Killer

I have been incubating on a new project for a while and I finally have gotten a chance to get down to the workroom to start it. It stems out from an idea while I was making some of the bird house shrines. 


The initial idea behind the whole bird house is that it was a physical place to store emotion and feelings. I would take bits and pieces of things that have resonance and meaning; like scraps of fabric, feathers, bits of photographs, and lines of text, and put them inside the birdhouse, before I sealed up the hole.  The bird house is transformed into a vessel to hold the emotion.  With the bird houses, this idea just came to me intuitively. Since then, I have been doing some research into Victorian Memory Vessels. I have decide to work on two large pieces that further this concept. This time however, I am being much more intentional about the work. The pieces are going to be interactive. It relies on feedback from you to be created. 


The first piece is about FEAR. 


Fear is a distressing emotion aroused by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger. It is part of our core, basic emotions.  We all have fears, and the range of things that frighten us is astounding. 


Sometimes when you create ART, you are forced to face certain fears. Facing those emotions can be extremely difficult, but the result is almost always one that reaps greater benefit than loss. 


My first steps in making this piece is to identify what people are really afraid of.


Some of the most common fears are of: ghosts, evil powers, bugs, snakes, heights, water, enclosed spaces, bridges, needles, social rejection, failure, examinations public speaking, flying, heights, clowns, intimacy, death, and success.


I am definitely afraid of some of those things. 


I'm asking all you brave souls to leave me a comment about what your greatest FEAR is.


Since all my comments are moderated, you can definitely remain anonymous. Just leave me a little note in you comment and i won't post to the blog.  All the "FEARS" that I collect will go into the vessel that I am creating, as well as help me to construct the outer shell of the piece.


Thanks for sharing, and I look forward to receiving your comments.








The Litany Against Fear


I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.^[2]

Abandoned Inspiration

Recently, I have been obsessed with abandoned buildings. It amazing me how beautiful dwellings can be forgotten along old roads and left to ruin. On our way to Pennsylvania, we drove through the Catskills. When you drive along the back roads, you see all the glory of days gone by. It seems that people no longer vacation in these mountains or along the small lakes and ponds that abide here.  Almost every town we drove through had crumbling cottages and broken down old hotels that mark a time of previous opulence.

My latest work, has also been about dwellings. A collection of small houses and boxes have been taking up residence on my work table. This new series of what I call "soul houses" will be on display in October for my show at Seminary Arts, but I wanted to share with you a sample of what's to come.


The discarded house forms, some as small as 3" tall and others as large as 2 feet wide, are being transformed into a chambers that capture the sadness and beauty of a lost moment in time. Like the stately hotels and camps along those old back roads, these little houses might be a little haunted and beckon you to find out more.

Busy week

i've been busy working on art projects every night this week- it feels great to be so productive and moving things towards completion.

the doll shrines are coming together- the boxes are almost complete and i was busy tonight making some clothing for the dolls. tomorrow- i will finish with the sewing and assemble. tonight they are drying.

i also put another layer on to the collage on canvas that i've been working on: what remains. there are three canvases in this group that i am "salvaging" from a project that lost direction and steam. four month later, with many thanks to friends and fellow artists who helped me cut through the mental block, i am working on them again, with vigor. they still have a bit to go- but i am hoping to finish them Thursday night, i have a Friday deadline.

i have patti edmon to thank for her kind, but to the point crit of the old pieces. she helped me find focus. so thanks pat!

i promised myself i would try to get to sleep early tonight, so at 11:55, i bid you adieu. until we met again.

what remains- WIP

it's beautiful here, today in the green mountain state. i am shuffling between chores in the house, art making and things that need to happen outside in the yard before it gets too cold. i've been very inspired and very motivated to make art this past week. so as the dishwasher is spinning, and the laundry is drying on the line, i've been painting away, outside on the deck.

i finally got the guts to paint on top of these two canvases. they were giving me such issues, the collages seemed off balance, lacking focus and just "not me." so i took a leap this morning and started in on it again. both canvases need more layers of color- but it's a start.

the best thing is- it's cleared my head as to where it's going- so now i can move forward without fear.

love when that happens.

Work in Progress- Harvest Home at a stand still

When I do art shows or classes, people always ask me about my process. They are curious about where my ideas come from and how I go about making my art. In the past I have written many a blog post about where the spark comes from, how I get from point A to point B.

Today, Day 1 of my staycation, I am stuck some where in between the A and the B. I started this project,Harvest Home, several months ago, when I got it in my head that I wanted to college on canvas, which is something I have never done before. I was all gung-ho when I started- but after about three hours in, I gave up. It stopped "speaking to me." I wonder how many of my other artist friends have abandoned art sitting/hanging in their studio.

I decided last week that I was ready to finish Harvest Home. This poor piece. Maybe I should have started smaller? Three canvases that tie together is proving very challenging. I also don't like shininess of the gel medium transfers. On this large scale, the have stretched a little and the ripples are catching the light in unwanted places. And the texture and color balance is not quite where I want it to be. I am grappling with the idea of adding a layer of paint to it, maybe do some peeling paint. None of the found objects are secured down yet, so I can do that.

The piece is sitting on the living floor- waiting for me to do something with it. I am taking a break from it, hoping that inspiration will come flooding in. Maybe the best thing is to start all over again. Thoughts? words of advice? consolation? any feedback is welcome....

New WIP- Sky Castle

Started this new piece on Monday- Strange, that I didn't quite know where I was going through it, till I started digging through my bin of stuff. The bin of stuff- I have three of them going right now- They are just filled with old photos, paper, epherma, scraps and do-dad's. I'm not an organized artist. My process is sort of an organic, connect the dots, discovered through treasure hunting and digging through piles of images.

Some times, I do know where I am going. The light bulb comes on. I have an a-ha moment. I visualize in my head the finished piece and the images I need to use in it. Somehow I know exactly which "bin of stuff" the image is. I do a little digging and pesto- there it is. Along with a bunch of other things that I didn't expect to find, but will inevitably use.But this weekend, I was not that way. I was sort of instant inspiration in the digging bins. I sat out on the screen porch, the sunlight working it's way in- the wind blowing as it does up here on the hill. And piece by piece, I put this spread together in a new altered book, Sky Castle.
The story is revealing itself to me, as one of two brothers. There is still more to the story for me to gleam from the process....

Box full o' honey WIP

I finally was able to start this new piece "box full of honey" last night. I've been wanted to start it for a while and things just seem to get in the way- things like, no having the right materials, having a heavy work load at my day job, doing laundry, unpacking the studio, thanksgiving dinner oven issues, Christmas shopping, dog walking. I could make a bunch of excuses, of all the things that have kept me from working on a real piece, a piece with teeth, all of them are just really were ways to stall. But, in this case, stalling was OK. In this case, I will call it INCUBATING.

Incubating... My favorite part of the design process. Way back when I was a theatre student, we learned about the design process. For me making art is all about the process. How you get from point A to point B. I learn so much about myself when I am engaged in a project. It helps me move forward, in my life and in my head.
So this thing called the design process, what is it? It's really a problem solving model.

The problem: I have a piece of art that I am inspired to make. How do I do it?
The solution can be found through the process:

1- Commitment- you commit to the project- are you going to do it or not. Once you commit, you can't go back you have to move forward. Can can put things on hold, but have to see it through. You have to focus your intentions on the thing. set your focus on the challenge.
2- Analysis and research- gather information and figure out what you need to know more about. for me this gathering is often with images and music. I get hooked on to the thing that is inspiring me and either fill my bulletin boards with tons and tons of tear sheets or play the same music over and over again. I look in every nook and cranny for clues, for more intellectual and emotional information that will help me put together the piece.

3- INCUBATION- this is when you do nothing... you just let the idea GROW ( or fester) inside you.

4-Selection-pick the materials you are going to work with- get a good STRONG idea of what you want the thing to look like in the end.
5-Implementation- DO IT. Sit down and just get you hands dirty and do it!
6-Evaluation- when you think your done, or your deadline says your done. Stand back, look at what you did an make some HONEST judgements of what you like and dislike about your piece. What you would change, what you'd never change, what you could never recreate if you ever had the chance again.

That's the Design Process. It's not really all that linear either. You can jump around and be in two different places at once (a feat of metaphysics!!) but that's it in a nut shell. Can't believe, I remembered the whole thing. Angela Brande, design professor, would be proud of me now!

So, this is the beginnings of my latest project. Part of me really wanted to finish this before 12/10, because it is inspired by a DD song. I wanted to bring it to Montreal with me. Why? Because I'm a nutter. Actually, because, unlike some crazy screaming fan, their music inspires my life beyond the "normal" bounds. It's like Van Gogh or Frida is for some painters. Like the way a certain book might inspire someone else to create. I'm not talking about the "Hungry like the Wolf" or "Is there something I should know" songs. I'm referring to a wider breath of material that is a little more obscure, lesser know, but packs a stronger punch for me.

So back to my WIP and the photos-This is my "box full of honey." With many thanks to SLB for the lyrics as inspiration and my dear cyber artist friend, Laurie Blau-Marshall for the lovely honey comb, that was ABSOLUTELY perfect for this project. I washed the comb with a little Uzzzzhhhh (thank you Michael De Meng) and now it has a beautiful deep honey color. I used one of my newest ladies, Helen (she is so beautiful.) I bought her from a great Etsy seller, The Art Garage. And of course, there's my sad WWI, vet on the top of the box. My haunting ghost man, who shares the same birthday that I do. Only he was born in 1896 and I was born in 1969.
And this is in no way anywhere near being finished. But we are getting there- and I do have a STRONG vision of what I want this to be when it is done.
I've written much too much tonight, some of which is probably too revealing about how I work. But, that's ok. One of my H.A.G.s is to open my heart more. So sharing how I get from point A to point B is a good thing.

Box full o' honey
At the sharp end of the view
The edge of me and you
And all good sense dare tread no further
And as the ghost will shiver trees
How I'm trembling on my knees
But I'm still drawn on by the murmur

Are you laughing at me now
In my circumstance
When still I wear I your crown
My life's penitence
And for what
What's so funny
A box full o honey

What I thought a pretty tune
Was howling at the moon
To keep me company this evening
It's so lonely in the dirt
A scratching at the hurt
But I so generously did leave you

Are you laughing at me now
In my circumstance
When still I wear I your crown
Some cruel penitence
For what
What's so funny
Box full o honey

Is she flirting with me now
Is she dallying with me now
Are you flirting with me now
You'll always be my queen of tumble down
Miss melancholy

Are you laughing at me now
In my circumstance
When still I wear I your crown
And my life's a penitence
And for what
What's so funny
Ain't it funny
A box full o honey