Ganesha: Lord of Success

Ganesha, the elephantine Hindu god, the one to pray to when you have your heart set on something, is the muse for this montage. Actually, there are three elephants in this piece, two resin, one porcelain. I like that. Three wishes seems about right.

Treescrapers

I made this collage a long time ago, but somehow it resonates with me still. When I made it I wasn't thinking about meaning, I was in the flow. But then it struck me that this image had something to teach me, and even now, I am learning from it. There is something about skyscrapers here, about reaching for the sky, and something about the majesty and mystery of nature, and something about how skyscrapers are nature – just like anthills and wasps nests are part of the natural world. It is easy to forget that we humans and everything we make, including our messes, as disastrous as they can be, are part of the natural world.

Art Date

I believe in art dates, had one recently with a beloved mentor/colleague/friend: made marbled papers and paste papers and ate a picnic lunch in the studio, all the while enjoying the kind of conversations we'd never had time for in the past.


Here are a few of the fruits of my labor that day... (FYI: Blogger compressed the images, so they don't look crisp unless you click on them to see them at the intended size. Anybody know how to prevent this from happening? Please let me know!)

The Latest...

Uprising 

gouache & ink

18" x 24"


Click image for larger view


see detail below...

If You're in the Neighborhood...

This is the postcard I am sending out today to publicize my latest show. I wasn't going to advertise this one at all, it seemed a tedious prospect. But then it occurred to me, a postcard is a perfect opportunity to say something nice to people, to give a little present. And who doesn't like giving presents? Besides, I had asked for a mailing list from the organization sponsoring the show, and they sent me the list - already printed on mailing labels! Doesn't get much easier.

(The show is in Windham, Connecticut, by the way)

Ann Herbert and Other Wonders

I've got a show going up at Windham Hospital (Windham, CT) for the month of February. And a half-hour interview on a local TV program (Artists and Authors) which has broadcast once or twice already and I haven't seen it yet myself. Yikes! I've also got a sudden obsession with making digital geometric compositions, such as the one I posted above.

Also, I recently discovered Ann Herbert. You know that bumper sticker, "practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty"? That's Ann Herbert. She's got a blog chock full of inspiring and thought-provoking one-liners. And I found some longer work on this site. Here's a snippet from "The Idea":

The idea is you have some great ideas.

The idea is sometimes you don't notice your great ideas because they are very different than what already exists.

That difference, which makes you shy off your ideas, is part of what makes your ideas great, and needed...

... A guy I used to work for, Stewart Brand, said that once you have an idea you have about five minutes to do something about it. You don't have to do everything the idea calls for within five minutes, but you've got to do something right away to make it real.

That's a good idea, too.

Hope Springs Eternal

For almost twenty years, I've held a picture of the life I most desire as an artist and writer, living close to nature's rhythms, the rhythms of daily household life. I imagine a life in which I can devote several hours each day to domestic chores and outdoor reverie, as many hours to setting my inspirations into words and image, with time and energy yet to embrace the considerable challenge of sharing my work with the world.

Here I am, living on a dead end road in a town that is 40% land preserve, with a garden and a dog and a supportive spouse, and just enough financial stability to say that, while certainly risky, nothing stands in my way but fears and insecurities. Part of my hesitation is about money, part of it is about turning away potential clients (why is it scary to say no?), part of it is that internal ego-crushing critic, chanting who do you think you are? in the unfriendliest tone

But I am soon to turn 40, and I can't let these fears and insecurities call the shots any longer.

When designer Stefan Sagmeister decided to close his studio to give himself a year off for creative explorations, his first bold move was to tell everyone. That way, he reports in his October, 2009 TED talk, The Power of Time Off, he wouldn't be able to chicken out.

This morning at the gym, a friend told me about her beloved assistant of twenty years, who died suddenly this week, just a month shy of retirement.

There are no guarantees.

Yesterday my neighbor and I walked our dogs together, and saw this pond along the way. I believe these patterns exist always in this pond, formed as underground springs push up toward the surface. Thanks to just the right combination of cold and snow, the invisible is revealed.

I was so inspired, I couldn't wait to get home so I could return immediately with my camera.

While shooting, I decided it was time to admit it: I am plotting a special year, beginning with my birthday in early March. I have already begun turning down work. I have my own underground springs, a million and one half-dreamed and partially completed projects that I will no longer push aside. Life is now!