The Kindness of Blogger, Painted Fish Studios

Look what came in the mail yesterday from St. Paul.



One day I commented on this post how much I loved these stones. The next thing I knew Jen asked me for my address and said she wanted to send me some stones. Wow! And here they are:



Only a few months ago, I found Jen's blog when I made these bowls.

The stones are soft and flat. Like a meditation stone, they're a sensory pleasure--visually appealing and grounding to hold and circle my thumb across the surface.

Check out Jen's etsy shop and her blog. She serves up a daily visual delight.

A Summer of ARTnics

ARTnicing and looking so 19th century on a leisurely Saturday afternoon.



I'm becoming an expert at portable art studios transported in swirly canvas bag.

Jessa and her two little ones visited from Annapolis this week. We took them to the park for an afternoon of play and art. All this fun peaked the curiosity of three other kids in the park and the next thing you know yours truly was conducting a summer art camp, which was fine for about five minutes until one little girl started demanding more and more art supplies like an insatiable monster and then became Attila the Hun when I denied her.

"Where is your mother?" we said. And, of course, mother was no where to be found.

In one of the sweeter moments, our friend, Miss A, on the right did some face painting.


Attila gave us another shock when we moved to the playground. Here's my hubby, who I refer to as Roger these days--as in Roger Sterling in Mad Men.


Okay, hubby is no spring chicken, but we both nearly fell over when Attila yelled out from the swing set, "I want the grandpa to push me."

Stone River Tree

I took this picture standing in a beautiful trench--an Andy Goldsworthy trench. To see his Stone River at Stanford, you start out on high ground and descend to follow his "river."

I'm in the trenches following the river of life these days. The tree reminds me that I can wait. Relax in the waiting and enjoy the view.

Collage: The point is.....Randel Plowman

Collage artist Randel Plowman in this The Artist's Life article says,

"Having a conversation with the piece is the point. You can't speak too much to it. You have to listen."





This is nice conversation:
Can you hear the pause? Feel the breeze?
The sweet sound of listening?



Oh, and there it is:
a quiet, thoughtful response.

Tulsa Time, Plowman

Modern Striped Baby Blanket

Knitting this blanket was a joy. A breeze. Oh, the tactile pleasure of clicking needles with that gorgeous Rowan Cashsoft Aran.

But stitching the four panels together was like tying me down and sticking needles in my eyes.

Encaustic Painting from Vanessa: Mt. Tam

Look what Vanessa made for me:


Encaustic painting on wood panel



She used a Tom Killion woodblock print of Mt. Tamalpais as inspiration for the painting. I found Killion's work in an article Bay Nature did on his woodprints and passed it on to her, not knowing that I might be the lucky recipient of her work. I believe this is Vanessa's third encaustic work since she started heating wax and mixing pigments.

She's thinking of setting up an etsy shop. Don't you think she should?

I'm remembering....

Days on the river