POEM FOR TODAY

Girl in Love

That's my window. This minute
So gently did I alight
From sleep--was still floating in it.
Where has my life its limit
And where begins the night?

I could fancy all things around me
Were nothing but I as yet;
Like a crystal's depth, profoundly
Mute, translucent, unlit.

I have space to spare inside me
For the stars, too: so full of room
Feels my heart; so lightly
Would it let go of him, whom

For all I know I have started
To love, it may be to hold.
Strange, as if never charted,
Stares my fortune untold.

Why is it I am bedded
Beneath this infinitude,
Fragrant like a meadow,
Hither and thither moved,

Calling out, yet fearing
Someone might hear the cry,
Destined to disappearing
Within another I.

Rainer Maria Rilke

FINCH FIG FEST

 
His melody is rich with thankfulness which begins before sunrise and continues until sunset. "Figs....luscious, sweet figs" 

A FEW OF MY FAERIES

I have an affinity to faeries, wings, glitter...there is just something so very magical about it all. I can't even be sure when it started and it appears the love affair is not ending any time soon. These three beauties, and one baby fae, are just a few of what I have surrounded myself with and I wanted to share them. All four are one of a kind, and hand sculpted from clay. The first two from an amazing artist in New Mexico

Julie Ann Rodgers

and each of her sculpts just comes to life. I would truly fill my house with her wonderful faes if I could. The baby fae in the second photo and the other sweet little faeire holding a handful of faerie dust comes from "Down Under" and I am sorry that I don't have a link for the artist by the name of Joann who sculpted these two sweet things, but I wanted to share them anyhow. There are many more that keep me company here. Created from clay, wood, metal, paper. I see something special in every one of them and when I create them myself, it is an intense pleasure to give them away. Part of the joy of creating is sending them off to bring someone else a bit of happiness and sharing the joy they have given me in the creation.

MEMORY OF SNOW

It was 111 degrees when I got home from work today at 6:15pm. It's been hotter, that's for damn sure. And I didn't even cringe (that much) when I walked out into it, four times today. At 8am (90) to head to work. At 11:30am (104) to actually leave the air conditioned building for lunch, something I rarely do. At 5:30 (111) to leave work. And the final time 6:00pm (still 111) from the hardware store after my only stop before home. As I write this it's cooled down to 102 at 9:15pm and I find myself remembering the snow on Four Peaks Mountain in March. I call to mind the exact feeling as I pulled out of our driveway for work that morning and looked East to the mountain, knowing that the weekend had brought snow to all elevations over 4,000'. The morning was brisk, high 30's and I delighted in seeing the snow in the distance, totally prepared with my camera to shoot it from the driver's seat before heading to the office. Snow, glorious snow. The most glorious kind...the kind you don't have to shovel...just admire from afar. So I cringe, I hide, I wear dark glasses and pay a Queen's ransom to the electric company for the bliss of air conditioning from May to October. And call up the memory of snow on the distant mountians that surround this beautiful little town.

FIGS, BIRDS, COYOTES!!

Ah, the glorious fig. Sweet, packed full of nutrients....and evidently an open invitation to every bird within this town and beyond during the day, AND COYOTES AT NIGHT!!! Who'd a thunk that a coyote would jump over a 5' wall to nosh on figs!!! Well, believe it! I'm sitting here blogging enjoying the peace of the evening (10:30pm) and I about jump out of my skin when I hear not once, but twice, the sound like fingernails raking over my window screen a few feet away. Holy Moly!!! Like a bat out of hell I am sooooooo across the house to find my knight in shining armor (o.k. T-shirt and shorts) to see what he imagines it might be. Now, I just want to talk about it...share. That's enough for me. I figure, whatever it is..it's OUT THERE and we are IN HERE. That works. For me, evidently, not the "knight"...out he heads as I try to pull him back in with the above mentioned logic, US-INSIDE, IT-OUT THERE. In a flash he is out (I'm still inside just barely peeking out into the moonlit back yard. "Oh, there it goes over the wall" Geessshhh, kind of good words.......but not really. Whatever just "went over" surely will come back OVER! Then it hits us both at the same time. The memory of late night coyote visits to munch on figs. Hmmmmmmmm I guess they got the memo. The figs have ripened. ..........those blabber-mouthed birds.

Joyeux Anniversaire Mon Petit Oiseau

I made this tiny birdhouse today for my only daughter, Renee, our middle child. Well, I didn't 'make' it, I simply altered a wooden one I found during a recent art search. She will understand the bird theme but perhaps not the "Fragile Beauty"

The thing is, I see her as a delicate beauty. Her skin is like a porcelain doll and her smile just lights up her face. Her beauty is so very delicate, so fragile. She becomes more so with every passing year. On the inside where she keeps it carefully locked up not wanting anyone to know...how fragile her heart is.

My little bird, my fragile beauty. Happy Birthday!!

FOR THE LOVE OF COFFEE

The back of this PC made for the Zetti Holiday monthly swap states quite simply; "Wear your desire like a crown".........but then I had to add just a tad more with "Why, yes, that IS a coffee cup on my head. Delicious, don't you think?" This PC just makes me smile. And pretty much that is what it's all about. Our day-to-day can be downright serious way too often. We need a little whimsey, on at least a daily basis, to keep some sort of balance.

That's what is so wonderful about the little bits of art I am able to fit in each day. The seriousness of the medical arena I find myself in once again is in and of itself a good job. I'm grateful for the paycheck, the benefits, the challange. But when I walk out that door to come home to my nest, I leave it all behind me and lose myself wonderfully in a bit of whimsey where anything is possible. Even a coffee cup for a hat. 

AGAIN WITH THE MOON!

After receiving my very cool collage sheets from PaperWhimsey I had this little set of doors that were a little "gifty" and I just HAD to use one for a Zetti body. I have this thing for doors and how fun it was to just create a little ATC with one. So I now realize that I have done two pieces in a row involving the moon which is so typical in retrospect because I am so drawn to it and always have been. So much so that when my partner, Jim, and I started the whole cafe thing back in February 04 (it seems a LOT longer than that!) we created our little company first called Lunasoleil..and THAT came about because of my lifelong love of the moon and night and cooler weather versus Jim's love of the sun and daylight and the heat. So even when I am not consciously choosing luna themes, I am most certainly subconsciously choosing. Of course, I WAS supposed to be making 5 ATC with sort of a summer theme for a swap, but I don't seem to be inspired yet. Letting my muse take over is so effortless. 

A Day With the Moon

Today's creation was post card #3 for Zetti Zoo. It's my July Zetti Holiday PC that I will mail to one group member in particular, then randomly I will select other group members to get one as a surprise. Zetti Zoo is such a great group that my dear friend Lyn Avedikian introduced me to recently. I've been a Zetti nut for several years and it's one of the things that brought us together in the Yahoo Art Group world...the outside of the box realm of Zetti. So here in my little StUdIo wItH A bEd I created this on a piece of fab multi media madness paper I created with acrylic paint, stamps, gold leaf pen, etc. Tomorrow I will photo copy it and maybe embellish each one a bit more. On the back of the PC I will add more artwork and a fabulous quote to make it even more fun.........then off they go. 

ART EXPLOSION

So I have a 'studio' with a bed in it. It's where I create, read, listen to music, create, get ink and paint all over my hands, log onto my laptop (love wireless connection!!) oh, and then, fall into the bed not too far away from this table. My closet has more art stuff than clothes or shoes, my bathroom cabinets
tell a strange story of paint, glitter, paper, and a few cosmetics. It's not that I don't have room in the rest of the house. In fact, the rest of the house is almost barren. But since I was very young I have loved being in my bedroom. It's my "nest", a place where I feel happy. I seem to want to do everything here. This is how I raised my children. My ex (husband but still my friend) and I had this giant King sized bed and that is where we might all be come Sunday morning. He and I with our coffee and newspaper......the kids watching t.v. and chatting with us. The Nest. Kids are gone..ex is on the other side of the country, probably having coffee with his wife of a few years now...but I still have MY nest. I am happy here this morning. Damien Rice and Remy Zero is music of choice right now, coffee is by my side, I am darting around the internet with various blogs and Yahoo Art Groups I belong to, e-mailing my dear friend in Jersey, and soon I will play at my table and create. This is MY world - Life Is Good.