Art Life Work Travel

Patti's portrait, Phase I. I wanted to finish today (Sunday) but I may not make it. I'm in a funk, maybe overload of Interesting Things to Do. I'm running up against the Brick Wall of Too much to Do and Too Little Time! And after the message this morning in Meditation about how much we create our own versions of reality, I Should (bad word) be totally mellow, inside rotating all my interests and accomplishing a bit at a time...or Running Outside each time the sun comes out and re-arranging my stones.



And Every Once in a While, one Must get out (off the Peninsula) and honor a date made back in February, to meet up with Karen Ford and be taken on the Grand Tour of Poulsbo.


I am trying to remember to pack my camera every time I go out, and here was a photo-op of shades of gray, converging lines, the dejected posture of the man in the old VW van in front of me (toting 2 male teens), while waiting for the Hood Canal Bridge to close after the ships went through.


Poulsbo is a very cute Norwegian theme town on one of the many bodies of water around here...I need to put up a map for myself! and learn my new (5 years now) home turf. We had a lovely lunch of fish and chips and really good coleslaw, and I wish I'd taken a picture of the place and wish I remembered the name. Karen says it's Pamela Armas' favorite place to eat in Poulsbo, and Pamela knows her restaurants.

We also got to tour the best resources: beads (Imagine That!), rubber stamps (Rubber Soul), and the ever-tempting Central Market. Co-ops of the local artists' work, cute houses in the hilly neighborhoods, too.


Karen's house is ALL studio, with a potential additional studio out back. Getting used to single life again at 63 is a challenge, and she has good support from Jack's sisters and her own brother. I wish I could have met Jack. From his pictures and her stories, he was quite a guy. Karen's going to send me the address of her blog, so once I figure out how to do it, I can post it on my blog as a place to go...also Mike Yeager's. I must be using an older version of blogspot, and I can't figure out how to make the links permanent, because I didn't put the current ones up there....and I don't know if I could really face starting fresh with a new template.







Ah, the tiny violins are playing on the radio for me now. I am SO lucky to be here in the NW, surrounded by beauty, by friends and family, AND with MORE ideas than time!

Here's the beach at Port Townsend with the tiny white lighthouse way in the distance, a patch of sun at 7pm where I stopped on an otherwise cloudy, rainy, and adopted rocks for my yard.

I keep advising others to trust their instincts...so I really should take my own advice. Some times friends and adventure are sacrificed for Art, sometimes Projects and Art are put aside for friends and adventures...and maybe a little of both all the time. I am Very Grateful for my day job that supports my Art habit, but sometimes I long for uninterrupted hours to explore Every Avenue...not many have that, fewer and fewer these days.

So, on a lighter note--I am working at following my Buddhist teaching to:

(1) Appreciate the rain for the opportunity it affords me to stay inside and work on Art: books and sculpture and painting
(2) Appreciate Friends and Family and the beauty of the Olympic Peninsula for getting me out of my Self---boy, do I need that!
(3) Appreciate the endless Inspiration from friends, travels, materials, and the universe.

BUT I have a question, which may take some time to answer:

WHY did I feel Compelled to purchase two packs of ephemera, when I have a whole bureau full at home, because of this image--What is it about this image???


The necklace of colored skulls, I can understand! Also special thanks to Karen for turning me on to Century Girl--an Amazing use of collage to tell a story. I went on to amazon late at night (very dangerous) and ordered it, PLUS three other books...

Thanks for your inspiration, Karen, and stay tuned to see what I do with all your inspiration!

Two tiny birds dueling on top of the fence, they match each other posture for posture, fly up, flapping...they're not any bigger than the gourd skull at the end of the fence, and they keep coming back to the confrontation...are they dueling or courting? Life, Death, Earth shaking drama, just outside my window...Maybe I'll actually do the HOT FLASH page for Facebook next..there are too many other people involved, for me to let that languish.