Art Of Family, Continued

We're still doing the family thing out here in the West, and now I have Mom with me for the coming week, which should be interesting for both of us...the mother/daughter thing...although we've both become more graceful with age.

Last weekend, I went to Seattle for the weekend, and David took me and Mom to an Art exhibit in a park.












Steve and Linda (flanking David) were still in town, so we had the whole family together for the first time in a while.

Mom with Doug's daughter, the lovely Serene, who I'm told just started a job in a grocery store this week...probably not a career...choices have ranged from MD to cake decorator, where she already shows great talent.







Doug introduced us to a wonderful small private Art museum in Seattle, the Bagley and Virginia Wright Foundation, for a show of their own color field paintings.

We were lucky enough to have not one, but two docents, whom we impressed with our Art knowledge. We had to examine the Art close up and far away. I hadn't realized that this extreme focus on the effects of pure color was only made possible with the invention of acrylic paint, which could bond with the canvas, instead of just sitting on top.



Looking from every angle, I thought that just Maybe, I might be moved to use one of my Big canvases...and of course because of the price, my big ones are not as big as these. Anyone else intimidated about possibly spoiling a Large investment in paint and canvas...on the other hand, Life is Short and uncertain, and Why not Take the Chance??? Art Saves Lives!

Yesterday David and Brian brought Mom over for her last week in the west. She's writing letters while I work on my blog.

Yesterday I had family support in making perhaps my biggest Art purchase to date: a new Honda Fit. The back seats fold down easily for carrying Art...although it is too short for the Big Doll, who will be coming home


in another week and really, really big canvases.
I wonder how much things like car and budget size have influenced Art over the centuries? Well, century-appropriate constraints. If I had gone to Art school instead of OT school, if I had been born male instead of female???? Who knows? I'll do what I can with the many gifts that I do have, including a good job that will allow me to have the new car paid off by the time I retire.





Old and new above. I did NOT get up yesterday morning thinking, "I feel like buying a new car today," but this one is automatic (I wasn't expecting Seattle hills when I bought the last one in NY) with a Sports/shifting option that I haven't played with yet. It takes me a while to assimilate new large purchases. I have to walk around it for a while, get in and out, run the door locks and windows.

Ruth Marcus commented on my outfit coordinating with the Wilder Auto temporary plate. Although the Brothers (my 4 + Brian) got me thinking about cars, I used their fortuitous presence to make a deal I would have done sooner or later, so thanks, guys. I hate car shopping, and the sooner it's done, the better.


Now to fill the back with new ART!

The Art of Family

Usually I have at least one art project to write about here, but this month is all family...we do tend to attract guests on the Peninsula, especially in Summer, and this apparently the only cool spot on the continent.

Steve and Linda (the only set of our sibling group who still live outside WA) took a car tour west after both of them retired in May.They're both younger than I am, but each worked steadily at the same job since college, so they deserve a break.


Linda's sister, Mary Jo, and her husband, Dave, live in an idyllic setting on Whidbey Island...a land of even more beautiful light quality than here. Reminds me of Cape Cod before it got over-populated, croquet game above.

Doug, Steve, and Doug's son, Thayer, to the right. One of the first kind of summery days this year, and a big craft show in Langley. We explored while the ladies shopped...I guess I'm not a Lady...maybe too many years of doing craft shows myself, although I still look for red glass items for my art yard (I am getting Art in, after all!).







Steve and Linda came up to Port Angeles and on my Tuesday off we took a trip west...not a bad NW day, a little rain, cool enough for layers.






We stopped to photograph the alpine beauty of Lake Crescent, a glacial lake, deep enough to hide the trucks and cars that have fallen in.

This is an Art shot, with my hands reflected twice in the mirror, as I photograph Steve.





Lake Crescent was so calm, it offered a perfect reflection of the clouds, making it look as if Steve was sitting on the edge of the sky.








Ruby Beach in fog, Steve imitating a land-locked sea stack. This is now one of my favorite beaches...and as we were leaving, the sun started to peak through.





On the very edge of the continent--don't I look happy? I love beaches!

There are also some pretty significant trees out here. I think this one was billed as the biggest cedar, although there was another that might have been the world's Tallest cedar, and then just another of the many Very Tall Trees at the entrance to the rain forest.






Now Steve and I both have Golden Eagle passes and can go to the National Parks as often as we like.



The Rain Forest is dark and mysterious, and it actually started raining when we were there. Unfortunately (?) I did not find any banana slugs to photograph, but I've seen them and they're at least 6" long...pretty impressive.

One small piece of ART, I'm hoping that I get back to painting in August...sometimes there just isn't enough time for all I love to do. The days are still pretty long, and I've been working on my Art yard...where the lack of rain, yes, actual lack of rain in the summer on the Peninsula, has made my succulents look very phallic in their urge toward procreation.



I must have been feeling my farming roots, because this year I decided to try tomatoes one more time...in spite of long, cold winter/spring/summer, I have eaten my second Sungold tomato from the plants on my back deck, staked to rebar that I bought for an Art project. The tomato is the size of a large pea, and tasted delicious

There will be more Art, although not my own, in the next installment of The Art of Family.

If you look very carefully, you'll see the second pea-sized Sungold that I ate today....Yum!

RIP 7/22/11: Winnie the dog, friend to David and Brian. I was there from the beginning, and even though I'm not a dog person, she was a good one, and brought out the best of David's large mothering potential.


April (?) 2010, Love at first hug.

What I've Been Working On--Does Art Imitate Life?

I'm afraid my new series of Venus of Willendorfs is an attempt to deal with my self image--the ravages of time and gravity on my formerly trim frame, when my only consistently dependable pleasure is food. If I lost my sense of taste, I might get thinner, but I'd be verry, verry sad.



I hope someone will tell me the advantages of aging, because I'm having difficulty appreciating them at the moment.







I don't have to worry as much about making salable work...it's more for my own amusement. I'm going to have to keep sewing, if I ever hope to use up
the fabric and buttons and other juicy tidbits I've accumulated
over the years.


I love these lush shapes as art, but when my own personal stomach becomes a separate entity, I become alarmed!




I hear the famous nine and a half foot tall doll is coming home--anybody out there want to take in a very large, but beautiful and imposing orphan?