On this first day of summer a few new digital polaroids . . .

Summer! Wow summer arrived right on time! I am in love all over again with these cool early mornings. Especially on a day you know will grow into a one of those hot steamy ones that can only end with thunder and lightening.

Yesterday I happened upon some day lilies. With this iPhone polaroid app I get some cool effects. Like the blue in the shadows. The lilies are a mish mash of shape and colors! Can't wait to play and paint with them!

Even with their bursting and bubbling of color and form there exists within the images a subtlety. A kind of ephemeral understanding of their short life span. And within their shapes are a primordial pattern of manifestation which we all feel. What person doesn't know the bloom?

The idea that they arrive in their glorious color from the vast unmanifest realm that we arrived from gives me comfort and joy.

 

Louise Bourgeois

painter and sculptor
born 25 December 1911;
died 31 May 2010





at left:
Lousie Bourgeois by Robert Maplethorpe



Her obit

The other day I gave in to a long time creative impulse of playing with chickens. Okay so the roosters paraded in front my iPhone and dominated that days digital polaroids. The chickens will arrive later this summer. Here's the result:

On this morning's walk my heart was heavy with concern. As I walked shrouded in the fog I was feeling sad about the challenges and choices facing me. Knowing the day would warm up to near 90 I found solace in the early morning's coolness.

Two years ago I made a commitment to honor my need for integrity; to truly respect my time and energy and my deepest sense of trust in me by saying “no thanks” when the project or opportunity wasn't aligned with this inner knowing. It has, and continues to be, a strenuous path requiring all my strength and courage, and yes, my faith.

I'm learning that faith contains confidence, not in God or a god or some deity, but in me. Recently I had a conversation with a friend about the difference between hope and optimism. We concluded that hope, while necessary, was less tangible than optimism. And that optimism had a strong component of confidence that we had the ability to succeed. I am also learning that I am an optimist.

Toward the end of my walk the fog began to lift. As the fog lifted and the sun's energy spread across the dewy fields a breeze accompanied it. It was a gentle breeze barely discernible. But the smallest of aspen trees quivered in it. For me that is faith made tangible.

I have a new Flowsaic series from these aspen Polaroids. And yes, the series touches on faith made tangible.

The last few days I've been summoned to a new flow: luscious spring breezes.

Yesterday I awakened to the beautiful Iris as they swayed with the gentlest of breezes. Heavenly!

And the evening before, just at twilight, the aspen's leaves quaking in celebration of the day.

 So the Flowsaic's leap, twirl and sway to the unfolding of life. Such joy!

I'll have new work up soon.
The rooster Flowsaics are heading for the easel this weekend.

Yesterday was one of those rare days where time seemed to stand still while I accomplished everything I could imagine! Pure joy!

I'd been pondering ideas that had been stuck in the corners of my creative space. Like chickens! So on my way to a meeting I stopped and made some polaroids. Who knows what'll come of them but I expect some new Flowsaics.

So the Flowsaics have arrived.

Below are the first three which were made playing at the river.

Click on any Flowsaic to enlarge it and get a caption.
I'm working on a web page to house them. I'll let you know when it's built.

Here's where the work begins.

This is Flowsaic One's original digital polaroid.

I love the playfulness of using a retro app with 3G technology. The app really gives the images that dreamy feel of the early polaroids And I love the mesh of old and new creating a heterogeneous form of art.

Who knows where they'll take me?

Along with the chickens, a lunch meeting with Hampden Gallery Director Anne LaPrade; I also finished a BIG Ice Jelly scribble!

What's really exciting me at this moment, okay the San Francisco Art Fair, but also being offered an opportunity to show this new work! (More on that later)

 It's fascinating to watch the Ice Jellie metal scribbles change with the day's light. In the early evening the fluorescent paint takes on an other worldly glow. I can never capture their true essence in a photo. Although I try. You can see this work larger on the open sketchbook page along with the other Ice Jellie Scribbles.

Yesterday I began, the painting aspect, of a new series. Although I'm not quite ready to unveil them I will offer this peek. These little iconic drawings sprung from the River Scrolls. The new Polaroid app is wicked fun to play with! It brings me back to simpler days. Which of course is an illusion! But the dichotomy of the iPhone and the Polaroid excites and fascinates me, and makes for some great dreamy images.

Yesterday I also heard this wonderful quote:

From Lady Chatterley’s Lover 1928
(DH Lawrence talking about our feelings of not being connected about the disconnection of our culture)

"Man has little needs and deeper needs.
We fall into the mistake of living from our little needs
til we have almost lost our deeper needs in a sort of madness.
Let us prepare now for the death of our present little life and
reemergence in a bigger life in touch with the moving cosmos.

We must get back into relation.

We are perishing for lack of fulfillment of our greater needs.
We are cut off from the great sources of inward nourishment and renewal. Sources which flow eternally in the universe."





Seems as true today. Which I guess speaks to the shelf life of great art.

Remember those old polaroids? I do!
I remember it was my first camera. I took pictures of everything under the sun. It was instant gratification in my hands.

It's only now I appreciate their dreamy qualities. This morning I downloaded a new app, ShakeItPhoto.

And off I went to my river to play! Just what i needed after a few days of resting my oars from paddling toward the roar. It brought me back to my childhood playing along the edges of water and finding magic.

And from that magic play a new series has sprung into being! More images and thoughts later as I'm jazzed working on these iPhone polaroids!

Oh the paddling and oar metaphor? From a poem by Mary Oliver:

West Wind #2
 
You are young.  So you know everything.  You leap
into the boat and begin rowing.  But listen to me.
Without fanfare, without embarrassment, without
any doubt, I talk directly to your soul.  Listen to me.
Lift the oars from the water, let your arms rest, and
your heart, and heart’s little intelligence, and listen to
me.  There is life without love.  It is not worth a bent
penny, or a scuffed shoe.  It is not worth the body of a
dead dog nine days unburied.  When you hear, a mile
away and still out of sight, the churn of the water
as it begins to swirl and roil, fretting around the
sharp rocks – when you hear that unmistakable
pounding – when you feel the mist on your mouth
and sense ahead the embattlement, the long falls
plunging and steaming – then row, row for your life
toward it.

Two artists who have inspired me with their immense dedication to their work and understanding how important art is for our world. Together they made a significant contribution. Yesterday I watched Jeanne-Claude's memorial service.

Today am reminded of the saffron gates in Central Park one cold October day and how they contributed to my path in life.

Thank you Jeanne-Claude and Christo.