I had a minor meltdown the other day.  Ok, maybe slightly more than minor.  It may have been a case of burn-up-on-reentry after my NYC trip, faced with real life again with all of its complexities.  It may have been this nasty cold that I am trudging my way through.  It may have been the fact that tornado season is about to end and with it, my earning potential as a puppeteer.  It was more than likely all of these and more.  I spiraled downward into the familiar dark hole where the questions of why do I make art, will I ever make a living doing anything artful, is it even worth it….are the norm.  It’s not a fun place to be.  Even at my grumpiest, I usually don’t have the chuck-it-all-away sensation more than once a year, but here I was, feeling like I just wanted to quit.

Timing is everything they say.  And so it has been since my little existential crash.  Here are a few examples:

1.  The long overdue dedication to the ArtWorks mural Tina, our teen apprentices and I worked so very hard on all winter, was yesterday.  We got to unveil the work in dramatic fashion and were treated to a wonderful reception by the appreciative folks at the Convention Center.  Our friends and families were there to cheer and ooh and ah.  It was great!  It is not often that such work is so publicly celebrated.  It cheered me up a bit in spite of being in crisis mode internally.

2.  While at the dedication, a good friend of mine congratulated me and asked how I am doing.  I let her know that I was a bit down and just didn’t feel like the art life is for me.  I think I may have said something about looking for a real job.  A standard day job.  She just smiled and said, “you can’t quit being an artist Amy.  It’s like motherhood.  you don’t just quit.”  I smiled back.  She’s right.

3.  I came home from the party and checked my facebook and email as usual.  I am an NPR fan both on the radio and on facebook.  On their FB fan page there was a post about a video for Josh Ritter’s song The Curse which features puppets handmade by the drummer in his band.  It’s so beautiful and artful.  I fell immediately in love and watched again and again.  It reminded me of what I love about puppetry.

4. Then, in my email, there were three separate messages from 3 very different places.  One was a follow up from my sketchbook class last fall saying she would like to take the class again now that there’s a book making component to it and that she’s tremendously excited to go on the Taos trip next spring.  The other two messages were from people whom I know personally but who had never seen my art work.  They both want to meet to talk about art for their homes.

5.  Ok, so by now, you get the point.  Avalanche of reminders.  But I have one more little thing to share.  Today I have been at the computer most of the day getting caught up on Drawing Down The Vision work with emails and blog posts, research and finding my way around this cool thing called Basecamp.  I am trying to pull myself up by my boot straps.  Getting some illustrations out onto Veer and other online stock photo websites to maybe make some extra arty income.  One guy’s work that Adam introduced me to is Hugh McLeod, creator of cube grenades which are little art works geared toward the business set.  He had this to say about art:

“I’m inte­res­ted in how art affects what some peo­ple call “The Real World”- the work­place, the world of  work, the world of busi­ness. That’s what the cube grenade idea is all about.

My adver­ti­sing buddy,Vinny Warren, grew up in a Roman Catho­lic hou­sehold in Ire­land. He was telling me that his parents would always have a few reli­gious icons han­ging on the wall somewhere. Pic­tu­res of Saints, Mary & Baby Jesus, that kind of thing.

Why? Says Vinny, “To remind us who we are.”

Art that reminds you who you are. Exactly. What applies in Catho­lic hou­seholds also applies in pla­ces of busi­ness. Sha­red Mea­ning. Exactly. Social Objects. Exactly.

I don’t think any of this is roc­ket science…”

Hugh’s art is pretty edgy and cool.  Very different than mine.  But he reminds me that there is a place for art work anywhere.  In the homes of people who admire our work.  Or in the day job offices of folks who might not be artists themselves but like surrounding themselves with reminders of who they are.

I am sitting here in my studio, surrounded by all kinds of reminders such as books, art from friends, bits of found stuff, grateful that I have an artist’s mind and heart.  Difficult though that path may be to hike from time to time.  I’m grateful for the reminders from the Universe or whatever Its Name may be that came to me in a low soul time, though this one’s gonna take some serious diggin’ out.

Below are some snapshots of the great unveiling of our mural.  Enjoy.

oh, and p.s.  I hope you get to spend some time this Memorial Day Weekend to think about those who have been lost, in war and beyond…..

Here’s Tina, tearfully thanking everyone and explaining her vision for the mural.

Jake Speed and the Freddies were there to entertain.  Their lyrics are in our piece as well.

…. and so the veil comes down….

Lots of time in front of the mural for pictures and congratulations.

Here Kim finds the lyrics to her song, The Greatest Story.

We had quite a crowd for the party.

I guess it’s official.  I’m an artist.

Suddenly, it’s the middle of May!  Spring is always a busy time, with Red Cross puppetry in full swing.  But there is a lot besides puppets making things exciting.  First, the ArtWorks project I worked on January - March is finished and has been professionally installed.  I have not had an opportunity to see it in situ between the Convention Center’s hours and my busy work schedule.  But I had some spies visit it last weekend and below are a few pics!  (Special thanks to Jeni for the awesome shots!!) I am so excited to see it and to celebrate it’s completion with my team, the wonderful folks at ArtWorks, and of course, our sponsors at the Convention Center at a dedication reception May 27th from 5-6:30.

Keep in mind, the work itself it 13 feet tall and begins about 3 or 4 feet off the ground!

Below are the three faces I painted.  I look at them and can’t believe I did that!

In the midst of all of this, Drawing Down the Vision is really shaping up.  We have a new and improved website that changes often with blog posts from both me and Adam.  We are both putting immense amounts of energy into writing as often as possible to convey to visitors to our site the basic philosophy that drives the practice of Drawing Down the Vision.  Check it out!  And of course, check back often.

Meanwhile, a huge labor of love is finally, officially underway.  On Big art projects, so much work goes into the front end of it.  Raising money, figuring out sites, supplies, fabrication etc.  All of this is guided and driven by the artist in charge, in this case, Jessie Henson.  I have watched in awe as this talented artist has navigated all of the pieces to this crazy puzzle of building a large scale sculpture.  She has, with grace and smarts, put all of the pieces into place, gotten all of the various parties working together and we are on our way.  Steel fabrication is happening at Vulcane, glass blowing at the Art Academy’s River City Works facility.  Below are a few photos from the glass blowing.  There will be hundreds of spheres in the blue/green range of color in size of 3″ to 15″.  It will be beautiful.  It already is.  I think Esme would be proud of every part of it.

And so spring continues.  I was out in the dark the other night getting some veggies into the ground before the rains came.  For mother’s day, my amazing husband built me a little cottage style flower garden.  Everyday I try to get out for even just a few minutes to pull a weed or coax a seedling out of the ground.  I am learning to be a gardener!  And loving every minute of it.  Next week I am putting my roady hat on again and heading to NYC with Kim. She has her work to do there; I plan to leave my computer at home and just draw a lot and listen to an inspiring musician do her thing.  I am blessed.

It’s been a whirlwind, maelstrom of a time around here lately.  Months of work suddenly seemed to come to fruition recently and I have been working feverishly to keep it all afloat.  Drawing Down the Vision has had multiple pilot workshops and, coupled with a new and improved website, is ready for sale to receptive corporate audiences and beyond.  My business partner Adam and I are tremendously excited to see almost a year’s worth of work and research finally see the light of day.

The Artworks project for the Cincinnati Convention Center is “rounding third and heading for home” as they say here in Cincinnati.  Tina and I are in the finishing stages of making this huge project a reality.  We are technically ahead of the long list of things that need to be done, but it is still stressful as we prepare to move the work in a few weeks to the auto body shop for a finishing clear coat, and then finally on to the Convention Center for installation.  There is still much to be done, but we are plowing through it.  Yesterday I worked on two more faces, those of Christian Moerlein and Louis Hudepohl who will be in the part of the design that looks a bit like a brewery…

Being springtime, at least according to the calendar, it is also tornado season and that means puppets!!  (At least for me and my fellow Red Cross puppeteer Jeni!)  We did our first show of the season a couple of weeks ago and made it through with no discernible mistakes.  It is amazing to me how well we can remember our lines after only a couple of run through rehearsals and months off before that.  The depths of memory have no bounds it seems.

The Make a Book/ Fill a Book class at the Art Academy is approaching week 6.  Cody and I have a great group of 10 students who are bravely forging their way in their newly-made “re-purposed” journals.  Cody taught us all how to take an interesting old book cover and fill it with blank paper using traditional book binding techniques.  I have been introducing students to the various materials and techniques I use to then make a blank journal into a one of a kind, personalized sketch-journal.  The results have been delightful!!

Often, when I am in the midst of teaching this class or when I have a time of great externalized efforts, like recently, my sketchbook is along for the ride in my car or my bag, but doesn’t see much action inside.  I can go for weeks sometimes without sketching or writing.  This is a pattern with which I am familiar and I have learned not to be to hard on myself; that I will get back to it when things settle.  Last week, this pattern was shook up a bit.  In the middle of everything - I took a trip.  A badly needed respite from all of the work as well as the stress and grief from the trial of Esme’s murderer.  Although work has been so wonderfully busy, this trial opened up and salted wounds that had only gingerly begun to heal over the past year with all of our positive efforts to create a lasting legacy to someone lost so young.  Some time away was in order.

Months back, Tony and I had planned to join a group of Cincinnati area kayakers on a trip to the Gulf coast of Florida to swim with some manatees and to enjoy everything the Nature Coast has to offer.  We set up a hip yet responsible house sitter to hang out with the kids and dogs and off we went for paddling, snorkeling, and for me, some serious time in the sketchbook.  I am excited to share the fresh pages with my students this week when I get back to class.  Here are some highlights from my trip and from my sketchbook….

The drive to Florida was just under 900 miles and I slept a good bit of the way.  Once I awoke to look out the window at a huge peanut on top of a building.  Ah, Georgia.  We wound up in Cedar Key, Florida, a sleepy little island town and I was instantly smitten.  (My good ol’ friend Carol did remark, when have I traveled and not fallen in love with my surroundings?….. I think she has a point!)

We had hoped to paddle in the morning but awoke to storms.  Instead we walked around town and visited the museum and some little galleries and had some wonderful chowder at a place called Tony’s.

By the time we got to the campground the rain had pretty much stopped.  We were in for a week of majority sunshine!

Day one, Rainbow River.  It was the clearest water I had ever seen!!!!  So many gorgeous colors.  We kayaked and snorkeled and by the end of the day, I knew I needed a new wet suit top if I was not to suffer hypothermia….

Day 2 - Three Sisters springs, and swimming with manatees!!!  Thanks to my new friend and awesome photographer, Jamie Trammel, I have some shots of our time in the water with these gentle giants.  I could have done just this every day and would have been satisfied.  We wound up going back on day 4.  I love manatees.  Simple as that.

Under the water, they are very purpley in their grayness.  That is how I sketched them.

Day 3 - the Weeki Wachee River.  More clear blue water, snorkeling, rope swinging and even a few manatees toward the end of the paddle!!  This place is famous for its mermaid shows but we simply paddled and swam it’s waters.  Given more time, I would have liked to see the show.  Maybe next time!

While part of the group took the cars to the end of the line, those of us left behind arranged the kayaks for a colorful picture.  Here’s to random acts of guerilla art.

Later in the week, at the end of the trip, a few of us headed back to Cedar Key for a paddle to Atsena Otie Island which used to be where the actual town of Cedar Key was located.  It was washed away by a hurricane in 1896 and only a cemetery and building foundations are now present.  It is a lovely, quiet and haunting place and we spent quite a bit of time there poking around and drawing.

While paddling over, our friend Don picked up a little swallow that had died and brought it to shore so I could sketch it.  A sad but beautiful little thing.

I also sketched some horseshoe crab shells.  Tony found this one, completely intact.

The gravestones at Atsena Otie are old and beautiful and covered with lichen.  I took some rubbings into my book and wondered about the people that somehow managed a living on this far flung island.

So here I am, back in Ohio, on a cold, rainy Monday.  Vacations have a way of shaking up things and getting me far enough away from the norm that I can really take stock of things.  While away, I made working in my sketchbook everyday a huge priority, even forsaking the occasional paddle.  I simply can’t express how soothing this was and a huge reminder that I need to make it a priority in my daily life here in Ohio.  I found upon returning that I am feeling more centered and focused than before I left.  This is due in part from just resting and getting away from it all.  But I attribute it also to all of the drawing I did in my sketchbook.  As Adam and I move toward marketing our Drawing Down the Vision workshops to the generally non-drawing corporate crowd, I plan to practice what I preach more than I have been amidst recent stresses.  The act of picking up a pen and mapping out ones surroundings on paper (be they internal or external worlds) is crucial to staying centered and seeing broader connections.  This past week has reminded me of that.  I am grateful for it.

Ok, so maybe it’s still 20 degrees outside.  Yeah, and maybe it snows, at least a little, almost every day.  And, I’ll admit to some pretty nasty icy patches out on the drive.  In my mind, however, it’s just about spring time.  Perhaps its just me in psychological survival mode but there are real signs that things are thawing out.  Just a few minutes down the road in Kentucky, my friend Justin’s chicken’s are laying eggs already and we are delighted to take a dozen home each week.  They are from happy, free roaming chickens and are lovely shades of browns, blues and greens.  Way more fun than the plain white ones.

Meanwhile, my old amaryllis bulb is back up for it’s late winter show.  It never ceases to amaze me the life force to be found in a flower bulb.  This plant grows so fast and furious, it doesn’t even seem real…

But what is really telling me it’s spring time is my schedule.  It’s Tornado Season once again so Jeni and I are already on the road with the Red Cross’s delightful puppet show, The Wind Around the Toy Box, spreading the word to little kids about how to stay safe in case of a tornado.  Just as I got home from Key West, it was time to start rehearsing.  We were back up and running just as the sirens started blasting here for the seasons first batch of storms, headed our way from Oklahoma.

Tornados are serious stuff, but the show we put on helps make things a little less scary for young kids, while still getting the important messages of safety across to them.  Last season we did the show for over 10,000 children and we may break that record this year which would be great.  Below are some sketches I did last season of these crazy characters with whom we spend so much of our spring time…

Puppeteering is hard work.  Physically it’s exhausting, dragging the set in and out of dozens of schools plus performing sometimes 3 shows a day.  For me the most demanding part of it all is getting up in front of people and Performing.  As an introvert, I’m usually toast by the end of the day.  That said, I love this job.  It’s good work for decent pay.  I get to promote the work of the Red Cross and spend most days hanging out with my BFF.

A few things may fall by the wayside a bit in the coming months…. especially this blog.  On my long daily to do list, the blog usually sits at the bottom.  But I will do my best to update when I can.  I am back to teaching at the Art Academy for the next 6 weeks.  My students are a great bunch of people whom I’m sure will have exciting work that I’ll want to post.  In the meantime, my hope is to get outside and watch for signs of quickening.  Perhaps you should do the same…. and send me an email if you find something cool; better yet, draw it!

It’s hard to believe sometimes how time flies.  I know that sounds pretty cliche’ but there it is.  20 days have gone by since our country’s miraculous election and things have been rather busy round here at Chez Bogard.  Busy is good.

Yesterday I took a friend of mine to the Cincinnati Art Museum to see Madcap Puppet Theater’s production of The Firebird. This show was done in the style of shadow puppetry using light and flat puppets to create the illusion of space.  What was interesting to me about this particular production was the use of color.  The puppets were created with a heavy duty plastic and painted with the “stained glass” paints that are found at the crafty stores.  The effect was exquisite and magical.  Adults and kids alike at the show were enchanted.  Being a member of the Cincinnati Area Puppetry Guild, I knew some of the performers and got to go backstage after the show to see how it all works.  Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me but here is a shot from my phone taken during the post-show Q&A.

The holidays are officially upon us and they seem to come earlier every year.  Case in point, we had the Riley School of Irish Music’s 3rd annual Peace and Merriment Concert on Saturday night.  We did it early this year to avoid clashing with too many other Christmas-ey shin-digs coming up and also to coincide with the end of fall quarter at the school.  Students and Instructors alike performed various holiday/ harvest related tunes and the audience seemed to enjoy themselves.  I hid in the back row of the ceili band performance and played my tunes as best I could.  Stage-fright is less and less an issue with me as time rolls on, but I still am not keen on the idea of playing in front of people.  Below is a shot of some of the Riley kids who are not shy about playing for people.  They pretty much rock, those kids!

As Riley School finished up, it occurred to me that a number of things are freeing up precious time for me in the coming weeks.  The Carnegie Center has changed its regular Family Saturday activities from Dec. 13 to Dec. 6  to accommodate a participatory arts day planned for that day.  I won’t be able to make it that day so  I’ll see all of my regular Family Saturday folks again in January!  Meanwhile, this past week was my final class for the semester at the Art Academy.  I am slated to teach the class again in the Spring, Feb 21- March 6. (6 weeks this time!)  I will post details for registration when I have them.  My hope is that I will have some returning students next time who will keep pushing the limits of tending their sketchbooks. Spring will also be a perfect time for taking any interested students slightly farther afield for a day (or 2?) to practice their sketching skills.  I have for some time entertained the idea of leading a travel sketchbook course.  I have a handful of folks who have expressed interest in participating and so I’ve begun to make plans.  I will be sure to post any destination ideas I have here and would love any feedback or requests for fun places to visit and draw.  Anyone up for Madison, Indiana?

So with some extra hours available to me I plan to play in the studio with wax and clay, reacquaint myself with my own neglected sketchbook (update my Daily Dog collection), and perhaps finish a pair of socks I have been knitting for far too long.  I have a new heater in the studio which should help take some of the chill out of the space (thanks to Dave for that suggestion!)

Although I haven’t been too active at the wax table in recent weeks, I have been working on some clay tiles I plan to install as a back splash in our new kitchen.  I am making them in pieces which will eventually come together to create an artistic take on the foot print of the Ohio River in our region (approximately from the Indiana border out to Maysville, Ky, a favorite river town of ours).  Kudos to my kayaker hubby for that brilliant idea.  It seems to be turning out nicely….

Last but certainly not least in today’s post, some wonderful doggie news:  The puppies have graduated out of their kennel and are now sleeping upstairs with us at night!  For some months now they have had the run of the upstairs hallway when we would leave the house.  They just chill out on their beds in Tony’s office and wait for us to come home.  At night however we were still putting them into their kennels to avoid morning chaos.  Last week we decided to try putting them to bed upstairs with us after a long walk to see how they would do.  Amazingly, they did great!  They have learned fairly quickly to just lie down in their beds when we are in ours and that just because we get up to go to the bathroom, doesn’t mean they need to get up too. (Caskie learned this years ago and likes to sleep in Maddie’s room).  It’s working out wonderfully.  During the day, their recent favorite hang out is in the kitchen…. sprawled out on the heated concrete floor!

I’ve been feeling a little guilty lately about the fact that I have not been making a whole lot of art, let alone blogging.  But that doesn’t mean that I have had a distinct period of inactivity either.  As wrote in my last post, things have just been at a standstill in the studio and my energies have been primarily on the homefront.  This continues to be the case as we navigate the final touches on the renovation of the major spaces of our house.  This process has been fraught with little victories and annoyances along the way but basically things are coming together.

I miss my studio work however and so have been slowly reclaiming my work space as my own as we get things put back where they belong.  Like many homes, ours works like a puzzle whose pieces fit together in a specific way.  When one piece, or in our case many pieces, are out of place, the whole puzzle is a jumble and all the pieces don’t sit right.  For months my studio held four rooms of furniture in it as we worked on the rest of the house.  Finally the piano, couches, appliances et al are back in the other room.  I have cleared out the spiders and their recent developments and there is breathing room in here again.  Maybe some decent work is around the corner…

Meanwhile, Mother Nature showed a bit of her nasty side last week when a freak wind storm hit our area and took down trees and power lines.  We didn’t have much damage, thankfully, just a few days without power and some spoiled food.  We were lucky.  Our neighborhood has tons of old trees so there was much to see when the wind finally died down.

The kids were off of school for 3 whole days due to power outages and so were forced to find alternative things to do with their time.  We all used the daylight as much as we could for yard clean up and chores.  At night we lit candles and donned headlamps and spent our evenings playing music and reading.  A few nights we just went to bed early.  I secretly enjoy a good power outage.  It would get to be a pain over time, surely, but there is something about the quiet that happens and how creative people tend to get when television is not an option….piano-in-the-dark

These are a few things that are on my brain recently….

1. puppets

2. soapstone

3. tamarins

4. tamarind trees

5. tunes

6. persimmon

7. puppies…

Yes, that is Parker the Party Girl, over for a visit in her Sunday Best. Caskie was part of this romp as well (as were Bonnie and Maggie, Parker’s cousins from next door) but was probably sitting in the creek cooling off just to the left of the frame of this photo. The pups are about 6 months old or so now. Caskie is finally not only used to River and Iris, but really loves them. There is a lot of Wild Kingdom-esque wrestling and playing these days. There is mutual respect at meal time and sometimes the cat makes a run for it, giving the dogs a little thrill. Life in Dog Land here is pretty dog-gone great.

This weekend is a busy one for those in the Irish Music business. The Riley School kids performed yesterday at the Cincinnati Museum Center’s Celtic Lands Festival, and will do so again today. Many of the older kids, who generally take charge in these sorts of venues, were off playing their own professional gigs. This left the leadership position to my son Jack and his fiddling friend Robert. They carried themselves with grace and poise, developed a set list that enabled even the newest beginners to play, and answered questions from the audience after the performance. They represented themselves, and the Riley School like true professionals. I couldn’t help feeling a little bit proud. Meanwhile, advanced beginners like myself get to just hang out and session with other musicians at our display table as we show off what we do at the Riley School and why we love it. It’s like practice, only more public. The school as a whole will perform today at 1:45. I think this may be the first year I am not feeling any trepidation about going up on stage. Not that I feel so confident about my playing, I think it’s all the puppeteering I have been doing.

Speaking of puppets, I took a few hours away from the St. Pat’s music scene to attend Larry Smith Day. This was a commemoration event in honor of local puppet pioneer, childhood hero and broadcasting legend, Larry Smith. I did not spend my early childhood here but those who did remember Larry and his puppet friends with great fondness as a part of their after school television routine.

The crowd was treated to shows from puppet greats Kevin Frisch and Wayne Martin, both of whom consider Larry a mentor. Cincinnati has a rich puppet history that continues to develop today through the efforts of the Cincinnati Area Puppetry Guild, of which Larry Smith was the founder and I personally am proud to be a member.

Above is Kevin operating a marionette who is operating his own marionette. A good time was had by the entire “gang”.

My artist friend Dan Carlson sent me a scan of some recent dog sketches he has been working on. He considers them “just sketches” but to me they are lovely finished drawings that are full of personality and life. Dan’s drawings are often studies for paintings and illustrations he is working on or even potential 3-d figures. I am excited to see what he does with these little guys!

My own dogs are lucky to get their daily walk in past weeks with my life in the world of my “real job”. I haven’t had as much time as I’d like recently to sit and draw. I am also not feeling like the best house-mom either. But I think the notion of feast or famine is a common theme in the life of an artist. The trick is maintaining some semblance of balance both in the busy times and later, when things inevitably stagnate a bit. Today I am off to soak up (and maybe play) some more Irish Music. The muddy paw prints on the floor and the ever looming dust bunnies in my house will have to wait a while longer. I’ll have the sketchbook with me as always if I ever sit still long enough to draw in it!

What’s cookin’ in studio? A lot! This week has seen the convergence of many of my part time jobs and I have been operating a regular 3-ring circus in my head, on the calendar and in the studio. Coming up on Saturday is this month’s Family Saturday at the Carnegie Center for Performing and Visual Arts. This month’s theme is “The Art of Food” so all of our projects will involve mostly edible materials. We’ll be making toaster art (click here to see some professional level toaster art. I mean, who knew?), egg-shell mosaics and decorated hollowed out eggs, “sweet” creatures using candy, icing, fluff, etc., and noodle jewelry. Lots of prep work goes into these Family Saturdays and they always wind up being great fun for everyone involved! (Below are the dyed noodles…)

Meanwhile, it’s officially Tornado Season here in the mid-west and so my job as a puppeteer for the Cincinnati Area Chapter of the American Red Cross is in full swing. Jeni and I were up early this morning to entertain and meet some of the folks who donate money and resources to the Red Cross, furthering the important work done by this amazing organization. We also have a fairly full week of puppet shows in local schools to teach kids how to be prepared in case of a tornado. On top of all of our performance activities, we desperately need a new stage set up. With some design advice from Kevin, Jeni and I are building a brand new set for the “Wind Around the Toy Box” production which will be easier to transport and set up on site. The new design has the added bonus of allowing us puppeteers to stay on our feet, not on our poor knees!

So at the end of this long day, in the middle of this long week, one might think that I would be ready for a good night’s sleep. This is not too far from the truth. However, last week, I challenged my sketchbook class at the Art Academy to go out this week and draw somewhere in public. Some place where someone might see them, and ask them what they are up to. I asked my students to step out of their comfort zone to work on their sketchbooks in a place they may have, in the past, been afraid to go. I can’t very well ask this of them, without taking part in some of this exercise myself. So tonight I am off to Havanna Martini Club for Salsa night. I don’t plan on dancing too much, but I do plan to sketch the people who are dancing. I have wanted to do this for awhile but have been putting it off, not wanting to be the oddball with a sketchbook at Salsa night. Hopefully some of my students are out there challenging their own boundaries this week too. We’ll see tomorrow night when we meet for class again.

Last night the kids and I attended the Cincinnati Area Puppetry Guild meeting which was held at the headquarters of Madcap Puppets. We were treated to a tour of the facilities and even got to play with and manipulate some of the incredible creations Madcap is famous for. In the photo above (taken on my cell phone, hence the quality), the “Hunchback” character is actually my daughter Maddie wearing a backpack puppet. She is showing signs of being a good puppeteer…

Also in that picture (next to Maddie holding the fish) is Kevin Frisch, the fearless leader/president of the Puppetry Guild. Kevin brought with him a handsome new marionette he just made for a car dealership commercial. This little guy can raise his eyebrows, move his eyes, sit down and cross his legs. He’s amazing! We were all enchanted, as usual, with Kevin’s latest creation.

Recently Kevin has been working on a new and improved website for his Frisch Marionette Company. It’s a whole virtual world just waiting for exploration. Check it out!

After the guild meeting, I came home and stoked the fire in the studio and got to work with some wax. I LOVE to work at night and find it is when I am most creative and loose and playful with materials. The tough part about this night owl tendency is that I have my “real life” commitments as mom and worker to which I have to attend the next morning. I am a little sleepy today to say the least. But it’s worth it, I think. I am continuing to play with my new materials and exploring ways to make different things happen. Today I will just drink a lot of coffee and maybe fit in a 20 minute power nap…. so I can stay up late again tonight!!

I embedded a mirror in the one above which is more successful in person than in this photograph. The mirror is so small that the viewer only sees a small portion of themselves when looking at the painting. In the other two works I used some fish vertebrae (above) and some small knotted bits of thread (below). There is a suture-like quality to this which I think plays well with the skin-ness of the wax. This will bear more experimentation…

Yesterday a really cool video was sent to me by my friend Amy in Maine. This just goes to show that not a lot of money needs to go into a powerful bit of art work. Another wonderful video shown to us at the puppetry guild meeting is that of the work of Gaia Teatro out of Peru. With minimal props and merely the sensual use of their hands, these puppeteers create evocative characters that are simply magical. These are some things I am finding inspiring these days.