The lay of the Land
The view of the Big House, from our cottage at Mabel Dodge Luhan workshop/retreat center This morning I went for a run. Just a quickie; 20 breathless minutes at Taos town elevation of 6,967 ft. above sea level. (For comparison, Cincinnati lies at 748 ft. above sea level.) I’m glad I did this, as ...
Nest
“Physically, the creature endowed with a sense of refuge, huddles up to itself, takes to cover, hides away, lies snug, concealed. If we were to look among the wealth of our vocabulary for verbs that express the dynamics of retreat, we should find images based on animal movements of withdrawal, movements that are engraved in ...
Spring (among other things) has sprung
It’s finally, blissfully, feeling like spring time down in our little gully and there is much to fill you in on. In between things popping up out of the ground and being pulled from the ground (what is with all the chickweed this year??) and things being planted into the ground, life around here is ...
58 Days
There are a few flurries floating down this morning as I write this. We’ve been fortunate to have a little bit of winter visit us here in the Ohio River Valley this year and I am grateful for it. But today is the final day of the longest-shortest month of the year and around here, ...
In the groove
It’s a very brisk morning out there (it’s warmed up a bit to the current 9 degrees) and I am eternally grateful to be in charge of my own schedule. And also eternally grateful to friends who crochet… One on my lap, one round my shoulders as I sit here and work. Woven love. Nothing ...
Dog Dreams
It’s finally winter here, at least for now, and aside from the incessant not-quite-daylight quality of gray that permeates this time of year here, I welcome it. It’s a little trickier to find stuff to draw (and not freeze one’s fingers off) so I turn to the dogs, as is often the case. (click the ...
On steep learning curves
Since this most recent New Year began, I have been quietly doing a little experiment. I wondered on January 1, if I might be able to do a small sketch of some sort, everyday, and post it on the bite-sized social media posts, like the Facebook Page and the Twitter Page. Since this is a ...
Re-newed
Happy New Year everyone! Wow. 2013. How can that even be? The holidays have come and gone with gatherings and guests to celebrate the season. We had much music in the house… … and we were granted our winter wish for snow a few times over the break from work and school schedules. Of course ...
Retreat to Taos
Any of you lovely readers who follow this lowly little blog know that one of the highlights of my working year is a now annual Travel Sketch Journal Trip to Taos, New Mexico. Over the past few years I have partnered with the Art Academy of Cincinnati to create a unique, outside-of-classroom art experience for creative adults ...
Successful?
The above quote came across my facebook feed the other day (because thankfully, I have friends who post beauty and inspiration, not just their political views, something I am ever grateful for here in this swing state). This quote puts into words something I grapple with often. What exactly is success? For most people, I ...