LAW 121: Evidence of Spring.

The tree ate my homework, no my stool!

Wow, i've been bad. Nope, i've been sick. I have been meaning to post but somehow the energy just wasn't there. Finally starting to feel as if i might live, so here we go.

Of course the much much nicer weather might have something to do with feeling better. It is hard to complain about 70 degree weather the third week of February when you live, like we do, on the Upper Chesapeake Bay. To whit: spring weeds are flowering, and the shirts are coming off.

Please note warm enough for shirts off!

Yesterday we went out to Marshy Point Nature Center for the first time in about six months, and discovered a new trail had been put in since our last visit, our bad! It is very true however that not having a car does limit casual trips like this.

New trail to the Vernal pond.

When i got up this morning i was greeted by the most incredible colors. Sunrise on the river is always beautiful, but sometimes it is unbelievably spectacular! Today was one of those mornings.

Looking over Storyteller to Hawthorn

I even broke a major rule, which is don't get off the boat before you've had caffeine. The only time i have fallen was two summers ago getting off early in the morning before that first all important cup of coffee.

Sunrise morning on the river

We have, since the last time i wrote acquired a hull for Tesla's Revenge. We jumped on the opportunity when it was offered of procuring a 29 foot sailboat hull. There are pluses and minuses to this. The boat has a deeper draft than we really wanted, meaning that it will not be possible to 'gunk hole', on the other hand we will be much more seaworthy and will not have to worry as much about certain weather and wave conditions. So we are currently work on the bottom, sealing thru hulls prior to apply barrier coat and bottom paint. The interior has been pretty much gutted, so we can rebuild to our specs. We will also be building a wheel house over the cockpit and removing the mast as our intention is to make her an solar powered electric trawler.

Mungo sealing thru hulls!

Believe me, we could still use some help with our Tesla's Revenge Indiegogo project. So it would be greatly appreciated if you helped us out.

LAW 120: Make Art, Stay Sane, Magic of Words project part 2

Just saying, with the insane, and i do mean insane political climate in this country, i find that my daily art journaling has taken a turn to the political. It is a way to purge the demons, keep the blood pressure within healthy levels, and generally keep myself balanced enough to keep reading and reacting to the news of the day.

Text has become more important to the work. I find myself reaching back into work that i was exploring while i was in graduate school.

The idea of repetitive mantras, the power of words to heal hopefully not to hurt. Makes me think of that old children's saw, Sticks and Stones.....

I also find that i much prefer the fluidity of line in the more abstract drawings. Those reach back even further in my artistic past. I was experimenting with this sort style and line as long ago as my high school art classes. Sigh, that was a while ago.

I guess it is rather obvious where the disbelief and anger at the new regime kicks in. As an 'old' hippy the erosion of our government of unity and generous spirit is deeply, deeply troubling. We are after all in this together, no one gets out alive, you can't take it with you, so what is this really all about?

Since these pieces are daily art journaling they do stylistically jump around. The original theme behind this grouping was; the use of text, i wanted to feel more comfortable with the inclusion of words in my art, and secondly, using up all the stuff on my desk top. I have a lot of stuff(impossible to throw anything away) from the New Years cards i made that i wanted to include in these pieces. Haven't been incredibly successful with that. Anger kicked in, most of the leftover paper scraps are simply to pretty to fit into the angry, scared mindset i am currently experiencing.

We are spiritual beings, from the beginning of time we have been making art and making ritual to heal ourselves, the planet to ask for favors of the gods. As we do that we make connections with colors and numbers and words. It is interesting to see historically all the similarities in the myriad belief systems.

I have always loved blind contour drawing; the fluidity and structure at the same time make for a very compelling dissonance in my mind.

But let me tell you just how difficult it is to blind contour draw circular objects. Eek! must practice more. Te great thing about being my own boss, i do indeed have the time to do exactly that.

The Muslim travel ban has been much on my mind, outrageous, and has been the thrust of my newest journal pieces.  With this piece i am at the halfway mark of this project. I would like to think that a spirit of generosity will bloom as the earth turns into spring. I'm not holding my breath.

More later,

Morgainne

As always a plea that you check out the Tesla's Revenge Indiegogo campaign.