LAW 24: SNOW, AGAIN

bringing water to the boat

So our third snow storm of the season coincided with Mungo's birthday; and no, he did not view it as a present. Still, it was pretty, as most new fallen snow often is. Besides, we were snug and warm inside with no need to go anywhere as we had provisioned earlier in the day; laying in a few good bottles of wine and all the ingredients for the Beef Bourguignon that Mungo had requested for his birthday dinner.

almost done!

I will go into more detail about making this dish as a one pot meal on the Onboard Cooking blog, believe me, no cookbook treats it that way.

Looks good!

It was however very yummy, as you can see, plus we had good chocolate for dessert. Who cares if there is snow on the ground when you have chocolate?

I think he liked it!

Stay warm.
More later,
Morgaine

LAW 23 WINTER SOLITUDE REVISITED

Mungo addressed winter and the myriad ramifications associated with the coldest season while living on the Floating Empire just the other day. i wanted to revisit it from the studio point of view. This week alone i have taught myself another bookbinding technique and made two pretty damn good examples of French Stitch binding. Now that i understand the basic concept i can play with it. I've been making handmade books for  years: bland books; suitable for journals, diaries, sketch books, wedding books or any other use you could come with and 'artist's' books; books of prose, poetry and imagery. the act of making an object, a lovely object which will be used and cherished is one of the finest, most rewarding things i feel that an artist can do. I have always come down on the side of the craft in the craft/art debate. I mean really, just because something is useful doesn't mean it's not art!

first french stitch book just completed

I also attempted to make a casebound book, with limited success. Well, in my defense i just did it, thinking that i knew how they were put together, i guess i should have looked at some directions.

what i did on Tuesday and Wednesday!

binding detail of second book

Winter is a lovely time of year to be on the river. Yes, it is cold. Yes, we are usually the only people here, so yes, it is a little on the lonely side, but oh, the richness of time spent in the studio. Spring will be here soon, all of our friends will be back and we will have to balance studio time with play time. Until then, stay warm and creative!


More later,
Morgainne

LAW 22 SILENCE AND SOLITUDE

I awoke this morning to a winter wonderland of sorts. We had gotten about 3" of snow; the docks, the hard and the river were covered in a blanket of snow and slush that ranged from the purest white to a brilliant metallic silver. I admit my first thought was oh how beautiful; i should go out and take photos. My second thought was; snow equals cold and wet. Nasty. I burrowed back under the blankies. Alright; several hours later after a hearty breakfast of fruit and oatmeal Mungo has cleared the front deck and our solar panels i am finally ready ti bundle up, do my artistic duty and clear the stern deck as well. I am making split soup for supper, so the boat will be toasty warm and smell heavenly. We'll keep the snow where it belongs, outside and as images to enjoy.

More later,
Morgainne

LAW 21: YET ANOTHER STRANGE TRIP

YET ANOTHER STRANGE TRIP

Whether it is an immutable function of boats in water: in particular living on one, or a factor of our retirement Mungo and i have discovered yet another time zone, Boating Standard Time. I believe that we may have discovered another (new) law of physics which has to do with the elasticity of time. It goes something like this…..’Hey, you guys want to come out with us? We’re not going out got very long; just an hour or so! Invariably this short boating trip involves a time frame that is never less than four hours, often stretching into six… Please don’t get me wrong, i enjoy being out on the water as much as any one, i however like the proverbial girl scout, err, boy… like to be prepared. BST appears to be a corollary to another time stretching phenomena that we discovered when we were living in Southern Illinois, know there as PST, or Pagan Standard Time. I’ll go into that some other time. Until next time please enjoy the photos that have come from some of these trips.

More later,

Morgainne 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!!

LAW 19 SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH

Imagine my surprise this morning when i discovered that the two whitish blobs i glimpsed through the tufftex wall of my studio, on closer examination turned into a fish and a half. Evidently one of the two resident Blue Herons decided that our stern deck would be a charming al fresco site.

What i can't wrap my head around is not hearing any of this little dinner party. Admittedly we did have dinner with Sam and Catfish last night. So maybe we weren't invited to the party because we weren't here.

Will they come back to finish the leftovers? Is the mostly intact fish meant to be a present? Perhaps a menu suggestion? It was placed much closer to the stern door than the half-eaten one. i have read that the Chinese used to train pelicans to fish for them. Hmmm..... at any event, so long, and thanks for all the fish.

more later,
Morgainne

LAW 18 THE BATHROOM COLLAGES

represent a very different way of collage making for me. There are at least two significant variations: #1 is of course the vertical nature of the piece and #2 is tied intimately to #1; i cannot work in my normal fashion, which is to lay out the composition pretty much in its entirety  prior to glueing everything down. These differences are at once liberating and disturbing. Liberating in that it is a faster, less deliberate way of working, in which  random coincidence plays a much more important part in the design process; disturbing for much the same reason, the process of building, watching a collage grow under my hands is for me, a very satisfying core element of the process.

As an aside, many years ago i took my first fibers class with Walt Nottingham. Walt's exceptional skill in the classroom and undeniable passion changed my life in a fundamental way. What he said in his introductory notes to that class in 1973 stays with me to this day; 'Some people are only interested in the end product, others, myself included , care far more for the process, the ritual of doing'. I am a process girl myself. Friends, colleagues and students have all remarked that i will find the slowest, most precisely obsessive way of making things. Its true. The repetitive nature of ritual making whether as a tapestry weaver, a papier mache sculptor, a book maker, or a collage artist soothes and satisfies the maker part of me. Collage, as well as satisfying the compulsive urge to make things provides an intellectual connection to history and culture. I, as do most collage artists, have a preference for a particular type of material. I use almost exclusively art books, art and culture paper media from the 50's through the 80's as well as 'how to' media from the same era. These bias' inform the work, referencing as they do the world i grew up in, as well as my passion for art. This is why, when you look at the 'Male and Female Gaze' panels the faces looking out at you may not be familiar, as they do not gaze out at you from contemporary supermarket tabloids or internet sites. Their history, the meaning of their presence, their importance is likely hidden from you, mainly by your own cultural references. If you care to look you may find them opening a window to my mind.

more later
Morgainne