Derailments

It's amazing to realize just how many plans, chores, schemes, paths, and journeys one is in the midst of when they all get temporarily derailed. Or how many of those intentions still need to be realized, even though coughing and sore throats are effecting productivity.

And then to get all those derailments online again, which, in weaker moments, feels like a Herculean task. Or rather, a plethora of Herculean tasks. Especially because the commitments for the upcoming few days I agreed to weeks ago.

I'm not complaining. Well, maybe a little. I feel more energized than in the last 3 weeks, though, so maybe I'll catch up!

Or maybe I'll realize that catching up is an unrealistic goal, jettison all the extra stuff that just isn't going to get done, and move on.

Whew!

This Moment

When your sibling is your best friend, it is a beautiful afternoon.

{inspired by SouleMama}

Fantastic Mr. Flytrap

The Venus flytrap in our kitchen window sill is certainly earning its keep.
It is currently digesting 8, yes EIGHT, flies.

How cool is that!?!

 I learned more about Venus flytraps here, when figuring out the actual digesting part of the plant are the hinged leaves. And they can close in a second! I've never seen the actual capture of a bug, only seen the after effects of a bulging pair of leaves with a dark blob in the middle.

Before and After: Candystripe Beet

Transformation, evolution, metamorphosis, revolution.

Revelation.

Amazing changes all around me.

 

 This unassuming root vegetable, freshly scrubbed...

 

Is truly amazing. 

Can you tell I love vegetables?

October in the Jemez

We spent this holiday in the Jemez Mountains, which are surprisingly large enough to forget about, especially since they're practically in the back yard. We have spent quite a bit of time in the last 10 years in the closer hills and valleys of the Jemez, and always take visitors into the Valles Caldera area. But just a mere hour further are more trails, more roads, more unexplored (to us) territory. Today we meandered along the Rio de las Vacas.

I had originally decided to skip taking any photographs since I have a backlog of random landscapes in the mountains, all of which remind me of the time I've spent outside, but which can become cumbersome to store and talk about. Once at the Rio, however, I had to take a few. Autumn is really about all of the colors and the light makes them more provocative. But perhaps it's also the anticipation of the upcoming season of brown and grey (and hopefully white) that also intensifies the red and gold of autumn.

Our collection of leaves and wild rose hips.

Vibrant green moss on a blackened log.

An incredible blue sky.

 

I brought my sketching materials, but had forgotten to throw in any color. Yet here I was surrounded by nature's vibrant hues. At first I was a little discouraged, and I wrote for a bit about it, but decided to draw at least something. A landscape didn't seem like the right choice since it would necessarily be black, grey, and white. After half-heartedly sketching a few pine needles, I was inspired to add some color directly from the leaves we collected earlier. So, by smooshing them around with my pencil, I got a few spots of color.

I then remembered the online summer sketch course I signed up for and only looked at the first 3 days of, taught by Alisa  Burke, and did something new for me: I used the pine needles and color blotches as inspiration and went to town with doodles and writing. Which is what I learned in the first 3 days of the sketch course.

So much fun! I didn't get to finish this sketch and hope to get back to it, but the very idea of it felt freeing and productive. I'll have to keep exploring this idea.

And, I think I still have access to the summer sketch class, so I guess I should get back to that, too! I should not that it wasn't Ms. Burke's fault that I didn't follow through with the sketching. It was my lazy ass that didn't commit to it.

Lucky $2 Bills

 

We had an interesting day on Sunday- not because of what we did (I'll likely post later about the Harvest Festival at El Ranch de las Golondrinas)- but because within a matter of 6 hours, three $2 bills came into our possession. Not one, or two, but three of them. It felt so odd, and so potentially auspicious! Auspicious of what, I don't know. Thinner wallets, I suppose, because they take up exactly half the space as two $1 bills, and they are each worth twice as much as a single! Ha! I did some reading when getting the image above, and they're not particularly rare, but they aren't commonly used. Apparently there is a contingent of spenders who delight in getting largish quantities of $2 bills in order to witness the reactions of cashiers when they pay in multiples of 2. I don't think that will be me. The crazy thing is, I kind of don't want to spend these three $2 bills of ours because in the last 5 years, I think I've only come across a few of them- and never in my possession. 

Maybe I'll give the kids a bonus on their allowance this week!

Painting in Place

In working on a different project, I came back to a painting idea I was working on in college. I'm currently remaking the college canvases into something new (I knew there was a reason I saved them!)- more on that in a later post. However, I spent a couple of days working on a new canvas, in a style I'm mentally calling Painting in Place.

The idea is that a landscape or location can influence the paints in a more direct way, outside of the  traditional color choices, subject matter, light, or even inspiration. Painting in Place involves draping the canvas on, around, and in the location. Thus, there is a miniature landscape created by the folds and drapes of the canvas, and the paint can interact directly with gravity and the mountains and valleys created by the canvas.

For this painting, I wasn't necessarily influenced by the visual scene in which I was working; the wood shed and cinder block wall of our back yard wasn't particularly inspirational. We are, however, in the midst of autumn and the leaves on the trees are bright and colorful, especially against the intense blue sky of an October in the high desert plateau of New Mexico. The outside environment has been a saturated multi-color experience in the last week or so.

I went into this project with a basic color outline already in mind and used pigments right from the tube for their undiluted effect. Green, yellow and orange, with a little purple, surrounded by a washy blue seemed to capture the impression of the autumnal afternoon.

Additionally, this is a time of year marked by rapid and distinct metamorphosis as the trees go from full summer foliage to naked winter hibernation, and the sunlight changes from overhead heat to angled diffusion. The earth is in movement, and this is a time when it is most evident. This canvas is an attempt to capture many feelings in one place.

I hung it on the wall under the window in our bedroom, so I could continue to contemplate it. It doesn't quite feel finished yet; it needs some direct painting or drawing on it so it can go beyond just the landscape phase. I'm not sure what that's going to entail just yet, but I'll keep working on it.

Before and After: First Frost

Transformation, evolution, metamorphosis, revolution.

Revelation.

Amazing changes all around me.

 

 

Last weekend, we had three nights of near-hard freezing. As in, it got down to about 32 degrees, but not colder, at least in our back yard, so all of the frost-hardy plants were fine and the plants in protected mini-climates were fine, but the tomatoes and green beans shriveled up and died.

Amazing what a little cold weather can do - it effectively ended our harvest.

I Love Apostrophes!

This little flyer was sitting at our library's main desk when I stopped by yesterday. I had to take it and parade it because I so love seeing correct apostrophe use in practice! Yay! And that it was done properly by our local librarians (I hope) made me happier. I have to resist the urge to correct the ever so prevalent misuse of apostrophes in DVDs and CDs. But to see a whole sentence with a beautiful apostrophe in the correct place creates such a great vibe! Listen to me gush!

Colorful Zendoodle

Colorful Zendoodle

Pen and ink, watercolor on paper

2013

Before and After: Good Morning!

Transformation, evolution, metamorphosis, revolution.

Revelation.

Amazing changes all around me.

My morning coffee cup, before it has coffee and milk:

It looks so empty and sickly in the light from the small light above the stove top. The burner is heating the water to pour into the French press, so relief is on the way.

 Hmmm... The light is still sickly, but the mug is full of that first cup of coffee, the milk still swirling. I wish I could convey the smell from this experience! I sound like a serious caffeine addict, but I'm not, really. I do like a couple of cups of coffee in the morning, and as part of my morning ritual, it helps me move from sleepiness to wakefulness. I frequently get up without my alarm (set for 5:30am), so one could argue I perhaps don't need coffee. But I enjoy it. And while too much coffee can certainly have negative health effects, the little I drink each morning is part of my attempt at staying healthy.

Good Morning!