Sweet Pixels

New Paintings

2008-07-15T12:13:00.002-08:00

I've been in the studio working on the next group of paintings to go to a solo show in Homer, AK opening August 1st at the Bunnell Street Art Center. Above, "Search" 18"x24" acrylic and gold leaf on wood. $450.00

These paintings are a continuation of the work I was doing this spring: much imagery of plants and auspicious objects. I love working with acrylic ink and I do all of the drawing with a Joseph Gillot's 1122 'Super Falcon' steel calligraphy nib. After 10 or so paintings, the steel wears down so that I can't get a really fine line out of it.

Not sure what to title this one, yet. Size is 18"x24", acrylic and acrylic ink on wood.

Do you have an idea for a good title?

Click on the 'comments' button below and give me some suggestions.

Other than painting:

My garden is looking beautiful, the sun is shining, and I found out this week that although my Dad does have some health problems, he doesn't have lung cancer after all. Big relief.

Life in the Eero Lane....

2008-07-06T10:16:00.002-08:00

I can't update on all the personal turmoil and general malaise going on in my life, so I'll just show a few images of nifty stuff I've seen/done recently which is helping to keep my head above the proverbial water.....

Above, my shadow cast on the sandbar where Fromage and I spent an evening. We borrowed a canoe from sister Lily of the Valley and paddled across the Tanana to an island.

The calming vista of a sandbar. We spent an hour canoeing around, a couple of hours just walking around in the silt barefoot----lovely. Then a bonfire and dinner....

Nothing smells so good as a driftwood bonfire. This is shot around 9pm. The nighttime of life near the Arctic Circle.

Another outing a couple of weeks ago----we drove South and found an old, abandoned road, went for a walk, exploring....and stumbled across some orchids! Cypripediums....forget the rest of the name... They had a faint, beautiful cinnamon scent.

Thick, strong stalks, growing in sphagnum moss just over dense, muddy silt. They grew suprising close to the base of black spruce----acidic conditions?!

Fromage in a size-comparison shot....

This is the old road we found the orchids growing alongside in the brush. I look at this image and it feels like a metaphor for my life right now. I'm on my 'path;' I feel like I'm on the only road I can be on right now in my life, but damn....somthing is really, really wrong.....

Getting Down and Dirty

2008-06-21T12:41:00.003-08:00

Due to difficulties in other areas of my life, I've turned to my plants and gardening for a little sanity. Above is the first Brugmansia bloom of 2008.

To avoid the heart-wrenching disaster of having moose eat my garden again this year, I'm building moose fencing. (Read about last year's tragedy here.) This is a difficult task, as there must be several elements present:

Sturdy enough to withstand moose
Attractive, as the garden beds are right in front of the deck
Easy to work in and around as I water, weed, harvest
Inexpensive to build
Moveable

I think I've gotten all points covered. Total cost of materials has been about $70.00, with much of the PVC pipe garnered from the Transfer Station. I'm using a thick jute/twine to tie the pipe together, and zip ties to secure the chicken wire. As an added protection measure, I'm hanging all manner of noisemakers to the structures: bells, windchimes, etc. This is in the manner of tripwires----when the enemy invades (a moose with a good appetite) it will bump the structures and set off the 'alarm.' I'm making sure these bells with put up enough of a racket that it'll wake us up in the middle of the night to scare the moose off. I am DETERMINED to get a good food harvest this year!

The weather has been warm and sunny, finally, allowing me to put the orchids out to play on the balcony.

A freebie thrown out at work, a Korean Maple. Stunted, yes, so it'll take years to get big---if it makes it through a winter in the ground...

It's cute enough to give it a try.

The Aruba is gracing us with it's beautiful blooms again this year. Last year the plant had quite a bit more height---this year, not enough light soon enough, I think. Still, the blossoms are as gorgeous and fragrant as ever. This plant has begun to attain a special significance in our marriage....

I've finally planted my first perennial bed---and a potentilla I've had in a pot for a few years bloomed this intense red-orange! I could've sworn it was yellow....

Landscaping is undertaken in the form of outlining everything and anything with flat rocks. Here, my first Rhubarb.
...and here, a Saskatoon Serviceberry.

...and here, welsh onions.

But my greatest gardening/plant success this month is this wee sprout. I ordered 8 seeds for this incredible creature 4 years ago. I tried seeding it twice before with no luck, no sprouts. This year, I tucked the remaining 4 seeds into this pot with some Hawaiian bulbs a friend gave me, knowing that I'd be watering the soil frequently. I am rewarded! This is Adansonia digitata! If I can get this dude to grow, I will truly be a plant rock star. Check out a picture of this little guy as an adult.

I can't even tell you how excited I am by this. We'll have to build another house just for it!

It's a nice thing for me to get some satisfaction and sense of accomplishment from the plants and garden right now. It seems like this is totally absent in just about every other area of my life. Last winter was something of a struggle to get through, and spring hasn't been much better. Perhaps summer? Perhaps autumn? If I enter into another deep, dark Alaskan winter with this black cloud hanging over my head, I'm buying a plane ticket for somewhere tropical for a good solid month or two.

Creature Comforts USA - Art

2008-06-04T07:03:00.001-08:00

The Great Orchid Hunt: Part II

2008-05-24T13:58:00.002-08:00

I went out alone yesterday to see if the Calypsos were in bloom. To my great delight, every patch I'd seen a week ago was in full flower! Many were right along this muddy ATV track...(I worry for their safety).... The sun was in the West and each patch of orchids glowed in the slanting evening light.

The groups of blooms were dense and bright----not much else in the underbrush is in leaf or flower yet.

Each bloom was only about 5" high. I was alone on the trail-----good, as no one saw me crawling around on my stomach trying to get perfect camera focus.

Totally captivating! I think this was my favorite group.

What I hadn't expected was their scent. It was a strong perfume that floated in a halo around them----I had to get very close. Sharp, sweet.....can't even describe what it reminded me of. I took a few very deep breaths----when is the next time I'll be able to enjoy a full-body infusion of orchid essence?

So far, the images I've seen of Calypso bulbosa show a more rounded lip, and no yellow, hairy spot. Kind of like this orchid's soul patch. Look at that cleft chin!

This is my favorite shot. Don't they look like they're having a great time?

It was a good evening for me. Finding anything in my life that truly delights me has been difficult and rare these days. I thought that with the advent of Spring, I would feel brighter, feel better, more optimistic. Recent events have been weighing me down, however. It seems I can't quite get out from under a dark cloud. Seeing these Calypso orchids in all their fragile beauty gave me a lift.

The Great Orchid Hunt 2008

2008-05-18T15:14:00.002-08:00

Here is a pretty picture from Wikipedia of Calypso bulbosa, the Calypso Orchid. Also known as Fairy Slipper or Venus's Slipper. I saw these orchids blooming about 30 miles out of town while on a horseback ride 2 years ago and swore to see them again one spring. This past week, some friends from work and I went out to hunt for these elusive and rare creatures....

Corinne and Erin-----Corinne has a Master's in Arctic Biology/Botany, so she brought a HUGE reference book for us to accurately identify anything and everything that we found. Here, Erin found a little prezzie in the roadside weeds....

And gave it to her sister.

This is the culmination of our search----many, many clumps of Calypso orchids in their nascent bloom state. Buds just forming on tiny stalks, they'll be open in a few more days. When I told people that I was going orchid hunting, they all asked how I would dig them up or transplant them. No! I wouldn't even touch them. My approach to orchids is as to something sacred and sacrosanct. I would NEVER dig these up. Also, they die in captivity, so why would I ever kill them with my selfishness? Sometimes, you don't need to have or own a thing to know it is good and beautiful and enjoy the heck out of it. These orchids will be there for years to come if no one disturbs them.

Also along the trail we found and identified many sprouting clumps of Lousewort. Corinne identified it for me as Pedicularis, which I promptly forgot and called it Ridicularis. (It just sounded so Harry Potter....) Oops.

I carefully dug up a clump and brought it home, recognising that I have very similar soil conditions to that which we found it in. Fun! So far (three days later) it's doing well.

I haven't had such a good time in quite awhile. This spring seems to be all work and no play thus far. It was awesome to grub about in the underbrush examining plants and identifying them. Seriously awesome! We're going out again next week to see if we can catch the Calypsos in bloom..... More fun!

Life

2008-05-13T21:15:00.002-08:00

Beautiful plants at work: Heuchera, Lamium

The view of my 'office'.....

Reiger Begonias in full bloom....

And one of my favorite people doing a new trick her Dad taught her. You're never too young to rock out......

Opening Night!

2008-05-04T09:28:00.003-08:00

Here is the show, installed. 15 paintings ranging in size from 12"x12" to 30"x60". Prices range from $250.00 to $1200.00. Yes, these prices are low. To be honest, I want to sell this work very easily. I want my work to get out in the world more, and if that means less money for awhile, fine. One painting sold before the party got started and two sold during the opening. The show is up until the 26th, so hopefully....

On the table, I set out a big bowl of fortune cookies---images of them appear in almost every painting in this series, so I thought it would be fun to offer them to the partygoers. I didn't guess how enthusiastic people would be at the opportunity to eat as many fortune cookies as they wanted----all were cracked open and eaten in the first hour!

Rather than set out a comment book----usually a blank book where visitors can write things----I set out a three ring binder with my artist resume, artist statement on the series of paintings, pictures of my studio and 'action shots' of working on various paintings. Also, I include a lot of very good photos of past work with dimensions, materials and prices. (If any paintings sold from being seen in this book whilst in the gallery, I would give the gallery 10%.)

The reason for this is that comment books, in my experience, are generally useless. The party is too hectic for anyone to write anything meaningful. Usually, one gets comments like, "Good show!" and a scrawled, illegible name. When I go see an exhibit, I wonder about the artist: who are they, why do they do this work, how do they do it and where? I think the binder is a good form of advertising, however subtle. Also, with this exhibit I put out my newly minted business cards so that more folks might visit my website (http://www.eeroarts.com/, by the way....).

And....the opening. We're heading into our 3 months of daylight here near the arctic circle, so although this shot was taken around 7:30 pm, the sun is still bright outside.

It was interesting to collect a different kind of comment/review from people, now that my work has changed so much. My fellow artists that visited said a lot of the same things: they like the work, they like something specific, and then we talk shop for awhile---technical issues, tools, etc. The comments/reviews from 'non-artists' were much different that in the past. I attribute this to the appearance of representational imagery in the new work. Non-artists had something more to 'grab onto,' I think. They commented in more detail, asked more questions and seemed much more enthusiastic.

And the final result?

I'm starting a new analysis project, which I hope to do after each exhibit. In this analysis, which I did yesterday morning (slightly hung-over) I listed the materials expenses for the 15 paintings, the gas expenses and mileage to/from the gallery, estimated revenue lost from taking time off work to finish the show, etc. Also, I wrote notes on what I did that worked in preparation for this show, as well as what I hope to do differently next time. (Next time is in 2 months, by the way---a solo show at the Bunnell Street Gallery in Homer, AK.) In addition, I made a note of the possible revenue if every single painting from the show sold.

I like quantifying things this way. I enjoy getting a sense of the expense of a project, the potential revenue as well as the actual revenue. I DON'T base the success of an exhibit solely on sales! However, I am seeing my work as a potential source of income, and like understanding how much of a positive or negative impact my art life has on my financial life. Just with the three small paintings sold, I am already in the black, however slight a margin it is. Yay!

Now?

I am going to give my sweetie road bike Sheila a bath and get her ready for commuting to work, starting tomorrow. It's almost +50 outside (double Yay!), and the snow is melting fast.

Spring blizzard....

2008-04-30T17:07:00.001-08:00

Three to five inches of snow on April 29th....the wonders of living in interior Alaska.

Still Going...Alnost there....

2008-04-28T06:58:00.002-08:00

Another in the production line that my studio has become. This one is part of an idea I've been wanting to do for about a year---but only in miniature. Sometimes I call these partial uses of an idea "light," as in, 'Branches Idea Lite." Using it in this form has only whet my appetite for the real deal, which I will get to after this show is up. So many things are going to happen after this show is up and done.....the list has gotten pretty long. There is a bottle of champagne in my fridge that will be guzzled, for one.

Anyway---the above painting, (not finished, in this photo) is called "Collect," 24"x24" Acrylic paint and ink on wood.

...and a detail of the same painting. I've been using one calligraphy pen/nib for this whole series of works. The nib has actually worn down! The first painting I used it on, I could get spider-thin, delicate lines from it. Now---only thick lines. Pretty funny. I'm going to bring it to the opening with me in my pocket. It's been my main tool for so much work in these paintings that I think it deserves a night out and some recognition as much as I do.

5 days until the opening.

I have a careful list of everything that needs to be accomplished on a daily schedule. Tonight will be the olympian effort to take care of details----tomorrow afternoon, the art goes to the gallery.

Wish me more luck.

The Work Continues: Two weeks and counting

2008-04-18T07:08:00.003-08:00

I can go on and on about artworking, which does take up many hours of my time. Of course, I do have a "day job," which is working at a commercial greenhouse. This is a view of my office. It's pretty lovely going to an environment equivalent to Hawaii everyday----oxygen, humidity, natural light and green, green growing beauty everywhere. I get a decent wage AND really like my boss and co-workers.

When I first started working here six years ago, I felt like I had found my place and my people! Here was a group of very hard working women who loved plants, loved working in the soil, were well-educated and spent their free time in the winter months traveling the world. It keeps me coming back every season. I only wish I could get a similar job in the winter... The seasons are so dramatic here and the winters so long, dark and cold that greenhouse operations shut down for 5-7 months of the year. No call for plants of any kind when it's -40F outside and there's 3 hours of daylight.

Speaking of winter....

This is a view of outside the greenhouses.... Winter has not yet released it's hold. As I write this, it's snowing even more. A forecast for a paltry inch of snow overnight looks like 3-4 on my car in the driveway....urgh.

More than enough reason to stay in the studio today and work on the continued series of paintings.

This is one of the new ones from last weekend's heroic 20+ hour effort. "Inflorescence." 24"x30", Acrylics, gold leaf on wood. This is only a small section of it. I do love to line up images in perfect grids, as you've seen in previous posts of my paintings. This one required some offbeat composition work with the gold leaf. Kind of a nice change. I'm drawing in the Iris with red FW Acrylic ink and a very, very small paintbrush. I tried using a calligraphy nib, but couldn't find one that gave me the right line and wouldn't hang up on or scrape up the delicate gold leaf. Overall, this painting isn't as successful as say, "Garden Apotheosis," but it does have a certain something....

Now---on to more work. Two weeks from today is opening night of my exhibit. I have one week to put finishing touches on paintings, then 5 days to frame, then all goes to the gallery. Stressful schedule.

Art Update

2008-04-11T09:17:00.002-08:00

Hours of every day have been delineated to work time and studio time. I get in an hour of painting before work, then, after 8 hours at the Greenhouse, another two or three more of painting. I'm well on track for this show at last, thankfully, as I only have 15 working days and 6 framing days to complete the exhibit. So far, so good. I can't help but think what I could accomplish in my art career if I were able to keep up this dedication, focus and productivity....

Above is another Grove painting...could be a nice, fat series developing here. This one may be titled "Canopy" and looks really good upside down, as well. Details to be added soon---the image here is an incomplete painting. Size is 3'x5'. Look at all that obsessive compulsive Shape making!

And another shot of the original "Grove." This one seems to have struck a chord with many people that have seen previous snippets of it on this blog. I hope to strike a chord with an Alaskan buyer who is sick of the continued snowy days and winter landscape....someone with deep pockets who truly needs some tropical imagery around their cabin.

Fellow artists out there may recognize this sentiment---I feel a deep thankfulness and gratitude towards "Grove." It was the outrider for a whole new series of works. The first painting of a new genre may not always be good, but it's brave. Often, it has a nascent power; very fresh and innocent somehow. Anyway---I love looking at this one. Sometimes, for a show, I'll stack the paintings as completed to get a thrill out of the growing heap. "Grove" gets pride of place on the studio wall to make sure it inspires me and the other paintings to greatness.

Gold Leaf! Incredibly challenging to work with----it's so delicate that errant breezes in the studio can literally blow any attempt to apply it on the canvas. It has such great presence in a painting that one can't get any other way---gold powders and paints just don't get the same light refraction! It's real gold leaf or nothing. (Well, composite gold leaf, anyway....don't think I can afford the "real" real thing.) Just when I think I'm done with this element, it returns in ever greater quantities. A viewer of my show, "9 North: Multimedia Alaskan Perspectives," made a comment that they didn't like the glitzy look of the gold. 'Glitzy' is a pretty bad word to lay on my art.....but I took it like a trooper.

This painting, "Garden Apotheosis" practically completed itself this week. There is a fantastic experience in making anything, when you reach a state of full understanding with whatever you've put your hands to and each choice is very simple, clear cut, and executed with direct grace. Paintings like this practically paint themselves. (There are other paintings which whine and beg and moan and talk in confusing riddles. ) This painting advanced several ideas at once in the series I'm working on. Yay! I am happy to report that "Garden Apotheosis" feels like a complete success.

I honestly have NOTHING else to report in my life except for painting.

I do have a list I've titled, "May" on which I write everything else in my life that I need to attend to----everything that is on hold until the show opening is over on May 2nd. It's getting to be a rather long list....

17.5 hours of art...

2008-03-30T18:27:00.002-08:00

It's been a successful weekend in the studio---over 17 hours of painting. I'm thankful to Fromage, who has been cooking dinner and generally keeping the house running while I'm chained to my easel. The end result of the weekend's efforts is this painting, "Tempest," 3'x4', Acrylic on wood. (This is, again, just a small view of it.) Many hours of drawing each object, then painting them in with a very small brush and FM Acrylic Ink. The nuts are gold leaf, which gave me an entirely different set of problems. For kicks, because I'm a natural quantifier, I try to estimate how long a painting will take. This one, at half-way through looked to ask for another 5 hours, took another 10, due to problems with the gold leaf. It's labor intensive material, but oh, so worth it! When the light hits the surface of this painting at an oblique angle, the nuts actually seem to float off the surface.

And this is totally my odd sense of humor here....the golden nut. I laugh everytime I say that!

An item of my inspiration: Fortune Cookies. I use one daily to hold in my left hand as I paint it from different angles with my right. Then, at the end of the day, I get to eat it and see what my fortune is for that days work.

I had to lay another big painting on wood on the floor to be able to draw flowing branches with the right, even, swooping curves.....couldn't do it while it was on the easel. My pallette on the painting looked like it was floating.

It's amazing that I suffered through so much artist's block this winter. Now, the painting is coming so easily that I wear out before the inspiration does. Right now, my right hand and arm are aching from holding the small brushes all day and painting in intricate patterns. If not for having to go to work tomorrow morning, I would just spend 8 hours a day in my studio. I could use it, given that I have.......(calculating).........25 working days until I need to frame all of this work for the exhibit.

Working and Painting

2008-03-29T07:24:00.002-08:00

A pre-race view from last Saturday at the 50km SoNot race at Birch Hill. Fromage got a post-warm up ski brush from Aelin Peterson. On the left is Matt Kasvinsky, Henry's friend and SoNot training partner. Matt decided to to the 20km race. Trails freshly groomed, a chilly day, but bright and blue skies....

Start of the race! The start/finish is ususally on the Chena River, but due to +40 F temps last January, there was too much thin ice and a surprising amount of open water to safely hold the race there. Maybe next year, when I want to attempt this race! You can see Fromage in the center, just lifting his poles to step into V1.

He started out very strong---at the inital aid station (where folks hand out water and gatorade to racers) he came around the corner smiling, in the top ten, looking like it wasn't any effort at all. Unfortunately, he crashed around the 20th km on a downhill. Thinking that he'd fallen on his side on the thumb tab on his pole (hard plastic), he was in quite a bit of pain. At around 28km, I saw him again---hunched over and only skiing with his left arm. At this point, he was sure he'd broken a rib, and had to leave the race. After all his training and hard work!.....I felt so bad for him.

A week later now and he is still in pain----sure that he has a cracked rib and very bruised muscles. Skiing is out, but he is already training on his bike indoors for the cycling season. My husband!

My hard work is all in the studio. Here is a vignette from "Grove," finished just 2 days ago. The Shape is here in all of its OCD, repetitive glory. No, I didn't use any kind of template to draw the repeating branches: it's all freehand. I'm a sucker for punishment. I loved drawing the orchids in the fine white lines. I knew that would be the most fun part of the painting----kind of the cherry on top, you know? This painting has already engendered about 3 others like it. They are labor intensive, so all the more reason to get to work today. I have 4 working weeks and then the final framing week before the opening of my solo show on May 2nd. Yikes.....

The worktable. For all of my organizing and cleaning, this table NEVER looks tidy.

Now, to work.

Art+Work+Skiing = Life

2008-03-19T07:27:00.003-08:00

Studio view with "Grove" in progress. I've been spending a lot of hours with this painting. After falling totally in love with the underpainting, I went ahead with the planned detail elements---and promptly fell out of love with it. Urgh. Still, it's an interesting experience to have had. My enjoyment of the underpainting really points out to me that I am ready and eager to move onto a much more painterly style of working.
My solo exhibit is approaching fast. I am spending most free hours in the studio. Work, Art and a wee bit of skiing still squeezed in there make up my life.

And here is another sneaky view of "Grove." I can't show you the entire thing until it's finished. It'll jinx it. The trouble I'm encountering with this new work is that it is incredibly detailed. This means that each piece it taking me much, much longer to make. I am enjoying the hell out of them, though. For several pieces in the show, I'm drawing on the painting surface with a fine calligraphy nib in acrylic inks.

Other news in Eero World?

Fromage is skiing the SoNot on Saturday---a 50 km skate ski race. Due to warm temperatures and thin ice, part of the race that was to be on the river has been moved. Read about it here.

My sister Lily of the Valley is expecting another wee bambino in August! YAY! My 3 yr. old niece, upon being asked what she thought we should name the baby, carefully whispered in my ear, "Milkshake!" So---a sweet little Milkshake is on the way. So exciting. I love these kids my sister is making, they rock my world. I love being an Auntie.

My friend and fellow skiier, cyclist and artist Sara Tabbert has been awarded the Denali Artist in Residence for 2008. This is a very prestigious award in AK and an amazing opportunity to make some fabulous art. The awarded artist gets to stay in the Murie Cabin IN Denali National Park for 2 weeks and roam the landscape. I apply for this every year, and know my time will come eventually. Congratulations Sara!

Time to get to work on a new painting.

5 Weeks until opening night.

Wish me luck.

Making Art and Taking Names

2008-03-04T06:52:00.002-09:00

Priming the painting surface. I'm using 1/8" birch veneer plywood---smooth, lightweight, and good to paint on. I've found I like a good, solid painting surface. The wiggly nature of stretched canvas just doesn't do it for me right now. I have oodles of prepped canvases in a stack in the studio....so they'll just have to wait! I'm using acrylics, and once again I'm tempted by the siren song of gold leaf.

A wee sneak preview for you. (This is only a very small area...) I'm in love with this one and think about it constantly. It's whizzing right along.

I'm finally painting for hours a day...it's such a relief! In looking at journals/calendars from the last few years, I'm seeing a pattern of increased art productivity in Spring and Autumn.

The temperatures have returned to balmy +20 these days----skiing returns! All is looking up in my world.

Finally.....at last.....damn it.

2008-02-27T10:28:00.002-09:00

So I am trying to sneak past my artist's block. I'm not even sure if it really IS artist's block, since I have about a gajillion ideas....it's just been a matter of getting them out, if you know what I mean.
Above: page from my sketchbook.

Part of the problem is that everything I've been trying to do just feels wrong, somehow. I'll set down some paint, some ink, some something, and it just feels utterly off-kilter and not even in my personal art ballpark. I know that my work as a whole is going through some massive transition. I am a person who doesn't like no knowing where I am going, so this art-shift has been difficult. Where is my art going? Don't know. Can't work. Or, at least, I haven't been able to up until now.

What's changed? A little more light in the sky, for one. Winter's deathgrip on the landscape is beginning to lessen a bit. A few more birds in the trees outside the studio windows, all the orchids are waking up and doing new stuff--leaves and bloom spikes, skiing has been fantastic.

So....
Artist's block deathgrip is lessening. Thank goodness....

This is a small view of a large painting/drawing which came together surprisingly quickly. I had the idea for this painting and couldn't decide whether to dive in. I began to think of my friend and fellow artist Jean Lester. I imagined that when she gets and idea and sits down to paint, she goes full steam ahead and DAMN THE TORPEDOES! So I've decided to emulate that get-off-your-ass battlecry.....in an art sense. It's all about GSD: Get Shit Done, which is transforming into GSDNOE, Get Shit Done Now Or Else. My show is a scant 8 weeks away. Scary.

I showed this painting to Fromage and he said it was hard to identify what the white drawn things were. Can you tell what they are? Click on the 'comments' button below and weigh in. It's important that they're identifiable. (I think it's grossly obvious, so his observation surprised me.)

Sun is shining and I have to get painting....

...and more skiing!

2008-02-25T14:00:00.004-09:00

Starting off---Fromage, and friends Scott and Anne Marie. We figured a 6-7 mile ski on various snowmachine, powerline and moose trails to get back to the Goldstream Dredge for a picnic. About +15F.

Old building along the Goldstream. Fromage thinks this is an old bathhouse. When we skied through here two years ago, the buildings still had roofs on them....someone's scavenged the corrugated tin.

During the day, we saw every animal track imaginable in the snow; Moose, rabbit, fox, mouse, marmot, grouse (or spruce hen?) and one that we just couldn't identify---not a dog, not a wolf, but not a lynx, either---or, at least I didn't think so. With the warmer weather, the critters are jumping around like mad out there. Only Fromage actually saw anything....a fat hare.

Intrepid skiiers....photoshoped. (The winter landscape begs for this kind of stuff.....)

Scott and Anne Marie brought along some lightly spiced, dried squid. It may sound like an odd snack for a ski outing, but it was WONDERFUL. Protein-y, chewy, salty goodness! Fromage and I brought cooked bacon on our Tolovana outing----now always to be refered to as 'sport bacon.' Sweet trail food just doesn't do it for me, hypoglycemic that I am. Squid! Genius!

We got pretty cold during the picnic in the pilot house of the dredge so we didn't linger too long. Sadly, the windows had all been broken out since we'd skied out there last. Damn vandals. Why can't they just appreciate a beautiful, rusting hunk of machinery in the wilderness?

Skiiing out. This dredge isn't as big as others I've been to. I like this one for it's remoteness---no roads lead to it.

And now?

I am finally making some progress in my studio. I may just be able to sneak past the art-block with stealth and tricky subterfuge....

Tolovana trip!

2008-02-20T08:38:00.006-09:00

My intrepid friend Shannon organized a big group trip to Tolovana Hot Springs, renting all of the cabins for 2 days. A fantastic idea! I had such a great time. Just getting out into the open air for a few days made me feel like a new person. Thankfully, the weather cooperated and we had temps over zero the entire trip.

Here is the elevation map: an 11 mile ski. Pretty hairy descents! The trail wasn't much wider than a snow machine track, so full snowplowing with the skis was nigh impossible. I was able to do a half-plow (?) with one ski, which was pretty stressful on the quads. A great adventure, regardless. For the downhills, I sat on the ends of my skis and rode them down. A little rough on the bum, but it worked.

Here is Fromage at the first few miles of trail. I think the temp. was about +10, but a bitter wind was blowing. (He's using the pogies I made him!)

And I'm using the ski overboots I made---both pairs, layered! A new friend Jeremy had a snowmachine and sled and kindly took all of our heavy packs out to the springs that way. We just carried the essentials----extra gear, tea, cookies and ratzones (see previous blog entry to explain that last....).

Jason and Tika, the dog with the most expressive tail in the world. There were quite a few dogs there----Steve with his dog team, then five people with pet/skijoring dogs. The dogs made the trip all the more fun. What characters! Makes me want to have a dog.

Rachel and McKinley. I'll give McKinley the "Most Sneaky" award for the trip. I can't believe Rachel skiied all the way out to the Springs wearing this heavy parka---no doubt she was very warm!

At the summit. You can't really tell, but take my word for it that this is me. Windy and cold up there, so we didn't pause long. Also, I didn't take many pix over the inward trip because my digital camera froze up easily. A great argument for quicky, disposable cameras in frigid temperatures.

The Cedar Cabin. I was surprised at the ammenities---a propane stove, lights and all dishes, pots, pans and utensils.

Party at the Log Cabin. Shannon brought a word game that had us all roaring with laughter (and all being half-drunk, that was pretty easy). This is Lily, Shannon, Kim and Karen.

Karen, Markus and Jason. The wood stoves in the cabins kept us toasty.

You'll notice no pix of the hot springs, themselves! Couldn't take the digital camera to the steamy environs of the pools. Plus, it was all about soaking in the moment, not saving anything for later. Sometimes, photography can impede, that way.....at least for me, trained as a documentary photographer. Often I like to put the camera away and just BE there, you know?

The pools were wonderful---nothing fancy, but everything effective. Given that the air was +10F - +20F while we soaked, it was a challenge to get in and out of the tubs standing on snow and ice in the all-together feeling that biting wind on your....well, everything. Definitely a challenge. While in the tub, our hair froze.

On the ski out----first thing, a steep hill. No purchase to be had with my waxless touring skis. Fromage had skins, which allowed him to walk up the steep trail like his skis were glued to it. I strapped my skis on my back and trudged.... +30F temps made the day beautiful.

Fromage in the landscape. Most, if not all, of the forests we traveled through had been seared by a forest fire in the last few years. Much deadwood, tree fungus growth and sound of woodpeckers making use of the dead stands.

Fromage on the straightaway. Unfortunately, you can't see the mountain range in the background! At this point in the trail out, Jason and Tika skijored past doing a good clip. With Tika pulling, they must've made the trail head hours before us.

A shot of the mysterious and beautiful woods. These are black spruce hit by the fire. Eerie, but lovely.

Just the tops had needles left. We saw dozens of moose and ptarmigan tracks.

Lily and Steve at the trailhead. These two had the best stories. Steve mushed in with his sled and 7 dogs. Lily is a firefighter and musher.

Fromage at home, with an old cat that missed him dearly. It was a long slog of a ski back to the car! When we got home, the water pump in our house had cut out, leaving our houseguest/sitter friend with no water. Luckily, it was just the line from the buried water tank to the house pump. When the weather warmed so quickly, it drove the frost layer deeper into the ground, and must've reached our water line 8 ft. down. 20 minutes of heat tape on it fixed it up. (Thankfully!)

And now?

The temps are still +35 everyday! I am out skate skiing my ass off on my new Madshus skis.....

Make Food, Not Art

2008-02-15T18:52:00.004-09:00

Here is another vision of my personal heaven---good ski trails! This was yesterday....

Fromage and I on White Bear. We made a brief stop on the trail (so I could catch my breath) and I asked him if he knew that it was Valentine's Day. He said, "Yeah! Here it comes!" and gave me a smooch with his frosty, drippy moustache. That was my present. Funny guy.

I've been skiing every day this week because Fromage took me here for my Birthday. New skate skis! Woo Hoo! They're Madshus----the ones with the FLOWERS on them. And they totally, totally ROCK my world.

Still no art being made, but after a slew of productivity at the sewing maching, I shifted to the kitchen. This is a calzone, or rather, a ratzone. Heh, heh. The eyes are peppercorns, of course.

All lined up and ready to go in the oven.....

And out of the oven. Each one full of sausagey-cheesey goodness.

Each one is a little different from it's mates....

Don't you just want to bite it's little head off? This one does seem to have the sad little puppy look..... I made them in preparation for a little outing tomorrow.

When I do creative stuff like this, I always think to myself, "5 years of private art school..."

Make Gear, Not Art....

2008-02-08T19:45:00.000-09:00

Luckily, my artist's block hasn't extended to my sewing machine. Due to the two weeks of -20F to -40F temperatures we've been having, I haven't been skiing a lot. Of course, I am thinking about skiing a lot---hence the new project of outfitting Fromage and I with some cold weather gear. I can't afford to buy this stuff, so I've been clever and enterprising and made some stuff, myself. Above is a picture of ski overboots I made to fit my boots----out of a lightweight coat scavenged from the Transfer station and a felted wool sweater (also from the TS). Of course, I bought the pom poms.... The velcro flys are made from the collar of a raincoat....from the TS, of course.

Second pair of ski overboots, made from military insulated lining clothes. (Nice, because they have shell material on both sides, and they're quilted already...) These are for approx. size 10 man's boots, but with a lot of elastic, they actually fit boots a size on either size of that. Unfortunately, they seemed to be too roomy, too puffy. I was concerned that when one would ski with these on, when the foot is flexed, the boot would pooch out and rub......

So I added velcro on each side of the foot, as well as 2 pieces on the back. This really makes the overboots more.....tidy.

All of the boots have a strap underneath the heel to keep them on. I'm thinking they'll need a second strap of some sort to keep the toes from slipping up and over the boot... But I have to actually field test them to find that out....

Knowing that I wanted to make ski pole pogies and also more boots with more insulation, I invested in a sleeping bag from Value Village for $10.00.

The lining of the sleeping bag was flannel, and in cold weather, Cotton Kills! I took out the flannel and replaced it with taffetta. The nice thing about the sleeping bag is that the filler was already a little compacted, making it much easier to sew.

Here are the ski pole pogies, all done! I finished the edges with strips from the aforementioned raincoat. A bit of velcro on the pole opening makes it so one can snug the pogie in place.

Also, being the female of the species, I was driven to make some fancy designs---just some free sewing with yellow thread. For a pair of pogies for Fromage, I'll make some designs that are less....cute.

And here's the shot to describe how one actually uses ski pole pogies! And why am I modeling this stuff indoors? It was -24F this afternoon, and my digital camera would be unable to work in that temperature.....freezes up immediately!

Fromage took the pogies on a ski this afternoon and proclaimed them "Freakin' Awesome!" except for a tendency to slip a little, which a little elastic cord will fix.

So far, so good.

I'm going to make a lot more.

Happy Frozen Birthday

2008-02-06T08:08:00.000-09:00

My 36th Birthday today! I wake to -33F, sunrise just starting on the horizon. I stoked up the wood stove, got my coffee.....

Of course, I must count my blessings. The rest of the town down in the vally is enjoying -47F and a thick blanket of ice fog.

Regardless of the cold, (or perhaps in challenge to it?) we're still going ahead with our ski expedition plans. 2 trips in the next month. Although my Artist's Block is holding steadily---and painfully---the creative freeze doesn't extend to my sewing machine. I've found several coats at the Transfer Station and have been using them to make insulated ski overboots and next, some ski pogies. The coats are an excellent idea, as they have shell material, insulation and lining all layered and ready to go.

I worked at Apocalypse Design, an outdoor gear manufacturer for awhile this winter, so I learned how all of these things were made. I am NOT copying their designs, I assure you! Firstly, I just don't have the sewing skills, or the tools to make the garments they do. (I also don't have the $$$ to buy their stuff...) I am making my own patterns by carefully measuring all of our various ski boots. Also, the coat material doesn't allow for generous cutting...I have to fit the pattern into the fabric, not the easier vise-versa. On my first pair of overboots, I cut the toe wrong, so when I sewed it and turned it right side out, I ended up with little pointy toes, like elf shoes! Allowing this to be a happy accident and willing to be bizarrely cute out there in the frigid ski trails, I sewed pale blue pom-poms to the toes. I am so funny!

So that is what I am doing today, my birthday....working on some fun sewing projects. Fromage says I need to leave some time free in the middle of the day.....but won't say what for. Hmmmm!

The Best Laid Plans of Wombats and Women...

2008-01-25T10:34:00.000-09:00

Although my grand plan of two months of solid art-making isn't working out (artist's block? Too much stress? Drastically changing style? Winter blues?) I have spent my last 4 weeks getting very, very organized.

On the home front, I gathered together 3 years of utility bills from our time in this house and created spreadsheets analyzing how much we spend on anything and everything on a monthly and yearly basis. Fascinating! And fun..... Gotta admit, I was raised by an accountant, so listmaking is in the very fabric of my DNA.

I've also been doing a careful analysis of our food budget, figuring out how much we spend, on what, and where. A trip to the three different grocery stores I shop at showed which one was actually much less expensive (Sams) and the one I don't need to shop at again (Safeway)except for special items (calamata olive bread....ahhhh). My whole aim in this project was to decrease our monthly food bill without sacrificing food quality. I cook at home A LOT, so this isn't the culprit. My inspiration for creating a grocery price list was The Tightwad Gazzette, published in the 80's in a series of newsletters, then books, by the fabulous Amy Dacyczyn. I love this woman. She is so frugal and clever.

Re-reading parts of her books takes me back to the days when I'd just finished my undergraduate degree and got a job as a photo lab tech in Portland, OR. I was making a very low wage, living with 4 roomates in a big old house, driving a creaky truck and riding a svelt motorcycle. I was also successfully living off of $1,000.00 a month. Thanks to careful budgeting, I saved 20% of my income every month, as well.
Too cool.
I rocked.
I miss those days.....

Of course, owning a house, a business, and having Fromage in my life throws many more budget accounts into the mix. I'm working on getting the most accurate view possible of what we live on and how we do it. So far, so good. I think we're pretty clever with our funds. We don't have many of the accutrements that suck away money: new cars, new clothes, expensive habits (although I AM an artist...feel free to laugh at that last one...).

Other organizing: I've reorganized my studio storage, gotten rid of a big bag of miscellaneous stuff, moved furniture around in the house, and gotten a consultation on cleaning up/altering my messy arm tatoo. (That last may not seem like much, unless you've experienced wearing a messy tattoo....yes, it's a big deal.)

Needless to say: a lot of lists have been written, a lot of things have been categorized and examined. Sadly, not a lot of art has been made. It's just not flowing like I'd hoped it would...

On a more positive spin, I have been creating some really nice portfolios to send to galleries here, there and everywhere. Thanks to some diligent research online, I've found several galleries which show/sell the kind of work I make. I'm specifically targeting these as potential business places for my work. Letterhead, business cards and well-crafted digital images are all done and ready to lend a hand to future exhibits.

Did I mention I got my website underway?

www.eeroarts.com

Still a few things to add and alter, but the general body is out there.

Made Website. Check.

Sure, I've been very productive. All of this organization feels good.

I have to admit I'm not to happy these days, however. Not enough light in the day, not enough skiing to feed my soul, not enough time with friends. Too much time brooding, too much time being frustrated in the studio, too much sadness. If I could just get some real paintings underway and finished, I would actually feel some sense of accomplishment.

Getting out...

2008-01-10T06:00:00.000-09:00

Walk on the frozen Tanana River with Fromage the other day.... About -10F, dusk.

Winter Fromage.

The winter river is a highway for snowmachines (called 'snomobiles' in other places...).

Moi.

We found a place where early freezing had buckled layers of thin ice to the surface. Digging under the snow, I was able to break off plate-like pieces. I arranged them on this block of ice for an impromptu sculpture... The whole thing is a little smaller than a sofa. Just goes to show you can make art anywhere...

Keeping Sane in Deep Winter

2008-01-08T08:54:00.000-09:00

Art opening last Friday. This is the Alaska Concept and Abstraction show at Well Street Art Company. I put in 4 paintings. The new, big blue one is out in the world! Although the gallery owner thought he was doing me a good turn by putting my art on this particular wall, the first thing I noticed at the opening was that this wall was near the food and drink table. So....as the general crowd were feeding at the trough, their backs were to my paintings most of the time. Damn!
Still...I did see folks taking a good look. The nice thing about these particular works in this particular show is that most of the other works (with a few exceptions) were rather dark and extremely abstract. My work looked fun and happy in comparison.

So---it's deep winter here in the Far North and although we're now gaining a few seconds and minutes of daylight every day, it's still not appreciable or even noticeable. (When you leave work at 5pm and there's still some light in the world, you know you're going to survive winter...but that's about a month away.....)

So what is keeping me sane right now?

Contact with PLANTS. Above is my phalaenopsis orchid, 'Brother Sara Gold.' She's had these 3 blooms for about a month now. The photo doesn't describe the glow within each blossom. Also, they have a sheen of irridescence. Truly uplifting.

This is a shot of the orchid shelf. I have a set of industrial metal shelves in my studio. I've wrapped visqueen around the shelf and installed 2 4' flourencent fixtures with full-spectrum bulbs. The lights create some heat in the enclosed space and with frequent misting, I can offer the orchids some humidity. At this time of year, my house can have as little as 10% humidity!

A friend from Seattle came over recently and in showing him my orchid set-up, he got really excited. Turns out he likes orchids but had given up any thought of actually growing them with success indoors in winter in Alaska. I was very happy to prove him wrong and give him good ideas for a orchidarium of his very own...

It's a very arid landscape in winter here.... Because of the dry conditions, I water the orchid herd every 3 or 4 days, depending on who they are and what they need. See the utter black void beyond the statue? That's the view outside my studio window 20 hours a day right now. Truly soul-numbing.

And lastly, this hot number. I'm pretty sure it's an Oncidium....(I'm by no means an orchid expert!) My sister-in-law gave me this plant from her friend, straight from Hawaii. It's bloomed like a madman twice a year with 20 blossoms at a time! Unfortunately, it brought scale insects with it from it's tropical home, so several of my other orchids are infected. Scale is REALLY hard to battle......but I fight the good fight.

Sanity in winter....

Hanging out with the Orchids.

Reading some good books.

Keeping my focus on studio art production.

Daydreaming about Hawaii....