POR AMOR AL ARTE

It's getting better all the time

2008-07-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

So what I have been up to? Something weird is happening, I have this voracious appetite and have been eating more than I usually do. I'm hungry all the time, unusual for me who always eats bird-sized meals. I sure hope it doesn't settle in all the wrong places.

Well, went for the interview yesterday and in two weeks I will know if I have been selected for round 2 which would mean another interview with the Board of Directors. I am crossing my fingers, I really want this job. It is perfect for me.

Thanks to www.jperegrineart.typepad.com/ I have picked up my art journal again and have been painting and collaging away. It is so challenging to see other people's work. It makes you say, I CAN DO THAT. My room, being so cluttered, has suffered with all the papers and paints spread out over the floor but it's been worth it. I really love some of the things that have resulted. I guess it's OK to give myself a pat on the back, isn't it?

Letters from Claudia and Peter and Lucy and Sourdoughs #7 with Richard keep me happy. Scott is back from Chile and that makes him happy.

Martin and Andrea are planning a camping trip in about two weeks and I so want to come. I haven't gone camping in years. Apparently Erika and Tyler and other members of the family will be coming so it will be fun.

This urge to spread CULTURA

2008-07-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

Los Hermanos

Yo tengo tantos hermanos que nos los puedo contar;
en el valle, en la montaña,en la pampa y en el mar.
Cada cual con sus trabajos,con sus sueños cada cual,
con la esperanza delante,con los recuerdos detrás.
Yo tengo tantos hermanos que no los puedo contar.
Gente de mano caliente por eso de la amistad;
con un lloro pa'llorarlo,con un rezo, pa' rezar.
Con un horizonte abierto que siempre esta mas allá y esa fuerza pa' buscarlo con tesón y voluntad.
Cuando parece mas cerca es cuando se aleja mas,
yo tengo tantos hermanosque no los puedo contar.
Y así seguimos andando curtidos de soledad;
nos perdemos por el mundo nos volvemos a encontrar.
Y así nos reconocemos, por el lejano mirar;
por las coplas que mordmos, semillas de inmensidad.
Y así seguimos andando curtidos de soledad; y en nosotros nuestros muertos pa' que nadie quede atrás
Yo tengo hermanos que no los puedo contar,y una hermana muy hermosa que se llama Libertad.

Where I want to be

2008-07-13T20:03:00.001-07:00

It has been such a stimulating, positive, good week. Not only did I get the call for the interview I've been waiting for but I have felt renewed and optimistic about the changes coming up. It just feels like life IS taking me in the right direction. I just needed to get rid of some unresolved issues.

My Facebook friends have swelled to over 100. I have re-encountered so so many friends young and old, family members and have gotten to see photos of the years in between. I never realized how exciting Facebook was. I feel like a kid browsing through all the profiles of my friends.

Creatively, I am at a standstill. This happens once in awhile. I just have to let it go. I just don't know what medium to pick up. My fingers are tired of sewing and the pricks show. So right now just trading and playing around with Photoscape.

Writing to Peter in Czechoslovakia as he starts a new duo with Jana, funny friendship building yet hard to see how we can possibly meet.

Still planning a possible trip to Chile for the reunion of The Grange School. I so want to attend the 82nd. anniversary of the school and see who will be there. I am thinking of contributing some ideas for videos and music, slideshows and readings.
Nunquam non Paratus

ZNE CONVENZIONE

2008-07-10T21:18:00.000-07:00

I get to go! I am ecstatic that I get to meet at least 160 of them. Yes, I am going to the ZNE CONVENZIONE at the end of August up in Pleasanton, CA. I've wanted to meet all my ZNE friends for years now. We got started about nine years ago and the group has grown to over 800 members over the years. God knows how many works of art by zners I own. As a matter of fact I just bought one more from Lani Kent a couple of days ago and am bidding on her "Masquerade" ATC on e-bay. It will be so awesome to meet her since she will be there too.

I found this vacation home for rent on the net; up on a hill, a 4.5 acre ranch that we will (hopefully) be sharing with 7 of the instructors. The house looks perfect and the view paradisiacal.

I just can't wait. I signed up for Susan Tuttle's workshop. It was a tough decision since so many great instructors will be there amongst them Joanna of Moss Hill Studio and Joanna Pettit. Wish I could take all of them.

Here are some pictures of the house. And we get it for a steal a piece, about $50 a night. Ok now to make lots of memories.

¡Correo!

2008-07-07T11:03:00.001-07:00

¡Correo!
Originally uploaded by Gustavo Aimar

I discovered this amazing artist through Flickr. I just love everything about his imagination. Look at this envelope he is sending someone in Italy. On top of that, his whole world is imbued with the things I like. He lives in Buenos Aires. I think I'll present him to my friend Milagros; they would really get along.

Ademas es de toda mi onda o no?

Esta es una de mis ultimas obras.

My latest Trio of Trees

2008-07-06T16:02:00.001-07:00

My latest Trio of Trees
Originally uploaded by peregrine blue

Between going to the swimming pool and uploading tons of family photos to Facebook for the family scattered around the world, my hands return to needle and thread.

The past two weeks have been fabric inspired again. I have opted to trade them rather than selling them since fabric ATCs don't seem to have the broad appeal paper ATCs have. In the process I have met some awesome online friends in Finland, England and Brazil.

The week has been an explosion of passion. What with talking to Jorge at midnight and sipping brandy over Chopin while talking to Armando, calling Anita on Skype and talking for over an hour and a half and finding Mario and Mairene and Lucy and Yoly, my head has been spinning with memories.

I want to go to Chile again. This time on a real vacation. The last trip was all responsibility with the occasional fun at night. I want to go for a long walk and eat raspberry ice cream cones with my hairy-chested friend, go swimming in the river naked with Anita, drink tons of Pisco Sours and get really tipsy and talk silly.

I want to put Chaos........
into chaos within chaos
Am I going crazy on a whim?

To be continued.....

I will put Chaos into fourteen lines

And keep him there; and let him thence escape

If he be lucky; let him twist, and ape

Flood, fire, and demon --- his adroit designs

Will strain to nothing in the strict confines

Of this sweet order, where, in pious rape,

I hold his essence and amorphous shape,

Till he with Order mingles and combines.

Past are the hours, the years of our duress,

His arrogance, our awful servitude:

I have him. He is nothing more nor less

Than something simple not yet understood;

I shall not even force him to confess;

Or answer. I will only make him good.
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Digital ATCS

2008-06-29T19:14:00.001-07:00

Digital ATC
Originally uploaded by peregrine blue

I just love this program Tyler introduced me to. It's wonderful. Yet it does take a long time to actually get to the point where you feel you have actually created something.

These dasy of creativity have been fantastic but I yearn for that early morning coffee on the run to get to work and seeing the world passing me by on the freeway and people everywhere.

I can definitely enjoy myself endlessly here; the garden has benefited immensly and so many freinds just popping out of the the Land of Facebook. Also an interesting friend from New York, his name is Peter. I've always liked that name. And he's a musician and guitar performer.

I will make a mosaic of all the friends re-entering my life.

I've been cooking a lot too; made the most delicious tri-tip with Tony Roma's sauce yesterday with "corbatitas" which you can only find in the Jewish aisle at the supermarket.

Reading, reading reading at night. Just finished My Darling Clementine about Clementine Churchill and switched to Sons and Lovers, that Lawrence novel I had never gotten around to reading yet. I also have Jefferson's biography still have read on the nightstand.

Yet, tomorrow is another day and that call must come. It must and it will.

Jonsi's Voice of an Angel

2008-06-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

This is truly the voice of an Angel and he takes me to where I want to be inside and out

"I remain optimistic"

2008-06-17T20:29:00.001-07:00

"I remain optimistic"
Originally uploaded by peregrine blue

Look what I learned to do today with a simple click of the finger. I love it. Although I tend to criticize people who sit behind a computer all day, as I search for the PERFECT job, I have to be close to mine to see if anybody has written to me rather than call for the interview. So I have all these minimizations while i wander off to the fun artsy sites and tutorials.

Today I downloaded Photoscpae. Tylewr had recommended this program once to me while visiting Topanga and I loved some of the things he had done with his own photos. Although I would like to do more manipulations with color gradation and mixing, this didn't turn out all that bad did it.

Happy me. To learn a new trick.

:: and they sing ::

2008-06-16T20:14:00.001-07:00

:: and they sing ::
Originally uploaded by ArtByChrysti

Chrysti is at it again. How she does it, I can't imagine. The mediums she uses, the almost perfection of her pieces (remember, perfeection is the enemy of beauty or so say I) and her souls unravelling as she creates is such a blessing. I found two of her landscapes today on flickr and was just blown away. Wonder what program she uses.

And once again Friendship

2008-06-12T16:02:00.001-07:00

Yo tengo tantos hermanos.....

que no los puedo contar

Artwork by claudiabegins on etsy

Asi es. Claudia en Palmas de Mallorca me ha mantenido fuerte, firme, alentada con un carino incansable, dandome apoyo en este nuevo desvio. Claudia a quien conoci por azar, por una simple pregunta que cayo en mi falda a traves de Flickr. Resulto que eramos las dos "chilensis", habiamos caminado por los mismos barrios, nos gustaban las mismas cosas y de pronto eramos amigas.

WOW. Gracias preciosa por existir, por tener el don de la palabra, por tener ese corazon tan grande y por ese talento maravilloso de crear en cada momento de tu caminar.

Sigur Ros and Too Dark for a Picture Hoppipolla (PLAY) together as My favorite Music Groups NOW

2008-06-12T15:37:00.000-07:00

Photo by Unicef

Thanks to my musician son I discovered these genuises of music and they are by far my favorite group right now together with an alternative music band in Ventura called Too Dark for a Picture. I might be from a generation removed from them but I can tell quality, TOP quality when I see, hear, feel, smell or touch. You make my day.

Just couldn't resist sharing this Video

2008-06-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

It's not so bad after all

2008-06-11T10:53:00.001-07:00

Already Wednesday and just waiting for the job calls to come in. I have sent out a few applications and resumes yet no calls. I wonder if it's my age. They probably imagine that at 52 I look like a dowdy, plump, grey haired spinster and just go on to the next one. I must stay strong and focused and believe in myself. Getting back into the "real" world is scary but I have soooooo many qualifications in spite of my artsyness that someone is bound to spot me in the crowd.

In the meantime, what have I done to make my life peaceful and joyous? Plant, plant, plant living things. I started some more container pots with chives, lemongrass and coleus and today I will get to work on the basil, salvia and coreopsis.

Freddy is missing. we miss him so much. all his friends have come looking for him, linger around the garden for a while and realize he's not here. His girlfriend also came looking for him last night. Where are you Freddy?

And sewing. I made another Cornwall Cottage with white felt and embroidery. I love these. I think I'll make a Shakespeare cottage next and continue with my painting. I also signed up for a fabric ATC swap and made a pink and white ATC for Miss Frugality in England.

Free Again

2008-06-09T21:13:00.001-07:00

(Shuttle Bug by Stephanie Rubiano)

Oh what a feeling of freedom. So many wonderful things happening in my new found journey. Jorge Salas called me all the way from Chile and we talked all about the past and his four failed marriages and how he loved me so at one time and the two daughters he has. One is named Canela Jesus, what a gorgeous name. I thought the creation pictured here may look a bit like her.

Visited my love Bill in Santa Barbara over the weekend. breakfast in bed, walks to have a night shot of wheat grass and a good movie (US Marshalls-I love Tommy Lee Jones) on the telly. Then a Cajun breakfast out on the town and back to sit and chat on the couch over coffee and friendship. Glorious after the droll of the last few months in Camarillo.

Saturday eve drove clear across the mountains into Topanga Canyon to visit Martin and Andrea. It was Andrea's birthday and all her friends from the canyon were there. Everybody brought some sort of home made salad or dish and I fell in love with Seth's seeweed, carrot and avocado salad. I must have repeated myself three times. Love music and dancing and a quiet night in that beautiful California place. Couldn't quite fall asleep so picked up one of Martin's books Son's and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence which I had missed and relished it tucked under Tylers comforter.

Jorge Figueroa arrived the next morning from Bahia, Brazil and we caught up on all the new ventures he is striking at. Farming in Bahia, a grape seed oil he is trying to produce in Chile and a new love there too by the name of Pilar. He is such a nice nice man; funny that he has stayed linked to the family since the mid 1970's. I guess he's part of the family now since her's living with Martin up in the canyon now too.

It's only Monday and I miss my Bill so much and Freddy is missing for two days now. Oh, well, every day has it's surprises. The ZNE poetry group has come up with some really funny poems lately and I'm glad I have been able to contribute something in spite of my dazed and confused state.

William Emery Caudill, Love of My Life

2008-05-28T17:52:00.001-07:00

William Emery Caudill, Love of My Life
Originally uploaded by peregrine blue

I finally dug up this photo and scanned it to upload to my blog. There you are, my darling man, my bestest friend ever, in the days when you would come over after work to barbecue for me. I still remember every detail; the hand-picked flowers you you used to buy me at Passion Flowers, how animals always came up to you, how you twitched them toes when you were barefoot watching TV stretched across the floor. And oh what ahand at cooking and head massages you have.

WHY?

2008-05-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

Me hacen falta tantas cosas, bueno, no cosas, sino experiencias que anteriormente me producian pasion. Encontrarme, por ejemplo, de sorpresa con Diego Maqueira tomandose un cafe en la Plaza del Mulato Gil, pasar el verano a pata pelada en Vichuquen, cagarme, mearme de la risa con mis amigas en Santiago, caminar por los caminos de tierra del sur aspirando aromas que la dejan a una maravillada de un Dios tan perfecto. Solo se logra esto cuando se camina harto como en Chile. Echo de menos el azar de los encuentros, las vistas por las ventanas de las micros y el metro, los rostros caminando por el Paseo Ahumada.

La naturaleza es mi mayor atraccion. Pienso que el mayor desastre de una sociedad civilizada es el alejamiento de la naturaleza. Cuantos ninos no estarian mas sanos mentalmente si pasaran mas tiempo libres a la orilla del mar o un rio. Po experiencia ahi es donde me siento mas feliz, mas tranquila, mas plena.

La responsabilidad me tiene chata. Quiero ser libre otra vez, dejar de ser esclava del pinche dolar peso, comer fruta fresca, plantar mis vegetales, ir a pescar mariscos. Simplemente dicho, relajarse y desprenderse de esta esclavitud.

Al menos sigo con la mirada puesta en las bellezas y disfruto de lo visual aunque mi alma este un poco descompuesta.

ENNUI

2008-05-15T19:38:00.001-07:00

The weeks after my return have been a mixture of feelings. Although the sun is happy, the water in the pool is my favorite color and that one bird sings just for me outside my window, something seems amiss.

So my hands are my escape, mi desahogo.

80 hours of labour

2008-05-10T18:10:00.001-07:00

80 hours of labour
Originally uploaded by peregrine blue

Latest work. Huge amount of time and effort went into putting together this wall mobile since each circle was crocheted and then handstitched onto a felt circle then stitched again t along crochet strand for weight.

I will definitely keep this one since too many hours of work went into it to even start to put a price on it.

And this evening I begin another of my art dolls.

Work in Progress Crochet

2008-05-09T13:22:00.001-07:00

What a week. Bernardita came over to stay for several days and we went all over looking for cottons and yarns to begin the knitting and crochet phase anew. I have decided I must stay away from looking at other people's work and concentrate on looking within to picture my own fantasies and illusions. Only in this way can I really bring out my TRUE expression and materilaize it. An inspired work is good once in a while but I feel it really misleads me and frustrates me more than satisfy my creative instinct.

I began this crochet mobile with an old piece of driftwood I sanded. Lots of different sized cotton crochet circles will become a hanging rainbow of colors over a door frame.

Outside my window, my garden speaks to me. The colors are almost fluorescent. Watering in the evening is a happy ritual.

Feedsack art dolls

2008-04-30T16:39:00.001-07:00

Feedsack art doll
Originally uploaded by peregrine blue

Staying busy with my hands. Made Quiche for lunch today and settled back into my craft room to create this art doll inspired by the latest Selvedge Magazine. I had picked up an old feedsack quilt years ago at a Thrift Store that needed tons of mending and then decided against it, awaiting the right time to disassemble and give new life to the squares. Hopefully she will begin to come alive and I will give birth to a family. I just love how she turned out.

Also continuing with the Real Estate venture in the Carolinas and possible Northern California.

FRIDAY, I'M IN lOVE

2008-04-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

What could be better inspiration than my worldwide friends?

Another Poem found in a scrappy notebook

2008-04-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

When I write poetry, I usually write in Spanish

AGUDO

Respondiste a mi por impulsos.
Todos fueron acertados.
Me despoje de todo,
entregue el alma para ser tu sueno
en tu dominio, naci de nuevo.

Vi como tu mitad nino queria irrumpir en lo nuevo,
llegar a lo mas alto
aunque implicara metar las manos al fuego.
Y te deje despojar mi tierra fertil,
hiciste de nuevo mi cuento adulto

Al final tu guerra interior
se aferro a tu miedo infantil,
el instinto animal se rindio ante el espino,
la bruma era demasiado densa para descifrar mensajes

Por todo lo que sentimos
en entrana, viscera, corazon y mente
nuestros cuerpos permanecieron,
ajenos a la humedad y al tacto
apenas rozandonos y siempre en huida
recordada como un sollozo
anos y anos de sollozo tras agudo sollozo

Domino Art Doll for Swap and Self Portriat

2008-04-23T19:12:00.001-07:00

Domino Art Doll for Swap
Originally uploaded by peregrine blue

Oh it's good to be HOME! Fresh strawberries (it's Spring here), my comfy bed, the view of the orange trees from my bedroom windows and family, not to mention a great book (American Sphinx-A Jefferson Biography) and the HBO miniseries about John & Abigail Adams which I have always admired.

It has taken me a week to settle in, re-group and re-think what my next goals are. I had such a good time, outing every day non-stop for 35 days that I kind of got used to vacation mode and coming home has been a cultural shock of sorts.

Thank God for challenges. The first is a domino doll swap I had signed up for prior to leaving and the second is a self-portrait for the ZNE network. The self-portrait will be more difficult since we were only given a 4x4 inch space to work on. I'm still debating whether it will be my face or my whole being.

Spring will be refereshing to start plans for Phase II of my new land in Bosque Vida, Chile. I have envisioned a large loft-style house with a big deck overlooking the native trees. Ofcourse there will also be a long walkway for neighbors and friends which will lead to a grotto filled with the religious icons, sculptures, paintings and carvings I have collected over the years. They will be able to come to pray, light candles, be quiet or just meditate. Hopefully I can create a man-made water cascade for serenity.

Tatiana and Jon

2008-03-04T20:21:00.000-08:00

I will miss you soooooooo much while I'm gone. Girl, boy, please behave yourselves, act responsibly and, if possible, write to me every day. I love you so much and will think of you constantly, even feel a little guilty for not sharing the trip. Chilenos de corazon, unidos en las adversidades y en la distancia, VOLVERE con un gran VENCEREMOS en Puerto Varas.