I Hate It When ...

YOU know what people say when they haven't posted in a while. Well, I hate it when people say that because it's evident they've been doing something they *think* is more important than keeping us up to date on their lives.
We went to Montana the week after I started my new job and things just sort of fell apart blogwise. Thank you to anyone who still bothered to check this dusty space.
The new job is going fine but it is busy. There's some relearning to do with certain tasks.
Then this past Friday we said bon voyage to Catherine at Valley Art Gallery. Difficult to part with someone so dear. Food helped. (Some of it's in this picture. This is why I made chai spiced cheesecake.) We all had plates of good stuff and sent her off in great style ... I think!
Saturday, the weather was lovely. Much too beautiful to spend inside.
Today, Sunday, I took a Wisdom Book-making class from Kelly Kilmer at Art on a Lark, a lovely space in our town. Painting paper was so much fun. The book was longer horizontally than vertically, a new way to work on a book. Here is the front (green) and inside (pink). It's bound up with a painted and stamped strip of canvas.
The paints had lots of true pigment and were transparent with gloss gel added. Here's one of the pages, with blue, orange, green paints added, and maybe Payne's gray.
A look at the outside before the front was done. Oh, and the signatures had to be sewn in, but that was really simple. (I love simple. Then the pages were painted (that's up above). And here is the book with the strips of paper and "focal object" that we moved around until we thought we had it right. Must go now - femminismo
p.s. The figure on the front is a Russian clown photographed by Richard Avedon.

What I'm Doing Right Now - besides blogging

YOU can see what I'm enjoying right this moment. There is a tea aficionado here where I work and she's offered up some of her Darjeeling. A little cream, a little sweetener and I'm headed for a relaxing break from work.
Well, still working, but sipping while I work!
Later on, after sipping, I'm going to be skipping off to Valley Art where we will be saying adieu to a much loved volunteer: Catherine Wildt.
She is originally from New Zealand, and we will miss the lilt of her voice. But most of all we will miss her many contributions to the Valley Art Gallery. I think we all realized how much she does for us in the course of a week ... month ... year. But filling her shoes will be an awesome task and may take six or seven of us. Whenever anyone had a question it was : Ask Catherine. She will still be with us however, in our hearts and in the building around us that she has helped maintain and nurture.
To show her how much I love her I stayed up until late last night baking a Chai Spiced Cheesecake with Ginger Crust. You don't even want to imagine how many calories one slice has! (I certainly don't.) But I will be enjoying a slice of this delight while we have to say goodbye to our other delight - Catherine. She will be another reason to visit the City of Brotherly Love when she's settled into her new East Coast home. Bon voyage, Catherine - femminismo

Be Careful What You Ask For!

NATHALIE wanted to know where those vacation photos are. Well you asked for it, but I will start small since it's past my bedtime.
We traveled to Montana and visited Alberta, Canada, and Waterton. We saw the Prince of Wales Hotel, built in 1925, but did not stay there. Think many $$$! We spent the night at another hotel for half the price. Near the Prince of Wales Hotel, however, we found this odd bearded fellow at the left. I think "he" or "she" might have been some pretty flower once upon a time. Anyone know what it is?
We also drove through Glacier National Park and got a photo of one of the 26 or so remaining glaciers. Very worrisome, our world's changing climate. I wonder about Candace in Georgia. I know her garden got washed away this year, but now I wonder even more how the floods there have affected the citizens. I hope all is well in your part of this world - femminismo

Going On Vacation ... Back Soon.

THE glacier calls and we must answer. Vacation in Montana!
Maybe I will be posting by BlackBerry. Maybe not. I'll give it a try but I'm not promising much.
Here is a Living Leaf I hung in town for September 11 - In Remembrance.

How Much Longer Until Retirement?

MY shoulders and neck are aching tonight and I have to ask that question in the blog title. I would like to have a tender, pleasant ache from bending over the art table, not a sharp, constant one from sitting in front of the computer dragging a mouse here and there.
But who am I fooling? If I weren't at work I'd probably be sleeping in, eating and reading - and not doing art anyway. (Or maybe I would. Now that I've said my greatest fear - that I wouldn't manage my time well during retirement - now I've got to make each of those seconds count.)
WHEN/IF it happens.
I was going to show you gelatin I made on Saturday. I took so many photos of the process. But I also took photos of the garden - before the showers began. I hope I haven't already shown these to you! How embarrassing to get SO senile!
Well, I will keep on going, since the gelatin photos are so utterly boring - until the end! Here are the autumn crocus which are likely confused. They poked their slim purple heads through the dry earth (how they do this I do not know) and now they have been drenched with buckets of rain. Fall? Spring? What's going on?
Later in the evening the Mister built a fire to warm us up and I brought these flowers in from shrubs that grow in our back yard. I cannot remember their name. I "watercolored" them in Photoshop.
This past Labor Day weekend in Oregon was very damp and cool - until Monday. That's when we finally ventured into Portland to see all the lovely creations at the outdoor festival "Art in the Pearl." (That's the Pearl District of Portland.) We were on a Quest to find me a new friendship ring. I lost mine 6-9 months ago. I bought it at Art in the Pearl, but had never seen these artisans again. Guess what? At the very last art booth on our very last swing through the festival, we found them! And I got a ring. It is so beautiful I can hardly stop looking at it. Here is where you can find the jewelers. Very talented ... and if you need a horse ... . Pictures of Portland and the ring tomorrow - femminismo

A Toast To Beauty.

I PROMISED Candace I would join her in doing a shrine for Labor Day. Here it is - Monday. And this is what I have finished.
I am going to be putting more touches on my "Shrine to Beauty," Candace, but sorry other events intervened.
I'll have more photos tomorrow of lots of fun stuff. I will include one thing I spotted today in downtown Portland at Art in the Pearl -- a special VooDoo Bacon Doughnut "cake" boy. I think he might be a Beaverton Beaver.
What a wonderful weekend it's been! Haven't had one this good in quite a while - femminismo

Men and Dogs - One Thing in Common.

EVER NOTICE that men and dogs have one thing in common? They both run and howl at the sound of the vacuum cleaner? So today the Mister and I traded spaces for a while. He went to his shop to practice guitar and I vacuumed the living room and hallway.
Time was also spent scrubbing stains from the carpet - which I vow must be replaced.
It's late in the day now and I've just watched "Mad Men" in real time. Usually I see it on Monday or Tuesday via our cable system "On Demand." That's what they call their service, which costs a few measly disposable dollars every month. $$ (worth it, because you can pause and rewind)
It rained so hard today we went out to check our vegetable patch in between downpours to make sure things were still standing. Good thing, because two peppers and one tomato plant were in trouble so we staked them up. The Mister stayed out in the rain, which began again, picking beans and got about four quarts of them - shared with neighbors.
Art Sparker had a link to a great YouTube video - "The Cunning Vixen" - and you should really check it out. I hope my link takes you there. It is extraordinary! - femminismo

Harvest Time

HARVEST moon is on its way next month - I think! We have green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and tomatillos in the garden. I remember in May I showed you a sad plot of ground with not much going on. You wouldn't believe the place now. There is one Roma tomato that's grown a branch that reaches into the top of six foot tall bean plants!
Tonight we had two small ears of corn (nothing to write home - or blog - about), grated cooked zucchini with parmesan cheese and fresh steamed green beans. The cherry tomatoes are so sweet.
We need to have a little more sun to ripen the tomatoes, but this always happens in our part of Oregon. Rain is forecast for this weekend and I don't know if it will split all those red orbs or not. Maybe we should get out the umbrellas for the tomato plants.
If we don't get busy eating it all up there is going to be plenty for the owls, raccoons, birds, slugs and possums. Can't stand the thought of waiting another year for ripe t'maters. But that's the way it goes, right?
Hope your harvest is going well - femminismo

Fall Is In The Air ... Along With Words.

TODAY I am thinking of taking on new challenges and remembering in time - before tomorrow - that today is self-portrait Wednesday. I love red. I love books. So this is a good place to be taking my self-portrait. Finally one without a triple chin showing!
Maybe I am perusing this shelf because I know November is coming all too soon, and with it will come NaNoWriMo. This year I already have decided what to write about. I decided last month or the month before. And I put the idea of what to write about into a safe brain cell. One that, right now, is inaccessible! It was something I've always wanted to write about. An idea I had a long time ago. Ah! Something is coming back. I think I've remembered, but no clues tonight. You will have to wait until tomorrow - or November.
Today, Sept. 2, 2009, for the record, I got a tetanus shot at the doctor's office. They are so good about reminding you what is due. Good, quick shot; sore arm.
And I've been training the person who will take over my old job. She is smart and quick and will do well and I can go on to my new job in a peaceful, quiet office. Where I can s.h.u.t. the door, if I want. I think I hear my sanity calling!
I love this blog. Where else can I keep track of my life so well? Where else am I so dedicated?

- W.D. SNODGRASS -
These lilies, if these things are waterlilies
Which are dancers growing dim across no floor;
These mayflies; whirled dust orbiting in the sun;
This blossoming diffused as rushlights; galactic vapours;
Fluorescence into which we pass and penetrate;
O soft as the thighs of women;
O radiance, into which I go on dying . . . .

femminismo
P.S. Full disclosure: came back to edit and correct one mis-typed word in the poem. Snodgrass must have been rolling in his grave!

Welcome September

TONIGHT I attended the eighth of 12 meetings at NAMI - National Alliance on Mental Illness.
We learned more about empathy tonight and reflective conversation. The use of emphasizing "I" and not "you" when making statements to our mentally ill family members.
Brain disorders are what I am learning about during this 12-week class.
Many times we believe family members are alcoholics or drug users because they want to be. Sometimes it's to quiet the voices they hear inside or to escape those voices.
Sometimes it's a dual problem.
If you have someone with a brain disorder in your family - bipolar illness, schizophrenia, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder - look into finding your local NAMI chapter and seek out the information they can provide. The Family to Family class is excellent! - femminismo

Last Day of the Month - Adieu, August.

SLOWLY inching by, this last day of August is almost gone here on the left coast.
So many wonderfully steamy days these three months of summer. Waiting for the spring equinox, planting seeds in the garden mud, now harvesting and steaming green beans and throwing juicy red cherry tomatoes in salads.
The basil has done well and we must have a trillion tomatillos. Almost as many long, shiny, green-skinned Anaheim peppers to make huevos rancheros.
Just wanted to post a short something and say tomorrow I start training someone to take my old job as I prepare to take on a new one next week.
Goodbye to old friends and hello to new challenges.
Like a garden, continually in some state of growth or replenishing - femminismo

No Gelatin Today, Folks.

I SAID I would show how to make gelatin today, but other things - that couldn't be put off - came up and needed doing F.I.R.S.T.
At 9 p.m. I decided to make a couple of pans of gelatin and then discovered I was a little short of gelatin. I am not about to run to the store now, on a Sunday night, or mix up something resembling runny aspic, so we will start slowly with the ingredients.
You'll need Knox gelatin, in the handy industrial size box; a heat-proof Pyrex measuring pitcher; and a pan to boil half the water. I will add four packets of the Knox for each cup of water.
(NOTE: Have cookie sheets with narrow sides or other appropriate shallow plastic containers on a level surface somewhere all ready to receive the gelatin mix. Make sure they are someplace they can stay and won't be in the way. It's much easier to fill them with the gelatin "in place" than fill them and then try and carry them to another location.)
Half the water goes into the pan to boil, half stays in the heat-proof pitcher. While the water is heating up add all the gelatin powder to the water and stir thoroughly. It will be thick. STIR!
When the water has come to a boil pour it into the gelatin mix and keep stirring this. It will be frothy.
When you have done a good job incorporating all of this, carry it to the pans and pour it in, making sure the pans are level. (However, your pans - if they are like mine - may be a bit warped with the oven's heat over time. Don't worry. Things should be fine anyway.) If there are lots of bubbles or foam still on the top of the gelatin, drag the edge of a sheet of paper over the top to carry them to the side. Use another sheet of paper to see if you can remove most of this stuff.
Let the gelatin sit overnight. To keep it for at least a week, cover it and refrigerate.
NEVER DISPOSE OF THE GELATIN AT ANY TIME DOWN YOUR KITCHEN DRAIN. YOU WILL BE HIRING A PLUMBER.
Hopefully, I will get to make some more gelatin tomorrow.
Today we saw the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds jet team fly over town at a leisurely 400-500 mph. Noisy but thrilling! - femminismo

Kick In The Pants.

CANDACE knows how to get me inspired.
She gives me little kicks in the pants to jump-start my blog engine. Thanks, pal, for your comment.
I have been busy lately changing careers again. Actually, I am going back to something that I have done in the past, so I guess I'm not exactly changing careers. However, the job change has sucked up quite a bit of free time so I hope you will excuse me for not being more regular about posting. I know you wait for each one with bated breath.
Tomorrow I will show how to do a gelatin print step by step. Here are a couple pictures of what I did today while I still had a piece of intact gelatin to work with. (As you can see, it is beginning to split and separate.) I painted the gelatin with acrylics, wet the paper with a spray bottle of water and then put the paper wet side down. Press and pull up, as you see in the picture.
Here is the paper drying. Lots of colors. I think it's time to paint a picture with some recognizable objects and leave off on the abstract colored squirts and daubs - although they do have their own charm.
Tonight I'm watching "Lost in Austen" and can hardly wait. I am sure (well, pretty sure) it will be fun because it throws a modern day young woman into Elizabeth Bennett's England - as Elizabeth. Will she deal with Mr. Darcy in the same way? It will be fun to see - femminismo

More Gelatin Prints ... and more.

THE gelatin prints came rolling off the assembly line this Sunday when JoAnn and I got together for printing fun.
We had four or five trays of gelatin in various shapes and sizes.
I made one in a cookie pan with that was too soft and a couple others that worked just fine. One was leftover gelatin in a pizza pan and I didn't think I would use it much, but I did like its shape and "feel" after a while. And I still used the one Dawn had made for Creative Circle last Saturday. It began to develop a crack similar to the San Andreas Fault eventually, but Dawn, we really got your money's worth out of it before I was through.
JoAnn tried making a "ghost print" with damp watercolor paper and the result was astonishingly beautiful, as you can see above. Ready for framing!
Here in my circular pizza pan gelatin I put color and laid down flowers, put on the paper and pressed, peeled it away; picked up the flowers and then did the ghost print on the same piece. I then daubed gold paint with bubble wrap only around in a circle and laid it down again to pick that up and set off the pink.
And here are clematis leaves and vines - negative image. Color! It's all fun! Fun therapy!
We rolled our brayers through several colors of paint and tried different types of paper. We could see how bits and parts might be masked off to achieve other results - and preserve other effects you don't want to cover up. I didn't get a picture of the print JoAnn made by cutting away portions of the gelatin to make a multi-color picture of pears.
Now that I'm feeling that wonderful, good tired of a weekend of visiting with family and friends and doing plenty of art, I don't know that I'm really ready for Monday and I should go to bed early ... if I was smart, that is.
Last photo on right is of the pizza pan with a circle of clear gelatin, paint and a paper circle to act as a mask. The paper didn't pick up the paint there and it created the impression of a moon floating within a much larger circle of color - femminismo

Gelatin, anyone?

GOT to post something or I will feel worthless as an addicted blogger!
It's been busy around our house for lots of different reasons, but I have managed to do a couple more gelatin prints.
Putting on paint and then laying down a few stems of daisies I came up with this. The daisies were removed from the paint and then I got another print, which added some color in the "resist" areas.
The only problem with this art technique is I get going - trying this, that and the other thing - and before I know it I've got something I like, but I'll be darned if I can remember how I did it.
And of course, with this technique, too, you're thinking backward: OK, first I put down the paint, then the flowers, then the paper - and rubbed. Then I pulled up the paper and removed the flowers and then I put the paper back down again. I think. No, maybe not. Maybe I painted some more. No, that wouldn't have worked. Gosh, I don't know what I did! But I like it!!
Here is another image "pulled" from the painted gelatin onto the paper. The flower petals are almost of photographic quality. I really, really like them and think I'll maybe cut them out and lay them on the more colorful paper. Maybe.
Friends and I are doing this again on Sunday, so get ready to see more artwork for which I will have no technical explanations - femminismo

A Wedding and Art. Things Have Been Hopping!

THE wedding is July 11, 2010, so it's not as though that's what I've been doing for the past few days. But my granddaughter is getting ready for that big day, next year, and on Saturday she held a gathering of mothers and grandmothers to preview "The Dress."
The girl knows what she wants and doesn't want. The wedding dress is lovely, with an over-skirt of tulle embroidered with a cascading floral pattern and squiggly "wedding cake" embroidery on the bodice. The veil tops it off perfectly, but of course it's the girl inside the dress that's the prettiest and brightest thing in the world. Kind, generous, loving, her head on straight, future plans galore - she's got it all in hand, down to not forcing her fellow, cash-strapped, student friends to spend a fortune on clothes just to be in the wedding.
She is lucky to have worked at the Joel Palmer House, which is where she will have her wedding and reception. Check out the menu. I am looking forward to eating there. Mushrooms - of all sorts - in almost everything but the panna cotta (I am hoping).
After having lunch with Marissa, my granddaughter (and her future mother-in-law, her mother and other grandmother), I arrived back home and then went with a young friend, Ashley, to do gelatin prints at Art on a Lark. (It's an art store where you rent space and tools to work.)
This was the first time many of us had done this. Led by Dawn S., we proceeded to paint up a storm on the gelatin, putting down natural materials and other stuff that turned up. Then we pressed paper on top, rubbed it and took both a negative and positive impression on our paper.
There's no other way to learn these processes except jumping right in and spreading on the paint.
We had plenty of paper and lots of enthusiasm, so very soon every available space for drying paper was taken up. The gelatin is very sturdy - surprisingly so. I have a tray of gelatin I brought home that I'm going to try before bed tonight. Forget the dinner dishes!
Here is one of Ashley's prints. I especially loved the colors, and the stamp she used added a very modernistic appeal. This would make great gift wrap, don't you think?
Just a couple more that I did - they are side by side - and then I'm signing off so I'll have some time to go paint a bit. I, as always, loved the bit of copper paint. I love metallics. They are a great substitute when you're trying not to "glitterize" the entire world - femminismo

Taking Care of Love.

TAKING care of this thing called love - or this thing called marriage - is not for the faint of heart.
Like being a parent you can't let this "child" out of your sight. It mustn't lose its significance, its promise and its purpose.
This lady knows it. When the pages of the book close, ooh la la! What's that she's singing? Is it a song of love to him, or a song of woe to herself. (She looks a bit sad, doesn't she?)
Days turn into months, months turn into years and before we know it we can lose sight of the desired object we once wanted over anything else.
Perhaps her sweet voice will charm this Romeo again.
And this dry leaf of summer is getting a tiny bit of rain in Oregon today. Very tiny. Almost gone now. Thanks for sticking with me if you're reading this. More tomorrow, I promise - femminismo
p.s. I'm going to do a Labor Day shrine with Candace at EyeCandy! A shrine to love, perhaps? ; )

Happy Birthday to Judy-Girl.

OH, I really wanted to post a photo of my sister, Judy, tonight, when she was about 14 and had her hair in big, round, prickly hair rollers, but I waited too long. At 10 p.m. the wardens are coming down the hallways rattling their nightsticks on the bars of our cells and warning us it's time to turn off our lights and computers.
But before this day is over, I want to remember the sister who helped me figure out growing up. We were each other's encyclopedias, in a way. With our two heads together, we almost had everything figured out. (these thoughts regarding what we figured out have been deleted, since I'd be telling too much)
Suffice it to say we were together in good and bad, managing to make a game of being poor but feeling rich.
Love you, Judy. Be well forever! - Jeanne

Still Here ... Just Busy

SO sorry to be so very busy I don't have time for my blog.
I'll be back before you know it with some crazy plan or idea. Just give me a couple of hours sleep and an ambitious day tomorrow will unfold and be related here.
Tomorrow is newspaper day - putting it all together and trying to make sure all is right with grammar, spelling and facts.
Wish us luck doing all that and wish our reporters good luck finding some "new" news to fill up the pages.
For now, let me tell you I've been thinking of Mama today - femminismo

Life's A Tasty Dish ... Mostly.

MOSTLY I do think life is pretty good, but I am seriously blessed. I just wanted to let you know this and remind myself at the same time. Just like these bees lolling in the purple blossoms on the cardoon, I've got it easy. I work for it, don't get me wrong, but I've been lucky too!
For four weeks now I have been attending "Family to Family" classes through Oregon's NAMI chapter (National Alliance on Mental Illness). We have studied brain disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder), symptoms, crisis intervention, suicide prevention, family interactions and the way in which *all* family members are affected by mental illness and tonight we studied - in a very limited way - the functions of the brain and the ways in which scientists *hypothesize* mental illness happens.
There are so many causes, so much conjecture, it is easy to see how people are misdiagnosed for years. And:
“Mental disability is not a scandal — it is an illness. And like physical illness, it is treatable.”
- President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (from the NAMI Web site)
We need more advocates for the mentally ill, because often they cannot speak for themselves.
Think of the people you know, either in your family or among your friends, whose lives have been touched by cancer. Maybe your own life.
Then think about those you know who have a mental illness. Don't know anyone? Maybe you know someone who's depressed. That's a brain disorder; an imbalance of chemicals.
I'll bet everyone knows at least one person, maybe two. And if you don't know about their brain disorder it might be because of the stigma that still exists.
"An estimated one in five American families is affected by mental illnesses such as major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Without treatment, people living with mental illness may face unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness and suicide."
Join me in making an effort to advocate for the mentally ill - femminismo