Haystack to Bug salad

Click on the image as it has more details about whats what...


Haystack hosts classes for Maine residents once a year. I took a drawing class there...and also lots and lots of pictures....It's an absolutely amazing spot. The architect who designed it did a great job of blending all structures right into the natural area, so you park, come through the woods and out onto a deck where you can see out over everything. You then descend down toward the beach. classrooms and dorms are on either side.
Here's a lovely mushroom I found and struggled to draw:




It was also just good to get away from all that has been happening here. Our place is big!It can get overwhelming... We've been realizing what 12 acres can have on it/ all the potential...and also working with a neighbor on getting some grants to get our studio more ecologically sustainable...All good stuff. Still it was great to meet other artists and be inspired by their process. Oh, and Stu the director of Haystack writes poetry! he read some to us and I'm a big fan...He read something about how your soul can leave you at mundane times, it cuts out on you when your doing the dishes, those monotonous day to day "necessary" things. How it abandons you when you stare at a blank page waiting for inspiration...epiphany(which is That feeling when your soul lights up.)

Ok, this looks like a nest, or a mess...but if you can get past that initial "ah! hairball" moment, You'll see some fabulous texture...
More and More I've been getting inspired by funk...I've been thinking about all sorts of reclamation/recycling/reuse stuff, and antibiotics/anti bacterial... This is hard issue to just launch into. short story: funk is good! it must be embraced. it is the stuff of creativity. I'm a big composter, and even more so now that we live in the country. There is alot of composting necessary to being creative artistically as well. Embracing things that are not so nice...Its all in your perspective.

(like for instance:)

Bug Salad!
Our good friend Hiram visited and brought many crabs and lobster. We hung out and then someone yelled "put the bugs on!" So we hypnotized one (you prop them up so all their bug blood runs into their claws and they limp) Then threw them all in boiling water. We had a great feast,and the next day a tasty salad...

Ok so back to mushrooms:
check out the texture!!!

remember to click on this puppy, it's gorgeous! very inspiring..makes me remember the things I love, both to see and make...I was in the garden photographing it when I noticed the texture...
speaking of which: on a different tip:
Here is what I've been up to in the studio:

Ok so that's alot, I'd been haunting blogs of cali friends because I MISS THEM! waiting with baited breath for each new post, and realized I'd better reciprocate
XOXOX