Today was just too wonderful to stay indoors so out I went to set up a little experiment. The paper I recently made from newspapers turned out to be beautiful so I thought I would try recycling some magazines. A couple of dear friends just donated some magazines so I chose Gardens & Guns ( who would have thought there would be enough subscribers and advertisers to publish such a magazine!! My friend got them in a bundle from her dentist. Anyway the pages were too thick for collage and were quite colorful ( the gardens not the guns...) When I blended the colorful pages and put the pulp in the vat, the pages came out a plain grey like newsprint!! Even the recycled newspapers had more character!! So I took some full color pages from a Sports Illustrated (not the swimsuit issue, I guess the dentist probably kept that issue... just sayin') After spinning these pages and adding them to the vat, beautiful tiny flecks of color appeared. I pulled only small pages probably 4" X 4". I do not know what I will do with them but they are very pretty and have interesting textures. One of the things I love the most about making paper is that you never know until you pull the screen out of the vat what you will get.  All in all a great way to spend a couple of hours on a gorgeous day!!

I noticed while painting at the same time as my students that I am a terribly noisy painter. When something goes well, expressions of joy. When something is NOT going well grunts, groans, even growls. I talk to the painting and the paint and the brushes. I may have to stop painting during class. No, I am sure that they learn something even from this quirk. I think new painters assume that experienced artists just step up to a blank canvas and create effortlessly. That may very well be true of others but for me it is an arduous process from the first germ of an idea all the way through to the last stroke of the signature. I love the entire process and find that without the struggle the end result would not be as satisfying. That is true of most things in life, I think. Now for those times when I go through the whole process and the end result is NOT satisfying, that is whole different story...

I wrote the following poem a while back to include with some of my work in a show. Can you see how it relates to many of my pieces?

Time
Time is not always a straight line,
It curves, bends, spirals
Even circles back around.
Do you stand where others have stood?
Walk where others have trod?
Do you leave a mark on time at all?
And if so,
Is it for the benefit of those who will
Follow?

All my life, at least since I could hold a crayon or a pencil I have drawn. I have also seen the world as a fantastic dance of color.
I came to formal art training in my 40s so I have been making up for time spent on other important things ( I will not say for lost time because it certainly wasn't.)
I am also coming late to the blogosphere but I think I have a few things to share that someone out there might find interesting, useful, inspiring and/or entertaining.
 So in the coming days, weeks, months I will get my thoughts down on what used to be paper but is now air.
Stay tuned...