clear skies

Nov 30, 07
9:30 a.m.
JFK High School
Clear skies - cool - high only predicted 57 today
no wind - sun feels good

Just outside the classroom -
Can hear black birds in tops of nearby leafless liquid ambar trees.

(Near black oak tree:)
Green grass still on the ground here - watered lawn - a few dry brown leaves where two months ago were scores of acorns, -



much fewer leaves on the tree than before (9-25)

We move to the Quad - most of the deciduous tree are bare now - several seagulls roost on the top of the library building.




Black oak

a little mess

And you thought your workspace was messy...


This is what my work table looks like getting ready for the
Visions of Heaven show, pieces strewn about -


and freshly completed. (This is my drawing table, not so messy right now.) This final piece is called "The Whole Earth Sings." It's a four panel work that I'm not entirely sure how I'll display it yet, but I'm sure that will work itself out shortly!

playing catch up

Catching up on studio work -


This was actually finished before the Crocker Festival - part of the Visions of Heaven show & my Tree Stories project - Tree Story #43: Things We Cannot See.


And this is actually wet with watercolors on the drawing table as I type, the last piece that will make it into the Visions of Heaven show, deadline next week! I call it 'The Whole Earth Sings.'

Stay tuned for more deadline work - I've still got to get work framed & new pieces done for possible publication, all in the next two weeks - nothing like creativity under pressure!

festival time

My booth at the Crocker Art Museum's Holdiay Art & Craft Festival, this past weeekend:



Empty...



and then busy!

Had a great show, now I need to get back to work for the next event, Visions of Heaven.

painted

Amidst all the framing & matting & miscellaneous preparations for the Crocker Art & Craft Festival, I managed to paint a piece for Visions of Heaven, now waiting for more layers of color...



Another Heavenly Tree Story: Things we cannot see...

busy busy

Busy getting ready for the Crocker Holiday Arts & Crafts Festival



coloring Polaroid transfers



work table as I mat the colored Polaroid transfers

heavenly work

Mustard seed tree story of heaven, to which I added colored pencils and oil pastels - finished, I think -

overlap

Finally got to painting one of the prints I made in the darkroom last week - this is the wet mustard seed heaven tree story, part of both Tree Stories and the Visions of Heaven project -



a little funny how the two projects have overlapped some, I printed another overlap, too - I'll try to get it painted tomorrow after more darkroom work - a few deadlines are looming all at once.

overlay

(a little something I put together in my journal today, will reference it for future darkroom work)

garcia bend

Nov 9
Sacramento River - Garcia Bend
morning - warm, clear, couple light clouds, slight breeze



The sound of a huge flock of blackbirds floats across the river - making what few birds are over my head seem nearly silent.



Water flows past in ripples, the wind gently pushing with the current. Yellow and brown poplar leaves litter the small sandy beach at my feet. A single leaf floats down the river like a tiny boat.

Fri Nov 2

Fri Nov 2
about 9 a.m.
Garcia Bend - Sacramento River
clear sky, no wind, cool
just before my field trip with Kennedy H.S. students





I take a quick look down by the river - several fishermen are launching their boats.

Later, with students:


reeds & dry grasses grow on the levee banks



Listening to bird sounds - so many calling out in the trees - little chirps & tweets, louder wa wa wa -

freshwater clams here & there on the wide beach - river is lower than the last couple times I was here