Author: still a dreamer

Dragons and Gargoyles and … A Man on Stilts? Oh, My!

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Sunday was a miserable day to go anywhere … very hot and super humid. But … that does not stop the intrepid who have an art festival to attend!

Starting out with breakfast at a favorite restaurant in Frenchtown, Lovin’ Oven, (a post for another time), we made a super quick detour – all of 200′ – so I could photograph some outdoor statuary next door at Two Buttons. I wanted to send these fabulous cement bulldogs’ photo to someone who favors the breed, and I wanted to take the gargoyles because … well … they are fabulous and I want one.

The gargoyles come in two finishes – the bronze type patina and the rough, sand-like texture. These are surprisingly lighter than you might imagine, and largely hollow. Unlike the bulldogs, which are solid cement and weigh a ton. Every time I visit Two Buttons, I yearn for the type of property which would afford me a walled garden that someone who knew wayyyyy more than me would plant and maintain. It would have winding walks, stone resting benches where one could stop and read or meditate, and, of course, fabulous statuary. Ahhhh — maybe next lifetime.

This particular gargoyle, I was told by one of the owners, is a replica from a cathedral in Germany. Two Buttons is the import business started by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, and her husband Jose that she met and fell in love with in Bali in the last section of her book. It’s a huge warehouse of amazing things, worth a look.

These magnificent beasts photographed, we hopped in the car, over the nearby bridge to Pennsylvania and down the shady and ever-scenic Rt. 32 to Tinicum.

The Tinicum Arts Festival is an annual 2 day event featuring many talented artists and artisans. With rare exception, the vendors have fine quality wares and for this reason, it’s always a pleasure to attend this festival. (except for the absolutely wilting weather, of course.)

It was, in fact, so humid, that I didn’t even take any photos, but for Uncle Sam on stilts! My friend and I were both fading, but did make a few stops and a few purchases each. I may show these off in the future, but I purchased a beautiful pair of green tourmaline and sterling silver earrings, my treat to myself. And while I wavered, feeling somewhat guilty about spending even more on myself, my friend offered to treat me to the object of my desire, a beautifully wrought dragon mug.

There were quite a few very talented potters at Tinicum, and I could have easily purchased something from any of them, but I kept coming back to  Marian Van Buren and her River Otter Pottery. Small world, it turns out her studio is in nearby Flemington! Such a fine eye and such fabulous glazes. And then the dragon on the mug.

Well, it started to rain and we were done anyway, so onward to home. It wasn’t too long before that gorgeous mug was holding coffee. This mug is not on Marian’s web site, though something similar with frogs is. How gorgeous is this! It’s frightening to think how much I could have bought at this event if I really had more money to spend. But spending it with someone who makes art for their living, who brings their heart and soul to their craft … it seems supporting such artists is always money well spent.

 

The piece de resistance …

Catching Up on Books

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For those of you who check in on me from time to time, you know I sometimes write up books I’ve been reading, sometimes not. Today I’m starting a biography, something I’m not usually drawn to, but I’m giving it a shot. It was once suggested that I read artists’ biographies, that it would help and inspire me in my art. I’d picked this up at the annual library book sale – the biography of Impressionist Berthe Morisot by Anne Higonnet.

Morisot was the only woman among the six Impressionists whose exhibition scandalized Paris in 1874. The biography tells about what Morisot had to overcome to be recognized as a talented artist at this time in history and her accomplishments. This being my favorite period of art, I look forward to reading about Berthe Morisot’s life.

Prior to this, in addition to Skinny Dip by Carl Hiassen, I’ve read novels by two of my favorite authors who did not disappoint – Seventh Heaven by Alice Hoffman and Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver – and I just finished Witches on the Road Tonight by new-to-me author, Sheri Holman. I never fail to be impressed by the writing of Hoffman and Kingsolver … in plot and character, always, but in the amazing richness of their language, especially so. I was equally impressed by the writing of Sheri Holman, and will most defnitely look for books by her again. I am simply in awe of how some writers can turn a phrase.

“The hearse’s headlights rasp the dark as they speed along an unfamiliar road scattering rabbits and turning the night-grazing deer to statuary. The windows are down, the radio off. They pass empty fields and glassy obsidian ponds that float upon the gauze of reflected clouds, repeating pearls of moon. They ride for miles in this hushed, rolling darkness …”  from Witches on the Road Tonight.

Something that made me scratch my head as I read Witches on the Road Tonight is what are chances that I would read two novels, with only one book between them, that both feature characters “hunting sang”in the Appalachian mountains? The phrase refers to people who are searching the area to find ginseng, (“sang”), which can be quite profitable to sell. It actually featured prominently in parts of both novels … go figure!

So Berthe … here’s hoping your story is as compelling as your magnificent art!

 

Life Out This Way

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I was determined this morning to get some time out on one of my porches before the onslaught of work began. There’s plenty on my desk plus a scheduled quick trip to the vet.  It’s easy to get up and take care of the necessary house stuff then dive into work with nary a moment of peace on these still-cool mornings.

So I put off making breakfast and brought my coffee to the shady back porch and sketched a bit. Then I closed my eyes and just listened. I heard the gentle gurgling of the neighbor’s pond which is partially behind my home; the GUNK! of one of the froggy residents; I distinctly recognized a cat bird and a sparrow singing, and at least 5 others that I was not able to identify. There was some machine humming in the distance, an occasional vehicle some blocks away, but these were barely noticeable. There was not one human to be heard. It was peaceful.

In looking about me I saw two goldfinches zipping back and forth in tandem and a few chimney swifts flitting about high in the sky. At the edge of the porch, bumblebees were pushing their way into the lavender hosta flowers. A medium size rust beetle was seemingly trying to bury himself – or perhaps burrow – in the corner by the back door, an impossibility, of course. I couldn’t imagine his purpose but he was way off course, so I took a piece of paper and transported him down into the hosta, where at least it was a more natural environment for him.

When I did get to breakfast, I made sure to include one of the fresh peaches from my local farm stand. This quiet morning was a great start. The only downside? I couldn’t stay for hours.

Perfection

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Perfection sucks. Plain and simple.

This is not to say we shouldn’t strive for the highest standards or do the very best we can do, but striving to always be perfect is a useless and demoralizing task. Yet it’s how many of us live and  how many of us were raised. Things had to be perfect … we had to be perfect.

When you aim for perfection, you discover it’s a moving target.  ~George Fisher

Growing up, many of us had parents and teachers that believed in perfection, and who were no doubt raised the same way. Every little thing had to be just so. No messes, no mistakes. It’s hard for a parent to teach a child that not being perfect is really OK when the opposite message was enforced in them. And so the manacles of impossible perfection get passed on from parent to child.

Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.  ~Salvador Dali

Even knowing this, we get caught up on this search for perfection again and again. Like a piece of cloth catching on a rusty nail as we walk by, we lament the tiny new bubble of thread in the fabric instead of seeing how beautiful the whole still remains.

You see, when weaving a blanket, an Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket to let the soul out.  ~Martha Graham

We feel compelled towards perfection in our need for immaculately clean homes, spotless clothing, the perfect score in golf, the car without the tiniest of marks in the finish. We must have perfect grades, the best performance in our jobs, in sports and other accomplishments, berating ourselves ruthlessly when we “fail.” We are so horribly unfair to ourselves, is it any wonder so many people have difficulty reaching goals and dreams, having allowed so many stumbling blocks to remain in our path?

Always live up to your standards – by lowering them, if necessary.  ~Mignon McLaughlin

I was once given an assignment. I was told to put a deliberate flaw in every drawing I did as a way of getting past my fear of the drawing being less than perfect. It still is a challenge that I cringe before, and if I do it, I can’t let it stay for long. Perfection takes away the enjoyment of the moment, of whatever we’ve worked on and completed, and … the enjoyment of others, too. For those of us who were raised this way, it’s a lifelong challenge, but let it go.

Let perfection go. Pick it up in your hand and blow it away like the tiny fluffs of a spent dandelion. Because here’s the truth. In the deepest sense of the word, we are already perfect. And we never need to try so hard.

Sometimes… when you hold out for everything, you walk away with nothing.  ~From the television show Ally McBeal

Summer Blooming

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Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words.
They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men
for the beauty of their character,
though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning.
~Lydia M. Child

Certainly one of the joys of summer is the endless array of flowers that come into bloom. I am most fortunate that my back porch is surrounded by a variety of flowers, and most plentiful now is the Hydrangea. Below you will see a beautiful blue in bud, beginning to bloom, and further along. I will be sure to capture some of these when they are in full bloom.

Now in full bloom are delicate white hydrangeas, looking much like big snowballs. They start out a pale apple green and become whiter as each blossoms fully.