Creative Play

"Kaweah River" from a series "On The Walk...", Three Rivers, Winter 2009. The daily walk along Kaweah River Road is full of adventure if you keep your eyes open. Critters and birds attracted to the water's edge, the seasons change the landscape and the way the rivers runs through it. A new home was built and I realized before long all the wild beauty will disappear, even the local Hawk was so disturbed by the loss of some of his territory he knocked the hats off a few walkers, even hurting a couple. I feel empathy for his rage, even as I understand how lucky the people who moved in are. I take my camera each season, hoping to capture this lovely place, just in case my fear is realized and the wild disappears. "Truck Garden," Three Rivers, 2009 Pat O'connell's Petrol Station is a familiar landmark for those of us who live in Three Rivers, and many tourists who pass through, especially those who find themselves in difficulty and Pat has been cal...

Thursday, November 5th, 2009, at the Tulare Historical Society and Museum, the Annual Tulare Impressions Art Show will host the Artists Reception, 5:30 P.M. - 7:00 P. M. I have entered "Badger Barn," a 16x20 print, matted and framed in barn wood. The show will run through January.

This coming weekend, November 6-8, 2009, is the Kaweah Land and Arts Festival sponsored by the Sequoia Riverlands Trust. Friday is the kick off at Arts Visalia Gallery with showings from Matthew Rangel, artist, printmaker and John Spivey, author, photographer. Saturday at the Kaweah Oaks Preserve, artists, storytellers, muscians and natural history talks will take place 11:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. I will have a set up to display photo images of Kaweah Oaks Preserve, Yokohl Valley and Three Rivers enlarged, framed, matted, and as gift cards. Ceramic masks that were inspired by the natural beauty we are surrounded by. I will include the recycled objects I have lately been working on, thrown away rusted piles of trash turned into a new use: art. Matthew had contacted me because he saw my Yokohl Valley photographs at Arts Visalia and wanted me to be apart of this weekend celebrating the land and history of the Kaweah watershed, where nature impinges on us daily. I am honored to be included. O...

The afternoon at the Haxton's home was hot, fun, entertaining, and carried on the tradition of the Concert on the Grass in great form. Music by way of instruments and voices, poetry, dance and art shared by all. Colorful costumes from Scotland to Mexico to South America filled the stage. I stopped counting at 175 people, who braved 101 degree heat, covering the grassy knoll of the Haxton's yard, picnic baskets, bottles of wine, snacks of every kind, blankets and picnic chairs spread out, young children swaying and dancing to the music. One the amazing details is the parking arrangement with the Walker's, neighbors. You park on their property and then a shuttle van drives you to the Concert site. It is one of the small details that makes this event so successful, every detail worked out to look so simple, and yet, we all know isn't. Thanks to Sara Shena, Ken Elias, Ann Haxton and Bill Haxton, along with the entertainers and artists from the Arts Alliance of Three Rivers,...

Today is the Concert on the Grass. My first guest from Shell Beach arrived yesterday. The art work is on display, set up yesterday. The Haxton's, Ken and Sarah are set to host another wonderful afternoon. It will be hot, but under the trees, on the grassy knoll, a breeze usually washes over the crowd as we listen to the wonderful entertainment, a day I look forward to, and hope we have a large crowd. A new pond was built this past year and if we are lucky the breezes will be cooled by the water. This propellor will be on display. It won a Blue Ribbon in this years Tulare County Fair. I call it Starry Night. Bill Haxton told me he thought it might be from a wooden small boat from the 1950's. It is part of the recycled art collection I have been making of late. I'll also have displayed Clay Mono-prints, a 16x20 framed photograph, matted photos and gift cards. More guests from Fresno, and Visalia will meet us at the Concert. Dinner at my house for some of them this evening. Ot...

"Run" by Ann Patchett is a treat to read. About the mixing and matching of race and class in Boston. It so reminded me of my family, not in the details of the book, but in the essence. My Stepfather introduced a view to family in a new way to me. Family is blood, but it can be more. What does blood have to do with love? Not much. Actions say loudly what love really is, day by day, filling in details, so that at the end of his life I had no doubts that my Stepfather loved me and my siblings deeply (whole, stepped, and adopted), and in a way that meant there is always room for one more. Love has no boundaries. It framed the life I was to choose, two sons I birthed (brown skins), a daughter of the heart, white, looks more like me than my birth sons, and a stepdaughter, Mayan ancestry who was adopted into my present husbands life and lucky me, I received her into mine. Like my Pop I have four children who came to me in different ways, and are so different from one another, and ye...

Samples of art to be shared at Concert on the Grass: Photography: Inspiration, Spirit Hill, 2009 Bruce Keller, husband Photography: Ami, 2 days old, 2009 Recycled Art: Flywheel in Dots, 2009 Recycled Art: Damper, 2009 Clay Monoprint: Attraction, 2009 Ceramics: Giraffe, Long Beach Blend Clay, Glaze, 2009 Photography: Kaweah River, 2009 Photography: Buckeye View, 2009 Pendant: 1/2 & 1/2 Clay, Glaze, Schwartski Crystal, 2009

September 26, 2009 Concert on the Grass will take place once again. It is a lovely afternoon of music, poetry, drama, and art, along the Kaweah River. It takes place at Bill and Ann Haxton's on their large lawn. You can see more detail at their website: http://www.concertonthegrass.org/ if you are interested in joining us. Last year they invited artists to display art to add another quality to the event. I loved the whole atmosphere, creativity of people, and the beauty of the setting. Hawks soaring above, sounds of the river nearby, and music floating in the air. I am even more excited about this year. A couple of friends will come to stay at our place, and nearby others will stay. We will probably have a dinner party here at Spirit Hill afterward. Lot's to do to prepare between now and then. I cannot wait!

It reared it's ugly head once again to the unsuspecting. Mr. Gates returned from China to find his key wouldn't work. He and his driver broke into the house. The driver left. A neighbor observed them and called the police. Officer Crowley arrived with another officer. They went into the house, I guess by Gates invitation, and tried to assess was Gates trying to rob the place. Gate showed the officer his driver's license and his Harvard Professor ID card. The policeman called someone to verify that Gates' card was real, at which point Gates became angry. He felt he was being racially profiled. Here he was in his own house, with ID to prove it, and the policeman wouldn't let it go. So Gates told him to leave, I would guess in a rage, but Gates doesn't have a raging reputation, so I don't know. But I am sure he was loud and direct. The policeman asked him to step outside, and Gates told him something to do with his (the policeman's) mother. Since Gates was ...

Seeing this clock for the first time after years of walking down Main Street, Visalia, CA Sent this image to be judged by Photo Shoot Day Contest

Absorbed photographer on Main Street, Visalia, CA

Ben Maddox Bed & Breakfast, Visalia, CA 7/18/2009

I had a wonderful day with photographer's in Visalia, California. This was a day shared across the country in many cities. 50 of us met at the Fox Theater. We walked around 2 miles, stopping at other historical sites: The Ben Maddox Bed and Breakfast, St. Mary's Catholic Church, Arts Visalia, and past the oldest building in Visalia, now a church, down Main Street, to end at Vintage Press Restaurant for those who were still with the gang to share photos on computers. Ron Holman graciously hosted us. Meeting so many people with interest in photography was thrilling. We sent in two photos each to compete in a contest that will be judge in August. I'll post some of the images I took, that I liked best. Not long ago I went to Manhattan, camera in hand, and spent three days capturing the excitement of the big city. As I walked through the streets of Visalia, I decided this day to really "see" what was in front of me. I hope you enjoy the results.

Trip up Mineral King Road with Deby Cook on Wednesday morning captured many wild flowers. Tincture Plant (Far left) 2) Slender Larkspur (near left) 3) Queen Anne's Lace (Below)

Today we celebrate Maria. Kay, step-mother-in-law, Lavonne, mother-in-law, and I, mother of the heart, will take her to lunch at Vintage Press, a nice restaurant in Visalia. Her mom is ill and lives too far away, so we stand in her stead. Alex, the son, will appear for a few minutes, flowers in hand to surprise her. We are bringing individual gifts we each made, and some crisp bills to add up to her 50 years of life, but our main goal is to surround her in motherlyness. Does she need this? Probably not. But we do. It is shocking to have your children reach half a century. Time moves so fast. It seems only yesterday the 14 year old tiny girl showed up at my side to apprentice me in the infant program. By 16 she called me "Mom," and has ever since. Her son I consider the first grandson. My eldest son is moving toward fifty, his brother 3 years behind. Delia, my step-daughter, is 18 and in college. Decades have past. Six grandchildren call me Granny. I look back and feel so luck...

Jury Duty lasted ten minutes. The Judge walked in wearing his robe exactly at 12:30 when we were all signed in. He announced the case was settled. He thanked us for our service, explaining without the knowledge that a jury is in waiting, sometimes people settle last minute, like doing a term paper at the last minute. He didn't want us to feel we wasted our time. Some people had driven as far away as 250 miles since this was District Court. Personally I had to contain myself from showing too much glee. The whole drive I sang "Please settle. Please settle. Please settle." Over and over I sang my mantra. I almost danced down the street to the parking garage. To serve, and yet, not serve, that is a pleasure. Onward.

Heading for possible jury duty today. The creative will be limited to knitting the scarf I have been working on for months! I have never served on a jury. The closest I came was to be questioned for the 13th seat, alternative. But having lived in Synanon, believing in rehab, not in favor of death penalties, loosing two family members to murder, knowing people who died because of drunk drivers, some where along the line I wasn't considered to be objective s0 I have been excused. But I have never been asked to U.S. District Court before so this is a new adventure.

Yesterday in setting up the swamp cooler we found a burned hole in the cover. One more sign of how we lucked out the night of the fire. Those who watered our roof probably put out a fire they didn't even know had started. We heard the insurance company is holding off cleaning up the mess next door until the investigation is complete. Once in a while I can smell the ashes. 

I am reading the book "In My Fathers House," by Mark Arax. When Mark was 15 his father was murdered by two hit men in the bar that was the dad's business. The murder was never solved. Over the years Mark's need to find the murderer's grew until finally he took leave of his reporter job at the LA Times, and moved back to Fresno with wife and two year old child.  Reading the book is interesting, just Mark's story alone, keeps me turning pages. But there is so much that taps into my life experience that I am totally captivated. Many years back when I lived in Badger, Synanon, we took in a bunch of teenage boys from Fresno. The courts sent them to us. These boys were the most damaged children I had ever worked with. I had in the past worked at a home for delinquent teens in San Diego. They were mild compared to this crew.  These boys had no sense of morality. They had almost no emotional affect, except rage which took very little to provoke. I remember daily feeli...

Learning technology is a challenge. The latest is Photoshop and Twitter. The amazing part of the process is how long it takes, how many failures I must experience before that ah-ha moment when I realize how easy the procedure truly is.  Elsah Cort, the organizer of the Three Rivers Artist's Studio Tour, wants the artists to join Twitter. Being that Twitter is the latest rage in communication, or so the NYT's said, she thought it might help us do a little marketing for the upcoming tour March 19, 20, 21, 2010. So far a handful of the artists have jumped on board. How it will play out is hard to tell. But for me, it has pushed using this blog since there is a way to link from Twitter to here.  I had started with Facebook since a few friends included me, and especially when I realized our daughter Delia using it, I jumped at the chance. Uploading images is easy and the way Facebook is organized captured me. Twitter, 140 words an entry, whereas Facebook you can write more. But Twit...

For years, I have awakened before dawn to write. I scratch black ink on white paper with a special fountain pen. The only rule, keep pen moving. In a half dream state I write, starting with the mundane of yesterday. Layers unfold. I find my own mind. I started this after 20 years of living in Synanon, as a wife, to living alone in one room. It was an avenue to explore where I had been, where I was now, and what kind of future to design. It served me well.  Change is in the wind. I am now an artist. I work in clay, creating masks. Not sure why I obsess with faces, but I don't question, just make them. I do less writing than I used to. The first draft of the memoir has been waiting to be attended to. Does it need a rewrite or is it ready to be sent out? I do not know. But it calls me. And the Ink Quilts, an art form I invented, one for every chapter of the memoir, to be completed. They illustrate in collages of images, drawings, and "ink" quilting, instead of cloth and thre...

Last Saturday I was in bed before 9, reading with husband, friend in guest room, her door closed. Bruce turned out his light but I continued to read for a few minutes. Then I turned out the lights. I closed my eyes and for some reason opened them again in the darkened room. The color orange filled the picture frame on the wall opposite. I thought, "Natasha must be doing something with lights?" But her door was closed. Then fear seared through me and I turned to the window behind. The barn was filled with fire. "Bruce and Natasha, up. There is a fire," I yelled. I jumped out of bed and headed to the phone in the living room and called 911. She transferred me to the Fire Dept. I rushed outside to find Bruce and Natasha grabbing hoses to wet down the fence, bushes and the edge of our house. We are about 20 yards from the two story barn, a container, a wooden fence and plants between us. The fire was three stories high, reaching out of the skylights that had burst. Expl...

We are beginning the process to prepare for the Three Rivers Artist's Studio Tour #9, March of 2010. One of the suggestions is to Twitter, logging your artistic process along the way, thought to be another way to market our event. So I am in the learning process of how this blog and twitter connects. Will I have time to do both? I write every morning in a journal, scratching black ink on white paper, the old slow, messy way of putting thoughts to paper, searching to find my own mind on the life that unfolds each day, pen in hand, moving constantly the only rule. I cannot imagine a day without this pleasure. The brain and hand keep moving across the page, pulling out the mundane to find the important below it. When I take the writing to the computer, typing on a keyboard, it is different. It is work. It is editing to make it perfect, something others will see.

Nadi Spencer and I were admiring her piece of art during an artist's reception at the Tulare Historical Society. It was a rendering of a finished mural done at the Three Rivers Elementary School. I had watched the students work on the mural each time I drove by and wished the students at my husband's school, La Sierra Charter High School, could have such an experience. Nadi told me what she charged and when she was free.  Less than a year later, after receiving a donation from the Phylon Foundation, and a Grant from the Board of Supervisors of Tulare County, we completed two murals. The students worked along side this Master Artist, producing something beautiful for their school, learning to complete a complicated project, working together as a team, "Even with people you don't like," as one student wrote in a paper about the project.   These students are at risk of drugs, gangs, and poverty. Horizons were broadened, 51 students hands made the murals, and had fun ...

...And a New Year begun. It's hard to wish everyone happy new year with two wars that we are engaged in, and one in Gaza, the economy tanking, and so forth. But hope springs eternal, and with the new administration maybe some of the negative will move in more positive directions over this new year.  I have gone back to my regular middle names A. Blair and will leave Hussein to those whose mothers gave them that name, first, middle or last. We voted in the President I so wanted and soon he will be official the one and only. Right now the old is still there, and things feel headless, and worrisome. He keeps adding as many devastations as possible, and then throws in something good here and there. It will be a relief when the old guard goes.