MORE HEAVY METAL

So today i started with my first welding lesson. I loved it. a lot to remember just with the glasses, the hood, the ear protection since someone else in the shop was using a power hammer, and tying back my hair before i even lifted the torch!

a good morning!

Doug explaining how the metal heats and burns and sparks in oxygen

MOVING IN and today at the blacksmith forge, making

Jim, my general contractor, setting the fire place flame at the new house

settling in but not moved in yet

bathroom with gorgeous print by Georgiana Nehl, head of drawing dept. at OCAC

i love my kitchen, plenty of storage

the house feels spacious with all the glass and the high ceiling even though it is a small house

I am making a metal piece to surround the fireplace, here is a cardboard template

I'm working with Blacksmith Doug Wilson who lives here on the island

Doug in his shop

working the metal, a rusted sheet of thin steel from an old oil furnace

Doug showed me how to pound out the bumps and wrinkles

I sawed strips to be riveted together, the reverse side is pale blue with lots of rust. it will have a folded edge

another thing we do, Stonington , Maine last night

Winterfest last night over Jim, Robin & Ian Cust's Stonington  home. Jim , if you remember is my fabulous contractor for the Blu project. Robin is a long time friend and most gifted metalsmith. Many of you have remarked on the ring I wear that Robin made, sterling, gold and forged steel all wrapped tastefully together.

PEOPLE ASK WHAT WE DO IN WINTER & my Blu house

Fred's winter students cast rings

Jim Cust figuring out my gas fireplace

overview of new house and out building in the distance

FRONT FACES SOUTH, SIDE FACING EAST

I have a nice parking place behind the house

Bridgette & Larken make waxes to cast into rings

Fred talks with Bridgette about finishing her silver rings

So this is what we do in winter

NOW I AM HOME, and last night in Portland

My new kitchen, work in progress

last night in Portland, Oregon

the snow had begun

Mari Hawkins of Sedgwick , Maine and Portland , Oregon visited on her bike in the sleet

Snow today, so glad to have my little red Honda fit back, my new Blu  house and new deck

I cleaned the counter tops of sawdust and the stove and made my first cup of tea

Our farm house across the pond, my studio is the big blocky space, guest room above, out buildings to left and right

Galen Koch, me and Mari have lunch my last day in Portland

LAST PAINTING & NESKOWIN VALLEY SCHOOL

I waxed my last painting last night and hung it in the Morley House to let it dry

This is the sweet little school in Neskowin Valley that i visited yesterday to talk with the children about my art and my residency. I sure wish i had gone to school here. remarkable!

Some of the dear children

The last of my paintings from the farm. finished with bailing wire and Apple root stock bundled and inserted in the niche

Nourishment

 

 

BITTERSWEET, packing up, heading to Portland, then home to Maine

Thank you Deborah for the use of Big Blue. what a blast and how helpful as i prepare to leave to have my own transportation. I shall be returning her to you shorty.. GRATITUDE

Oh it is with great sadness that i begin packing up my studio. HOWEVER, I return in June to teach, see Sitka's summer catalogue when it comes out soon for dates. Also Ted & Judith with be over for a studio visit tomorrow and we shall select work for my summer show at their gallery , ROWBOAT, in pacific City. Tom, Meg & Fred will be represented in the show as well. What could be better!

Here are some of Meg's FOOTNOTES made in my studio last week, this piece is part of a triptych called Walking Meditation

"take my hand we will walk..."

one of the bundles of apple root stock in niche of painting

this one is half of a duet

i think they are yummy, i have a video of Meg walking the dance in progress