At the Crossroads

Retired from Midwifery in May 2018, 22 years of nurturing life into existence.  Hard rewarding work.

I spent 3 months in the Orkney islands, experiencing the Neolithic period on an archeological dig at the Cairns and Ness of Brodgar.  What did I come away with, 5000 years ago there was a thriving community of people, life was seemingly - we don't know what, because the only thing left is the stone.  Structures, bone, a few marks on the stone, and of course our genetically passed on DNA is all that remains.
It's hard not to feel a connection to the remains and it's easy to feel like none of it matters.  All the ephemera is gone, anything that could possibly give clues to day to day life, so we imagine.   It's going to take awhile to process the significance of insignificance, the feeling of being connected to the past. On an individual level we are all just a grain of sand that gets ground down to dust and recycled again into stone.

Paper Tangents Opening

Being all serious in front of Circle Connections

Well and then your kids show up and show you how it is really done.  Leave it to your children to take everything in stride.

Milk Carton Printing

For my birthday, I gave myself the gift of taking a class at Remarque.
So much fun, milk carton printing,  we took milk cartons carved with etching tool into the carton and then printed it.  I used the bottom of the milk carton for one of mine.  This technique has huge possibilities,  is simple and inexpensive way to print.  All I need now is a press.

Paper Tangents

Look its all been done before, 

    but not by us,,,,,, or in this way’’’’’’’’

3 women with paper and pencil. 

Started.

  We worked together weekly, for over a year.

We started small moved forward with material,

bigger paper, different paper, see through paper,

We added color, and then encaustic, sumi ink, india ink, pens, oil pastels, chalk pastels, charcoal, 

and then,

there was no limit, whatever material we wanted, we used.

 This is not unlike what others do to make art, but it brought new concepts to us.

Every week we took half the time to critique, a learning process for all of us, ( we found it really important to think about what we did and why we did it)

If you could defend it then it was finished.

No Judgement, no excuses, no----------

Lots of discussion, about composition, value, form, line, color, layering on, taking off, leaving space - taking space.,.,.,.

We used each others comments, we copied each other, we tried new concepts, and interestingly we each came out being ourselves, 

Our individual work is individually unique.  In the learning we each grew and then found and maintained who we are.!.!

Paper Tangents

Art Gallery 606

606 Broadway SE

Albuquerque, NM 87102

May 4, 2018 5-9

Oscar Butler Music

Jeanette's Retirement party.

Really, the Chaos is Only on the Top

Really, the Chaos is Only on the Top, Oil CWM 14.5 x 22, feelings of anxiety and chaos as we watch our inept politicians be corrupted by power and money.  I long for the days when we find decency, common sense, and a safe place for the children.

Really, Balance is Messy

Really, Balance is Messy, Oil CWM on panel 18 x18 showing at Ghostwolf Gallery for Women in Creativity.
It's that little drip off to the right that keeps the almost complete circle from falling over. Womens' Work, Here we are hanging precariously at the top with a hole at the bottom just waiting to fall out, and yet we manage, we dig in and hang on and at best stay composed in the whole picture.