Zen Cat Art

My pages in Linda's book...

Several years ago I took a jewelry making workshop with Nina Bagly at  Squam Art Workshop on Squam Lake in New Hampshire.  I had a fabulous time, with some grand women and I wanted to keep it going so I suggested that we do a round robin art book in which each artist would do a page for each other's books.  I didn't realize how hard it would be to get everyone on the same page (pardon the pun) and keep the books moving.  It was a bit like herding cats.  But they all went around and back to their owners except one:  Linda's and it has been sitting here on my book shelf for months.  I had pretty much finished the pages and then life got in the way and well...so Friday I packed it up and mailed it off with all the trimmings.  

You can see some of the other books and pages here.

My Round Robin Book!

Almost two years ago I went to "Squam Art Workshop" and took a class with Nina Bagley.  12 of us decided to keep the energy and friendship going by doing a round robin of hand made art books.  We had our ups & down - it was sort of like herding cats getting everyone on the same page (literally and figuratively speaking), but everyone has done stunning work and we should all be proud of ourselves!  Thank you, thank you to everyone! 

Here are some of the pages from my book: my theme was "WORDS" and this is my cover (unfinished) which opens to reveal one of my favorite passages from the Tao Te Ching.
 

The woman of the Tao

Holds oneness in her heart

And her world is at peace,

Does not try to please

And therefore shines,

Does not seek attentions

And therefore excels,

Does not justify herself

And is there for trusted,

Does not imitate others

And is therefore herself,

Does not compete

And therefore

No one in the world

Can surpass her.

~Tao Te Ching, 22

 

  Linda's page (above)

 EB's page (above)

 This page wasn't signed - could the artist please tell me who made this wonderful page, please.

 Elise's page (above)

 Kim Boehm's page (above) 

 Sue's page (above)

 Terry Handel's page (not signed but pretty sure it is Terry's) above.

 Terry Fryer's page (above)

 Kim Dubay's page (above)

 Heather's page (above)

Wonderful, just wonderful, each one of them!!  Thank you! Thank you!

eb's book... ta da...

Another in our wonderful round robin book from our Artist Dozen.
 
I love the cover and the potential in the word "if"
 
 
Mary's page, I love the photo...

 
Kim Bohem's page, with a lovely drawing and her own poem!

 
Kim Dubay's page with a Child's Garden of Verse, wonderful!

 
Terry Fryer's page, with a picture from Squam!!

 
These are the grand pages of from Heather, the pockets and poems are marvelous! 

 
And my own page... always a bit of fabric and paint and my own favorite "if" question.  

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

Kim's Book

Here is some of the wonderful work done is Kim Dubay's book by our Artistic Dozen Round Robin group. Welcome back, for those that went to Squam this year!

Here is Kim's cover!  What a great old book!

Here's the inside cover - great instructions, what fun!!

Here's Terry Fryers page.  I realized after I took this picture that the "s" in artist had come loose, so I put it back in place.  It's a great page!

This is Kim B's page.  I love it - there are no rules!  Amen!

Mary, remembers!  What a great page!

A wondeful page from Elise!

My page... What a treat it is to be a part of this book and what a wonderful job Kim did in setting it up for us!  Just delighful!  Thanks so much to every one for working on this project!!

The Memory of Being Vertical

This story belongs to my friend Holly Hassett.  It is a story about helping others, a parable about friendship. 

After a particularly hard winter Holly and her husband, Rick, were clearing up the twigs and branches that had snapped off and fallen to the ground in their back yard. One of their birch trees had become so bent over in the last ice storm that its top almost touched the ground.  Both of them are so fond of birch trees that Holly asked Rick if there was anything they could do to save the tree.

Rick had an idea.  He said he would wrap a rope around the bent tree and tie it to the straight tree that was next to it and leave them together until the bent tree could remember being vertical.  By the time the summer came, they could take the ropes off and although a little crooked the bent tree was now standing upright among the other birches.

Holly is a social worker and she tells this story to her staff who work with children at risk and people in recovery.  This is what you do, she tells them.  This is how you help.  No one starts out dreaming of the day they can become an addict but sometime the storms of life bend you over.  So your job is to be next to them until they can remember being vertical.

It strikes me that this is also a story about friendship.  No one expects illness, financial difficulties or the basement to flood but “storms happen.”  And when you are bent over by them it is your friends that will rope you to them with help and love and understanding until you can remember being vertical.

~Holly & Rick are straight birch tree to all who know them.  The top picture is a photograph of two birch trees I pass regularly.  It is part of a page for a round robin book passed between some incredible artist friends! You can see more of the book in the post below.  

The bottom photo is a part of a "Little Love Quilt" I made for Holly & Rick.

Thank you all for being my straight birches!

Kim's incredible book...

Here is a little taste of Kim's spectacular book!  The cover is wonderful!  Even the box it comes in is grand! 

A bit of the page Mary did... I love the glass and the fish, wait till you see the rest of the page!

And a bit from Elise's page... the

photo doesn't do justice to the painted flower - its delicate, and lovely like real petals. 

You can see a piece of my page in the next blog entry...

What a great group!

More new things... Round Robin page

This is a page/mini-quilt for a Round Robin that I am doing with a dozen artist friends. This is a page for Mary's book.  Mary wrote a lovely letter about how much she loves nature and about her father who once had a 3,000 tree apple orchid.  Her Mom also loves nature and Mary learned the names of the local flora and fauna at an early age.     

It will be hard for her to name my "art yarn" tree but I hope she likes my little quilted landscape. 

The back has a piece of my hand-painted fabric and a poem. 

The covers she made are lovely and I'm sure the other members of the Round Robin are going to love working on this book!

And just a note on the local weather and fauna.  Here's a determined squirrel hanging from my front bird feeder. 

At first I was annoyed with him for chasing the birds away.  Greedy squirrel I thought, eating all the bird seed.  Then as I watched him, I began to admire his determination.  He ignored my tapping on the window - something that usually sends him scurrying and hung there swinging in the wind so concentrated on his task that he began to get covered in snow. 

I started to think about my role in his breakfast, after all I had put out the seeds, who was I to decide him unworthy or unwanted at my table on such a snowy day.  Wouldn't I have clung there if it was the only food in site on a day like this?  But what if he ate ALL the seeds?  We did have more.  I stopped tapping and watched him as the waiting birds picked the fallen seed from the ground. When he had lowered the seed count by about a half and inch - just about enough to fill a squirrel tummy - he shook the snow off and climbed down the pole. 

Not greedy at all.  Just breakfast for a squirrel.  How quickly I judged him.  I'll have to keep that in mind...