Zen Cat Art

Cats to Crickets...

I took my friend Holly to Dana Faber Cancer Center in Boston where she is in a clinical trial (that is working well - thank you all gods everywhere) and while an old friend from her college days was visiting her Tuesday afternoon, I headed out to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  I was looking forward to seeing an exhibit "Cat's to Cricket ~ Pets in Japan's floating world." 

(picture above is from the Museum of Fine Arts website) 

In the 17th and 18th century in Japan, the rising middle class had the means to enjoy having pets in their homes.  The title and the article suggested that cats and dogs were favorites and that they were pampered members of the household.  I was looking forward to seeing happy kitties and cute crickets enjoying their new status.

Nope.  The cat above is the only happy cat in the show.  First, out of about 30 prints more than half were monkeys.  Another 30 percent were dogs, some of which looked a lot more vicious than cuddly.  And all of the other cats were not that happy.  One showed a kid holding a cat by its hind legs while is was struggling to leave.  In another print a young boy was holding a cat by its scruff and pretending it was an enemy soldier that it was going to kill with a wooden sword.  Not in one of the four cat prints did a cat look happy except for the print above.  I was so upset. 

Fortunately, I had the Buddha to remind me to remain calm.  This fabulous Buddha was made up of images that came from a myriad of sources.  Stickers, magazines, maybe even cereal boxes.  It looks like jewels from a distance and only becomes apparent when you get closer that you are looking at something else.  It was fascinating.  I stood and stared at it for quite some time.  Then a Asian many with the stereotypical camera walked up and took a picture.  I was so surprised.  There was a time that you couldn't take pictures in any museum.  So I questioned him.  "Are you allowed to take pictures?" I asked. 

"Yes, yes!" He said.  Then he wiggled his finger at me, "No flash.  No flash.  OK?"  Yes, I assured him, no flash. 

I stopped by the gift shop to lust after glossy paged books, reproduction Renaissance gold jewelry with pearls, and small statues of Bastet.  In the cafe, just outside the gift shop, I sat at a high table and listened in (yes, ease-dropped) on a conversation between to of Boston's Grande Dames.  They were speaking about a third woman and her "foundation."  The foundation is provided scholarships in education.  

The blueberry almond tart and the cup of English Breakfast hit the spot.

I walked the mile to get there and walked for hours in the museum, with what I think is a broken toe.  I was a hurting kitty.

I caught a tram going in the right direction to save me six blocks and walked up Longwood toward Dana Farber.

Harvard Medical School.  I wonder if the students know how lucky they are to be going here? 

Back at Dana Farber in their wonderful garden room filled with Orchids. 

An oasis for patients and staff.

How beautiful!

Being at Dana Farber with Holly was a hopeful thing.  The clinical trial drug seems to be making a difference and getting to a bone marrow transplant looks likely.  From there it's even (or better) odds that the bone marrow transplant could extend Holly's life a good long time.  And that is good news.

Thanks for letting me take you, Holly! 

“Exhaust the little moment.
Soon it dies.
And be it gash or gold
it will not come again
in this identical disguise."
~Gwendolyn Brooks

Creative Ladies Luncheon & Salon goes Indigo Girls...

This is my indigo dye bucket bubbling away ready for dyeing cloth.  The bubbles on the top are called the plume and it carried the extra indigo dye that has not yet been released into the water.   You remove most of the plume everytime you do a batch of cloth and add it back to the bucket when you are done.

Here we are ready to go. Holly, Louise, Karen, Mimi & Nan.

We wrapped wet fabric around pvc pipe or crunched it into balls or folded and clamped it.  Here's Karen dipping some cotton wrapping around a 2" pipe.  The water underneath the plume is green and the fabric will look green when you first take it out of the water but it will turn blue when exposed to oxygen in the air.

Here's a closer look.

This fat-quarter of white PFD was wet and scrunched into a ball and dunked in the vat.  You can see where the top is just starting to turn blue as it hits the air.

You can see the cloth in the basket by Holly's feet.  It included cotton PFD (prepared for dye), old white table clothes ready for a blue adventure, and pieces of wedding dresses that were left over from a quilt that Karen Eckmeier did for a Breast Cancer Awareness raffle.  We didn't dye it all but we had quite a few pieced when we broke for lunch.

We left them in the sun to dry and do their blue magic while we had a bite.
Onion and spinach quiche, tabouli, red pepper humus, salad, mushroom brie, fruit salad, roasted garlic baguette and a delicious holiday bread from Bantam bread.  YUM!

When lunch was over it was time to unwrap! Nan, Mimi and Karen got to it!

Fabulous!!

Here are some of them drying on the lawn.

Blue hands and happy faces.  We had a grand time.  We are holding a piece of cloth that will be a scarf for Nan as she heads off to Argentina in a few weeks.  The fabric is soft and silky - even prettier in person! 

My haiku for the day:

Ancient Indigo.
Modern women
Dipping cloth into history.

Indigo is among the oldest natural dyes (extracted from plants) to be used for textiles and India is believed to be the oldest center of indigo dyeing in the Old World.  Blue dye is mentioned on a cuneiform tablet from Mesopotamia in the 7th century BC.  Although associated with "blue" jeans, for me indigo is always tied (pardon the pun) to the Japanese art of Shabori.  Shabori cloth is crunched, folded, tied (as in tie-dye) to form patterns on the cloth.  Read more about indigo here: Indigo and more about Shibori here.  
 

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.

UConn

This is Janson's History of Art.  It weighs 57 pounds (almost) and I have to carry it to class.  Isn't that wonderful!  You may think that that was a facetious remark but it's not!  I love school!  I applied to UConn to take two classes this semester.  Art History and Tracing Your Roots.

The class is grand fun and lets me relive the hours spent in art museums here and in Italy & France.  I am so lucky to have been to see some of the art in person.  I wanted to go to school for art, but my parents insisted on something more practical so I got a degree in Dental Hygiene and Public Health.  I went back to school in the 90's and got a (finally) a BFA from CW Post/Long Island University in Painting and Photography.
The Tracing Your Roots class is going to be very interesting and I think lots of fun.  This is a picture of me and my grand-parents at our summer house in Mattatuck on the North Fork of Long Island.  I must have been around five or six.  I knew my grandfather's father came from Ireland and I knew that my grandmother was Irish and German and although the german side wasn't mentioned very often, I just found out that my great-great-grandmother's name was Emma and she was born around 1800.  Emma, in 1800.  How amazing is that!

~"The Earth without Art is just eh!"     
 

the sketch book project...

This definitely comes under the "how cool is this category?!"  Any artist (or wanna be artist) can join the sketchbook project.  Just go to their home page and sign up by Oct 31st and have them send you a sketchbook.  You have to choose a theme.  There are some fun choices.  It's just a jumping off point for your art.  I chose SECRET CODES.  ohooo! 

Then fill your sketchbook and send it back by January 15th and in March they go on tour.  The thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at galleries and museums as they make their way across the country.  They will be visiting sites in Brooklyn, San Francisco, Austin TX, Portland ME, Atlanta GA, & Chicago IL.  

 
After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be bar-coded and available for the public to view.  You can have your sketchbook scanned and be able to view it digitally.  If you go to their site there is a CNN video about the project.

So I'm going to keep you posted with my SECRET CODES sketchbook.  It will keep me inspired and hopefully on target... and now all I have to do is come up with some codes to go with my secrets! 

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!

Pears...

 
What shall we paint today, mom?
 
Pears?
 
Words? 
 
More pears?
 
Two pears?

A pair of pears?

A pear in progress... we need more.  Stitching, painting, embellishment, more, more... 

Be prepared...

What a pair we are, Maggie...
 

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!!

Undulating Floors & Quilt Doodles...

My friend Karen Eckmeierwas in Vienna last week and visited the buildings designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser.  He loved bright colors and rejected straight lines - even in architecture. 
 
In 1954, he designed building these apartment buildings complete with undulating floors ("an uneven floor is a melody to the feet"), a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows.

His Mould Manifesto stated "A person in a rented apartment must be able to lean out of his window and scrape off the masonry within arm's reach. And he must be allowed to take a long brush and paint everything outside within arm's reach. So that it will be visible from afar to everyone in the street that someone lives there who is different from the imprisoned, enslaved, standardized man who lives next door."

I love it!  It kind of makes me want to lean out one of our window with a paint brush...

Maybe a mini-quilt would be a better idea! 
  
Where are my crayons?! 

(Note: The photo is by Evgenia Kononova and has been released into public domain.  You can find this and other pictures in the wikipedia article on Friedensreich Hundertwasser.)