Pandemic pratfalls

I was all set to go to New York City to buy beads and chains and other goodies when the pandemic struck. Not only did I lose my Amtrak deposit and my hotel deposit, but my favorite gem store closed, and I was cut adrift. I remember standing in the kitchen when it dawned on me that I couldn’t go. Anywhere. For a very long time. It was one of those watershed moments, but not nearly as bad as the grinding, day-to-day reality of lockdown.

9 months later….still home, still not going anywhere, thankful for the relative safety of living in Vermont. I watched the New York Times document the horrors of COVID-19 last Spring in New York. I thought about my peeps there. Wondering, now that we’re all officially OLD, how many have succumbed.

Summer got me through the next 4 months. Being outside in the garden kept my mind off the virus and nourished and uplifted me. Most of my green beans (easiest things to grow!) didn’t make it, but the peas did, and I had a whole raised bed garden of herbs and lettuces. Till the deer arrived. Next summer I’m building a fence. They’re cute, but they can go in back of our house and eat plenty.

Heading into the holidays. Now I really understand the purpose of all those lights and celebrations.

Creating jewelry helps me in the sense that it forces me to focus on the micro instead of the macro. The macro is there, of course, but being released from the obligation to pay attention to it, even for an hour, is freeing.

My cousin Bill

I have always wanted to be an artist. When I was growing up, my inspiration was my cousin Bill (Billy, to me), who was the most talented artist I could imagine. I would sprawl next to him on my bedroom floor and ask him to draw me this and that. Some images were characters from the Walt Disney animated features, and the images were as good -- or better, I thought --than the ones on the screen. Or, we'd sit at my grandparents' dining room table in New Jersey and thumb through comic books together, and sometimes he'd choose one of those "Draw Me!" contests in the back, and render an exact replica of the illustration. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would win the contest, although I can't remember if he ever sent one in.

Now that we're all grown up, I realize that one of the reasons I never pursued art was this very adulation of my cousin's genius. How could I ever hope to measure up to his incredible talent? So, while he went on to study at Cooper Union and Pratt Institute, drawing and painting up a storm, developing his distinctive style, branching off into scriptwriting, film directing, commercial art, and so on, I chose to study Art History.

I was too young to realize the significance of what he was studying and producing until much later. Although I didn't always understand his art, I was fascinated by his explanations of his artistic process. Today he continues to be the most creative and interesting artist I know. 

Recently, he's been working in pastels. The works measure 22"x 30" and are executed in two types of pastel.  While his earlier work tends to incorporate more mechanical elements, these are quite different. They are intended to explore the tension between the micro and macro views of reality, and have an ethereal dreaminess.  To me, they move beyond his previous work in their elemental quality, including a magical use of the medium and its color possibilities.

Here are some photos of the series.

 

Number One

Number Two

Snow and sugar

Sugar on snow is a late winter/early spring tradition here in Vermont (the two seasons are essentially synonymous here, the first being the actual weather experience, the second being an optimistic weather-wish).  You make this concoction by drizzling fresh maple syrup onto a scoop of snow. The essence of this treat is the opportunity created by the advent of sugaring season and the fact that there is still snow on the ground.

It's snowing today, I'm in bed with some kind of stomach bug, and, after looking with dismay at the crocodile skin on my dry legs, I've decided that a sugar scrub is in order. I'm told it's really easy to make, and I have all the ingredients, including some pure Mexican vanilla extract from our recent trip.  Here's a recipe I created by combining several other recipes.  I'm gonna try as soon as I feel better:

• 1 cup raw sugar, brown sugar or cane sugar,  or a combo thereof
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup  coconut oil (or avocado, almond or olive oil)
• 2 tbsp. raw honey
• Essential oil for fragrance, 5 to 10 drops, or 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. Vitamin E oil
• Mix all ingredients and store in an airtight jar. Scrub skin gently with the mixture and rinse well with warm water, followed by cool.

A Winter's Tale

The snowstorm that clobbered the East Coast seems to have completely missed us. Oh, for some snow. Any snow. We have the most pathetic amount of snow ever for January. Our poor dog, Bailey, can't find enough to roll around in (her favorite thing). But wait! We will probably get it in March, when we're trying to assess our garden plots. 

Speaking of assessments, today I assessed my Spring line.  For the first time, I'm planning to do a formal, coordinated collection. Stay tuned for a peek!

Back from the North

I just arrived home from a trip to Sackville, New Brunswick to see my dear daughter Shoshanna and her family: my adorable granddaughters Ava and Zoe, and her comforting husband Peter.  It's good to go, and good to return. There is an exhilaration to zooming away from your life, and there is a distinct reassurance about the nature of reality when you come back to your piles of Stuff That's Still There. 

The emptiness of my new studio space, perched high in the dormer of our crazy house, is welcoming. Not the intimidation of the blank page at all, but an invitation to creativity.

My friend Betsy, looking at my tiny workspace off the kitchen, remarked, "I'll bet you could be so much more creative if you had room to spread out." I took that observation to heart and grabbed at the chance to expand my space. Plus, it's way up in the air, and we all know what moving upward symbolizes.

I'm collecting all sorts of odds and ends furniture and storage containers for the space. I'll show it to you in stages.