It was "Come As Your Favorite Character in a Book" day at my granddaughter Pilar's school. Pilar went as Lulu - one of the three main character's in The Pony Pals series. She wore her riding clothes and carried a copy of a Pony Pal book. The next day Pilar had a riding lesson on Dandy at Hidden Lake Farm. Here she is with Dandy after her class. She did not bring Dandy to school.
Four friends painted with me in Orient, NY in early September. At each painting site, we painted then swam in the water we had included in our oil paintings. They will be exhibited in a show at the Oyster Ponds Historical Society fall show (October 7-10). Take a look and dive in.
Orient Point I. 6 by 12 inches.
Orient Point II. 10 by 10 inches.
Youngs Road Beach. 9 by 12 inches.
Balance. 12 by 15 inches.
My granddaughter, Pilar, went to horse back riding camp with two eight year old friends - Eve and Margot. All three girls also started reading the Pony Pals' books. What fun. Here's their art piece of Acorn, Lightning, and Snow White in a barn.
It is one of the high points of my week. I am in my weekly tap class. We have completed our warm up steps and are doing short combinations. I smile at my mirrored reflection as I note that I am wearing my red Gap T shirt with “Inspi(red)” printed across its front. I have been inspired, I think, as I’ve made my living as a fiction writer with an arts practice on the side. Writing, drawing, painting. And continuing to tap. I read the word again and think, so what if I am dyslexic.
I lose my place in the sequence of cramp rolls. Something is wrong with that reflection. Should I be able to read what the T-shirt says when I am looking in a mirror? The letters and word should be reversed. Right? I am not sure. I am dyslexic and have trouble keeping such distinctions straight. The word, so easily read in the mirror, mocks me, reminding me of all the other times I am not sure what goes from left to right or right to left. Which way is north or south. Reminding me of the times I have been lost driving or walking, how I have trouble remembering how to spell words, do multiplication, learn a language other than the one I absorbed as a child. Mocking me for hearing every word in my head as I silently read.
I am distracted by these thoughts and having trouble with a simple combination of riffs. As we start a new tap sequence I feel for the shoulder seam of my shirt. It confirms that my shirt is on inside out. I cannot keep tapping. I am not doing a very good job of it any way. I leave the tap line to put my shirt on right side out. When I am back in the line I check myself in the mirror. “Inspir(red)” is now reversed. I regain my composure and complete the class.
You might wonder that I can tap dance with dancing’s continual need to keep right foot / left foot functions distinct. t was a big problem for me when I first started tapping as a six-year-old. Fortunately, my teacher - Miss Irene - noticed I was having trouble and put a ribbon on my right tap shoe. t helped tremendously.
In 2010 I added printmaking to my practice of the visual arts. I have been learning to do monotype, linocut, etching, and aquatint. All these processes require that I reverse images. If the drawing of a person is looking to the left in the etched lines of a copper plate, the person will be looking to the right in the print. A tree on the right side of the plate will print on the left side of the paper. Left is right and right is left. And as if that is not enough of a challenge for a dyslexic, printmaking involves a lot of organized, procedural thinking. Each technique has a long list of to do’s before you pull your artist’s proof of a print. Aquatint, for example, has several procedural steps involving a rosin box, a heated surface, pages of an old phone book, protective gloves, a tray of chemicals, running water, and the all important timer. For a dyslexic, printmaking presents a lot of challenges. But I love doing it. Why? I’ve wondered. Why do I like it so much when it is so challenging and there are other art processes that are procedurally so much easier and that I already know better?
Recently, going to the print shop to do aquatint on an etched copper plate, I had a light bulb moment. I love printmaking precisely because I am dyslexic. The printmaking processes with all of their detailed directions, materials, and procedures keep the deficient left side of my brain busily pre-occupied and out of the way leaving my more highly functional creative right side free to function in all its right braininess glory. And leaving me open to be inspired.
To write this blog I had to check that I assigned the correct qualities to the left and right sides of the brain. I had not. But now it’s right. Right?
Oil on canvas. 16" by 16". Manuela - author of the recipies for our cookbook - tells me that the recipe she is thinking of putting in the cookboook includes capers, raisins, and almonds. "Which herbs?" I asked. They are tarragon, chive, and parsley. Yum. Any favorite cauliflower recipies to share?
Pilar picked peaches for a Parent Earth video. I painted a peach for a cookbook. Manuela - queen of the recipes for our Farm Stand Fresh cookbook - is including her much-loved fruit tart. Oil on canvas, 6" by 8". The painting, not the tart.
A fun and informative video of two six-year-olds harvesting peaches and cooking a peach crisp with cookbook author, Elizaabeth Gordon. The girl with longer hair is my granddaughter, Pilar. See more family friendly food videos at parentearth.com.
Hallocks Bay. Etching, drypoint aquatint. Donated this etching to Oysterponds Historical Society for August 7th. 2011 auction.
Cookbook – I am doing the illustrations for a cookbook featuring farm stand fresh vegetables and fruits from the North Fork of Long Island. Here is the 28th painting - rhubarb. Oil on canvas. 12” by 24”.
It is more like I am having an experience than I am making a picture. Artist Cy Twombly (1928-2011)
Artist Cy Twombly lived and worked on a hillside in Gaeta, Italy. In June 2008 a small group of artists, stayed in a villa there owned by Cy's friend and agent- Nicola Del Roscio. This is a sketch I did of our view of Cy's studio from our terrace. Cy said that each line he made was "the actual experience" of making the line, adding "It does not illustrate". It is the sensation of its own realization.”
