Dancing Crow Designs

what I did at summer camp

by me, Lee:

 

to recap:

• I made a circle a day
• I made a bunch of experimental art pieces using white fabric and a ton of thread
• I made other experimental art pieces using only thread and odd non-fabric things
• I went kayaking
• I sang to the moon
• I waded in exquisitely cold water
• I stitched an achievement badge for each of my classmates and my teacher
• I made some velvet jacket for beach stones
• I made some lined linen jackets for other beach stones
• I ate a lot of very nice food, including a great deal of dessert
• I was as nice as possible to everyone I bumped into (some of these were easier than others)
• I came home ready to think about what I'm doing, but it will probably take a while for this to sink in - most things take a while to sink in for me...

 

home but toasted

I'm home, seven hours after I left (scenic) Stonington, Maine. I've been through my email, but I have not the energy to deal with photos or any other topic at the moment.

I'll be back tomorrow, with a short report, and lots of pictures.

still in Maine

Happy Cinco de Mayo!! I have to admit I always mistranslate that as five times the mayonaise. 

Alice and I are still in Maine. Today's circle is handstitched. The leaf image was copied onto fabric using the inkjet printer, then layered with dark green silk onto a white silk background. I brought the pieces with me to work on today, but finished it just now at the hotel. 

We got in several short visits with my dad, and explored around town as well, in between. Alice had two doses of ice cream, two playgrounds, one round of mini-golf (a first for both of us) and a hamburger. 

 

live from Maine

The May 3 circle is in honor of Sol Lewitt whose work we saw at MAss MoCA yesterday. I was chaperone for Alice's class. It was fun watching the kids encounter enormous weird art in the various MoCA galleries. The tour guides were good too. This circle resembles Lewitt's middle years, full of repeated lines and overlapping primary colors to give a little sublety. His later works are not subtle at all - just huge. 

This is the third tree in my backyard. Aerin and I planted it our second summer in the hosue, and she could jump over it when it was first in. The first winter the wild rabbits nibbled all the buds off it, and I didn't think it would make it. But it has thrived, and is much too big for Aerin to jump over now. We live in fertile territory!

I'm writing from Sanford, Maine, where my dad went from hospital into rehab. He's pretty miserable, but improving steadily. I've brought him a way to have music, and all the treasured CDs he was traveling with in his car, in hopes he might find it reassuring and soothing. 

Wright Flight, and a great deal of driving around

In the spirit of most important things first, and only telling the good stuff (my father-in-law's parenting rules; inspired or lackadaisical, they seem to work):

1. Alice flew a plane today. While she had to have two cushions so she could see over the dashboard, and her feet didn't reach the pedals, still, she sat in the left hand seat, and made the plane go, for take-off and for the trip over the Holyoke Range, over the Quabbin, and over her school. Landing was accomplished by the teacher. Gracefully.
2. Aerin got braces today. She was willing to do it on her own, but Al managed to combine visiting with her while her mouth was propped open with seeing Alice into her plane and off the ground, and greeting her on her (triumphant) return.
3. I finished putting together my portfolio and I am impressed with myself. 

Beyond the important things there was a lot of driving around with various subsets of children in the car. I'm pretty sure I circumnavigated town three or four times. 

Everyone is fine. Happy, not too severely pained in the teeth, and completely ready for bed. 

beach and tree

 

Yesterday's beach. Alice and I had the best time. We made footprints in varying hardnesses of sand, and tried to see if we could tell if we were walking backwards or forwards. We looked at longshore motion of sand, and did civil engineering on the tide running down the beach. We did a small faunal survey. We talked about the origin of the sand; up-stream or up-ice, or up-glacier from where we weere standing.

Today we visited Jenny, because she has commissioned a set of works for her bedroom. Alice and Jenny and I spent a happy half hour taping various sized and shaped pieces of newspaper to the wall to decide on the final dimensions. We eventually settled on the perfect configuration, which looked nothing like what we'd started with. Which is good - not letting pre-conceived notions interfere.

Today on the way home, I saw several of the trees, blooming with the most absurd pinky purple color. This one had a pile of dandelions around the base.

a day of very nice things

Today I went with my friend Joyce (from the casting class) to Shelburne Falls where we walked through a small number of amzing stores and galleries. There were more, but we ran out of time. joyce knew people everywhere, and we talked with everyone about art and the things they had in their stores, and New England. It was lovely.

I brought my circles, because (as you know) I have to give them away. It is a karma thing. I was describing to Al people's expressions when I offered them small stitched art; first disbelief, then increasing pleasure in the looking, and an almost audible "ding" when they saw one they liked. He said that sounded like how I got paid for them, which sounds about right.

And then once I was home I checked my mail and I've been accepted to Haystack Mountain School of Crafts for a two week session with Marian Bijlenga working with fabric in circles and exploring the Maine coast environment. It feels like an amazing opportunity to push the circle-a-day circles further and maybe in new directions.

Which makes today a very, very nice day.

aurora

Inspired by the Astornomy Picture of the Day today, I made a night sky and tossed an aurora across it. More aurora are forecast as the sun-spot cycle intensifies. Alice and I tried to look the other night, after a coronal ejection from the sun was expected to cause intense auroras that might have been visible, but there were clouds along the northern horizon and we couldn't see anything. We'll keep hoping. It is something I'd like to see again. 

Oh Canada!

Tomorrow early I will be packing the car with offspring and friends and hitting the road for Montreal. There will be six of us, three kids, three adults. I have some French from high school and college, and a successful piece of vacation in France in 1985. Cathy has been practicing French with the Pimsleur system, repeating and then singing the little song at the end of each section. Red Kate loved French before she took up German. Aerin is taking French Right This Minute in High School. We should be able to do basic things.... sleep, eat, purchase necessities.

The car has not been so empty or clean inside for years. We will fill it up, and be on our way. I'll report back as circumstances permit. 

If any readers in Montreal want to contact me, use dancingcrowdesigns (AT) gmail (DOT) com and we can get together for coffee!

painting, rugs, furniture, sorting and filing

Two coats of paint on all the walls, even the one that was white already. Now the trim is so old and grubby I can't leave it, so today I invest in a quart of high gloss white and go after the windowsills and door frames.

I'm waiting for the rug I ordered from Flor.com to come so I can put it down around the edges while the junk is consolidated in the middle of the floor. Then I can move the right pieces back out to the walls, and continue weeding the collection at the same time.

I think the I'll use the Ikea kids' storage concepts, because they are the right height and I can find boxes to fit into the slots. That should free up some space on the wall behind Al's desk so he has places to put robot parts. Eventually we will both fit into one room. At least, that is the plan.