Friend Friday!

The Inferno for Kids
My old Penn friend Ginny Jewiss is in town speaking at the American Literary Translators Association conference and I managed to catch up with her for lunch at Reading Terminal Market today. In addition to being a respected and highly sought-after translator and leading Yale University's summer in Rome program, Ginny has recently had a children's book published. This is based on, if you can believe it, Dante's Inferno! Ginny was always creative and multi-talented.
Dante's Journey: an infernal adventure
by Virginia Jewiss
Get it while it's hot (sorry, just could not resist!)
Good luck with all your many fascinating endeavors Ginny, and I hope we'll catch up again soon. Ciao bella!

Egg Faces

tempus edax rerum
time devours all things

I was on a university campus recently and met a lovely young woman who told me with sweet earnestness that her art was mostly in time-based media. I smiled and nodded, then after a moment's reflection decided it would be worth showing my ignorance in order to understand what she was talking about. "What is a time based medium?" I asked. "Oh!" she said, clearly astonished, "um...like video, you know?" She seemed almost embarrassed for me (she really was a sweetie.)

Somehow the term time-based media brought up other explanations to my ever-churning brain, one of which was planned decomposition, or art that is made knowing it will not last, like buddhist sand paintings or beautifully frosted cakes or ice sculptures. Now that's bravery. Here is my own small ongoing art project in that kind of time-based media: egg faces. Every week I boil up a batch of eggs. Once they are cool, I draw faces on them with a soft lead pencil and put them in a bowl and into the fridge. Sometimes the faces are cartoonish or sketchy, sometimes very detailed. But simply or elaborately enfaced, the egg shells all get torn into eventually in my family's constant quest for food, and thrown onto the compost heap. ars brevis vita longa

Happy Birthday Baby!

My baby turned 14 last week.
Which seems almost unbelievable because I remember his baby days so clearly...



A child who has never once had to be reminded to eat his vegetables, a rara avis indeed! Happy Birthday wonderful H.

My welcome home!

I'm just back home from a week painting on Monhegan Island, fourteen miles out from the coast of Maine. When I stumbled in the door around midnight this vase of flowers was the first thing I saw...very sweet! (I think my guys missed me.)



On the way home in the car my oldest son P, age 16, texted me (I was not driving at that point, no worries) with the wonderful news that he'd just won his latest cross country meet, set a new personal best and a new school record and is now ranked nationally! Oh my gosh. Wow! My husband stitched together these shots of P running then (middle school) and now...how quickly time races by. I was so sorry I'd had to miss this particular race. But what happy news to come home to!




End result: I brought home 14 paintings in various stages of finish. I have two galleries in Maine that show my work and have been asking for more, so this was really a business trip believe it or not! I'm also gearing up for a one person show at a gallery in Philadelphia next spring. My plein air work is not standard quaint landscape views, so despite these being inspired by Maine, the work does not seem to be limited to a regional audience (thank goodness!) Here are all fourteen pieces being shown to the sun this morning. I unpacked the pieces, most still sloppily wet, and took advantage of the brilliant weather to try and dry them a little. The squirrels and morning doves are usually my first audience after a business trip.

End of Summer

The end of summer
has rolled round, creaking gently,
like sunflower stalks

Friend Friday!

Hey, that's a lot of Friends!
(photo: Dainis Roman)
An enormous crowd of Philadelphia's red-hot talented artists showed up at Camphill Special School on Saturday August 7. What was going on? Plein Air for Camphill. The artists gathered to do their art thing, but of course the day included socializing and feasting (people were treated to three gourmet meals featuring school-grown and otherwise locally raised food:yum!) I am the creator of this fun and unique plein air event which raises money for my son Henry's wonderful school. In particular its program for 18-21 year olds (an under-served segment of the special needs population.)

The actual money-raising part of the event comes later...when we hold an exhibition of the work at Rosenfeld Gallery in Old City, Philadelphia. Save the date: Tuesday, October 5, 5:30-8:30 pm. Food, drinks, live music and live artists too! ;-) Last year the event was a succès fou (here is a video that shows the huge, happy, crowd!)


This is the second year of what looks to be an annual event. Last year it was called Plein Air at Beaver Farm, but as Beaver Farm (part of Camphill Special School) is undergoing construction this year (expanding so that more 18-21 year olds can be served) we couldn't hold the big art day there! Stymied by our own success in fund-raising! So, as the event was moved temporarily to Camphill Special School's main campus, we decided to change the name to the more all-purpose Plein Air for Camphill. This will enable us to hold the event at any number of different locations in future, but clearly explains the beneficiary of the effort, wherever it is located! I hope this is clear (and not as mud!)

So, why is this plein air event unique? Because I invite all manner of different excellent artists, not just traditional plein air artists (outdoor landscape painters.) This year I believe PAC was absolutely groundbreaking in having Dale Roberts doing en plein air encaustic painting (complete with hot plate and hair dryer and lots of heavy duty extension cords) and Amy Kann and Stephen Layne doing plein air clay sculpture! Now THAT is some seriously heavy lifting! It was also a thrill to have cartoonist Tony Auth and book artist David Wiesner joing in the fun this year. Back again this year was Fay Stanford drawing directly onto the wooden boards which she will carve into woodcut blocks, and Aina Roman taking photos which she will turn into video collages. This kind of eclecticism would have a regular plein air event organizer scratching their head, but this exciting, innovative mix is exactly what I love and want.

I am so grateful for all the time, energy and enthusiasm shown by the 57 artists participating this year. I'm also thankful for the gallery directors, the Camphill community and all the other friends who are helping and supporting me (you know who you are!) Too numerous to name everyone here, but their names are written on my heart.

Some random shots of the day:

Tomato Taste Test

And the winner is...


undecided! Paul and I had some gardening friends over for dinner and a homegrown tomato taste test last weekend. On the table were these varieties: Black Krim, Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Red Brandywine, Amish Paste, San Marzano, Speckled Roma, Coyote and Sun Gold. One friend brought Italian bread, fresh mozzarella and a homemade cheese-less pesto (because another of the friends is a vegan) to go with the tomatoes. After a while (and enough glasses of wine) all I could really taste was the incredibly delicious pesto, punctuated by slightly different degrees of acidity and sweetness from the various tomatoes. NOT the best way to conduct a tomato tasting! (Fun though)

We've agreed to hold it again in early September and try to be more scientific about it. Any suggestions?

Henry and Me (an hour ago)

Happy pink moment-
after the storm sunset beams
on my smiling boy



photo credit: Paul Downs

First Tomato!

Green Zebra
wins the race for first ripe tomato, in my garden at any rate! I was surprised that Green Zebra even beat out the various cherry tomatoes...they are covered with fruit, but unripe. I cut up the small tomato to share with the family and it was gone in seconds. Hard to say if was really all that delicious, or just seemed that way because it was "first in the mouth!" It certainly tasted fresh at any rate! There is a Cherokee Purple nearing ripeness, and I can hardly wait to try it. Squirrels, rabbits and groundhogs...begone!

Just got back from a week away from home to find this little beauty and quite a big handful of my Trionfo Violetta pole beans, all ready to harvest. A nice homecoming treat! When I eventually have more Green Zebras I will try this recipe from La Tartine Gourmande.

July Fourth Fireworks!

Jellyfish of fire
swims briefly in an inky sea...
Independence Day!