The colorful quiet

     I bought a new denim jacket from Goodwill and have been embroidering patches to sew onto it. Here is my favorite and most recent patch.

     As I pondered what to name this post, the name of the indie band "The Colorful Quiet" sprung into my mind. I have one song by them which I only sorta like, but the words of their name seemed fitting for this image.

Bear beneath the clouds

Bananagoop: Cooking Adventures Ep. 2

     The last time we saw Lucy, she was cooking a veggie-refried bean medley on her stove in Brunswick Apartments. This morning she embarked on a new cooking adventure. If you thought her tofu-beano escapade this summer was goopy, prepare yourself for her newest invention: BANANAGOOPANCAKE. The pancake part of the name is a bit disputable seeing as the "cake" is really just a big, soupy blob of banana and cinnamon with a spoonful of pancake mix for body. 

     Eat with yogurt for maximum goop factor. 

     Photos to come the next time... this time around she forgot to get a shot before she ate it.

     But that doesn't mean she can't post some even sweeter Little Tree photos.

Candlewood Ledge

 

Late night glow

I put up some new lights in the bedroom!

Afternoon alit

Walking back from Spindleworks 

brimming with cranberry-orange relish and cherry cheesecake

and enjoying the long shadows of the trees.

 

P.S. I didn't intend that to be a poem up top even though it sounds like it wants to be one.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting 

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver

Some paintings

 

copy of "A Capriote" by John Singer Sargent: here's the original

I meant it to be a painting of a nocturne by Chopin:

Inspiring spaces

Blogging through the busy-ness

I've been wanting to post on this blog, but I haven't had anything particularly uplifting to document... I've been in work/battle mode for the past week or so.
So here is my post: a photo of the room in which I've been sitting alone most of today as I work on my essay (it's almost done!).

Both Sides Now

I resonate with this song so much right now.

My walk back to Howard

Moon Bear in Sunlight

Margaret and a song

I treated myself to a new sketchbook this week. It has a hard cover and my favorite kind of paper: soft and slightly yellowed. I brought it to Spindleworks today and drew this portrait of Margaret.

Late last night I discovered this song, a beautiful cover of "Skinny Love" by Bon Iver.

Bonnie

Drawing by the window

Today is rainy, but...

last Sunday was warm and sunny, a pleasant day to read out on the quad!

Saturday morning

This morning I visited the farmer's market at Crystal Springs Farm, and it was the most beautiful farmer's market I've ever experienced... the live music, the views of the surrounding fields, the gentle breeze, the berrylicious muffins. I was actually there on an artisto assignment, gathering photo references for my farmer's market painting. I'm becoming a very practiced photo-stalker.

In other news: look at my new boots. Not to be materialistic or anything. It's just one of those rare moments that I feel affection for shoes.

Making a home in the whispering pines

Rest in the dirt

My brother Nick introduced me to Bon Iver this summer, and the music really grew on me while we were in Acadia last week. I especially like "Beth/Rest" from the new album.

iTunes directed me from Bon Iver to the artist S. Carey. I listened to this song while driving in the rain a couple of nights ago.

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.


Mary Oliver

Mountain and the Sea

(thanks to Dad the photographer )

the song behind the title

One done

Embracing change

Today was a day of lasts: my last full day in my apartment, my last day at work in the library, my last day at Spindleworks for the summer. Today I drew Angela and Heather. Both were busy making their own drawings as I sketched them.

Here's Angela's drawing of me from last week! I felt honored. 

Last night I was brimming with so many exciting visions of next semester and my next two weeks in Acadia and Lyme that I had some trouble falling asleep. Tonight I have entered my hyper-focused packing mode and am thus expecting more trouble. But I love these moments of hopeful anticipation.

Here's the pin I made with ArtVan at the Brunswick Peace Fair last Saturday. I thought it was a fitting end to this post... I am ready for some change!

Seeing people

I've been drawing some of the Spindleworks artists as I've sat with them these past few Thursday mornings. It's a comfortable way to talk with them and be with them while still having a certain space to myself. I'm not sure that I've finished these drawings yet. Both Angela and Mitch posed for their portraits, but Bonnie was in the process of painting while I drew her from behind (she was moving around and everything, and I managed the drawing in ten minutes or so... I felt proud!). I think I'd like to draw more of the Spindleworks artists at their work.

 Here's Angela. She was actually posing quite dramatically, holding a yogurt container beside her face like a model. I didn't have time to draw the yogurt container, which belongs in the lower-left area of the portrait. Maybe next time.

 Mitch

Bonnie

(Here's the Spindleworks website for anyone who stumbles upon this entry and has never heard of it: http://www.spindleworks.org/)

Green-y and Tahini

Sorry... I wanted to put "tahini" in the title, and it was the best I could do. I'm trying to use up the food hanging around in the kitchen before I leave next Friday, and there's this mammoth jar of tahini sitting in the fridge. Which meant that tonight's dinner was a veggie/tofu/tahini medley!

Taking in the light

     I took these photos last week and never got around to uploading them til now. The marigolds on my window are finally budding after several months of care. I think it's cute how they're growing towards the light entering the room- it's as if they're trying to look out the window.
     Now that last week's heat wave has passed, reading on the Bowdoin quad is very pleasant, especially in the evenings when the sunlight is that warm, intense orange and the trees cast long shadows. I've started The Poisonwood Bible and have been really enjoying it.