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!