Fun and Work and Camp

One of my favorite times of the year is finally here. May is a revitalizing month. The sun is warm on my shoulders as I walk through the woods and see the remains of leaves that were deposited on the forest floor last fall. It's a reminder of the beautiful autumns that we experience in Maine. But I can also see all of the little sprouts of the life poking up through the soft soil telling of the beauty to come in the months ahead. Mayflower and trillium tease me as I walk along our brook at camp. they seem to say "stay for a few more days and we'll really put on a show for you." But we still have to go home. Retirement doesn't alleviate all responsibility, and we still have to take care of those mundane things like lawn mowing and bill paying.

This last trip we had a chance cut a tree or two that needed to come down. These have been reclaimed and turned into pieces of wood to be used for all sorts of crafts and woodland decorating and you'll be able to see them in our shop as soon as I can sort everything out and post them.

Maple Slices

White Birch Slices

White Birch Pedestals

Maple Chunks

Helping Disabled Veteran's One at A Time

Shawna Mayo is a disabled Iraqi war veteran who served 4 years as a combat medic. She's also a talented member of the Etsy.com community, and a fellow Etsy Maine Team member who is looking for an independent life for herself and her family by creating with clay.

Please take a moment to visit the link below to find out more about Shawna and how you can help her achieve her dream through the Kickstarter Project.  

She has less than two weeks to attain her goal of raising $5,000.  So far, over 100 backers have committed to donating over $4,000 to help her. Please consider a donation to Shawna's project.

Link to Shawna Mayo's Kickstarter Project

Signs of Spring!

Yep, signs of spring. No pun intended, but here are a few of the fun signs that are posted in our shop that will remind you of the good times ahead now that winter is mostly behind us!

Get the buggy out for a ride and

Put the sign up. We're goin' fishin'!

Don't forget the bug spray!

and make sure to stop in the outhouse...

before you leave...

What Makes an Artist?

I struggle with the idea of what makes an artist, and if I can consider myself one.  This morning, Dave shared a website photo with me that helped me decide that anyone of us can be an artist.  It's all about self expression!

Caddisfly larvae construct their own protective home with whatever materials they have at hand in the water. I watch them annually in our brook at camp and am always fascinated by their ability to disguise themselves as what usually looks like a piece of twig floating on the bottom of the stream.

This French Artist, Hubert Duprat, had the brilliant idea of supplying the caddisfly with some unusual materials. Tiny beads and gold flecks were given to the insects who then constructed these gorgeous homes for themselves.  What gorgeous beads these would make for jewelry! Once the larvae have vacated their home of course!

Hubert Duprat's exquisite caddisfly

A Caddisfly from Kidder Brook in Concord, Maine

A Little Art Therapy Never Hurt Anyone

I bit the bullet.  After a year of indecision, I decided it was time to get the dreaded hip replacement that I had been putting off for over a year.  So when I finally had everything scheduled I thought that I should have something that I could do easily to pass the time while I was recovering.  I knew I wouldn't be able to work with my pressed flowers at first because it would be too hard to sit at the work station in my itty bitty studio. I was a little burned out on crocheting at the moment, so I thought that I would just get some sketch pads, and pens and pencils and draw and doodle my time away. Between drawing and reading I figured I would get through the boring part when I couldn't get around too well.

Sometime in January I ran across a book that looked interesting and proved to be just what the doctor ordered (not really, I just thought it looked cool). One Zentangle a Day by Beckah Krahula not only proved to be an interesting book that includes a 6-week course in Zentangle, but it was the best art therapy I could have found.  Once I started following the book I was completely immersed in another world and could really ignore all of that post surgical discomfort for a while.  I have done a little meditation in the past, and found that this was really quite similar. Once I began practicing the repetitive patterns I found myself so immersed in them that I forgot about everything around me and the pain that I was having.

I'd recommend this form of "art therapy" to anyone. You don't need to be an artist to learn it. It's really easy to follow along in the book that I used or any number of other books written on Zentangle. I'm continuing to enjoy learning my new art form and would like to share a few pieces that I've posted in my shop with you.