more chicken woes

*click for large view*

i have seen this!

i did not make this video. but i have seen this. in the field ringed by trees. right after dark. around 9:15. amazing.

from appalachian history:

Happening right now, and for the next few days, the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee will light up as P. Carolinus fireflies begin to blink in beautiful, astonishing unison. The fireflies, who can sense when their neighbor fireflies are flashing and attempt to flash before them, send waves of light to cascading down the Tennessee hillsides.

i dedicate this post to V, who loves the fireflies.

Today Was Good

driving to the IGA

on my way to the IGA
flickered light on my windshield and a relentless squeak on the driver side
more cars on the "for sale" lot; now assorted boats and towing rigs
those with less feel it more and first
rural america tells the tale the news does not
i returned with Trout to the spot on the lake from last month
same family was on the piney point
this is not a vacation this is home for as long as it can be
tacky plastics littered the campsite and clothes hung from limbs
the children bedraggled and suspicious

not much was spent at the art benefit last night
many works of art found no patron and no home
the auctioneers pleaded and the schtick was forced
the crowd even thinner than last years thin

at the farmers market people spoke low
like dissidents, like conspirators
people the news says are a growing domestic problem
you know, people who distrust the Fed?
problem people in trucks with birdhouses
and squash and daylillies and baked breads
talking about the tightening noose
the massive taxes pending and ideas for controlling more
im not the only one
theres a lot of me now
the lot of me now are those who wont postpone
whatever it was they were postponing
because the now is all there is
and though
we may have read that somewhere
its not just pages anymore
now its fading parents and its
crystal

halfway to Copperhill a white dog trotted along the road
and drew my attention to the graveyard
with a spectacular view of the Big Frog
smokey hazy summer blues
gardens and white framed church houses
the apple house with fried pies and hay rides
the Oz of former copper mines loomed
at the curve
the state line
where beer can be purchased even on sunday


they say during the mining
this forest
was the moon
acid rain hates greenery
and workers



standing empty and tall the rusted death star
the Intertrade plant
overlooked a pool hall, a mexican restaurant and a dollar general
and confederate flags
with pit bulls in the middle
the collars read "dixie"

Trout swam the Toccoa
shared flow with weekend tubers and kayakers
she tired of it and jumped into the truck bed
the signal for ready to go
tourists from the train roamed the street
i sucked on a cherry limeade
and watched them from the IGA parking lot
taking pictures of a painted line
one side georgia
the other side tennessee
like dawn of the dead
the fathers day version


flickering light again
and the driver side squeak
i held it
and rode in silence

***********

PS: i did not make it to the top ten in the dog
wine label contest. thanks though, to everyone who voted.
i really appreciate that!! xoxoxox

the creek

thunder flowed through forest mist
and cooled the skin that sunlight kissed
eternal tumble; trout's domain
fern filled banks where jewelweed reign
deepest darkest green lives here
the end of path where deer appear
if its refuge that you seek
you'll find none better than the creek

please continue to VOTE for my dog wine label. I think you can vote everyday. you vote at dog art today . thank you to everyone who has voted!!

VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!

Its time to vote for the dog wine art label for Mutt Lynch Winery . you have this week, but dont delay in posting a vote for me. there are 51 entries and i can tell you that i have some very stiff competition. you vote at dog art today . I am entry #32. How it works is the 10 entries with the most votes gets to go before the judges. So go vote!!

*** A heartfelt thank you to all who left a note for me while i visited my mom. it meant the world to me. those who know me well will understand just how big a deal it is when i tell you i returned home with a sore throat and the unmistakable horror of the beginning of a cold. probably H1N1. im very blue on every possible front and just want to get in my loblolly, put my head down and be still. i'll be around to your blogs tomorrow ***

Tagged by 29 blackstreet

what is your current obsession? painting. old school painting. no gimmicks no frills. just brush to canvas. im obsessed with filbert shaped brushes, gessoed hardboard substrates, golden fluid paint, layering, gold leaf, chromium oxide green, all the paint that starts with "quinacridone", good lighting, and "the loft" on XM radio.

what is your weirdest obsession?  young burt reynolds. ive taken a lot of heat over the years in blogland for my love of burt. in a world where women swoon over gussied-up metrosexuals with over groomed eyebrows and wimpy forearms (i like baseball player forearms..another weird obsession) young burt reynolds harkens back to a time when men looked like men, werent required to emote endlessly or wait patiently while you try on shoes. He put the A in alpha baby and wears neoprene like nobody's business.  and then there are his compound bow skills ;-)

what are you wearing today? shorts, camisole top and a straw cowboy hat. thats because i am going out to the garden. then i will come in and take a shower to go to "town" to deliver the fox painting. For that i will change into my defacto uniform which is jeans, some kind of (ironed) collared shirt and hiking boots or my hurraches from oaxaca.

Im old enough now to understand that it is an act of charity and civility to dress appropriately for interacting with other human beings. americans have gotten far too slack on the attire front. unless you are very fit you should keep your flesh covered up. this is especially true when you travel (this is yet another weird obsession of mine: tacky travelers)

what's for dinner? i dont know yet. probably mish mash. a bite here, a bite there. my friend, the unofficial mayor of Blue Ridge, gave me some fresh lettuces from her garden which i will have with whatever V left me to eat. i dont care that much about dinner.

what would you eat for your last meal? buttermilk fried chicken; mashed potatoes; biscuits with butter; green pole beans cooked to death; salad with romaine, tomatoes, red onions, bacon and blue cheese dressing; sweet iced tea with lemon; chocolate cake with white icing and ice cream.

what is the last thing you bought? Lemon cucumbers and "Casper" pumpkin seeds.

what are you listening to right now? some kind of warbler, the creek, the wind chimes made from capiz shells, dusty crowing, woodpecker pecking.

what do you think of the person who tagged you? i think she takes some beautiful photographs that celebrate what is good and true in this world.
i think she is generous and talented and in my next life i will come back as one of her dogs.

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished, anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be? Well, im already there. but as an extra? Alachua County, Florida.


If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? somewhere like finland or norway. where i can see the aurora borealis.

Which language do you want to learn? spanish. im working on it. maybe i should learn mandarin, the way things are going.

What's your favorite quote (for now)? "Don't get lazy"

What is your favourite colour? ultramarine blue tamed down with titanium white; add a dash of turquoise.

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? too hard to choose one! the DandG olive green straight jacket; the cowboy boots with the green tops; a perfect pale blue linen blouse from brooks brothers; a floral snap button shirt thats 70's but better; DKNY jeans with flap pockets i found at Goodwill that fit me perfectly.


What is your dream job? corporate pilot; surgeon; location scout for the movies; and of course, painter.

What is your favorite tree? really tough. just one? Oak. 


What are you going to do after this? make another chicken painting for the July 3 Rooster show.

what is your favorite fruit? Pinapple

what inspires you? great design; animals; gardens; toys; really good minimalism; other artists; architecture; illuminated manuscripts; old botanical engravings; much more

what are your favorite books? i dont read books very often. I loved "Interview with Francis Bacon" and a book on folk artist Anna Pugh; i read my field guides often and also a book called "Back to Basics" and the "Handbook of Country Living". I love "The Way" and "Furrow" by Jose Maria Escrivia. 

what are you currently reading?  nothing, though i was supposed to have read for my book club "the Poisonwood Bible". i never even got it.

Go to your bookshelf, take down the first book with a red spine you see, turn to page 26 and type out the first sentence: "Perhaps this is nitpicking about a lot of little things but the little things do count and can make the difference whether or not you are happy and satisfied with rural living" ..from "Living on a Few Acres" by the US Department of Agriculture. 

What delighted you the most today? visiting with my friend (the unofficial mayorette of Blue Ridge) and laughing my ass off. and, not having a headache.

By what criteria do you judge a person? whether or not they wear flip flops anywhere but the beach *grrrrrherherhahaha*

Are you artistic or crafty ?  im both. i love crafty. and i love art. its all the same thing. so is blogging, photography, gardening, keeping a house. its all a part of the creative path - if you do it right ;-)

my added question: who is the most over-rated artist of all time?

The rules: Respond and rework: answer the questions on your blog, replace one question with a question of your own. Tag eight other people. And of course, as all tags go, you may choose to ignore this request. Play if you like.

on painting: in the night studio

Painting is not the same as illustration. painting is more than image, it is also surface. it has the weight of object; it has presence. for me illustration is to draw something and then fill it in with color and refine details with a mind toward clarity, because it is so often intended to be reproduced. in some ways, painting is about destroying the original drawing and trying to not refine so much. i seldom make a larger acrylic painting on canvas, so i usually ruin the first one remembering how to do it. if i stay focused, by the time i start the second, i am more on my game, have some flow, and have figured out the paint again. I am about halfway finished with the fox painting.

unless you paint seriously everyday, it is difficult to make anything worthwhile. it is like you have to teach yourself how to do it again. i talk with another painter almost daily and we agree that the awkward stages paintings tend to go through are terrifying; it looks like it won't come together and you have to fight your desire to ditch.

its in the problem solving of creating a composition with a pleasing marriage of order and complexity that a path opens up. i paint flat on a table which makes it easy to get too "precious" with the visual elements because i am too close to it. a painting needs to be hung up and stood back from and looked at again and again so you see it in totality and how it looks in space. i am reminded of some photographs of mark rothko sitting before his work waiting for the painting to tell him what to do next. if anything. with the thrasher painting on the left, i went too far, though it has some cool sections where other birds morph in and out of negative space. but i over worked it and have to start a third painting now.

i have been working on these for the entire week, staying late at night alone at the warehouse. i listen to ambient chill internet radio from france or the "drone zone" and i keep my loading dock open until the bugs, drawn to the light, end up embedded in wet paint. when i go home, i am still with the painting(s) and have trouble falling asleep. i really just want to go back to work.

im writing this post because its clear im not going to have these finished by tomorrow. the first painting was the brown thrasher and it has gotten too busy and "illustratey", though there were some important discoveries that i could apply to the second painting, the fox.

I remembered how much i like controlled drips and lots of sheer layers over textured backgrounds i lay in by scraping paint dipped cardboard across the canvas. i also like to etch into wet paint and overlay that area which allows the new color to seep into the grooves.

It is difficult to make a good painting; one that really sings with vitality and is true to my vision of how it should be. It is the hardest thing i do as an artist. painting is a spiritual path in that you dont know what it is you are searching for, but when you find it you know it is right and true. and it is a moment of true contentment. its a time free of anxiety that is filled with the delight of creation.

but it cant be rushed. so if you are reading this my friend, i only have one of the two (almost) ready.

(i did manage to finally finish the two panels below)

the tree of life