Bad Words: A New Blog

Sequestering the art and craft goodness from my feeble attempts writing by moving the bad poetry and other text-based junk to my new blog: Bad Words .

Lots of old crap to be moved first and then I'll add newer stuff as it floats to the top.

Thanks to the three of you who read this tripe. If you're suffering from insomnia, this may help.

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver

This poem has always spoken to me, but I am again open to such voices whispering and sometimes shouting at me to listen. Having spent time in nature again as of late, I am reminded of the imporantance of such things as paying attention to God's creations and in doing so, commit a kind of prayer.

How many gifts and blessings have been provided me, I cannot begin to enumerate for the count is indeed higher than I probably know. But I am grateful for those who have come into my life and for the love they give and hope I show that love in return. I am grateful for the moments shared and the moments alone during which the common and the unique can be viewed as precious.

For these things and all the others that may seem trivial to some, I thank the universe and the spirit found within it. Truly and repeatedly I will tell you, I am a blessed man.

I do not try to equate science to concepts of God. One is spirit, one is of the mind. They are separate and they are one. There is no conflict as I do not try to prove the presence of one with the ways of the other.

There is truth in both.

The Game of Art

The “Arts de Mer Cruise” is an annual three-day art and craft excursion on the high seas of the Pacific Ocean that sails from San Pedro to Ensenada, Mexico. Anne Garcia, the cruise organizer, gathers some of the top crafted arts instructors on the circuit who teach a series of workshops to the cruisers on a variety of projects and art processes. This year’s theme was, “The Game of Art”.

This year marked my fourth year of involvement with the event and Susan and I treat this as a fun getaway and reunion with dear friends and like-minded art / craft enthusiasts. The workshop I presented was the making of a wooden box using picture frames and bits of wood lath. In essence, we altered the frame to serve as the bottom and lid of the box.

The blank wood served as an empty canvas onto which various surface design treatments could be utilized. The lid also provided opportunities for interpretation and design as collage elements and other embellishments could be applied or by using the acrylic sheet that came with the frame, the box’s lid could remain clear, allowing one to look inside. Oh yeah, the interior of the box also offered opportunities for decoration or other treatments.

As is the case with all my workshops, the students always come up with unique approaches and ideas. I was delighted with the quality of the work and the creativity displayed with each finished project. Shown here are just a few of the many interpretations expressed by the workshop participants. Good work, folks.

Although we look forward to each Arts de Mer cruise, we were informed that due to the reassignment of the ship, there won’t be a 2009 cruise. Anne is furiously working on a new event for later this year or early 2009 but until things are more settled with the cruise line, it appears that we may need to wait until 2010 to cruise with this fun crew.