I am posting the photos of the two samples of the Zentangle fish being made at Oakwood in July.
And a photo of everyone working on them.
This is the first, wildest, wisest thing I know: the soul exists...it is built entirely out of attentiveness.
I am posting the photos of the two samples of the Zentangle fish being made at Oakwood in July.
And a photo of everyone working on them.
Sketching or "journaling" has been for me a way to continue creating and remarking on my life's journey visually AND with notation now for a number of years. So much so that my shelves now have collected a dozen or more of these visual/editorials on this journey I am completing... labeled by year.
As they collect on the shelves...I enjoy now and then taking them down and re-living moments that captured my fancy as life went along. It's amazing how vivid these memories are once you spent time drawing them. Nothing at all like a photo. The effort to "pay attention" as Mary Oliver as instructed, means that you capture the essence of an experience. And that is all the difference. Capturing mood and details that mean something to you personally. Photographs are very non-committal. A sketch, in contrast, gives over to your personal experience.
But as life rolls on I sometimes see that these journals will still be here when I am gone on alone to the next chapters of surprise. I'll leave these objects behind and I wonder about them. I was reading Danny Gregory's thoughts on this same subject today...he decided he should leave a note...
Perhaps some of the pages will inspire you to make some art of your own, but if not, don’t give it a second thought.”
I think this is a lovely idea and I plan to replicate the note for the inside cover of my notebooks.
Here are a few recent pages added to my sketchbook.. My daughter and I stayed in Little Elm, TX while we attended my granddaughter's wedding near Dallas. View from 4th floor of the hotel.
Perhaps some of the pages will inspire you to make some art of your own, but if not, don’t give it a second thought.”
Madison has its "party dress on". So the saying goes in May and June. All the trees are blooming and although the daffodils are almost gone, the tulip and peony are gearing up. Lilac are wafting elegant perfume and birds are busy nesting. Happy bird songs float in the window.
In the lovely 9 acre forest adjacent to Oakwood...the wild flowers are a sight to behold, a baby owlet is sitting on a branch, the baby goslings have jumped to their mom and a pair of sand hills cranes are nesting!
And frogs are crocking up a storm each evening.
It's a wonderful diversion from what we read each morning in the NYTimes.
This was painted in daughter Julie's garden on Mother's Day afternoon.
And two more weddings this fall!
Also our thoughts begin to drift toward summer plans. The kids will open the cabin on Memorial Day weekend. And will begin using it in June. We won't go up until July 1. But our thoughts drift that way now and then wondering if the loons are back.
I am finished with my Physical Therapy for the new knee and am trying to collect lots of "steps" on my daily counter on my iPhone. One day last week I got to over 4,000 steps!
On the other hand our hearts ache for all the many many people suffering through endless wars, starvation, and uncertainty. And we worry for our own country going through a morality crisis on top of so much uncertainty and anguish as well.
I wish for you all a good spring and early summer.
Keep in touch.
Ginny
As the New Year is unfolding we are always inspired to think of the future and the past. A perfect time to blog some personal thoughts, take a deep breath and think back on a worrisome and dramatic year in the life of our country and a war-torn world. Wondering how to survive what's ahead and how to be pro-active keeping courage. How to "cushion" our soul from being crushed by it. How to take deep breaths and then push forward from sad to hopeful. Giving up is not an option.
My first thought turns to Wendell Berry's amazing poem:
Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky
Khalil Gibran
A Refection by Ginny Stiles.
I recently read a wonderful story about the old cherry tree in Washington DC that had been cut back so many times it was nothing but a stump..but it still bloomed. It soon gained the name “Stumpy”. When it was scheduled to be cut down, folks had their photo taken by it, drew pictures of it, left prayers on it and wrote stories about it.
It got me to thinking about the good bye we just said to our old birch tree at the summer cabin in July. You can say hello and good bye to a lot of things in this life and more so as you grow old. But even a tree can be a cause for a tearful memories and sweet good byes.
Because of the location of the tree-- smack dab in the middle of our cabin lakefront shore line— it has been in every family summer lakefront photo for probably 50 years. A very long time for a birch to survive. I’ve probably sketched it 20 times at various summers in my life.
It stood through wild storms and winter winds and heavy snow. Still that birch faithfully greeted us each spring with dappled shade and beautiful black and white patterned bark. Under that tree our grandchildren grew up, we picnicked under it, we napped under it, read under it, sketched under it, wept under it, dreamed under it.
Gradually however over the last 3-4 years the bark had begun to fall from it, branches began to slowly fall off into the lake and float away. Shelf fungus began to appear on the trunk and it became clear that it was nearing the end. We let it stand forlorn for a few summers not bearing to say goodbye. A shadow of it’s former self now.
Finally it was time to take it all down to make room for new trees… for new memories to be made. When I sit on the deck now…I remember its silhouette and the dappled shade it provided. Just as I remember all my friends and family that have gone home before me.
PS The day the tree came down was just an ordinary day. People were doing what people do…they were getting born, and falling in love, and making soup, and fighting breast cancer. They were climbing mountains and reading poetry, picking cherries and whitewater rafting. Only a few people in this world were aware that an old beloved birch tree was finished giving joy on a small lake in Wisconsin. But then nothing is ever really ordinary is it? It’s just hard to hold that thought.
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Here are a few images to share....
Last summer in July, the summer just before the tree came down I sketched some of the bark that had begun to peel off and drop down on the pier and deck. Another sign that the tree was saying good bye.
Musings on a Friday morning in June…
one day into summer in Madison.
June 21, 2024
Yesterday was the longest day of the calendar year. Summer is officially here ―meteorologically at least. We all know that there are a lot of ways that a day can feel VERY long without actual clock time being involved. I’ve experienced quite a few of them over my 84 years. And, to be fair, a day can be very short for the opposite reason. I try hard to think on the delightful too-short days mostly now. Einstein has tried (unsuccessfully for me) to explain how time is relative and actual physical time varies depending a lot of science. How fast you are moving for instance. But for most of us in the real world, it’s mental mood, physical well-being, and the surroundings that determine sense of time.
The real way I notice these longer days is that when I wake up early it’s light. Unlike those January and February mornings when it’s pitch dark at that same time and seems to take forever for dawn to break. And it’s “summer light” which is different as it bounces off warm humid green things and not sharp light that bounces off cold snow and thin air.
We leave for the Northwoods cabin next week. Packing has started. That always gets me to thinking about time. It goes much slower up there for no particular scientific reason but instead it’s a combination of huge quiet, big skies, lots of water to look at reflecting that big sky, amazing sunsets, more open windows and the dappling light on the forest floor. Also the smell of piney woods and wood fires and the sound of loons. Here's a sketch from last July.
You can go into any gift store in towns up there and find hundreds of hand painted signs trying to capture the up-north feeling enticing you to bring it home to hang it over the fireplace or above the kitchen window. Usually with a bear or a loon painted with it. Everyone should get a few…it’s tradition.
The spring/summer season has been climate changed now and we get a lot more huge weather swings…huge rains and then a lot more drought…wild variations that last too long. And this year a lot more heat…breaking records in southern WI with 90s even in May. And a tornado to boot. But we are so thankful to not have forest fires or floods as so many have had to endure!
The older I get the more I anticipate the Adirondack chairs on the deck, the stacks of book by my favorite chair, the fun jig saw puzzles on the porch, chilled wine, morning coffee, my sketchbook and the quiet. Family comes to visit there…and that is increasingly joyful as life goes on.
Below are a few samples of some art work or happenings in Madison since last I sent out the blog.
Today I am posting on April 29...the end of a month long riot of weather in Wisconsin that made spring very difficult to find! But the daffodils and bluebells did arrive briefly in Julie's garden and she brought us beautiful gift bouquet. And out in the lovely woods at Oakwood here in Madison...the bluebells, spring beauties and crocus come just before the trillium. Bird song is loud and joyful.
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You'll notice that the frame I tangled is around Layla (Maddy's dog) and then the Dingbatz is in the corner of the envelope. Which, if look closely, can be cut off and used as a bookmark! Dingbatz are actually sort of "placeholders" usually in text or poetry to divide spaces, announce new chapters or sections, or otherwise enhance a lot of text. Or tucked in the corner of an envelope!
I'll post more images after the class so you can see more examples.
We had a fun little art exercise here at Oakwood Art groups thinking about the characters from Beatrix Potter. I picked Mrs. Tiggywinkle who is a hedgehog. Sketched her into my sketchbook and then sent a copy to 5 year Violet (my great granddaughter.) The hedgehog is holding an iron in her hand (she does the laundry for the forest animals). I told Violet to ask her grandmother what an iron is. Would children even know?
Hoping you are all well and you have a good May.
So here we are on April 4 in a full blown 3 day snow blizzard in Madison, Wisconsin! AH spring.
The crocus and daffodil have been up for a few weeks thinking that the warmer days back in March (even February) signaled a new season. the robins are back and the lovely mother goose is sitting on her next in the middle of the pond. The grass is green and the Easter Bunny came.
But alas, we've had about 5"+ of wet heavy snow over the last few days involving street plows and shovels (again). All the local lakes and even our up-north Tippecanoe Lake have opened up early think...haha SPRING! Foolish as we are, we even began dreaming of "maybe" putting away our mittens. Foolish people! I heard from friend Barb that Tippecanoe Lake up at our cabin actually re-froze. OHmygosh! Certainly confusing the local turtles and loons!
So, it's a time for thinking about finishing up inside winter projects. And just keeping in mind it's predicted to be 60 here by next Wednesday and the community street vendors will be back on April 14 at the Outdoor Markets down the block!
My latest project has been in trying to complete the new Art Library here at Oakwood University Woods. Yes we have a great "general" library that is full of wonderful fiction and non fiction and it also has circulating books from the Madison public library! BUT now we also have 3 satellite libraries here: A Nature library, a Spiritual library and now an Art Library.
I've been busy collecting furniture that folks have been willing to donate or that already belong to Oakwood but are just stored in hallways unused. You can see one big bookcase I found but I have an order in to purchase two more as many books are still waiting to be shelved! They will go where the plants are currently sitting.
Hopefully as we proceed some art work will begin to appear on the walls to cozy things up and I am looking for a foot stool for the sweet chair. A stamp and stickers to label books have been ordered and the committee will help with that. In addition I have created a sign to announce the library. It is Zentangle of course!!! This was part of a project put out by Zentangle HQ to help demystify the concept of illuminated lettering.
You could buy a "kit" of materials for this but I just looked at the project and sort of plagiarized the concept to my own purposes. Still I followed along with the videos for ideas. If you are interested you could just do a YouTube search for "Zentangle Project Pact 23" and all of the videos are available publicly. My project is about 12 x 16. I drew everything myself and did not purchase the kit which does get mentioned in the videos.
So here is where it is framed and hanging now
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