The Bookbinder

This is a composition
really just the hint of an idea
which I’ve had in the working sketchbooks for many years.

I dabbled in bookbinding for awhile
as one does
and so the props were readily at hand.

And the model
or poseur as it were
was also to hand
or at least passing through.

Peter uses our house as a stop
on his workshop teaching routes.

It is always the highlight of my year
when we get a chance to
as Herself likes to quip
spit scratch and tell lies.

I never lie and I’ve never seen Peter spit
but there you are.
We have a blast.

On one of those return trips he arrived very late
after filming episodes of The Woodwright’s Shop with Roy Underhill.
I’ve got no shame dropping his name here
because it’s a wicked cool thing that Peter and I both watched his PBS show
even before we were aspiring woodworkers
and I’m so thrilled that they are now friends and fellow scholars.

But I bring it up here
to place emphasis on the very late
and very tired northbound traveler.

Peter was exhausted.
But he was also planning to book outta here
before the wrens’ started singing the next morning
and I had a little request.

Please, after spending hours and hours in front of a camera
would you please…
sit in front of a camera
and pose for me.

With no time for an elaborate set up
I plunked him in the office at the round cherry table
and brought down my binding frame.

Couple of practices with the gesture
and click, I had my reference.

I pushed my luck and had him do a twofer
and model for a second composition idea
which became the core of Master Carver’s Tea.

Since the orchestration for that comp was further along
I put it at the head of the line and the Bookbinder sat…in the books.

Then we went to Ireland.

At the end of our tour we visited the Rock of Cashel.
In the adjoining Hall of Vicars
I found a collection of Irish furniture that resembles the era of 17th century carvings
which Peter specializes in but what I also saw was a possible reference
for the table I have been pondering for yet another painting
which is even deeper in the wings of my sketchbooks.
I took photos for Peter’s archives and for my own.

Now we creep forward to this past winter
when I was eager to sink my chops
into something completely different and challenging.

I dug back and found the initial sketches for the bookbinder
remembered the table and carvings
and thought the Irish antiquities could just be grand.

What you see before you is the culmination
of decades of rumination
and a frisson of serendipity.

I waited all this time
for that wren to wake up
and sing she did.

Ana of Inisoirr

At the top of the craggy hill,
inside of the stone walled gate,
is a small patch of Irish green,
a few wooden picnic tables,
with heavy stones in their centers
to keep the ever blowing wind
from sailing the menus up and across the burren
and out over the wild Atlantic sea,
and blue aproned Ana,
who serves the best fish chowder
Herself has ever tasted.

Tomas of Inisoirr

Ah, yer ever so kind…
such a warm and hearty response for Macy,
and I’m humbled, for my sins, by that.

This then, is Tomas.
He who lets Macy take the lead
as they welcome travelers to their tiniest of the Aran Islands.

This week, the annual Bodhran festival is taking place there.
On my bucket list, it is.
When they throw open the barn doors,
I’m certain Tomas and Macy
can hear all those drums a’ beating.

Brilliant.

The Granary Gallery Show

It’s been right there,
over my shoulder,
for lo these many seasons gone by…

I’ve kept my head down,
brushes flying,
and creative fires burning
all the days in between this and my last post.

And just like that…
the summer show at the Granary Gallery is HERE !!!!!

Sunday July 30 is the opening reception
I’ll be rolling out the new work on this blog and on Facebook and Instagram,
so I’ve got lots of fidgity computer work to fit in between the last few brushtrokes
over the dwindling weeks in the next month. Gulp.

I just wanted you to know I’m still here.
So,
to get us started…I give you…

Black Irish  – 32 x 48
This is Thomas’ horse Macy.
They both live on the island of Inisoirr, off the Wild Atlantic Coast of Ireland.

I’ll fill you in on their story,
and ours along the way, so stay tuned…
for now,
it’s back to the easel.

Today’s goal…

to spend at least 30% of the day in an upright position.

Which would triple the output of the last eleven days, wherein I crawled from daybed to nightbed, dragging boxes of tissues, bottles of medicine, and an increasingly bored bernese mt. dog.

Mood-Swing

I have managed the first 18% of that goal by throwing the contents of the kitchen and garden into a large pot, now simmering away with chicken soup. With a few breaks in between to sip some hot tea and cough up a lung, I am upright, sitting in the office chair,  but basically upright, and catching up on the business that piled up while we were away in IRELAND !!!

The fairies were with us all the way, and they turned out to be the only two weeks since late July that I have been free of the plague. Brilliant !

I think the muses have grounded me upon my return so that I could linger in a foggy state and simply drift back to our time there and cement the whirlwind of images and experiences. It exceeded every single expectation, from the traveling companions, to the glorious weather that followed us, to the historical touchstones and meaningful connections, and on and on and on to the landscape and the people.

Here’s one of our favorites, An of Inis Oirr.

inis-oirr-an
We spent a day on that smallest of the Aran Islands, with a bumpy wagon tour,a pint in the pub, a talk with Masie and Thomas, and Herself threw off her shoes and walked in the ocean.
An, or Anya (I’m sure that spelling is not right)  was the owner, waitress, chef at the little cafe at the top of the hill, just below the castle ruins. She fed us marvelous chowder and hot chocolate and smiled and laughed the afternoon away. Apparently Pat has wrangled a room in her B & B in exchange for light housework.

One of the bucket list items I got to cross off was buying a Bodhran, the Irish drum used in acoustic sessions, and it has just arrived here in grand shape from the little shop in Dingle. I did a bit of googling, and discovered that there is an annual Bodhran festival right there on the tiny island of Inis Oirr.

Check it out…http://www.craiceann.com/

Already signed up to the mailing list. Bit of practice to do before I’m worthy of that group but we may take An up on her offer.

Be assured that this trip was a creative game changer and I’ll be sharing thoughts and images as they begin to move from the suitcase to the easel, but I am approaching that 30% threshold and I’ve got some paperwork to finish before this thing sits me back down.

Yours in tissues and dreams, H

Top of the Morning

It’s a bright sunny day here in the studio and I’m getting an early start but before I head to the easel here is a delightful video which I watched on my friend Peter’s Blog while sitting at the kitchen table pondering breakfast. Definitely worth the few minutes it takes to get lost among the cottages and the cupboards… ‘Tis a grand way to greet the day