CREATIVE CYCLES

Last fall, every watercolor that I attempted went into the wastebasket. I made all the common mistakes of watercolor painting. I overworked the paint, I didn't lay a good foundation by careful drawing before I started to paint, and I covered up all the white area of the paper. I know that the turbulent time after the election and our move affected my abilities. I knew that outside those influences I was going through a period of creative aggravation that develops before I can progress further. 

I remember our son as he struggled as a toddler. He would spend some time frustrated before he broke through to master a new skill. I remember his impatience and his triumphs as he took first steps, first tastes, and the glee at new accomplishments. I tell myself that, eventually, my own period of dithering and dissatisfaction will likely produce a new leap forward. 

I find landscapes the most difficult to master in watercolor. The large open spaces escape from me quickly and I try to over-correct what I've put down on paper. My example from last fall, three paintings of the East Bay hills show what happens as I painted.

First overworked rendition

New painting - Second rendition

Last rendition that may or may not work

I switched to painting portraits and flowers because with them I can work in small spaces, connecting to the next space until I have a satisfactory piece. I haven't been able yet to translate that same way of painting to landscapes.

As we get older, sometimes we have to give up activities that we've taken for granted such as riding bicycles, walking without assistance, writing legibly, and making large pieces of art. We rail against the loss. Sometimes the loss leads us to other ways such as letting other people help, focusing on artwork that is possible, and being willing to accept that you look older, and people may treat you differently. I enjoy the moments when people look at me as older and want to help in some way. So far, I don't really need the help, but I find the offer both amusing and kind. In our cruel-hearted world that has become more and more the norm, especially in the last few weeks, I am glad to see young people who still live by thoughtfulness. In my life of always trying to take care of myself by myself, I can now let some things go.

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Two artist friends have made a pledge to each other to "toot their own horns" about their accomplishments. I'm doing the same here. I have made an edition of the Postcards in the Air essays I've written for 2024. I used Into Real Pages, a site that can grab my blog posts from my website and print them into a beautiful book. Here is their website:

https://intorealpages.com

Here is my latest book:

Collage of photos from 2024
 displayed before the title page

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Thought for the week:

 … Sen. Lisa Murkowski: “If Musk truly wants to understand what federal workers accomplished over the past week, he should get to know each department and agency, and learn about the jobs he's trying to cut. Our public servants work hard to ensure that our national security is protected; that planes land safely; that forest fires do not spread to our homes; that Social Security checks arrive on time; that research for the breakthroughs needed to cure diseases like cancer and ALS continues; and much more. Our public workforce deserves to be treated with dignity and respect for the unheralded jobs they perform. The absurd weekend email to justify their existence wasn’t it.”

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February 2025 View from My Window with a slight change of scene for four days

WHY ARTISTS COLLECT

A page in a sketchbook using stamps as a focal point

Stamp collecting as a child opened my eyes to other worlds. I loved the feel of the old, thin paper and the designs printed on them. Looking at one-color small portraits of historic figures or events led me to discover the history and culture of a person or place. I grew to love history by collecting stamps. I ran to the mailbox in hopes of finding unusual stamps in the stack of mail. I wasn't a stamp collector who put a monetary value on my stamps, but I did keep an eye out for the Inverted Jenny, that rare upside-down airplane stamp that is now worth millions.

To save the stamps, I cut them off their envelopes and soaked them in water till they slipped off the paper. I dried them on a paper towel under a book and then placed a hinge on the backside so that I could adhere the stamps to the pages of my stamp book, which was sectioned into countries. When I went to college, my stamp book sat in a closet at home. Over the years though, I found myself drawn to stamps as I stood in line at the post office and looked at the stamps on display.

While we lived overseas at the turn of the century, I collected the stamps in Japan and France. I wandered through Marche aux Timbres, the outdoor stamp market in Paris, and stood in line at the local Japanese post office where I was flabbergasted to see people drop off shopping bags to be sent through the mail with no additional packaging. I also had to learn not to lick envelopes or stamps there. Instead, I used two-sided sticky tape. By that time, the stamps around the world had become colorful and designed by artists. While looking for flat objects to include in mixed media projects, I bought small bags of used vintage stamps that I sprinkled throughout some of my mixed media sketchbooks. I found that placing a stamp somewhere on a blank page lets my imagination flourish.

I sat this weekend in a workshop led by Annie Cicale, a noted calligrapher and artist. She offered various ways to create art books with the idea that the content is the most important part of the book, leaving the construction of the book to the end. As I was sifting through my pile of paste papers and scrap papers, I rediscovered an envelope full of used vintage stamps. An idea erupted: I could make a Stamp Book!

First draft of my Stamp Book

I created a first draft of the book and decided that I would make the graphics stronger on the next try. (I will soak off the stamps to reuse them.) And then I thought about the last couple of years as we downsized and gave away items that we no longer used, including all of our stamp books. We had agreed that they might be a spark in someone else's life to discover history and culture. Thinking of those books, I had one of those moments of recognition as to why artists collect things to the point of being hoarders when really those collected things might turn out to be the next big idea.

Even the outline of a stamp creates interest

Check out what the US Post Office offers to stamp collectors:

https://www.usps.com

Check out Annie Cicale's website. Her work is worth a look:

https://cicaledesign.net/about/

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Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Elie Wiesel 

ART HEARTS: CHOOSE LOVE

cartoon by Bill Slavin

I married a romantic and a risk taker. On our first Valentine's Day, Bill gave me a hand-drawn card. To give a handmade card to someone whose family are all artists, that's bravery. He also gave me the nickname Gus (but that's another story). Later Bill asked me to marry him on a different Valentine's Day while we sat in a crowded Italian restaurant on Tahoe's North Shore after a tiring day of skiing. 

When we moved to San Francisco, we discovered large hearts decorating different parts of the City. We found large hearts at the corners of Union Square, we found hearts in bank lobbies, outside apartment buildings, and inside of hospitals. 

Heart at corner of Union Square

We knew about the San Francisco General Hospital fundraising campaign, but never realized how many hearts still can be found in the City. The fundraising annual event began in 2004, when artists were encouraged to paint large scale hearts. The hearts are auctioned off each year and have found their way to other parts of the Bay Area. Danville, our old hometown, created a similar event in 2020 and exhibited sixteen hearts on the main street, Hartz Avenue. We walk to Giants ballgames and pass by the army green heart outside of Momo's Restaurant. At the end of a winning game, we listen as the song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," echoes through out the stands. Hearts, then, have been a big part of our lives.

Heart in Salesforce Park

At the end of January we walked by the front door of the Ferry Building and discovered two large hearts, one called Japanese Tea Garden by Isabelle Hung, and the other by Dev Heyrana called Sol. We wandered through the busy Ferry Building and found a collection of smaller hearts at the back of the building. 

Japanese Tea Garden by Isabelle Hung

Cities around the world have adopted the practice of creating sculptures for fundraising. Not only do the specific organizations such as San Francisco General Hospital benefit from the fundraising, but so do artists who have a chance to exhibit their talents in a public space. We first saw artwork painted onto cows instead of hearts all over Prague many years ago. They had chosen to participate in The CowParade which highlights the artwork of artists who select from three different cow shapes to use as their base. These cities have recognized how important the work of artists can be to bring joy and fun to their communities while raising money for good purposes.

Easy-to-make Valentine card by Martha Slavin (see Project Directions2)

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Check out this year's hearts to be auctioned on February 14:

https://my.onecause.com/event/organizations/sf-001C000000valEmIAI/events/vevt:717330a2-fef3-4b5c-9d86-c3536d0d4c94/auctions/silent-auction

Map of Hearts (heart sculptures locations from previous years):

https://sfghf.org/map/

Danville's Hearts on Hartz:

https://www.danville.ca.gov/785/Hearts-around-Hartz-2020

In the Heartland of America, view Kansas City's Parade of Hearts:

https://theparadeofhearts.com  This year's auction is over, but their website is a colorful display.

Also, don't miss viewing the CowParade's site: 

https://cowparade.com/elementor-page-432/

Heart Card by Martha Slavin

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Have a heart, Choose Love (as the NFL said): 

Did you know that over $200 million dollars were spent on anti-trans ads by the Republican Party during the Presidential election? Did you know that there are fewer than 10 athletes in the NCAA who identify as transgender? Even a non-math major like me can see the disparity. Is this issue so important that it deserves such attention or are they just hyping up fear of the Other? 

ROOM FOR BOOKS

"Old Things"

A room lined with bookshelves weighted down with all the books I've ever read, with a large comfortable chair and a warm throw on my lap. Maybe a cup of tea on the stand next to me. This is one of my dream rooms, a quiet place to shut out our turbulent times.  I thought of such a room as I sifted through boxes of books I packed to take to our new home two years ago, not expecting that our choice would not have a book/studio room. Instead, we chose a small condo in San Francisco with lots of light and not much wall space that allows us to take advantage of all the city has to offer, but not much room for our prized books and hobbies.

Like many items I gave away this year, I took a photo of the books I had read while I attended Scripps College and experienced their rigorous 3-year Humanities program.

Yes, I still have most of those books.

I can give away other things pretty easily, but books give me the ability to capture the thoughts of other people, to understand other cultures and languages, and to consider the wider experiences of people I haven't met.

I admire the idea of the Renaissance Person, exemplified by Leonardo da Vinci who pursued knowledge in all its forms from art to engineering to anatomy to science and philosophy. (Did you watch the recent PBS series?) The Renaissance was another turbulent time when thinkers, leaders, and creatives imagined different ways to govern and live more freely.

From my stack, I picked up The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione, which I hadn't read since college. It was part of a series of books written about politics and power at the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance. It is now an obscure book but was widely read when it was published. The book was a prominent source for the definition of an ideal courtier or court lady, who could offer advice to a political leader. Leafing through the pages quickly, I realized the book, written in 1515, is surprisingly current in its thinking. It is a companion and counterpoint to Machiavelli's The Prince, written in 1532.

Castiglione envisions a courtier as someone who is an eloquent speaker, well-rounded in both the arts and physical endeavors, and who refrains from following a leader's order if that order is evil. The Book of the Courtier provides a different point of view from Machiavelli's The Prince, which focuses on obtaining power at any cost and does not consider honor to be a virtue.

As I look at these old books, I am grateful I had a chance when I was young to learn critical thinking skills, understand different points of view, and not be taken in easily by charlatans or by the rabid approval of a crowd. As Winston Churchill said in 1948, "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."  Other people, including Karl Marx, George Bernard Shaw, and George Santayana made similar statements. Religious texts offer identical ideas. From these old books, I learned that people in different cultures often came to the same conclusions about values and principles to live by.

A footnote: I long ago stopped keeping every book I read. We would never have found a house big enough to hold all the books the two of us read. Looking through the art books that I've accumulated, I didn't really need 15 books about learning how to hand-letter or four or five books about book arts when one or two would do. Now these books are going to the library, the White Elephant Sale for the Oakland Museum, or to Scrap, a local reuse warehouse for teachers. What better places for these books so they will reach the hands of others.

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Thanks to Wikipedia and Brainly for helpful reviews of the two books, The Book of the Courtier and The Prince.

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180 Republicans voted against the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019, which included funding for the agency responsible for keeping air travel safe. Is your representative one of these 180?

REFRESH

One Saturday in January, members of the Friends of Calligraphy gather for Trivial Pursuits, a day-long workshop that gives us a chance to catch up with friends, meet new ones, and try our hands at art projects. The day is like a game day for calligraphers, unlike the rigorous routine of regular calligraphy classes.

I arrived at the church hall near Japantown where the event is held each year. I looked around the room to see familiar faces and some new ones. Six members of the group volunteered to lead classes that allowed us to experiment with paper sculpting, stamping, eco-card making, and practicing meditation by drawing circles with a Chinese brush.

My results from Trivial Pursuits
 a bookmark, two letter stamps,
an eco-card with envelope, Enso circles, and Celtic knots.

As I looked at each table, I could see the packets each instructor had meticulously prepared for us. The packets held the supplies needed for the project they presented to the group. I grabbed a cup of coffee before I sat down to construct an ornament of paper circles from paper that had calligraphic writing on it already. 

After the first class finished, I moved with a different group of members to a table where we wrote a quote in a circle on a piece of eco-printed paper. Once finished, we fit the paper inside a black frame and addressed the envelope provided. 

At the next table, I found a completely different experience. Holding a Chinese brush at the top of the brush instead of near the brush end, I made circles following the practice known as Enso, a form of meditation. The circles are drawn slowly and helped to quiet my own rapid mind.

After lunch, we gathered for our fourth lesson. I opened a folder to find instructions to make Celtic knots, the complex pattern often appearing in Medieval manuscripts. Making the pattern reminded me of setting type for a letterpress. I needed to concentrate on the pattern and the world around me disappeared.

Celtic Knots

In the next class, we created letters cut from sticky-backed foam which we inked and stamped onto a piece of paper. The stamps could be a good way to mark authorship of a project.

In the next class, we made bookmarks using acrylic paint. I randomly placed removable Scotch tape onto a piece of watercolor paper and then brushed various colors of acrylic paint over the entire surface. Once the paint was dry, I removed the tape, which left the white paper showing. I cut the watercolor paper into strips of different lengths and widths and adhered some to the bookmark provided. Along one edge I wrote a quote by Fran Leibowitz about reading.

My bookmark with an error in the quote.
It should say, "Think before you speak. Read before you think."

All day the room was buzzing with laughter and questions, with people showing each other completed projects and learning about new tools. At the end of the day, tired from all that creativity, we all cleaned tables, folded chairs, rolled the tables into storage, bundled up our projects, hugged friends, and walked out feeling refreshed and motivated to continue to explore the techniques learned at Trivial Pursuits.

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Jim Costa:  Don’t give into the lies. Don’t give into the fear. Hold onto the truth and to hope.

GREAT FRIENDS

How would you like to be remembered by those who knew you? I asked myself that question with the news that a special friend passed away this week. She was part of a long-time threesome. We visited museums, went to plays, wrote memoirs, and played the game Quirkle on the picnic table in her backyard. We ate lunch together at local restaurants sometimes accompanied by other writer friends, spent time in each other's gardens, and painted and played with art materials. We laughed a lot and shared stories of our families. She was always game for an adventure even when her world had been reduced by physical limitations. The reaction from other people to the news of her passing showed that her kind outreach to others affected everyone she knew. She will be one of those who will be sorely missed, unlike others who leave a messy stamp on the lives of those who knew them.

I've read of the idea that we die twice. Once when our bodies let go, and the second time when no one keeps us in their memories. I think back on my parents, grandparents other relatives, and friends who died too early. I still hold their memories, most of the time with affection, sometimes with regret for not being a bigger part of their lives. Joan lived a long life filled with family and with strong connections to people in her community. She was part of a church group that made quilts every year to give to people in need. As a writer, she told stories about everyday incidents that had universal meanings. Joan was a mentor to me and showed me often how to be a better friend through her kindness, her attention to other people's needs, her sense of adventure, and her willingness to share life lessons. She is well-loved and will be remembered for a long time. 

In the past few months, I've taken a couple of Zoom calligraphy classes through Friends of Calligraphy, one of the Bay Area guilds. Risa Gettler taught a class in Visigothic Versals based on an alphabet used in Spain during the Middle Ages. Because of our move, I was only able to participate for a couple of sessions but came away with the technique of placing a large, decorated letter at the beginning of a paragraph. I'm now taking a class with Jurgen Vercaemst (based in Belgium) which he calls Colorful Lettering Compositions, using a casual version of the Roman alphabet. Though I haven't had the time to thoroughly engage in either class as much as I would like to, I have come away with some new ideas. I've used those to design a piece that is still in the draft stage to honor my friend.

A lament on the loss of letter-writing  
First draft for Spanish Visigothic Versals

First Rough Draft
capital too far away from other letters

Which capital letter to use?

Second Rough Draft
Ready to be inked and colored?

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"The time is always right to do what is right."  Martin Luther King, Jr.

EXPERIMENTS

Winter. We notice winter in California because of the darkness in the morning, the rainstorms we hope for, and temperatures hovering between 30 and 50. Not the tough weather that happens in other parts of the country. We still feel the sense of winter, wanting to curl up by a fire with a good book, and having hearty meals to warm our bodies. I'm reading The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate right now. Her writing is powerful and lyrical. The first sentence of the novel drew me in.

Besides reading, I'm back to my watercolor class. I immediately noticed that my lack of daily practice over the holidays showed up on the page. I tried painting a scene of the north side of Mt. Diablo, a mountain peak in the East Bay. I almost put the painting in my cut-up and repurpose file, but I persevered to see if I could improve it. I find that art and cooking have similar trial-and-error episodes.

A couple of days ago, I tried a new recipe, a pasta dish without meat, but with caramelized onions and mushrooms as its base added to broth and penne pasta. It sounded good. When I put in the ingredients in the amount specified by the recipe, my mind nudged me that there was too much broth. Those little nudges I get occasionally that tell me "watch out, stop, go back, think again" are important to me, but something I ignore too often. That nudge was right. Too much broth left the meal pretty bland.

I didn't want to waste all the food I had prepared so I thought of ways to change the recipe. I remembered a Mostaccioli recipe, another pasta dish similar to lasagna. I poured off most of the broth and stirred in sauteed crumbled hamburger and my homemade tomato sauce into the mushroom and onions. In another bowl, I combined ricotta with an egg, parmesan cheese, oregano, salt and pepper. I placed half of the pasta and meat sauce in a greased pan and topped the mixture with the ricotta cheese, to which I added another layer of pasta, meat sauce, and ricotta. I topped it all with mozzarella, covered the dish with foil, and baked it for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. I removed the foil and baked it for another 5 to 10 minutes until the sauce bubbled on the edges. I ran it under the broiler to brown the top a little.

When I served this refreshed dish, Bill and I took our first bites and smiled at each other. All those flavors added up to a hearty winter meal. This pasta dish will help us get through a chilly winter. Now, if I can do the same with my recent watercolor painting by adding a variety of values and shapes, I might end up with a painting I'm pleased with.

Unfinished watercolor with possibilities for improvement

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Ann B. Miller, a San Francisco artist, teacher, and calligrapher, wrote a recent post about mistakes titled The Order of the Black Chrysanthemum. Good read!

Ann B. Miller and Getting Inky post:

https://substack.com/home/post/p-154404892 

FULL OF WORDS

 Do you make resolutions in January, pick a word of the year, or list aspirations? I've noticed that writers of blogs and personal essays find a word that resonates with them to use as a theme throughout the year. Like resolutions, these ideas often fade away as life presents other interesting ideas. I don't usually make resolutions or pick a theme word, but this year the word, time, keeps cropping up for me. This past year has been one of recognizing how short time can be. Our moves around the Bay Area have heightened the number of projects we have to do. We think, "It was just the first of January and suddenly it's a week later or a month later or...." We look around at what we have to do and remind ourselves one thing at a time.

 Like a year about ten years ago, several people I knew passed away. They had been people from my childhood or early adulthood but we hadn't stayed connected throughout our lives. Their deaths surprised me and left me with a sorrowful feeling. Though we knew each other briefly early in our lives, their passing means I have no way now to learn from them or to say goodbye.

Other words have popped up this year. I am curious about the difference between hope and optimism. Several writers offered essays favoring one over the other. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines hope as "to cherish a desire with the expectation of fulfillment; to want something to happen or be true." Optimism is defined as "an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome." A slight, but important, difference between the two.

Of the two words, I favor optimism because to me it implies an understanding of past events and with the knowledge gained, to look to the future with a willingness to weather challenges that will always come our way. I look back to fictional characters who I admired: Jane Eyre, Mary Poppins, Anne of Green Gables, and others who exhibited the traits that I value and hope I have acquired. The last couple of weeks I've often thought of former President Jimmy Carter, who showed us that optimism and hope go hand in hand. His work to build better lives for people, to end diseases that threaten us, and his work for peace reminds us that with his positive attitude and self-confidence, he could accomplish much in the time he had.

ALIVE AND HEALTHY

One page from a daily sketchbook

One year I wrote one sentence in a gratitude journal each day. At first, the ideas came easily. I tried to concentrate on small things: a cup of coffee handed to me by my husband Bill, the cat poking my face to wake me up, the joy of meeting a friend for a walk. After a while, I had to dig deeper to find something different that impacted my day. At the end of the year, I read through my statements and surprised myself by feeling better about the world I lived in.

Gratitude, sometimes an overworked word at this time of year, came slowly during that year. Writing down my thoughts helped me realize what mattered. This year, I didn't find the time to write in a gratitude book, but one human endeavor kept popping into my head. I turned to gratitude and found science. Two discoveries made a difference in my lifetime: antibiotics against infections and the development of vaccines. 

I was told that as a toddler, I had mumps. If you've ever held a baby with an earache, you must wonder how awful mumps, which can last for days, would be at that age. Luckily, I don't remember being sick except that I continued to have painful earaches throughout my childhood. The triple vaccine for whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus was already available and with the herd immunity essential for vaccines, I was never exposed to any of these. During my childhood, I had chicken pox and suffered through high fever and painfully itchy skin. I contracted rubella and measles from a friend as a teenager. With measles, I spent two weeks in bed with red rashes all over my body including down my throat. I had a hard time swallowing any food, but I was lucky not to develop deafness nor blindness nor some of the worst secondary conditions that can result from a case of measles. It wasn't until a few years later that vaccines were introduced to prevent those childhood diseases.

In the first year of elementary school, we all lined up to receive the new polio vaccines. We were well aware of the consequences of that disease. We had all seen photos of the rows of iron lungs, breathing for the people inside them, but we also had a personal experience. A friend contracted polio before the vaccines were available. She continued to walk with the assistance of crutches and braces on her legs. Her life was changed forever by polio. 

My dad was the only person I knew who didn't have the round scar on his arm from the smallpox vaccine. I was told that he had had smallpox and survived. Because of the smallpox vaccine, smallpox has been eradicated around the world.

In our turbulent world, there is much pain, suffering, joy, and pleasure. We now have vaccines for flu, pneumonia, RSV, and COVID. We can be a healthier world because of the work of scientists. Today, I want to thank scientists for developing these life-saving preventions that continue to significantly improve our lives. What a difference they have made. 

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Check out this article in VOX about the importance of herd immunity:

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/386215/trump-rfk-jr-vaccines-health-measles-chart

If you are a nurse and agree about the importance of vaccines, you can support the Nurses for America petition here:

https://nursesforamerica.net 

View from my window December 2024