thank you, thank you to everyone who commented on sunday's post! you make me laugh out loud, ponder, and smile - but most of all feel very grateful...
yeah, pack rats exist. i went to wikipedia this morning to read about them, and it turns out their homes are called middens. i found this extremely interesting:
A pack rat midden is the nest of a pack rat. Due to a number of factors, pack rat middens may preserve the materials incorporated into it up to 40,000 years. The middens may thus be analyzed to reconstruct the environment around the midden when it was built, and comparisons between middens allow a record of vegetative and climate change to be built. Because middens are abandoned after a short period of time, they are uncontaminated "time capsules" of several decades of natural life, centuries and millennia after they occurred.
now i'm more impressed than ever.
while i was gone i went to a cemetery to take pics of an angel i've been wanting to photograph since last year. she's lovely beyond words.
her feet...
the last finished page in the journal for our art group. it started out with three of my photographs on it (inspired by peter beard); i painted over, dug into, and generally destroyed two of them... other than the photos it's mostly acrylic and beeswax.
roxanne's journal for our group is stunning...
gorgeous, gorgeous, welcome back :o)
ReplyDeleteNice to have you back! Thanks so much for that fascinating information on middens. Just think, a few days ago I was unaware that packrats exist and now learn that not only do they exist, but perform very important functions in helping us understand our world. The photos of the angel are wonderful, as is your journal page!
ReplyDeletekate and kate! hello and thank you! it's nice to be back!
ReplyDeletekate s., isn't it fascinating that they serve this function? wow, i just love this...
Lynne! welcome back! - you were missed-so glad you got your 'blog on' right away - I was having a little withdrawal - middens and they serve such a useful purpose - it's really interesting - the angel pics are really wonderful,but what I really like is your journal page!
ReplyDeleteher feet are so life like.. no wonder she has been asking you for her photo..
ReplyDeletelove the beeswax... something I think I will have to have a play with sometime soon!!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful journal page...about to check out Roxannes now.
Oh Lynne, your journal page is beautiful, I haven't used my own photographs is that way... how exciting! And your angel is so lovely, she makes me want to cry somehow... See you tomorrow! Roxanne
ReplyDelete40 000 years! I knew that guy was an architect. It makes me think of the human psyche, how some of it is old, recycled, some is all found objects stuck in us, some is light, rooms of light and love and imagination...will it last 40 000 years? Perhaps there, within this is our fear of death?
ReplyDeleteyour perspective of the "angel" is wonderful; and your image, it seems deep, like one could enter in, and wander for a while in a place you evoke. :) Sweet day. Thanks.
The photograph of the angels feet is beautiful and so touching.
ReplyDeleteYour journal page is very intriguing. Can't wait to see the rest of the journal.
hey jeane! lol, well i'm getting my 'blog on' a little. sheesh, i have so many pics i could share, but also so much other stuff i want to do that doesn't involve being at the computer.
ReplyDeletethank you about the journal page. i was gettin' real jiggy with the quilting iron -- digging up the wax and paint, bringing up colors from below. love those little bits of color that come up...
grrl, aren't those feet lifelike? the creases in the arch, the toes... whoever carved this angel did not scimp on detail.
jacky, yes, yes! get some beeswax! i was holding back using it on paper, not knowing if it would crack (if the pages were bent), or soak through to the other side. but this is heavy cotton paper (st. armand) and it's holding up beautifully. and since it's so thick the likihood of cracking from bending seems very slim.
hi roxanne, yes, she makes me want to cry sometimes too... she's expressing so much grief, such heavy sadness...
re: using photos in our work... although what i did doesn't look ANYthing like peter beard's collage, his work did make me see my photos in a whole new light.
hi mansuetude, yes, i think a pack rat midden is a very good metaphor for our psyches... all of those found objects. and yet still rooms of light. surely what we are doing is making more rooms of light and seeing the found objects for what they are -- found, and not of the Self...
hi robyn... i will try to post some pics of the other pages soon. as i said to jeane, so many things to do besides be at the computer!
Hello Lynne!
ReplyDeleteThis is so good.
Because I drove past the main cemetery by bus today. I must take some pictures there. This is someone elses:
http://www.nekropolis-moguntia.de/fotos/tdf07/PICT0027.JPG
If I find a coinciding picture of a statue I will post it for you!
You have a very beautiful blog. Powerful.
ReplyDeleteI've always loved taking pictures in cemeteries, they can sometimes be the most beautiful places. I'm also fascinated that you added beeswax to a photo and made such beautiful art - I must try that sometime.
ReplyDeleteP.S.
Nice word about the middens - learn something new every day!
Down here in west Texas, rattlesnakes like to hang out in culverts. I googled "snakes & culverts" on a whim & found this: http://images.usefulzero.com/s/rattlesnake-pipe.
ReplyDeleteIs creepy, no? Not that you wouldn't have seen that coming, but I'm hoping you carry some kind of stick or something.
Lynne, it's starting to kinda cool off. Yippee!
wow jo! that is a beautiful cemetery and a gorgeous shot! yes, please do post a pic of a coinciding statue if you find one...
ReplyDeletethank you so much christine...
arnold, yes, try the beeswax. it's quite addictive and a LOT of fun.
damn, jan, that's a mess of snakes! surely if i didn't see it coming i would've heard it . rattle snakes are good about giving a warning rattle. actually, not long after i walked out of the culvert i thought i heard a rattle, so i investigated the area-- turned out it was a lizard rattling some dry plants. i would've loved to have seen a rattler. they're my favorite snake, no kidding...