Election Day Sketches from the Firehouse

I spent today as an election worker, writing voter names into a little book.  Because today was a primary election, not many voters turned out to my little country polling place in the township firehouse.  During lulls, I read Hannah Hinchman's A Trail Through the Leaves, chatted with the three other women working the polls, and made sketches of the state park woods across the road.  I struggled to capture the varying leaf textures of each tree species -- big and glossy like the cucumber trees, fine and light like the cherry trees, and dense and robust like the sugar maples.  Even on non-artistic days, I'm trying to squeeze sketching into my life to keep my hand limber.

Create Your Own Journal

I recently created this blank journal out of mat board scraps, an old atlas chock full of maps, and several different types of blank paper I found at yard sales.  I wanted to use up materials I've had in my studio gathering dust, and prepare for an upcoming class I'm teaching for the Continuing Education Department of the Community College of Beaver County. 

Join me for Create Your Own Journal on Thursday, July 25, 2019 from 6-9 pm.  Check out this link to the online course catalog, and flip to page 2 for details of the class. To register, go to:  https://my.ccbc.edu/ICS/Continuing_Education/

I incorporated an old library card pocket I had from a second hand book.

When you sew your own journal, you can include different types of paper.  Here, I used white computer paper and an eco-green recycled paper.

Open Studio Session with Andi

Model Andi gave us some great poses Saturday afternoon.  Here are some pencil drawings from the session.

Spring Progress on Hawk's Hill

Pastel on mat board.

The landscape changes seemingly minute-to-minute.  Softness covers the land -- new growth in the woods canopy paints the hills & vistas with splashes of golden-green, lime, emerald, pale cream, peach & crimson.  White clouds of blossoms begin to fill the orchards. The tenderness of new verdure takes the twigginess out of the landscape.  Happy Earth Day!

A Beautiful Spring Day

Pastel on mat board. (6" x 10.5")

A beautiful morning dawned today.  Creation is filled with growth and bird song and beauty.

Field Restoration

I visited the Doak Field in Raccoon Creek State Park today, one day after a controlled burn, and wrote this in my journal:

A real nature journaling day -- warm enough not to wear gloves and the sun is coming out after the morning's rain.

Yesterday, I brought my journal out to this very field, but never wrote or sketched in it -- I intended to record the controlled burning of the field in sketches & words, but at a fire, every hand is put to work -- And I took up the fire rake.

Today, the fire crew has left the field to the bluebirds & me -- the smell of charcoal lies heavy on the wind and the field's blue-black stubble attracts robins & bluebirds to investigate. Are they finding barbecued woolly bear caterpillars or scorched ground beetles? Or are they just curious like me?

I do know that the male bluebird's wings look impossibly blue against the velvet stubble, like a chunk of flying ultramarine sky. Spring. And we are alive again -- the earth & I.

A new heat rises up from the charred grass stubble -- Gentle rain quenched the first fire -- now the sun's heat -- gathered, trapped & radiated by the black char -- causes scintillation in the air above the black earth. The heat of new creation -- will bring a rush of green life.

I hear --

• Phoebes in the woods
• Field sparrows in the open field
• Robins in the few trees of the field
• A flicker way off in the unburned field behind me.

Scenes from the controlled burn the day before:

The flames taking off at the start of the burn.  I'm the one in the bright orange sweatshirt.

Pat Adams, Environmental Educator, Raccoon Creek State Park.

Upcycled Art: Daffodil Postcard

I have been disheartened to read recent news about the end of recycling in the United States.  Found objects and recycled materials have always inspired me to create out of a desire to use up what would normally be trash.  The fact that an item is going to the landfill frees up my creativity -- even if I make terrible art, nothing has been lost.

Lately, I have stepped up my creative efforts in recycling packaging into useful items.  Sometimes, when I turn towards the trash with an empty box or other food packaging, I feel the tingle of inspiration.  That was the case with this recycled cardboard cucumber tray:

The neutral color, the rough texture (like cold pressed watercolor paper), and the stiff, sturdiness of the cardboard compelled me to cut out a 4" x 6" rectangle from the tray, create a spring scene with daffodils blooming, and turn it into a postcard to send to my dear friend, Robin.

So simple, yet the colors reach out to me.  I used my new box of Prismacolor Art Stix.  (Thanks Brad!)



Happy Spring and Happy Upcycling to you!  For more ideas on how to turn trash into art, visit the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse's website.