hello you.
i’m stretching out and relaxing in the long space of a 4-day weekend. and i’m staying at home. most unusual for me, but if feels good to be here. in this space. watching the late light of the sun filter through my art room window.
wonder what you’re up to out there?
i just got a photo text from my sister dottie from hendry’s beach in santa babs. she and her friend of over 40 years, mary fran are spending the weekend by the shore. and right at this moment they are basking in the last light of day and listening to the waves at hendry’s.
in the late 70’s, mary fran was dottie’s novice director. dottie left the CSJ community some years ago, but they are still her 2nd family and mary fran is one of its dearest members. now at 82, she just celebrated her 60th jubilee and her 82nd birthday so dottie whisked her away for a few days in santa babs. i loved spending time with them both yesterday here at moss cottage. i have such good memories of the sisters of st. joseph (and especially mary fran) going all the way back to my childhood and into my teens and 20’s, when i would visit dottie at the motherhouse in concordia kansas.
i’ve been sleeping late and visiting special places i haven’t been to since school started. donut muffins. writing in my journal outside as i sip & dunk. never are days so clear & bright as when they’re following a week of hard work. the weekends are like a special gift. quiet breaks of being mentally still.
inside the classroom with the little 4 year olds has been a huge challenge. the learning curve has been steep, but i’m adjusting! they are so young. and in my opinion belong in a playground not inside of a classroom all day. we’re doing a lot of singing, coloring, learning to make letters and write names, counting plastic bears, building things with legos, more singing, learning to sit on the rug, learning to use scissors, walk in line, clean up the room. i have songs for everything!
open shut open shut here’s the way we cut cut cut, fingers on the bottom, thumb on top…
thank goodness for my subscription to apple music and my ability to have a zillion kiddy songs at my disposal. thank goodness for stories. thank goodness for 4-day weekends.
i bottled & labeled the water i brought back from the shores of lake mälaren. now it sits with the other oceans & seas & earth on the bookcase.
my old luggage tags were battered and ripped. i found these on etsy for a song. 1 for the stowaway and 1 for the carryon.
and. i received a thick envelope in the mail yesterday. little paintings from a few of the OMG class members. they did a mailart swap and included me. thanks everyone! i’ve pored over each one, smiling the entire time. when i say i am honored to receive these little paintings, i mean it more than i can express. truly deeply.
{collage/rhonda roebuck, pink chair/elizabeth from boston, cupcake!/pat dicker, flower/n. morris, jar/lisa zimmerman, mushroom/suki allen olson, stitched beetle/laurie giberson, club chair/sylvia heacock, chair/elizabeth, pots/syd mccutcheon, doll/kate, bird/d. warren, carrot/jane nieman, speed pattern no.. 5228/rhonda roebuck}
hope you’re well. savoring these last days of summer. preparing for autumn’s quiet nights ahead.
see you soon!
Enjoyed every word Mary Ann. I love your stories so much. You make it feel like I’m right there, maybe chatting over the garden fence or even better sitting in cozy backyard sippin’ lemonade.
Oh I wish there was a way to be part of the OMG community without a facebook account. It was so lonely in the classroom with all the others playing somewhere else… And mailart swaps, such a great idea! Summer was so busy with work I haven’t touched my paints for weeks.
Saturday I turned 40 and I swam (MAM style) in the ocean for the first time in over a decade. I am glad that you wrote a handbook on how to live when you’re getting older. Travel a lot, make lots of art, walk, swim in the ocean, do fun things with your sister (brother), enjoy great food, laugh! This is going to be a fabulous time!
Have had a fairly relaxing weekend so far & was delighted to see your latest blog post. May take in a movie tomorrow “Florence Foster Jenkins”. Was reading a “Flow Magazine” I bought at Barnes & Noble and there is an interesting article on Art Journaling with Arne & Carlos (Norwegian designers). Thought you might be interested in their website arnecarlos.com which features a short video on their art journals. (They use corrugated cardboard for the spine.) Fun. Glad you’re having a lovely weekend.
Books, books, books! I saw this in a recent Wall Street Journal book review section & thought of you –
“For children who devour the stories of Roald Dahl, and for parents who dearly wish to encourage their children’s interest in words and reading, comes a spliffling, gloriumptious, whoopsey-splunkers compilation of the vocabulary (both real and confected) that the great Dahl used in “The BFG”, “Matilda” and other books. Sprinkled with Quentin Blake’s witty, ebullient illustrations, “The Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary” (Oxford, 288 pages, $24.95) is cleverly organized by Susan Rennie to work partly as a word guide and partly as a spur to gobblefunk with words (without erroneously biffsquiggling, of course) like the master himself.”
I enjoy your book recommendations and would like to share some of my favorite reads from the last couple of years.
Bittersweet – Colleen McCullough (author of The Thorn Birds)
Invincible Summer – Alice Adams
Everyone is Brave – Chris Cleave
The Nest – Cynthia d’Aprix Sweeney
Miller’s Valley – Anna Quindlen
The Summer Before the War – Helen Simonson
The Light Between Oceans – M. L. Stedman (just saw the movie)
West with the Night – Beryl Markham
In the Unlikely Event – Judy Blume
Coming Home – Rosamund Pilcher
The Shell Seekers – Rosamund Pilcher
A Fine Summer’s Day – Charles Todd
Circling the Sun – Paula McLain
The Boston Girl – Anita Diamant
Orphan Trail – Christina Baker Kline
The Best of Times – Penny Vincenzi
All 12 of the Poldark books – Winston Graham
Maisie Dobbs (series) – Jacqueline Winspear
Call the Midwife (series) – Jennifer Worth
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (series) – Alexander McCall Smith
Brenda ~ I’ve meticulously noted and downloaded to my kindle , many of your suggestions here. Some I’ve read, but many I’ve not. Thanks! Paula
Oh,the scissors. I could have used a teacher like you back in my childhood. Often kids that function well and make progress are never checked to see they are holding scissors correctly. I am still learning to use them properly in my 50’s. My art friends find my dysfunction hilarious.
Your blog posts are like a lovely letter in the mail, always a pleasure. Autumn is here – it’s chilly (41 this morning, 57 yesterday for a high) the Rocky Mountain maples are starting to turn gold and red, the chipmunks are getting fat on rose hips and there’s a chance of snow on the peaks tonight. I love it. Sending you a box of cold pine-scented mountain air, Mary Ann!
i am breathing it in – that piney air. and dreaming of a rocky mountain escape!
Oops, somehow I forgot to sign my work….Spode Pattern cup, #5228. I don’t think I signed a single one! Such is the aging process where one forgets everything! It is me…Rhonda Roebuck! This was great fun and Laurie G. did a fabulous job! Thank you, Mary Ann, for a great class! It has really gotten me started with gouache. I would love to see any references/resources that anyone knows about for gouache.
check out the class pinterest board. have posted lots of artists who’ve painted with gouache – studying their work is a wonderful way to further your study. experience is the best teacher. keep painting and trying new things 🙂
Hi Mary Ann! Loved your post. Right now, I’m sitting on the patio with my coffee and iPad, catching up on email and watching the silly squirrels and birds around the tree where I feed them a healthy, wholesome nut and seed mix. I’ve been doing this almost every morning.
Yesterday I worked on a collage and made a birthday card for Dave’s mom’s 88th birthday, which is tomorrow but we’re celebrating this evening. Today I’m having lunch with my niece and her father, then visiting my sis for a couple of hours. You do need a break from those young children, so take care.
That’s all she wrote.
well that sounds very nice missus deborah ann pierro. how good to start your day outside.
WITH SQUIRRELS!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂
and thank you MaryAnn for singing to those wildly active & creative 4 year olds! all-day school is a huge help to parents who wish to minimize day-care expenses …..but to expect that age group to sit still for more than a nanosecond is a challenge.
enjoy your holiday weekend, Holly
yes you’re probably right about the day care expenses, but in my rose-tinted-glasses-world the school gives me a little bus and we go spend the day at the beach building sandcastles, counting seashells, tromping through the forests, eating picnic lunches, playing games, singing songs, setting up easles in an outdoor studio and painting pre-school masterpieces with tempera paint. 1 hour per day in class with desks to practice printing. 5 kids per adult. no testing
Amen!
My nursing school was through Sisters of St. Joe….. I’m no longer practicing but I still have my pin and will always cherish it. Thank yo for sharing your stories!
Hi Emie, Mary Ann’s sister here. Which community of Sisters of St. Joe “founded” your nursing school?
Your students must have a great teacher because all their pieces are very good! I am trying a painting (nearly) every day and some are good and some are not. Besides the frequency I an trying some new materials and styles. I am an old dog trying to learn new tricks. Never give up 😉
actually many class members from all my classes, not just OMG, are already very skilled when they walk through the class doors. for many it’s a fun time to draw/paint with a large group of other artists.