This batik was created starting with a black piece of fabric and after drawing on lines of wax from the tjanting and brush painted areas to save the black. It went through discharge dyeing and many more dyebaths to achieve the soft earth tones. This batik shows an open landscape with patterns from the tjanting…
I finished my batik, Morning Light on the Night Shadows, last August after Matthew Rogowicz from WMHT was here to do a video of me working on my batik art. This batik shows a playful frolicking horse galloping in the field and I like to think of the hills behind my house and the way the…
My dad’s words came to me quickly after I slid down an embankment late this fall and managed to catch myself on a thin fence wire which wrenched my collar bone, shoulder, back and neck. It was a thin and sharp jolt, and as I climbed down the embankment to the ground, my dad’s words…
Vanilla at sunset a few years back…. How strong he was…. He remained strong until after my cow, Steppin Up, his good friend passed. Strong and showing off when Star, My pretty pony mare arrived and very cantankerous, but then last winter he was sick and cold and I added a blanket to help him…
In my studio, I work with three different types of wax: Beeswax, which is soft and does not crackle; paraffin, a harder wax that, used alone, can crackle too much, to the extent that your image can be lost; and also soy wax, which I buy in bags of flaked wax. This is the softest…
It has been three months to the day now since I flew off of Star while riding up on the trails behind my house. It was a slow recovery. I got used to using a walker, a cane, and gradually climbing up the hill again where I go in the warm months to just be,…
Vanilla is still miffed at me for having someone else feed him while I was in recovery. He has been very grouchy, but on this visit, he took an apple from Henry, which is a big accomplishment. The hot sun blazes down on the Day Lilies and Star and Vanilla search for shade and cool…
The warm spring sun in May rarely shines for all the rain. The meadows and pastures are green and thick. When the sun shines it is heaven and I remember wondering how I would face the challenge of keeping Star and Vanilla well cared for and get my dye buckets ready for the summer dyeing…
It was Saturday morning that I went out to the barn and my llama Vanilla lay in his stall, and did not bother to come to eat his grain. This has never happened. He’s always had a very healthy appetite, and when I saw that I knew he was very sick. He did get up….
Star has been here now for two months. It seems like she just arrived in some ways, but the pasture is mostly eaten and the dry weather has limited the new grass that’s available. She’s very happy eating her hay. Star’s past is largely a mystery. She was brought here from Maryland by my neighbor’s…