Marbled Feathers vs Marbled Paper

First came my love of setting metal type, that lead me to making Japanese Washi and Western paper,
which lead me to marbling parrot feathers, which lead me to marbling paper.

No photoshopping here, color is bright enough to rock the dead

QuillnAros' Plant Life~ Perfect Candidate for the Little Shop of Horrors

When I acquired this plant, it had about 5 pods hanging down and looked very exotic. Alot of times when something is so exotic, it just won't stand up to a non exotic person taking care of it.  Well, I guess it loved being outside this summer~now triple the size, it may start eating the leftovers in the refrigerator.

QuillnAros and Sylvie the African Grey Parrot Expressing Her Opinions

This is employee #3, Sylvie the African Grey. She is a rescued bird, probably over 40 years old (I can't tell how old she actually is because she doesn't have teeth~but she does have a sharp beak). She keeps her opinions to herself, but I can almost see what she is thinking, probably because my mind works the same way. Sylvie has a phone book near her main perch.  She can hide behind this, or tear the pages whatever. Every time I bend over to change her floor papers, she stands above me and drops spit balls on my head. I can imagine her mischievous nature, and exactly what she thinks of me

This is Sylvie looking innocent

This is Sylvie looking guilty~yep it is the same photo

These are the spit wads that missed!

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The Back Garden from my New Window~A Papermaker's and Parrot Owner's Autumnal Garden

Probably I breathe a sigh of relieve that the garden is winding down~I leave all the grasses alone so that the birds have something to eat and foliage to hide behind in the winter. For the rest, I will whip out my machete and start hacking  (last foliage pick up is October 31st).

This is the first garden photo with an areal view, I can now look at the back garden from my 2nd floor studio. What a pleasure!

When my print shop was up and running I loved printing cards for the Solstice and Equinox. So in the meantime, I will print a quote in my blog.



Winter is an etching, Spring a watercolor,
Summer an oil painting
and Autumn a mosiac of them all.

Stanley Horowitz
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Betolt Brecht, Autumn Equinox, and the Creative Spirit

More than 20 years ago, I discovered this poem by Bertolt Brecht. It relates to the creative spirit.
It runs through my head at certain moments and I feel it relates to all the artists out there who are extremely talented, but unrecognized.

THE ABANDONED GREENHOUSE

Exhausted from watering the fruit trees
I lately stepped through the open door into the small greenhouse,
where in the shadow of the tattered blind lie the remains of the rare flowers.
Still, made from wood, cloth and wire netting stands the installation

Still, the twine holds the pale withered stems upright.

Bygone day's attention is still visible,
many a subtle touch.

Across the tented roof sways
the shadow of the common evergreens which,
living by rain have no need of art.

As always,
the lovely and sensitive are no longer.

 

Tit versus Tat~The Saga Continues, Will My Print Shop Win????

I walked into the garage to see how the very huge cleanup (of Wayne's junk~ooooops) was progressing, well it is progressing, but very slowly. I thought I would shame him into moving faster and then I turned around and actually could see my wood furniture (for setting type ) and lead spacers. So I softened alittle.  But I took the picture anyway. I call this Wayne's Wall of Shame~though of course like any hoader, he says he knows exactly what is there and why. Especially the why part.

In the above picture, you can see my wood and metal furniture along with lead spacers used for setting up type jobs! Certainly a postive vision.

As I walked back into the house, I walked right past the dining room table. Then I backed up.....
I felt a little guilty because in reality this is some of my crap on the dining room table....well a lot of my crap on the dining room table. As a matter of fact, we forgot we had a dining room table.

So here is my contribution to fairness between the sexes. Tit for Tat, the struggles between QuillnAros and Goliath.

 

Parrots, Windows, More Light just in Time for Winter Blues~

The first photo of my bird's cages, and yes they do take up quite a bit of space, is taken from my studio on the second floor. The cages are placed in front of the bay windows and have a fabulous view of the garden. Me, well I had a very small window and the seal has been broken since I moved in 15 years ago.

NOW, my window has finally been replaced by a bigger, brighter window that lets in more light, a room now with a view!  Finally I can see the garden from my studio window. I have a view that the birds have had all these years!

Previously, the only room with a view, lucky ducks!

Wayne's perfectionist son, measuring and cutting and installing

Roy, Kim's alter ego, balancing and measuring on the outside