Beaver Island Daze

CATCH UP DAY ON THE OLD 'PUTER

2009-08-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

I ended my stay on BI with no computer link, and not being able to post to my blog. THEN I came right home to the arrival of "Hurricane Gracie", rarin' to go for "Camp Nana" (our second annual week together here while her parents visit in Lansing). Since she filled ALL the space in my life for 5 days I dropped everything to accomadate her, which has meant that I am way behind on "fixing" BI Daze. So here goes . . . .

2009-08-22T16:30:00.000-07:00

WOW!! Lot's of catching up to do! Here is the "down side" of Beaver Island living - if you are (as I am) a techno-freak and communications junky, you are at the mercy of the "island gods". When they say NO COMMUNICADO, they mean it. The phones AND internet were spotty and/or down for the last two days of our stay. Which translated to REAL island living - painting ONLY and no talking about it on the internet. Aw. Tough for me, but they way it SHOULD be, I guess. Anyway, I will play "catch up" later.

We got off the Island on Friday evening, and it was a HAIRY experience! Of all of the 18 crossings I have made, this one (by far!) took the cake. It is a good thing we didn't know beforehand what it was going to be like, or we would still be on the BI shore! It was a STORMY BI to Charlevoix trip, starting out with seas at 4-5 feet and ending with 6-8 foot swells. We were in the troughs sideways the whole three hour cruise. I managed by doing the "hang on to the rail, flex your knees, keep your eyes fixed on the horizon" business and was okay, but there were pitiful seasick people with bags to their faces EVERYWHERE around me! We were a bunch of VERY GRATEFUL people when we reached the channel, let me tell you!

Kathy and I spent the night at the Charlevoix Inn. Since we were not seasick and were hungry we took the desk clerk's recommendation for dinner, and in doing so stumbed onto one of the best kept secrets in Michigan, the ARGONNE SUPPER CLUB. What a gem! Some of the best perch and shrimp I have ever had in an absolutely charming setting. What a great discovery, and worthy of a repeat next year! Follow the link below or copy and paste it into your browser for a really good article about the Argonne and the history of Supper Clubs in the Northern Midwest. Interesting!

http://visitshoremagazine.com/2/?p=1491

I will finish my photo diary from this year tomorrow. Even after the FOUR HOUR 'NAP" I took today, I am whipped and need to get to bed.

TUESDAY - Aug. 18

2009-08-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

It is hard to explain how beautiful it is up here - from the sunrises we see from our decks and studio windows . . . . .

. . . . to the constantly changing color of the water, to the blue of the sky peeking through the trees. It is all so beautiful, and all if it just BEGS to be a watercolor painting. Too bad the time passes SO QUICKLY.

We are starting to feel the swoosh of it sliding away. I am desperate to get more paintings done, and am running way out of hours to do it. My day today - eat, paint, paint, paint, eat, paint, paint, paint, eat, paint, listen to Dr Gillingham's lecture on New Zealand tuatara's, paint, paint, go to bed.

This is a Tuatara. Next to a snake it is Dr. Gillingham's favorite animal.

MONDAY Aug 17 - South Lighthouse Day

2009-08-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon at the station is very quiet. There is lots of time to spend on finishing paintings, either at the studio or on the beach. Or there is time for beachcombing - looking for interesting stuff to paint (in this case, some creepy old fish bones!)

On Monday it is FIELD TRIP TIME! We pile into vehicles and rumble off to the very south end of the island, down to South Point Lighthouse, and the Fog Horn House.

Luckily today is a GOOD day at the south end - the temp is very fair, there is a nice breeze, and the nasty biting insects minding their own business! It is extremely pleasant, and we have a great time plein aire painting, and digital image gathering.

In anticipation of the sand fleas, black flies and biting flies Kathy has chosen an ensemble that is at once totally body covering and BEGGING to be the subject of a watercolor!!

Ryan buddies up with Theo (Boston the Doggie's spitting image) who is apparently the premier snake killing dog of the South End. He certainly was tearing it up with a huge black snake the whole time we were there!

The Family Mullen arrives from their lakeside retreat down the beach and are greeted by Joanne and Arlene.

Even Phyllis is enjoying a good time painting on the front lawn of lighthouse keeper's house.

This year we were once again treated to the spectacular sight of a 180 degree DOUBLE rainbow over the lake. This is the second time this has happened while I have been here, and the SECOND time that I have tried (unsuccessfully) to photograph it. Can't be done without a panoramic lens! And don't even THINK about trying to paint it . . . .

SUNDAY August 16 - OH NO, COUNTING DOWN!!!!!

2009-08-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

I am just sitting here thinking about what a strange and wonderful thing is this two week adventure that we share up here on Beaver Island. Everyone agrees that it is truly a family, of the best kind, as it is one in which we have CHOSEN to participate . Yes, most of us would choose to be part of our own biological families, but the bond that has grown over the years from our two weeks here is so special that we choose, over and over, to come back and be part of this rag tag band of watercolor painting freaks who love this island.

And we sorely miss the company of those who can't join us. Or, in the case of George and Deb Monaghan, those who have to leave the party way early (Deb could only get a week away from her new job). Their early departure, and that of Pat Tinney and Fran Van Howe, leaves a hole in the family fabric that will only be mended next year, when they all show up again and we pick up where we left off.

That's what our years as the Beaver Island Royale Watercolor Society are like - 50 weeks of anticipation for two weeks of hard work and delight. And our little family would not have it any other way. Hurry back, George and Deb, Pat and Fran, and any other missing members. We love you!

SATURDAY, Aug. 15 -FIRST CRITIQUE!!

2009-08-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

It's early Saturday morning and we are all meeting in the classroom with our after breakfast coffee for our first critique. We each have to pick three pieces from the ones we have produced so far to discuss with the class. Questions? Suggestions? Any one? Any one? . . . . Bueller?

I think we all feel pretty good about our combined efforts and the work we have produced. Good enough to take the rest of the day off!! (But hardly anyone does - I painted in the studio until 9:30).

FRIDAY Aug 14

2009-08-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

We are very productive today! Great art is being produced all over the station and down in town!

WE ARE A BUNCH OF VERY HAPPY CAMPERS!!!

Just before the end of the day (and an incoming storm) we are treated, once again, to some of the Master's handiwork, in the form of beautiful sun rays over the water.

Every Friday and Saturday night is movie night in the Commons. Tonight we start with a cartoon movie for kids, then later on is a movie for the adults.

THURSDAY - Part Two

2009-08-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

Now SERIOUSLY, who could NOT make good art in this setting? Joanne and Jon look to be the consumate artists - she outside in nature, he inside with technology.

We all made posters to hang up around town to advertise the art show. These are mine.

Last night it was a celebration of the Perseids.

Tonights entertainment, after a long hard day of painting after painting, is a trip down to the south end of the island to Sarah's new beach front property, and their outdoor "house".

The theme of this year's annual beach party is "Christmas in August", with found or "stolen" presents, given in a "dirty Santa" exchange. We have everything from painted rocks to candy cigarettes, to giant dinosaur feet to a rubber chicken.

We have to "clown car" to fit everyone into Deb and George's car on the way home, but we make it.

And I win the rubber chicken!!!

Thursday August 13 - THE PERSEIDS!!

2009-08-13T10:42:00.002-07:00

Last night we bundled up like mummies in sweatshirts, blankeets and bugspray - armoring ourselves against the mosquitoes to sit out on the deck and watch for metors! Up here, away from (most) light pollution we sat entranced undet the brightening milky way waiting for the shooting star show to begin. As each one streaked in a glittering arc across the sky we cheered and hooted, acknowleding the work of the Master Showman. And we marveled at the incredible number of satellites flying around up there. A far cry from the days of lying on our backs in our yard, waiting anxiously for the ONE SOLITARY FLIGHT of Sputnik across the summer sky.

(internet images from
http://www.examiner.com/x-18520-Evergreen-State-College-Examiner~y2009m8d11-The-August-2009-Perseid-meteor-shower-great-views-from-dark-places-ie-Evergreens-beaches-video
http://www.aolcdn.com/rl_space/perseid-meteor-shower-450a080207.jpg
http://sciencedude.freedomblogging.com/files/2009/08/percy.jpg )

Wednesday - day THREE

2009-08-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

Our days start excellently here on the Island - with BEAUTY, GOOD FOOD and WONDERFUL FRIENDS!! Who could ask for more?

Today is PRESENT DAY!! The day when Deb hands out to all of us the little goodies that she brings in the car from Minnesota every year (including George, whom she is not giving away!)

Then it is off to town to paint (or take images from which to paint later). We are a familiar sight every year, with our bags and our sun hats and our containers of water) and are warmly welcomed by the people of St. James.

My most fervent wish has come true! "Gracie's Tree" has been a big hit over the last year, with man new additions of little creatures, figures, coins and decorations! As I hoped it would, it has become truly a piece of "participation art", a "work in progress" that is continuaing to evolve.

Who knows what it will look like next year?

Beaver Island TUESDAY, Aug. 11 - DAY 2

2009-08-11T12:32:00.001-07:00

Phylis and I discover that we are both learning our new Macbooks. We are both trying to get Skype to work - me to call Genna and Chad, she to conference call her kids in Michigan, Thailand (and one who is working in Katmandu!)

We all get down to art work right away. Me (the INSIDE painter), in the studio, and the plein aire painters out in the field in town.

There is SO MUCH subject matter from which to choose. It is a delightful

dilemma!!

We may all be teachers, but here we are all STUDENTS, and we have lectures to attend! ART HISTORY 101 in Gillingham Auditorium.

And, at the end of the day, the winner of the "Stack Your Condiments in the Most Creative and Artistic Way" dinner contest is - CAROL!!!

YAY!!!! BEAVER ISLAND 2009!!!!!

2009-08-10T05:24:00.001-07:00

IT ALL STARTS WITH A TRIP ON A BOAT!! Out from Charlevoix, 3 hours across Lake Michigan to the idyllic rustic island paradise that is BEAVER ISLAND!

We glide in past the CMU Boat House . . .

. . . and in to Jamestown Harbor!! After 50 weeks "adrift in another world", we are finally HOME, for two glorious weeks at CMU Bio Station!!

BUNK SWEET BUNK!!

Monday morning, after a good nights sleep and an excellent breakfast prepared by Carolyn and crew, we are ready to start by having our first class meeting.

And here he is, the man of the hour, our wise and venerable instructor, JOHN SWANSTROM!!!

Beaver Island Website

2008-08-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

Well, now all we have are our memories, and our lingering bug bites, our still untackled piles of island laundry, our unpacked and untouched art suppliles and the website, to remind us that we were there and are now gone. And sailing away was really hard for me this year. I guess that is the down side of FOUR weeks in Paradise.

At any rate, I am plugging along with the website and hope to have it done before too very long. You can keep track of progress here http://jnbartteacher.com/CMUBS/enter.html

Thursday - Day ELEVEN - it's over - SO SAD

2008-08-14T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it is all over but the packing up and clearing out. Seriously, We started setting up our work for the critique about 9:00 this morning. Always before we have done it late in the evening on Thursday, or (when we were setting up in the common room of the lodge) in a mad scramble on Friday morning. MUCH less pressure this way, and much nicer displays of the work. When you see it all laid out it is pretty inpressive. We have been hard at work and have DONE A LOT!!!

There will be more pics from tomorrow morning's critique and afternoon show and sale. And then on the website ( http://www.jnbartteacher.com ). But THAT won't be until nearly November, judging from the number of images that I have to process (for THREE classes!!)

In the living/common room this morning was a copy of the Beaver Beacon (the Island News Magazine) and pictured prominently in the article about the last classes (clay/papermaking/bookbinding) is a photo of the Raku bowl that Trudy made. TA DA!!

Wednesday - Day TEN

2008-08-13T03:59:00.000-07:00

Quite a day yesterday! First, we had to have a "rescue at sea" of Larkin and his Hobie Cat full of students from the Chippewa Hills cross-country team. They capsized just offshore (a common occurance) but could not right the boat (uncommon occurance). It drifted WAY out into the lake and after about 1 1/2 hours of them trying to get up again, the police boat was called and they were hauled in cold and wet. No real harm done, but the boat has been banned from the station (this is Lark's third rescue and Jim says "NO MORE!")After a hard day in the mines painting, a bunch of us piled into the van and went across to the west side of the island to Donegal Bay to watch the sunset.

Then we all went back to town to the Shamrock to hoist Long Island Ice Teas in honor of Jodie (an Arnie Palmer for me as I was the D.D.)

This morning this little deer greeted me as I came around the corner of the dorm headed to the classroom. She was quite unafraid and stood there for a long time while I snapped shots, trying to get one to work. This was the best I could do . . . So I saw almost all the available Beaver Island wildlife this morning - a deer, the chipmunk, the big bunny, the flock of mourning doves, some geese - I did NOT, however, see the coyotes who have been plaguing the campground. Okay by me! . . . .

Tuesday - Day NINE - the beginning of CRUNCH TIME

2008-08-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

Sadly, I am beginning to see the dark, dank bottom of the well. I am trying to avoid the thought that this is all coming to an end, but it is true. I only have two more days to paint and one of them involves a lot of photography time (taking photos for the class page on my website). The day is brilliant, and the water is sparkling so much that you can hardly look at it. This is a photo of the Emerald Isle leaving for Charlevoix and a Dragon Kite flying over the beach (a painting just CRYING to be painted)

Yesterday afternoon I decided to commit to testing the watercolor paper from the book that I made in Sally's class last session. Turns out it is desperately hard to use - has to be soaked first, pigment sits on top of the paper, must use wet-on-wet technique, etc. I gave it the old college try in my standard style. Not so hot. So I just whipped through some quick paintings (5 X 7's) doing what the paper would allow me to do and everyone said that were great. So much for my tight "greeting-card" style. So today they "took away" my little brushes and made me paint with big brushes on wet paper. I think I like the result, but "we will know more later".

Monday - Day Eight - Watercolor class - Beaver Island

2008-08-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

I painted for 12 hours straight yesterday, with breaks for breakfast, lunch and dinner (started at 6:30 am and quit about 8 pm. The crazy part was that I wasn't even ready to quit when I knew that I HAD to. I didn't sleep very well last night - don't know why. I MAY be ready to come home. I worked most of the day on a painting of Morgan and Cayla Tinney.

There have been a lot of tall ships (two and three masted schooners and the like) going by. There must be something going on up on the straits. It is so weird to look up and see one of these big guys going by under full sail - sort of like you are going back in time. Very nice experience.

08:08, 08/08/08 - The Memorial for Jodie

2008-08-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

At 8:08 pm the CMUBS bell rang 8 times in memory of our friend Jodie Dewey, who lost her life this year. She was only 48. The Beaver Island Watercolor group gathered in from of "her" cabin at the Bio Station on the shore of Lake Michigan to say goodbye. Morgan and Cayla Tinney floated a wreath of wildflowers out into the shallows and scattered her ashes into the water where she loved to have her daily swim. Pat Tinney and Jon Bouck both spoke and presented her mother, father and best friend with mementos of her time on Beaver Island. It was a very moving and beautiful occasion.

"ONCE UPON A TIME ON BEAVER ISLAND" (for Gracie Mae)

2008-08-08T03:18:00.000-07:00

I saw the tree, I found the hole, I bought clay, I pressed my friends fingers into making tiny sculptures with me - the rest is installation art history!

Day FOUR - Thursday - Watercolor Class, Beaver Island

2008-08-07T05:04:00.000-07:00

Of course, another WONDERFUL sunrise. I wonder what the sunsets are like on the other side of the island? If they are as spectacular as the sunrises, I guess I should travel over with a gang in the evening to see one . . . . BUT, since the station is charging .90 a mile for travel in their cars this year that makes a trip into town and back $18 (gas over here is $6 a gallon!) and I probably won't do it.

Last night and today were "fun with food" days for me. Trudy and I joked about the "mile high" selections on the menu at Arnies while she was here, so I made my own version with our "Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner". And this morning I made a scupture from my beverages. I think Arlene and John were perplexed by it!

The Queen Ann's Lace this morning made me think of the fun Trudy and I had up here last week. There is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT vibe and dynamics up here this session, by the way. It is really more like a family reunion weekend than a class. And we have the added to the mix a group of water treatment people from around the state who are studying plankton. With all of the Plankton People and family members in the dining hall during meals it is a very lively place!!

Pat and Cayla Tinney have been collecting heart shaped rocks from the beach in memory of Jodie Dewey all week. And tomorrow we have a commemorative service for her on the beach 8:08, 08/08/'08.

Wednesday - Day Three - Watercolor class

2008-08-06T03:57:00.000-07:00

I woke this morning to a clear, cloudless sky - beautiful, but not good for spectacular pictures. Since we thought it was going to thunderstorm yesterday (it did not) a bunch of us went back into town to take more images for painting. We took a lot of shots of the harbor, then hung around a bench in front of the bank, looking a little like monkeys on a log.

A huge bonus for Kathy and me was that we met the gentleman from Saugatuk who owns this great little Cape Cod on the harbor shore. He was out mowing his lawn, we struck up a conversation and he invited us in to see the inside. It started out as a log cabin and when he restored it on the outside he totally saved the log interior. It is right out of House and Garden or one of those shows on HGTV. SO neat!!

I didn't ask to take pitures of the inside because I thought that would be impolite, but I was so tickled to see it.

I finished my first painting of this house. I love it because of the flag on the garage out front and the lifesaver on the red door. Also, the great flowers - cosmos, snapdragons foxgloves and geraniums on the porch.

Day TWO - Tuesday - Watercolor Class

2008-08-05T03:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I am back on my (somewhat) standard Beaver Island schedule. I was in bed last night EXHAUSTED at 9:30. I have had too much sun in the last two days and it has wiped me, my face and my lips right out. The next thing will be a great big cold sore - I can feel it coming. It is 6:00 a.m. I have been up since 5 and down in the computer lab since 5:30. I am watching the sun come up out the big lakeside windows and the sky is pink and orange behind the clouds. It is supposed to rain and thunderstorm all day today so it is going to be an all studio all the time kind of day. I have TONS of images from which to paint so that is fine by me!
Yesterday, after the rain in the morning, was gorgeous! Just gorgeous! We started class while it rained

then in the afternoon we loaded up the vans and headed into town. Since it was SUCH a beautiful day I decided to take photos so I would have things to paint. I walked from the north lighthouse and the old Coast Guard Boathouse all the way around Paradise Bay to the ferry dock at the other end of St. James (about 1 1/4 miles)

By the time I got all the way around the bay it was HOT, I was even more sunburned and I was pooped. But I had some GREAT images. But, sadly, I mysteriously hit something on the camera that changed the settings (I have no idea WHAT) and some of them came out sort of pastel tinted black and white. Fine for ME, but some of them were promised to the people in the pictures (of their boats and houses) and they look pretty crappy. I will just have to send them along with an apology for my stupidity . . . .

WATERCOLOR CLASS!! Day one - Monday

2008-08-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

It was a BEAUTIFUL trip up on Sunday - perfect weather for the boat. I sat out on the deck all the way up and sunburned my face SO BADLY that I can hardly stand it. My lips are the most sunburned. We had thunder this morning at 5am then the skies opened up and it POURED!! Now it is noon and beautiful again - typical Beaver Island weather.

Comfy night - only FOUR of us in the dorm. It was very quiet and (since the Bio kids left last week) very CLEAN. There are only 11 people registered in the class, and about the same number of independent painters. Nice class, only two new faces. I am using the new paper that I made in Sally's class for my paintings. It is a real challenge learning what it will do and what I can do with it. We'll see.
The battery was dead on my camera and (of course!) the charger was up here on the island. Charged everything up last night and I am ready to go with photos again. Also, there is more computer time with this class (while things dry) so I will get back to blogging with photos.

Day 12 - Going home (FOR NOW)

2008-08-02T15:43:00.000-07:00

My first session class is done and the papermakers and raku-yakis are going home. It is time to take our leave of Clawed, the Screaming Yellow Invader Frog. Trudy and I are going to take a very neat, very fast trip off the Island today at 5pm

then she will take off tomorrow (Saturday) for L.A. I am going to make a quick turnaround with Kathy on Sunday for round two of Beaver Island - the WATERCOLOR CLASS!! more later . . . . . . .

Day TEN - Wednesday

2008-07-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! A full work day! Just time spent on getting our 5 required projects finished. AND our little keepsakes for the party on Thursday.

One of my final project books included the little fired clay piece that we did in collaboration with the clay class. It was the inprint of a fern "disguised" as a tree.

The other one is a folio to hold watercolor paper. I made the paper, but it is NOT good watercolor paper. Maybe I can use it as sketch paper. Anyway, it was fun to do and looks pretty nice. We have our final critique and "art show" on Friday before we leave the Island.

Day Eleven (Thursday) - Clean-up, Tear-down Day

2008-07-31T17:21:00.000-07:00

This is a sad day . . . today we tear down the pulp vats, clean up our areas and prepare to go home. Always such a bittersweet day -- we have done so much and grown so close in such a short period of time. It is going to be hard to say goodbye tomorrow.

Trudy got ALL of her firing done - quite a feat, considering all that she set out to do. She has already set up her large water feature installation for the show tomorrow. She is going to haul it all the way home to California to install in the garden of her new studio.

After we finish cleaning the studio we put the finishing touches on our projects then head up to Sally's "condo" for our "social hour". We nosh on goodies, have a few giggles, then exchange our keepsakes. And we sit for a combined "family portrait".

Day Nine - Tuesday, 28

2008-07-31T10:25:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful Beaver Island Sunrise to start the day.

We have a guest lecturer, Tim Barrett from Iowa University, who is a world reknowned papermaker, paper researcher and who, co-incidently, is a Beaver Island resident (when he is not in Iowa).

Trudy's raku bowl comes out of the kiln and is drop-dead gorgeous. The colors and luster are amazing.

Day Eight - Monday -- FIRST CRITIQUE DAY!!

2008-07-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

Today was our first critique in papermaking class. Sally gave us all a "container" and we had to make a book out of it. Very cool assignment and very cool results!!!

This is the way mine finally turned out. I was pretty pleased with it - it went from a little jewelry case to a book that tells the story of being an undiscovered treasure trunk of virtues. Deep.

Trudy is rolling right along with her clay projects. She is making a water feature for the garden outside her new studio. It is quite a project!

Now she is also making some cast slip jewelry that she plans to raku fire.

Here is the "gang" doing what we do BEST - THREE times a day . . . EAT!! And this is a sunrise photo that Tru took down at the water's edge, braving the hordes of mosquitoes.

Day SEVEN -- Sunday, July 27

2008-07-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

This is supposed to be a "day off', but (of course) there is WAY too much to do to just slack off completely. The about half of the two classes have gone back to French Bay to hike, so it is pretty quiet around the station. The high school biologists are still here, so the computer lab is full to bursting. I am going to finish blogging then head up to the condo to work on one of the TWO projects that I have due tomorrow. No rest for the Wicked . . . . or for Glinda . . . . .

Yesterday - DAY SIX - Saturday

2008-07-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

Remember Tom Hanks at the end of "Cast Away", pleading desolately into the empty sea "Wilson? Where are you?"

I found him. He is in a tangle of underbrush on Beaver Island, all wrinkled and weathered, but safe and sound.

Here we are making our second handbound book. This one employs our handmade Paste Paper to make the cover, and 12 individual groups of pages, all stitched together with a decorative "Coptic Stitch".

This is my "Coptic Stitch" book.

WAY BEHIND ON MY BLOGGING!!! . . . .

2008-07-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we woke to a blazing red sky sunrise - any sailor will tell you what that means. By afternoon the clouds got serious and we had a whopper of a storm that rolled across the island to the mainland. But after that we were treated to a spectacular 180 degree FULL RAINBOW, with rays of sunshine slanting through it. It was even double for a minute on one end. I couldn't get a full shot, but I pieced it together from two. It was quite an event!

Earlier in the day (before the storm) our class made a quick trip into town to the hardware and grocery stores (AND the Toy Museum and Art Gallery for EARRINGS!!) I walked from halfway and took these shots of "around". Remember the movie "The Birds?" these guys were the stars of it, I think. There must have been 100 of them following the Fish Smoker's net truck all the way in from the harbor. They were screaming and yelling because they new their were fish in the tubs in the back. What a hoot!!

Day FOUR

2008-07-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

I am really starting to feel the time crunch. I don't see how we (I) am ever going to get done all the things that I want to do . . . . .

I made some really neat paper out of all the local flora I gathered up between the condo and the classsroom - purple thistle, Queen Ann's lace, ferns, leaves, berries, yellow flowers, grasses. Put them all in a blender and whirled them up and added them to a paper pulp. The result was a beautiful pale green paper with multi colored specks that smelled like new mown grass! Wonderful. I called it "Beaver Island Blend". Also made a really nice one out of all my tea dregs blended together. It also smells great!

Trudy's crew had their first raku firing. They fired in the fibreglas kiln with the propane burner, then smoked the pieces in cans full of burnables ono the beach. Nice smoky results. This is the same class I took a couple of years ago (only there were NINE people in the tiny lab then! Now there is only a very comfortable five!)

Day THREE

2008-07-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

After two days of rain and fog and mist and overcast, cloudy skies I awoke this morning (FINALLY!!) to a normal Beaver island morning sunrise. This is the view off the deck of our "condo" (actually, just a staff unit, the one I have been lucky to get two other times). I am so glad we are getting to stay in it because it is just more comfortable for Trudy's visit. In fact, I think it was her heartfelt request that got us in this year!

On the way to class, the sky was clear blue, the HORRIBLE humidity was gone and the moon was bright overhead. Beautiful.

Here is Becka making the first pull of paper of the day.

Trudy and the Clay Class hiked out to French Point for the day, for lunch and to see the sights. they saw the SECOND BIGGEST BIRCH TREE IN THE U.S. and the biggest rock on the island.

While the Clay People were out in nature, we werebusy making paper and books.

This is called "couching" the paper, which is actually forming it in sheets on a screenn then letting it dry. These are vats of the colored pulp.

Sally is instructing us on how to make covers and end papers by "combing" (fake marbling).

Tuesday July 22 - Day TWO

2008-07-23T04:48:00.000-07:00

Don't know what the clay people are doing, but we Paper People start the day with a lecture/demo on basic semantics and vocab. Then it is off to the vats to begin pulling sheets of paper out with the deckels and molds, getting them onto the cooching screens, using the wet/dry vacs to pull the moisture out of the fresh sheets then letting them sun dry.

It is "Museum Week" in town, so tonight we are attending a lecture given by a local artist ("The Imagineer") who creates objects d'artes from found wood. We begin the night by playing "guess my name" from a selection of his projects.

The end of the day comes, and it is another flop into bed (after killing ourselves over the spider under the porch light who is GORGING herself on the bumper crop of mosquitos caught in her net!!)

Monday July 21, Day One

2008-07-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Breakfast on the morning of DAY ONE!! And Trudy enjoys her first taste of both CMUBS food and dining with a view. The weather is marginal, at best, so the view consists mostly of low mist and a cloudy horizon.

The Papermaking/Bookbinding class and the Impressions in Clay classes this year are very small - 5 students in each one. So for the first day both the classes combine into one and we begin by working in clay. We pile into the vans with boxes of clay slabs and take off to press them onto to anything we find to take "impressions of the island". The Clay people will eventually fire them for use in their projects and the Paper people will use them as molds in which to cast paper. These are our instructors, Sally Rose (of CMU) and Jane White (of Pewabic Pottery).

We start at the cabin of "Dr." Protor, a very old historic site that is seldom open to actually go inside. We are given free rein to make impressions from any of the old things we find inside or outside. Great, but we have to battle our way through CLOUDS of ravenous mosquitos to do so.

After leaving the cabin we head back into town to the world famous "Toy Museum" (across from the seagulls FAVORITE roosting place) to take inpressions of Mary's incredibly eclectic collection of cement sculptures in the jungle in the back of the store. Again, accompanied by hords of DNA seeking mosquitos.

With our clay impressions in hand we head back to the station to cast them in plaster or ready them for kiln firing.

There is a group of Beekeeppers finishing their stay on the station and they give a talk about bees that the clay people attend at the end of the day while we papermakers start pulling our first sheets of paper from the vats of colored pulp that we prepare before bed. By the end of the day Trudy and I are totally pooped, but are pretty happy campers.

Sunday July 20 - We're here! We're here!! WE'RE HERE!!!!

2008-07-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

We settled the cats in to greet their sitter when she comes every day, they we head north to Charlevoix to catch the boat to BEAVER ISLAND! We left the house at 8:43 (Trudy said) and had all of the "stuff" out of the car by Noon. This is was VERY fast trip. I was VERY excited to find that three of the gal-pals from watercolor class were going up to paint for 10 days, and one of my fellow teachers from Rockford was going to be in my paper class with me. Here we all are on the Good Ship Shamrock.

We head out under the Charlevoix bridge for the open waters of Lake Michigan. Three hours later we pass this "little" toy boat of someone's in St. James Harbor. As we cruise in past the Coast Guard Station it really feels to me as if we are HOME AGAIN!!!

. . . sail away . . . leave it all behind . . .

2008-06-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

So I am doing a little today of that which occupies my time greatly in the weeks before I go to Beaver Island: hauling out my "stuff" and just looking at it; sorting through it a little, thinking about it, touching it; just making connections and getting in the mindset. What I should probably be doing is actually doing some watercolors to get into the swing of things, but I am sure I won't actually be doing that. What I NEED to do is get my house cleaned for when Trudy comes, but that is WAY to prosaic an activity. Way.

Beaver Island is always on my mind . . .

2008-06-27T04:09:00.000-07:00

. . . because I have been looking through all my images to make this slide show. Since the Station is situated on the east side of the island the sunrises are spectacular. I have all these sunrise photos! It is such a pleasant aspect of a summer stay on the island to get up early (you just do), make a mug of tea, stumble out to a convenient patio or sidewalk and watch the sun come up. There are birds singing, seagulls calling, and usually something little rustling around in the underbrush close by. Except for those sounds, the soft lapping of the water and the wind through the treetops it is quite quiet and rather spiritual. What a lovely way to start the day.

COUNTING THE DAYS - until Beaver Island 2008

2008-06-26T07:04:00.000-07:00

The morning has started hazy and grey (it is a bad sign for my ankles when there is no blue in the sky). It is only 76 now, but the temp will rise, so will the humidity, and soon I will be miserable and cranky. I really hate summer in Michigan. Really. The only good thing about it is that is soon turns into that most glorious of times - FALL. In summer in Michigan I am constantly reminded that I am a Washington Mosshead at heart. Except for the weeks I spend up on Beaver Island attending classes at the CMU Bio Station. Then I am truly very happy.

It is only June now, but I am already gearing up mentally for the wonderful, all too short, time I will spend up on the island - painting. This year is going to be quite special, as I am going for double the time. Of course that means double the tuition, but I am doing it anyway. This is special. Trudy is coming from California and taking the Clay Class during the first session at the same time I am taking the Paper/Bookmaking Class. She hasn't been to Michigan for years and it promises to be great fun. I am taking watercolor again with Kathy during second session - a GRAND TOTAL of 4 weeks on Beaver Island (what am I thinking?).