Flower a Day for May

Flower a Day for May draws to a close with this photo of an alium, once again from Olana in Hudson, NY. I'm still waiting for the ones in our garden to bloom.

Flower a Day for May-Eastern Red Columbine

Another flower from Frederick Church's estate Olana in Hudson, NY—this one growing wild in a wooded area.

Flower a Day for May-Horse Chestnut

Coming on Sunday in my etsy shop-limited edition miniature book (2 3/8" x 3") of the 31 blog entries of Flower a Day for May.

Flower a Day for May-Wisteria

Book Arts Tuesday-West Dean Conservation Blog

I really enjoy the Current Projects blog by conservation students at West Dean College in England. Here is a letter from the editor, Abigail Bainbridge:

We’re conservators. The explanation at a bar usually goes something like this: We fix old stuff. Well sometimes it’s not old. And sometimes we don’t fix it. No trust me, it’s fascinating. Actually once I really explain what I do, most people see the appeal. We work on old things, pretty things, ugly things, rare things, historically important things; we use technology and tools borrowed from other professions to solve problems you might not have thought about. And at West Dean, most of us work on objects that serve a function. Readers of books generally want their books to open; owners of clocks want them to tell time. We balance the value of the object as a historical artifact against the requirements for its use. We try to make repairs as minimally interventive as possible, and reversible if necessary. We do our best to prevent further damage. We’ve learned that in time we often find a much better way of doing what we once thought was a great idea, and that objects mundane in one time period may be interesting and rare in another. To that end we study chemistry, physics, art history, craft, conservation theory and ethics, in addition to practical work. We thought, with the kind permission of our clients, we would share some of our work with you, in hopes that when you meet a conservator in a bar you can immediately say—and mean it—ah yes, how fascinating.

It is fascinating. Topics include: a Jane Austen manuscript, making iron gall ink, removing tape from an 18th century binding, making paring knives for bookbinding, and restoring an organ clock.

Flower a Day for May-Sweet Woodruff

Flower a Day for May-Lily of the Valley

Flower a Day for May-Daphne

Flower a Day for May-Dogwood

Flower a Day for May-May Apple

May Apple is an old-fashioned plant and one of my favorites. The leaves come in April, pushing through the earth in a rather suggestive manner.

They grow into leafy umbrellas

with the flowers are hidden below.

I like flowers that keep me on my toes. If I don't seek them out, they come and go without me.

Flower a Day for May-Perennial Bachelor Button

also from Olana, the estate of Frederick Church, the Hudson School painter.

And a photo from my friend Cathy's garden transformed with a line from poem 650 by Emily Dickinson

The Wondrous Nearer Drew: Artwork Inspired by the Poetry of Emily Dickinson and the Flowers of Massachusetts

Flower a Day for May-Iris

At Olana in Hudson, New York

Flower a Day for May-Chives

And with Emily:

Line from poem 338

Flower a Day for May-Pulmonaria

A garden club plant sale purchase last weekend. I love the spotted leaves as much as the delicate blue and pink flowers.

Spirit Book #71: Part 4

The book is finished. Assembling the cradle, making the base, and naming the book to go.

Studio Sunday-On vacation until June 1st

The garden calls.

Flower a Day for May-Azalea

a closer view of what I see when I am in the kitchen

Flower a Day for May-Lilac

An excerpt from Lilacs by Amy Lowell:

May is lilac here in New England,
May is a thrush singing “Sun up!” on a tip-top ash tree,
May is white clouds behind pine-trees
Puffed out and marching upon a blue sky.
May is a green as no other,
May is much sun through small leaves,
May is soft earth,
And apple-blossoms,
And windows open to a South Wind.
May is full light wind of lilac
From Canada to Narragansett Bay.

You can read the entire poem at the Poetry Foundation website.

Flower a Day for May-Miniature Iris

is blooming right now. Thank you Kathy. They were in your May basket a few years ago.

Flower a Day for May-on Middle Street

Spirit Book #71 Video-Part 3

Flower a Day for May-I'm a tulip

When my daughter shared a favorite song of hers by Fiona Apple with the line "I'm a tulip in a cup", I knew at some point I had to letter it on a cup.

Here's Fiona Apple singing Valentine:

Flower a Day for May-Flowering Quince

I'm a big fan of Latin names and try to use them whenever I can. I do a decent job of pronouncing them but the Latin name—Chaenomeles—for flowering quince always stumped me. My reluctance to do what other people are doing when they are doing it keeps me from making resolutions at the new year. For 2013 I decided I would make a resolution but I would keep it simple. I would learn how to pronounce Chaenomeles and I would remember it. And I still do: Chaenomeles speciosa, flowering quince, kee-NOM-uh-leez spee-see-OH-suh.

As I wrote this post, I did a little additional research and found that there are other pronunciations. This one comes from Overplanted.com, the website of Thomas Fischer who prepared these pronunciation guides for Horticulture magazine. And here's his guide to the principles of Latin pronunciation at the Horticulture magazine website.

Book Arts Tuesday-The Sunday Paper

Helen Hiebert has started a new series called The Sunday Paper on her blog. Here's how she describes it:

About The Sunday Paper: They keep saying that paper will become obsolete, yet artists, craftspeople, designers and creatives are keeping it alive and well. A healthy number of people are even making paper by hand (in some cultures they are still using age-old traditions). How cool is that? The Sunday PAPER is a resource for ideas and inspiration, all having to do with this amazing material. Each Sunday, starting with this edition, I’ll bring you stories and examples of people doing exciting, innovative, and beautiful things with paper, as well as links to interesting paperfacts I’ve unearthed from around the globe. I hope you’ll enjoy reading this paper, Papier, papel, хартия, Papir,紙, Papper, פּאַפּיר

The first 2 editions have been filled with delights and inspirations. Do check out all her posts. There's lots of good things. And visit Helen's facebook page for a giveaway of her new book, Playing with Pop-ups.

Visit The Sunday Paper.

Flower a Day for May-Bleeding Heart

Flower a Day for May-Yellow Magnolia

in my mother-in-law's garden

Flower a Day for May-Muscari

Purple grape hyacinth

and white

Spirit Book #71: Part 2

As I was looking through the book where I keep track of the Spirit Books and their names and numbers, I discovered that I had already assigned the number 70 to a small piece of driftwood I gathered along the Mississippi River during my trip to New Orleans. This book in progress is now Spirit Book #71.

Flower a Day for May-Mayflower Viburnum

Another common name for this plant, Viburnum carlesii, is Korean Spicebush. It is the symbol of May, delicious in every way. The flowers open slowly so I can watch the tight almost red buds unfurl to white flowers tinged with pink. Then, as the blossoms open fully, the pink tinge is lost and the bush is covered with balls of white. I wish I could post the scent here as well. It is as sweet and soft as the flowers.

Flower a Day for May-Hellebore

Flower a Day for May-Maple

If I had to pick a color that represents spring to me, it would be the first green of the maple trees—the flowers that precede the leaves. I used a photograph of maple blossoms to create this image from The Wondrous Nearer Drew: Artwork Inspired by the Poetry of Emily Dickinson and the Flowers of Massachusetts. The line is from Poem 184.

Flower a Day for May-Magnolia

in front of the Newburyport Public Library

Book Arts Tuesday-Spirit Book #70

I am documenting the making of Spirit Book #70. This is part one. This is my first video attempt using my phone. It's a bit unsteady. I hope I will improve as I go.

A Mexican Book for Cinco de Mayo

Accordion books were made in Mexico and Central America by the Maya and the Aztecs. Their books were made from deerskin or amate, a paper made from the inner bark of trees. In Mexico, in the village of San Pablito, they still make the paper today in the same way. Strips of the inner bark are boiled in lye to soften them, then laid on a stone in two layers, one horizontal and one vertical. They are pounded until the fibers mesh together and form the paper.

This book was made by Sr. Alfonso Garcia Tellez who is the shaman of the village. He performs ceremonies with the cut out amate figures and makes books about them. This book is An Offering to Bring the Rain which is about figures used to bring the rain and make the crops grow. The figures are gods of different plants. You can see the Dios de Pina, the God of the Pineapple, in the picture.

This is an excerpt from Books Around the World on makingbooks.com.

A Flower a Day for May-Scilla

I had never seen scilla before we moved to Newburyport. I was amazed at the vibrant blue of the flowers that carpeted a part of the garden. The carpet has spread over the years to welcome in the spring with exuberance.

Studio Sunday & Flower for a Day

Cherry blossoms and hellebore in a glass vase lettered with Pebeo Porcelaine and a brush.

Flower a Day for May-Bloodroot

Effloresce

Yesterday's word from dictionary.com was effloresce: to burst into bloom; blossom. What a perfect word to welcome in the May. I hope to post a flower image for each day of May. Spring has been a long time coming—celebration feels necessary.

Spirit Book in Library Collection

I am so pleased to report that Spirit Book #55: Sheltering Flight is now in the George J. Mitchell Dept. of Special Collections & Archives of the Bowdoin College Library. I made the connection through the Book Arts Bazaar in Portland last month. It is the first of the Spirit Books to be placed in a library collection. Why is that you may ask?

I did a Book Arts Fair as part of a conference at Wellesley College about 10 years ago. While there, I felt a distinct lack of interest in my work (all Spirit Books) by many of the institutional collectors. And I wasn't imagining things. I would watch them engage with the tables on either side of me, give a sidelong glance at my table and then look at the floor and dash by. I couldn't even make eye contact let alone have a conversation short of leaping out to bar their passage. And so being me and always quick to draw stark conclusions, I decided that this was not an audience for my work. This purchase encourages me to think that there may be a place for the books in some library collections.

After years of not selling the Spirit Books, I am ready to. It has never been that I cared about keeping them because I love them too much to part with them. I had two reasons. One was that I thought that I might be able to keep them all together in some kind of permanent exhibition (a wild dream and unlikely for an artist of my modest stature) or create an exhibition that could travel indefinitely (too complicated logistically in terms of scheduling and shipping for me to handle on my own—I did give it serious thought and attention). The second is that I am always conscious of a fundamental conflict between art and commerce (read The Gift by Lewis Hyde) and have a hard time presenting my work in terms of sales instead of showing and sharing, even after 35 years as an artist.

Why am I ready now? Because I realize that having so many of the Spirit Books in my possession was slowing, if not stifling, the creative process. Why make more if they are only going to be shown occassionally and otherwise, fill more and more space in our third floor storage space? The important thing for me now is to work and create as freely as possible and if that means putting some attention to sales that so I can continue to make work, so be it. If you know of a collection that might be interested, I'd appreciate information. Feel free to email me.

Starting next week, I'll be sharing information about my project to make the Spirit Books accessible to as many people as possible through a printed book about the Spirit Books. Stay tuned.