Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of painting in Melrose and south of Micanopy, FL as part of a fundraiser to benefit the Alachua Conservation Trust. This is the third year that I have participated in Open Air Arts, where 65 artists work for 10 days, making their art outside within certain geographical confinements. There are all kinds of artists working together: painters, photographers, and weavers, for example. I most love the community of artists and art-watchers that develops so easily and comfortably. This event is so well-managed, and everyone involved deserves a great deal of credit.

This year I made journey daybook pages. The one that I presented for judging is shown below. I made the page outside of Micanopy on the edge of a prairie which has recently been preserved. I painted last Sunday afternoon, lying face-down in a thicket of soft winter hay. Bliss!

Yesterday, during my usual Wednesday errand excursion in Gainesville, I had the pleasure of viewing Ruth Whiting’s present exhibit at Randy Batista’s gallery, Media Image, which is located beside the Hippodrome. I was tipped of that this show was exceptional, but I was really unprepared for the extraordinary creativity and painting style of this young Gainesville woman. I mentioned this exhibit in the Journey Daybook blog a few days ago. Here I will link the reader to Ruth’s own blog and descriptions of her other recent exhibits, including her place at the Art Basel/Art Miami week in early December, 2009.

Yesterday morning I inaugurated my new cappuccino cup/bowl - a gift from Jason, the manager of the Gainesville Starbucks on Archer Road. For this personal ceremony, I made a journey daybook page.

The fun this daily exercise is that I can play with different paper, different techniques, and different subject matter depending on the weather.

Last week I finished and shipped two bookworks to be included in an exhibit of nature journals at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History in Albuquerque. The completion of this work was a huge relief for me. I made his work during the past 10 years as I took two monumental journeys. In 2000 I crossed the State of Florida, following the Marjorie Carr Greenway, paddling my kayak and traveling on foot. In 2004 I spent 3 weeks at the bottom of the Grand Canyon traveling 300 miles in a small dory down the Colorado River. My journey daybooks documented my observations and feelings about what I experienced as I lived during each of these trips.

Each of the bookworks consists of a portfolio that contains maps and painted, collaged journey daybook pages. This submission is strictly narrative and reflects my personal aesthetic of making pages in the moment and on a journey.

Florida’s Eden Fundraiser - McIntosh FL

During the weekend of February 20 and 21, I was one of the featured artists who made work at the Windmill Gallery on US 441, south of McIntosh. The two days were beautiful and the landscape was different in color and tone. Overlooking Orange Lake, the view was stunning. The colored atmosphere, which is typical of this area, is caused by Orange Lake.

Our long anticipated retreat happened 22 - 24 January. Unfortunately, there were two people who couldn’t come due to illness at the last minute, but, even without these people, we were busy and our days were filled. The weather was cooperative - pleasant temperatures and bright days. We enjoyed fiireplace fires at night and felt cozy in our little cabins. Please check our JDB blog to see the pages that were made by other retreat participants. My pages are posted below.

I celebrate the New Year by making a journey daybook page early Friday afternoon. Because the day is cold and rainy in Cedar Key, my friend, Patty, and I decide to work inside. We drive to Robinson’s Seafood - just east on route 24, where we are each attracted by a beautifully flower-like arrangement of fresh mullet caught by Carl Robinson. Carl cleans fish, Eve serves customers, and several people pass watching us as we view our subject matter through the plexiglass of the ice-filled cases. We agree that we are very comfortable on this busy but contemplative first day of the New Year!

For the past several months, I have painted three commissioned portraits. Normally, I do not consider myself a portrait painter; however, as an ex-medical illustrator, I believe that portraiture is part of my lexicon. Besides I love making the human face come alive!

The first two of the portraits I painted are images of Amy and Henry Gernhardt, friends who live in Cedar Key and who own and manage Cedar Key Pottery. Henry’s ceramic sculptures and Amy’s pottery are exhibited widely in this country and in Canada. I have posted the images below.

When you are in our area, be sure to stop by Amy and Henry’s studio to view their amazing work. Cedar Key Pottery is a wonderful place to visit!

I worked on the two Gernhardt paintings in several stages. First, I made journey daybook pages at Amy’s home and studio. I made photographs there and collected bits of ephemera that seemed important to Amy and Henry. I collaged the gathered materials to create a unique painting surface. In the final stage, I made a painting of each of my friends, based on my sketches and the photographs that I made, and I worked each portrait into the individual collaged surface.

The third of the portraits that I recently completed is a portrait of Howard Powell - a Cedar Key friend and former originator of the process of pressure-treating wood. The intention of Howard’s portrait was that it would be a surprise. You may remember that I visited Howard’s garden and made journey daybook pages at Howard’s home several times earlier this year. The collaged materials for this painting were collected collaboratively by Howard’s wife, Sally, by my friend, Sue, and by me from my earlier drawings. For the portrait, I worked largely from a black and white commercial photograph of Howard. My challenge was to give the portrait life. To do this, I worked from both spiritual and memory cues, I believe that I achieved my goal.

I recently made a two-week trip with Mimi to the Four Corners. We also crossed into Nevada, adding on a fifth state, as we passed over the Colorado River at Boulder Dam. The reasons for this journey were reunion with my family and a gathering with other illustrated journal keepers in Zion National Park. As is my practice, I made several journey daybook pages that document this remarkable experience.

Four of us floated down the Ichetucknee River on August 8th. This journey daybook page shows several fleeting images images that flickered through my mind during the magical 3-hour trip.

Abbey Church designed by Marcel Breuer

I spent a beautiful week with friends at a retreat, “Praying with Imagination,” at the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at St John’s University, part of a Benedictine Community, in Collegeville. As was my intention, I made regular entries in my journey daybook. In addition, the 13 retreatants were given the opportunity to view the St John’s Bible (again and again!), practice a discipline known as visio divina, make books, watercolor, visit the acclaimed potter, Richard Bresnahan who is artist-in-residence at St John’s, and spend time walking throughout this exquisite, protected campus. What a joy it is to see such a community take the green movement really seriously!

I am posting some materials from my time at St John’s. My “tag book,” is a construction that I learned years ago from Hedy Kyle in New York, who made what she called a “flag book.” Here, I used luggage tags which are evocative of the “journey” aspect of the journey daybook. I think that these tags will reappear in different places!