Cherishing Summer

by Nada Clyne

Summer!  Soft breezes, the warm air caressing, fragrant flowers, birds singing, wet grass underfoot.  Oh how I adore this gentle nourishing time of year!  I say thank you every morning.

I created this image to express the feeling of summer's embrace. May I always remember to be grateful, remember to cherish each moment, and remember to appreciate the exuberant beauty!  And remember to stop saying, "I wish it was always like this." 

Saying goodbye to a friend....

Today my family and I had to say goodbye to our dog, Niko. He had been in a steady decline for the past year, but in the past 3 months he had been on pain killers and was doing very poorly. So, my step-daughter, Lori,  called Niko's vet and found out he is part of an animal hospice. Niko has so much anxiety about going to the vet's office, so the vet and his assistant came to our house to euthanize him. I was glad Lori was able to say goodbye to her beloved dog. We'll miss him.....

Riverfest Poster

by Hank

Recently  I was working on a Poster for the Narrowsburg Art  Fair “Riverfest,” sponsored by The Delaware Valley Arts Alliance. The poster will be sold at auction on July 28, which is a fund raiser for the DVAA.

The idea of joining several slats of wood together forming a visual pattern is not new to me; I have been doing this with my vases for a long time. Of course the vases are cylindrical and the poster is flat.

Joining the wood was no problem; neither was sanding and sealing the wood. That’s where the “NO PROBLEMS” ended. The first coat of polyurethane went on OK, but the second coat went down spotty and dusty. That’s when I should have walked away from the project for a day or two, or at least a few hours. I sanded the second coat out and put on a third, then a fourth, and a fifth, each coat worse than the previous one.  I finally tried spraying on the top coat but this only made things worse. What a mess. 

I don’t usually have these problems finishing a piece, so I decided to strip off all the poly and start over again. A wise person once said “to do the same thing over and expect different results is madness.” 

The next day I super-cleaned a different brush, thinned and strained the polyurethane and started over. The poly went on the wood like a stamp on an envelope. When the second coat went on and dried the poster was finished.

I try to follow the philosophy, “I never make a mistake, because when I DO it, it is the right thing to do.”  It’s only  afterwards that I know it was a mistake. 

      

Marbling Silk Scarves

by Buff

In the fall, I made some new marbled scarves, some of which are shown on my page.  They are a lot of fun to make, partly because you're never quite sure how they will turn out.  Here's how I make them:

First I mix up a thin gel of carageenen, which is a seaweed product, and used in foods.  I pour it (a lot of it!) into my frame of two by two lumber lined with two layers of heavy plastic.  It sits overnight to settle, and then the fun begins!



Preparing the paints

I use a thin textile paint that acts like a dye, and put in an additive to make sure the scarf can be cleaned without losing its color.  The paint has to be thin enough to float on the surface of the gel, but not so thin that it expands over the whole surface.  I drop paint with an eyedropper or fling it on with a whisk made of broom straws.




Dropping the paints onto the gel

There are many classic patterns that are achieved by combing the paints in various directions with an assortment of "combs" made from pieces of wood with glued-on toothpicks or bamboo skewers.  On such a large surface as I use (about 2 feet by 6 feet) it's very difficult to create such controlled patterns, but I try. 

The silk is charmeuse, which is essentially silk satin (silk is the fiber, satin is the weave) and, to me, the most luxurious fabric in the world.  I soak it in an alum solution, let it dry and iron it.

The hardest part I don't have a picture of, as Hank was not only taking pictures, but helping me lay down the fabric.  You have to lay down a six-foot long piece of fabric, starting in the middle and quickly and smoothly letting it slide down to the ends.  We each grip an end, stand at opposite ends of the frame, hold our breath, and lower it down.  If it's not smooth, you'll wind up with breaks in the pattern, or blank spots, and it's all over for that piece of fabric. This is the scariest part.



Looking at the results

 The most fun part is seeing what you've got.  I pick up the silk and carry it outside, dripping gel and color, and pin it top and bottom to parallel clotheslines.  I give it a gentle rinse with a hose and let it dry.  As the color sticks only to one side, the scarf has to be folded and sewed, then turned.  It's a lot of work, but it's also fun.




The finished scarf



Summer

    The Pond Eddy bridge, sans tubers

I enjoy exploring and taking photographs year round.  Every season is special in its own way, and I’m hard pressed to pick a favorite time for beautiful subjects.  But when it comes to comfort and convenience, summer is the best.  The obvious advantage over the other seasons is the warm weather.  No need to scrape my windshield and warm up the car, just start ‘er up, roll down the window and go!  There are no snow drifts to sink into, snowbanks to climb over, and no painfully numb fingers from manipulating a metal tripod or fumbling with tiny camera buttons. Sometimes the very best spot to capture a waterscape is not at the edge of a river or lake, but a few feet out into the water. When you’ve taken great pains to be at the perfect spot at the perfect moment, are you going to let a few feet of water get in your way? In spring or fall, I carry along an extra pair of shoes for such occasions, but in the summer such sacrifices are instead a pleasure, when you can strip down to bare feet and wade out to your knees with ease.  My favorite time of day is early morning, when the sun starts its climb into the sky. The lighting is often quite dramatic. Here again summer has its advantages.  The days are longest, and sunrise right now is about 5:30.  So I have beautiful light very early, when there are no people, tubes, kayaks or cars to get in the way.  It’s easy to share a river when everyone else is curled up in their beds or sleeping bags!  By Tom

Our New Show at Liberty Museum

By Kathy

I’m really pleased with how our current show looks at the Liberty Museum located at 46 South Main Street in Liberty, NY. It was one of those shows that just came together with fluidity and not too much fussing and moving things around. It helped that Liberty Museum has such a nice big space to offer us. We had a very fun opening reception with many of our usual guests, plus a few new faces.

As always the food was YUM! I made my usual signature spinach/water chestnut, scallion dip and my ultra rich choclate brownies with walnuts, Tom has a great  kielbasa connection in Orange County  and brought that and some of his wife Pat’s fantastic hummous with red bell peppers and some wonderful artisan bread made by someone he knows down in OC. I myself couldn’t stop eating Cate’s corn and black bean salsa.

Buff and an early guest with food before everyone plunged in

Enough about food, and as for the art—

Cate's fish mobiles

Cate has been doing some fantastic fused glass wind chimes in fish shapes and she has quite a few of them in the back part of the gallery, not to mention a profusion of large glass bowls that are absolutely stunning, with matching utensils that incorporate glass bead handles to compliment each piece. At our opening reception Buff had a run on her new fabric appliqué placemats that she sells in pairs. She also has new tote bags with beautiful collage designs on them, and at the museum she finally had space to show many of her wall hangings from her fascinating, dream-like “doors” series. Robert made some great new bent metal wall and pedestal sculptures that I found very striking when I first walked into the back gallery.

Robert Friedman's sculptures

I could go on, but I hope this description is enough to entice people who live in the area and have not made it to our show yet,  to make your way over to this spectacular exhibit of fine art and fine craft. Also, keep in mind that by going to Liberty Museum to see our show you are making a good effort to support the arts in Sullivan County!

Art and the Garden

By Robert

For the last week, I have been working on two contrasting projects -- finishing sculptures for the Catskill Artists Gallery opening next Saturday and planting in our raised beds. Although they seem to be unrelated, they have much in common.

My material for sculpture is sheet aluminum, cut into flat shapes. Since the metal is light enough, it can be shaped by hand. Gradually the parts organize into organic compositions with tension and movement. Colors will be chosen later for the final surfaces.

In the square beds, some of last year’s perennials are sprouting. The new plants are placed according to future height and color and most important, whether they are attractive to our enemies, the deer, which seem to think they own the place.

Herbs are good choices because with their strong taste they do not appeal to deer and are placed on the edges of the beds to protect the more attractive edible plants.        

So we have three-dimensional compositions to create in both projects. Visual movement, color and space are common elements.  How exciting it is to go from one to the other and see satisfying results in the studio and in the garden.