July and August... somewhere here

Clearing the books in my collection...
some good some not so good...
hardbacks with print on paper pages.

clouds above the Sevier Plateau      2019

this process always brings out things you forgot you had or where they were at...
thus is the case with an old friend i read years ago...
Edward Abbey, the old desert rat that he was....


" Wealth should come like manna from heaven, unearned and uncalled for. Money should be like grace--- a gift. It is not worth sweating and scheming for."

"High technology has done one great service: It has taught us the delight of performing simple and primordial tasks--- chopping wood, building a fire, drinking water from a spring..."

Blm ground looking east to the Sevier Plateau   2019

" The world exists for its own sake, not for ours. Swallow that pill!"

i might add that it is most of all our proving ground to live on/in and not too destroy.

" Though men now possess the power to dominate and exploit every corner of the natural world, nothing in fact implies that they have the right or the need todo so."

Hay field after cutting #2 for the season... 2019

" Music begins where words leave off.
Music expresses the inexpressible.
if there is a Kingdom of Heaven, it lies in music."

There is nothing better then the cooling sound and feel of sprinklers on a sunny hot summer morning.

Some places in our town, and on earth, someone has decided we do not need to go... Rocky Mt Power Solar array field is one of those places in our small town...

the view from outside the fence...

" Death is every man's final critic. To die well you must live bravely."

" Life is too short for grief. Or regret. Or bullshit."

"Life imitates art---- but badly."

"Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best."

" Our 'neoconservatives' are neither new nor conservative, but as old as Babylon and evil as hell."

"Society is like a stew. If you don't keep it stirred up, you get a lot of scum top."

" Mormonism: Nothing so hilarious could possibly be true. Or all that bad."

So much for the found book of my friend Edward Abbey...

See you in block 16... 

Cheers to your day...

back to sorting and making books.

Day one of June

The first day of June... rather nice day...
drive about town, it's all still there...
warm enough for a cold lemonade...
made a few new images...
home, read, get bored with TV... uck !
cut-out fold punch sew small leather bags...
trying some new things with rivets...
watch the yellow gold sunset and eat dinner...
wow, just now 9pm and still light out...
summer must be around here somewhere...
maybe a bit more boredom, then off to bed...
Cheers to the new month and day...
come what may and love it.

the last day of MAY 2019

The Last Day of May 2019...
where has it gone... wind rain snow sunshine
and everything spring brings, only more...
will be back in a week or so when all settles...
the warm is coming the thoughts also...
Cheers for now.

Spring Summer rain and sunshine...

  You can tell spring/summer is coming to town cause the wind blows the trashcan bags inside out...

the inside out wind sock... spring coming          2019

it still rains or snows one or two days out of a week just to keep one guessing and the tourists wondering what the heck is going on here... ??
the days are light longer, brighter, and sunnier but the elevation we can't get to change so before the sun comes up or when it goes down it's still cold... just cause its southern Utah bring your coat you will never be out of style !

morning post office run, this day rain            2019

Take the day in the morning as it comes, layer-up and peal off if necessary as your day goes on and put it back on come evening... just part of the learning curve here in this part of the country. Wow great score i just found/obtained a ton of wood stove pellets at the local hardware store... something to heat the house early morning and late evenings... wood heat better the gas or electric !! That's one check in the box off the to-do list... the list is getting smaller and Easter is just around the corner, Jesus Christ,  Last Supper, Gethsemane, Suffering , Death and Resurrection on Sunday Morning... all for us... and remembrance of hope and joy from me/us.  Then maybe bunnies, colored eggs and a ham dinner, by a warm evening fire.

used car and rental lots are full...        2019

The local lots still have some holiday vehicles for rent, available for the season if you forget to bring your own... 

Wood box #1 puzzled, work in progress...           2019 

Oh yes and there is always something brewing in the studio... a little slower this year then in the past...
Potted trees on driveway starting to leaf out, grass is greening up... and my daily scripture reading moves on, i am grateful for the insights and prompting that come daily.
Look forward to getting my "Zen stool" outside and sit in the warmth of the daily sunshine. So much for this day, a hand full of cheetos and a Reese's peanut butter egg, orange fingers and chocolate lips smelling of peanut butter... 
Cheers to the season...

Three glasses of water, pants and no teeth...

Morning Snow before getting on to the Post    

Just another day of fighting with cabin fever...
sitting in the rocking chair upstairs waiting for my breath to catch up with me...
Why three glasses of water on the desk ???
you have pants that fit downstairs, wear them...
put your teeth in...
so what am i going to do today if i don't have all this stuff waiting for me to do... turn the heat up, swallow my morning pills then put the teeth in... give one glass of water to the dog and drink the other two today with lunch and snacks... and the pants, just punch another hole in the belt and pull tighter.
it's a bright blue sunny day... maybe i will just go sit in the sunshine and read today...

and eat a bag of chips... salty chips... not baked!!

This way i can wait for the delivery man to bring my new picture storybook and Zen garden stool so when spring/summer gets here i can sit outside and suck up D3, warm fresh air and read whatever the next book will be... wearing my hat and sun glasses... and drinking chilled water, from my hydro flask, insulated of course.
The best tasting water is cold "winter water" not the summer water that we are collecting now with all the snow and rain we are getting... along with puddles and mud. i did notice they must have opened the diversion dam cause the creek is running high and fast today. It's important to plan ahead for the day to stay busy... i can deal with the pants issue tomorrow cause they are staying up right now.
i hear US Grant calling now and the evening news, or whatever they call it now-a-days...
Besides its time to go pee again, all the water ya know...
stop by again as you pass bye...
CHEERS for now...

Hay... there's a lot of Snow out there...

Where has all this white stuff been coming from? Most from the west of us after it floods California, the pineapple express i believe they call it..., the coast takes some, then the Sierra takes some as it goes over the hump, then races across Nevada and hits the Rockies and we, Utah, get dumped on as it all moves East, the weather train...
It's been a pretty white winter here in southern Utah, hope most stays in the high mountains and we will collect it during the spring melt and use it wisely... i hope.

looking out the back door...              2019

even the rain we get before or after the snow does not melt it away, just turns it all to ice then more snow... high temps not getting into the mid 30's to 40's on a good sunny blue sky days. Then it tosses some wind in there from the north or south depending on the day... the good thing i see is the birds are coming back into the valley, that adds movement and color to the white ground cover. Or i can go out looking for color spots on the countryside...

Old used car bone yard out the river lane...         2019

This breaks up the white blanket we have had most of this season... something about old worn color and rust and long afternoon shadows... someone else's gold sitting in a field in front of their house. The fun part is what me and the dog have to go through to get out of our driveway to go on these adventurous/sojourns into/onto the valley floor... but we do have a great crew of snow plowers here in the valley.

Shadow on the car sun screen as we prep to head out...        2019

This is my dog sticker that hangs out on the windscreen and peeks in on the sun screen, as we defrost the window...         
he is a great nine pound toy poodle companion the jumps all over me in the house until we go for these rides about town to see whats changed in twenty-four hours since the last ride, he barks hello to all at the post office stop, and all his four legged friends about town he sees.

deice the the windscreen is next...             2019

Once we get the sun screen off the windscreen we have to clear ice, with the defroster or scraper, so we don't drive about blind, which some days feel like we do...
so its heater to max, blower full tilt and no outside air coming in to cool the heat coming out the vents...
then all we need worry about is the snow pushed to the sides of the road and the slush and ice that's left. Then off and about we go for about a forty-five minute drive, looking for and making images with my camera as we go.

The road is a black stripe you follow...            2019

 We make the rounds after poststop and errands about town and check the "hotspots" around town and look for changes...
Then it's back home to stay warm for the remainder of our day, and yes there is a nap on demand by the dog each day... thanks mr. deeks your a good companion !
So that's about an hour and a half of one of my/our winter days. Find the Good in each day and use it wisely, know that God loves you and be of good cheer.

CHEERS from winter in Panguitch , Utah !

It appears to all be the Zame from... here

2019

Panguitch, Utah looking west...                            12/23/2018

i have not done a new years hangover for near on fifty years now, in fact i can't even stay awake till 10:00 PM let alone till midnight to see bright colored fireworks... so i just see whats there in the morning of the first day when i wake up. Most cases its all the zame, no major changes here unlike some parts of the world of late, volcanoes, earthquakes, waves, bombs or explosions to change or alter the landscape and take human life... pretty quite mostly. Sure can't tell in this image that its eighteen degrees out this day.

Panguitch, Utah looking south out my back door...                           12/30/2018

Now this is a different image, two degrees and the CHRISTmas  snow sill on the ground with us... the sun that is out is pretty warm, if one sits behind the back door window basking in it to stay warm, gain some vitamin D and keep the blood flowing through the vessels... the dog rather likes doing this, thats who i  got the idea from...
A good bowl of hot soup helps a great deal also... now for the drag days of cabin fever, tasty busy and catch-up on reading and unfinished projects, and get the creative juices fired back up and get to work again even if i am suppose to be retired.
I did miss this government shut down, but did get to live through the last one... and did get paid retroactively after the reopening...
CHEERS
Richard

Stepping back from fb for... but the old bird is still here.

It's still a Red shed...                      10/08/2018

The Shed is still Red... 
We, Panguitch, have moved from summer to fall/winter, grey cloudy skies with rain and colder weather the past three days. Running the wood pellet stove, feeling the wood warm... which is different then electric or forced air heat.

Let's take a break... relax let the air out of your shoes...

Have been counseled by the Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to take a break from social media... so i am in the process of deactivating my facebook account, it's a 30 day process till facebook deletes the account and it all goes away, i do not think at this point i will return as i did the last time i tried this... the noise and contention in the world is getting greater... will see how i feel in twenty five days or so. I will continue with this blog to let those who want to see what i am up to and share thoughts and ideas that are rattling about in my head, also post some of my ART and images as i plug along with ongoing projects. I will try to post here at least monthly or more if the head starts to run over... must keep better notes.

" There is so much incivility in the world today... I like the idea of our words being clear as a sunny sky and full of grace."            ---Elder Dieter Uchtdorf---

easing the bumps and mud...

 Now that most of the summer road work about town is done... at my house the fiberoptic line is installed and the internet is flowing into and back out of the house, so we had the front drive way to the street chip seal paved to avoid the winter puddles, mud and bumps to make for a smoother take-off and landing... and it saves me from tracking as much outside inside the house, that is on my skill list! I am sure the weather will do what it always does this time of year around here, change, from wet to dry, sunny to cloudy, and sooner or later snow depending upon the week or time of the month, we don't have seasons here, in name only, just changing weather, such is the the way of the high desert mountain valleys of south central Utah, and we do heat and cold all year long! 

#3 Shadow Box, collage, "Mother's Religion"       10/08/2018

A month or so ago my Sister mailed me a box of our Mother's saved stuff that she no longer wants to keep around, so i have now become the family record keeper. i understand her desire to "thin out" her closet and house, as i have been doing the same thinning... so far i have narrowed down the saved records to four file boxes of family and my history, organized, and its all game for my ART, of which you see a work in process. This is collage work applied to a wooden shdow box... assemblage work still to come. The images and the saved objects will come from the box of Mother's box to me from sister, Thank You. 
Keep a sketch book and journal, they will be the record of who and what you are for your children & grandchildren... write from your heART, personal feelings and the truth that you know... let them toss it away if they don't want it!

That does me for this time around, come back again if you desire, i may not have much to say but i should have something to say.

CHEERS

No words to sxplain it all... yet !

i have run short of words of late... 
but the shed is now RED...
James Surls has been in Cedar City...
a good visual feast... look up his work if you don't know him...
i like that life/time moves beyond me, even when i want it to stand still...
My children and grands get older even as i do...
Fun to watch the way they all go with their lives...
school, military, no school, work, jobs, jail, marriage and some just "I don't know what i want to do's when i grow-up..."
i have done all this stuff at one time or another...
but the Shed is still RED.

Red Shed... not the same as the house.         2018

James Surls, SUMA      2018

James Surls at SUMA, Cedar City  

Three visits, drunk it all in...

sculpture & drawings...

not much of my own work getting done of late...

enjoying the summer monsoon season... wonderful wet smells...

watching our country fall apart from the top down... pride, power, greed and contention among our leaders and ourselves.

i keep reading the scriptures everyday, great insights into are day & times...

the prophets of old have seen our day and they show them to us in the scriptures... Book of Mormon and Old Testament...

no new tricks here... we can't seem to learn from history, and keep making the same mistakes. Remembrance is the key.

Ramdon arrangment, whitewash on Between Heaven & Earth...     2018

WildCherryWaterfall...

White Cheddar Cheetos Puffs...

A Chocolate Chip Cookie...

(Natural flavors with other natural flavors,

nothing ARTificial, all real.)

What a great Labor day !!

and a glass of water to wash it all down and pee it out later, but thats another story to be told later.

will try to get back before the end of the month.

CHEERS

What have you been doing... me rehab attic...

Shadows on the work table in the morning...
from still life on the studio windowsill..
the starting place of most of my days... the work table that is...
reading, writing but no arithmetic, never liked it in school why start now... thank you for my SPL-130 display calculator and google the formula and i am good to go... Have been doing a lot of rehab work for my heart & lungs, some would call it exercise, it works and i am feeling better...
now with the monsoon season here upon us i have been waiting for the shed to dry out so we can paint it...

as you can see white caulk spots and a star shadow to be covered, then remount the wall do dads... i think red would be a great color don't you?, that way it will stand out from the rest of the house and neighborhood...
we have a twelve year old grandson who has never painted a building before so lets give that experience to him... kind of like the "Tom Sawyer" and the white washed fence... i wonder if he's read the book?   We can talk about it as we work together among other things... come on wood dry out.

Have been making images about town after going to the post office each day with Mr. Deeks, he loves the ride about to check on the neighborhood cats & dogs... then back to home to get some Art moving forward and log the images... and a documentary project i am also working on about the new building (5) being constructed, new houses & businesses, in town... we are moving forward contrary to what the county commission says, that the county is dying and wants/needs more government  "help", or quite possibly they have a personal agenda... i don't know the entire "story".

There are always ideas and inspiration coming along that keep the work going, here #4 Wood Panel, collage, with an assemblage shelf for that found object  "collection" that i have floating around the studio in boxes & boxes... then when i need to work my hands and knot so much my head i still cut cut, punch and sew leather pouches... cash storage pouches and small ones from the scraps...

I also have 11 "Two Cent" pouches from previous projects that i want to recycle into these new pieces... each is a small leather pouch with 2 pennies inside, you know my two cents worth... kind of like this blog gets sometimes... it's hard sometimes to keep my opinion to myself, thought i try to have and open mind and heart to new & some old ideas... i have been more centered on finding TRUTH and allowing opinions to flow down my back and choose to not be offended by them...

This is my Month of July statement here at the homestead... old glory and my Navy combat flag...
like my neighbor across the street says. "life is good in Pangtown"...

Speaking of the monsoon season we had a wonderfilled early morning, 2-3 am, thunderstorms moveing through the valley this morning... what a show, awoke to a flag flapping, flashes, thunder, wind, rain... moving from east to west... the whole experience through the open bedroom window... oh how i love these episodes, the sound & smell was grand until i fell back to sleep an hour later!
enjoy your summer while it lasts... it's a short one here in Panguitch...

CHEERS 

new work and moving forward... me too !

#2 Wood Panel, collage, work in progress

Getting close to home with this piece...
maps and influences things i ate, old & new...
all this in between visits with the Pulmonary rehab folks in Cedar City twice a week... 
along with the other summer projects that are coming my way, also some new Dr. appointments and follow-ups coming along this month... still actively carrying my camera about making images to document what i see as i move about...
Also reading the current Philip Pullman novel " The Book Of Dust" a great story teller, a good no think read just & enjoy...
Nice cool evening tonight, as are most summer nights here in the high mountain desert west...
The quilters are in town this weekend, so down town is busy with people...

#1 Wood Panel, collage, drawing...

Still working on #1 Wood Panel, taking it's time, liking what's coming out of it...
Have given myself a seven day break from fake, Fasting from my social media page, wall or whatever it is...
nice to get away and follow the council of the Prophet to the youth of the Church... 
some days i feel/think like the kids then my age catches up with me... 

There is something about sticks and found objects that are painted to change how the appear and are seen...

Painted sticks, real but not...

These will be added to the shelf wood panel pieces... more to find and colors to add to the  painted  white gesso... on them now...





Here is what's to come as the month moves forward...
CHEERS.

Long forgotten... Now new again.

Self-portrait, postcard image, collage, self-made frame.         2002

Let me start with a self-portrait form 2002 that i found in a closet down stairs along with 13 other framed images of my early work. Also with that stash 10 shadow box's from 2006. 

The ongoing process to simplify and rid/recycle work or frames into/onto current work goes forward. This piece caught my eye again and i brought it up to the studio and hung it on the shortage of open wall space that still remains, the red eastern wall.

Sketch book ideas: bowl & vessel... 

"tight like unto a dish..."

also past objects i drew and made...

this bowl image is not of my making, just a collected idea that i came across... 

always gleaning ideas from around me.

Current work in process: 

#1 Wood Panel, collage, drawing, detail.

This is the start of eleven wood panels, size 11"x 14", that i have started working on.

Working on/with these wood panels is better then a cardboard or canvas substrate that needs glass and frames... This also allows me too return to Assemblage & Constructions that i use to make... i also have box's of found objects that need some using up...

i have always been a builder at heart... since i was a child growing-up, ceramics in college, then shadow box constructions, out of school, All seems to be coming full circle.

Wood Panels, blank, with shelves, #2, #3 & #4...

current pieces in the very early stages...

gets the old juices running, mixing with new ideas...

new insights come each new day... 

so the possibilities are endless...

collage, drawings, paint, scratches, found objects...

those already found and some yet to be found...

try to be positive to combat the negative and contention 

going on in the world today.

my Art is a reflection of me and the world i have around 

me i in retirement... another hard lesson i am learning...

it is getting easer now that i am past the date i should have

been back to work.

As of 5/3/2018

Wood Panels #1,#2, #3 & #4...

with some "edgy" colors...

the sojourn through my world of ART continues...

CHEERS

Back again with new & old...Blue, sunny, wind of change...

Blue, sunny, windy morning... spring in the aire... 4/2/2018

Have not quite digested the Easter experience... yet...
may take some time.

Along with some active engagement with the changes...
that took place...

More to come on this subject.

New work 2018, left...              Old work 2017, right...

As for the new and the old work,  the new has stalled as
of now, the old is complete and has become one of my "signposts" to compare with where my thought process was as relative to the experiences of the past year and the new stalled work here...
i also have 10 additional pieces in the finished and incomplete states... my usual work is start to finish then move on to the next piece... this new direction might be the result of "retirement'' from my everyday working life... not sure about that yet either...

Northwall office toolbox is full 4/2/2018

So as both you and i can see... the box is full, it has been more full, but i have been uncluttering  as of late, that is a result of "retirement".

So the search for my grounding in our contentious & "noisey" world, in which we all live and deal with each day...

I do not desire my ART to come out as a reflection of that noise, contention & meaness
that i observe and experience going on in the world about me/us.

This takes me back to my to my opening statement... more digestion and action on my part...  more to come.
The box is full and my imagination is running mostly 24/7... lets see where it goes.

Thank You for stopping bye again.

CHEERS

No fooling...

Red rock box on the back deck... 2018

Will be back with a new post after Holy Week and the Easter Holiday...
So come back and look me up after April 2... no fooling.

above and above #1 Wood Panel 2018

                                                                                                                                 CHEERS...

Oh... what will i do ?

Selfie... by my hand,  Feb 2018

it's a clear blue sky very windy day...
keeping my eye out for the desert  blowing past the windows...
the dogs asleep on a sun patch by the back door... Adoublechocfudgebrownieshouldjustaboutdoit.

march 2 1430 hrs.  go ahead read the original...

why should i rewrite it here...
just read the original handwritten version...

Quilt block pattern...

#9 Collage, quilt pattern block-up


CHEERs for this day.