Looks good on the screen... new john seat works best...The next frontier...

The next frontier... box's full of stuff... clearing the shed...

     Well ain't this swell... six Quilt Pattern Collages complete, framed and ready to hang... nine Collages also complete, with a few more ideas in the hopper... framed and ready to hang, might not be a bad show...
Weather trying to warm up, most of the snow gone except on the north sides...
Uncertainty: is born of imperfect or unknown information. Pres. Nelson (12).
We are not to murmur against the Lord because of our afflictions/hardships.
1Nephi 18:16
Found a gray crayon on the floor of the church house a couple of Sundays back...
Waxie little bugger... good cover color, sure can't write or draw with a pen over the top of it.
Good addition to the sketchbook color scheme... dream in a grey cloud... morning clouds... Bright sunny blue almost clear sky morning... hard boiled eggs shelling easy today...
The smell of newly sharpened pencils, colored... daily words of the prophets, Nephi, scriptures... remember the Lord today... read & study... ordered some new fictional reading matter today, for evening mindless reading. Post office twice today... pick-up and delivery... Four hundred pounds of wood pellets into house... hope for warmer days... but it's still winter by-the-way... Tracing paper is great stuff, draw and color and it collages translucent so i have a cloudy background. Tracing paper drawings this morning... after AM routine... good stuff... James Gordon Costigan, my Father, was called Gordon by his parents as a young boy... now one of the  genealogy sites says Dad has a half brother because in a census record shows his name as Gordon... how to get this one straight ??? Scattered headache kind of day will have to wait for a Sunday to figure this one out... while all my day to day stuff is off the plate... 

Heart Dr. visit/ICD check an adjust...

One reason, doctor visit, gets you out of town and that turns into Oh... and we need this and that... new toilet seat, new music, Neil Young, lighted make-up mirror, art supplies, wal*mart stuff, always more then you go for, lunch with Sarah & Levi, my children, catch up on grandchildren activities...  great harvest bakery,  stop by the Cedar City Temple site, not much to see, outside mostly complete inside work going on, will be dedicated December 10, 2017. 
Heart Dr. visit all good, a few adjustments to ICD program, talk about a-fib and heart failure, which i do and am... back in six months for another check-up...
keep a daily log of how i feel... good and bad... then we can check against incidents recorded by the ICD at the next check... i am paced 98% of the time by the device implanted in my chest... living through medical technology... thank goodness have lots of work to still get done.

Six blocked-up... Quilt Block Patterns... step one.

Here look at these and what would you do with em??? each block is 6.75 inches square all pattern parts are photo or printed images... 

Will get back later... it's been a long day i am tired and am in need of some mindless reading then to bed...

was warmer today then the day before but more snow maybe Saturday...

much to see and do...

CHEERS

Snow and a full head of steam...

Quilt Pattern Collage #1, block-up, work in progress. 

POTUS has been running full steam ahead this past week... 
well it has also been a busy week in my neck of the woods, even if it is covered with snow and cold... burning the wood pellets from morning till bedtime and working to stay warm. 
have been getting some aRt work done this winter since i deactivated my FB account...
may restart it again in the spring when i return to Forest Service work and some of the anger, contention, and angst of the new POTUS settles down a bit...
have had lots of new ideas to work through,
much of the work after the block-up running along by the seat of my pants...
and i am for the most part liking what comes out in the final pieces... it's just knowing when to stop.

Book of Mormon 1Nephi 4: 6-7

                     Sunday January 22
Grey cold windy day... good church meetings...
the press and the POTUS fighting each other...
give the man/office a break... allow him to work without always poking at him in the cage.
he was voted in to do a job, weather we all like it or not, allow him to do that work...
the press knows this one will kick back at the pricks and jabs at him...
contention is the work of the devil to divide us... stop poking at him with your sharp sticks.
Wow i missed the cheap postage stamps... the price when up today to .49 cents per letter...
more snow coming over the next few days...
keep the pellets burning... stay warm and shovel
the driveway...

Looking north up the Panguitch valley...

               Monday January 23
Blowing snow storm all morning...
shovel driveway to get some sun melt...
blue sunny sky afternoon, some melt going on
out for a drive in the good afternoon light...
assemblage ideas for the quilt pattern block collages, bottle caps, beads, small leather bags
making images with G-5 camera...
getting dizzy in-between all this...
taking naps with the dog (2) am & pm...
never got to the post... tomorrow...
lots of snow so far this winter...
looking forward to a wet spring full of wildflowers!

Looking east across the bench to Sevier Plateau...

                    Tuesday January 24
Mostly cloudy morning... no new snow...
no driveway to shovel... post office today...
my first social security check...
change from paper check to direct deposit...
seal a wooden frame for collage #9...
heat turned up window open fan on...
cold day but sunny enough to melt some snow
work on the collages today... assemblage...
beads, drawings & bottle caps...
finger prick blood test tomorrow am...
expecting sub-zero temps tonight...
big pill bill at the drug store, deductibles...
snow building up in the mountains...
melting snow = water down in the valley...
starting to think volunteers... for spring...
watching POTUS work each day...
Still lots of contention coming from the east...
"bad" weather on both coasts...

#2 Quilt Pattern Collage, Assemblage.

                 Wednesday January 25
POTUS is steaming full speed ahead...
smashed pennies, beads and bottle caps...
trash can out to the curb for pick-up...
cold clear sky day 5* at 1000 hrs....
pro-time finger prick... cold fingers...
quilt pattern block ideas flowing...
working with what comes to mind...
found a bottle of found art-a-facts...
have to keep new ideas on work table...
and keep all options open... everything...
is on the table...
an old metal filling fell out my mouth...
shell buttons, glass beads, chicken bones...
punching holes in coins... thousands of beads...
more polyurethane on wooden frame...
another busy day in the vacation office.

#4 Quilt Pattern Collage, Assemblage.

                   Thursday January 26
The trash was picked up early today...
cold grey day, high temp 22* sum sun...
Volunteers starting to look for summer work...
sewed up #4 QPC this morning...
buttons & beads on #6 QPC...
two more QPC to go, #1 & #3, just blocked-up.
Some work better then others, signposts...
Think i will sit on these last two awhile...
pellet stove running, burning wood all day...
good phone call from my Sister today...

Funny small cardboard cards, with photo's glued on and glass beads, buttons, smashed pennies attached to them...
What in the heck is this all about???
keep going one will jump up and out sooner or later... put them in frame and that isolates them from each other and the world around them...
kind of like dressing them up and sending them out into the world or school or some such thing as that... or maybe i am just getting tired of them and need to sit back and look for awhile... ya think?

back yard snow... so much for melting.

And today is:          Friday January 27...
POTUS is into the new job for seven now and has not quit...
the day here started at -5* clear blue bright and sunny...
Cedar City Temple will be dedicated Sunday December 10, 2017.
no matter what is going on in the world around me my "world" still moves forward with or without me...

Cedar City Temple, Nov 15 2016

I Hope that all is well with you, thank you for stopping by...
CHEERS

On the Eve of Change... Friday January 20, 2017

Friday the 13th, Panguitch, Utah 2017

Well change is coming...
promised or otherwise...
change is the one thing we are always sure of... 
the movement from one day to the next for one...
the Country change is coming from the east, again...
this country has always changed from east to west...
change follows the sunrise...
once the easterners become westerners then comes the difference of opinions...
how long does the east to west change take ?

The toy story moves on...

       


  A large empty hole is now in the basement where all the kids toys, that they did not take with them, were stored... discovered while looking for something else... so that was a day relocating them, the toys, to new homes/owners who wanted them.
Getting a new leader of a free world country is not much different then clearing the basement of the old toys... only the new leader makes some folks mad and another group happy and they were all just looking for a change... i am not sure we will know for sure what we each got until some time after the new guy moves into the eastern white house.  i for one am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, pray for him and his group and watch the blues and reds switch sides from the past eight years of change... they all want to get  what they want but none wants to give-up what they have... it's funny how the guy going out always looks better then the new guy coming in... ChanGe.

From one cracker to another... here comes change...

      The big country change comes tomorrow, Jan 20th 2017...
"...come what may and love it" !!

So the power struggle will go on...
Kindness is the essence of greatness...
we are in need of more kindness...
hang on to hope... 
love thy enemies...  along with your neighbor...
the Lord's hand is in everything...
continually hold fast to the iron rod...
we have been scattered & gathered...
diligently seek for peace... i know that God loves me & you and this country.

Quilt Pattern Collage #1, selfie, 2017

       I always feel better/comfortable with change when i have some control over it...
in the past two weeks some new inspiration over came me... with the recent collage  work i have been doing and the strong quilt tradition here in Panguitch, it all begins to effect me... so i searched out eleven quilt block patterns, then questioned a local quilt expert, and expanded them to the size of 6.75" x 6.75" square on graph paper, then transferred the pattern to cardboard and cut out the cardboard pattern pieces...
i have six different quilt block patterns...
using the photo images i created myself...
i cut out a quilt block pattern and collaged them together to create a  juxtapositional photo collage... 
i now have six of these blocked-up quilt patterns complete and will "live" with them for awhile and see how/if to work on them some more, which i am sure i will...
they appear to me to be in a very "raw" state and lack something... at this point not knowing what that change will be to create the finished piece...
so like our country on the verge of change, so am i on the verge of  another change...
"come what may and love it..."  
Cheers to the "new" folks and the President in the east...

Cold Rain Snow and Work...

 The nice thing about rain...
it runs off the driveway, no shovel...
but then it gets dark and snows...
the wind comes up blows the snow to the neighbors yard... they shovel...
then i get to shovel in morning...
or hope for a sunny clear day above freezing to melt it away...
thank goodness we don't get double digit inches of snow at once...
it's just been really cold...
burning through the wood pellets to stay warm... about 200 lbs. per week
getting some collage, drawing, and assemblage work done...
the dog would rather nap with me then watch me work.

Drawing/ideas for collage work...

Spirit figure drawing ideas from 2011 work... to be used on top of sat maps then colored in... staying in the lines of course, of course along with some outside the line scribbling just so it don't look/feel so tight...some times i just scare the heck out of myself... usually on grey overcast Mondays... oh my gosh that's today!
Some days i just have to get out the house and drive around with the dog till the car gets so hot inside we can't stand it...
always take the camera along so we can make images... like the rain on the windscreen above... then return home and make drawing like marks on paper and fight with the dog to not take a nap.
Some days the the work flows others it's a fight to get it out

Does rebellion come because of unbelief ?
Migration=movement from one region to another...
This is the longest i have been in one place my whole life.
It's nice to have paper and colored pencils and tools...
the days are still too short and nights too long.

#8 Collage, drawing, assemblage, detail

Tin can lid, dried chicken bones,
sinew, glass beads and date pit...
on top of college of weather maps,
along with drawn migration route from southern California into southern Utah...

E.T.G.C.G.T.T.  ???????
meekness and lowliness of heart...
Charity is something one becomes
well that's the Bears Ears...
look not behind thee.
ask God for Truth...
FB deactivated...
keep a record by my own hand...
the Lord does not command us to do things without a way for us to accomplish what he asks.

get out my older canon G5 digital camera and start using again...
potstickers and rice for supper...
nothing on TV and finished reading my current books...
more to come later after i catch-up on some good sleep.
                                                                                                     CHEERS

Countdown to the end of 2016...

Hot in the sun... cold air...

Not the end of the world yet... 

but almost the end of this year... 2016...
the big presents under the indoor tree day is done...
it was white outside and knee aching cold...
the wood pellets have been burning all day...
for days, with temps in the minus degrees at night...
some days not above 32*, clear, blue, bright skies...
back to the every day food of life...
done with the eat all-day rich holiday foods = lbs....
everyone got their manual can openers...

and twenty five year shelf life emergency food...

we got emergency fire starter kits... 

for some reason we all can't stay awake all night as 

in years past, even with day time naps...

and they can't play games without at least ten bodies...

they don't quit with a winner, usually over when all the...

cards to the game have been gone through... 

needless to say lots of laughing, loud voices, and the usual 

family around the table banter... good to have them home.

Half the roll gone before the flame out...

Birthday boy two days before the CHRISTmas day...

The seven-zero this year...
i do hope this seven-zero is better then the 70's i went
through about thirty years back...
i can already tell it's going to be different in lots of ways.
b-day gifts rarely come...
for the big gift day i did get a hank of slick black leather...
and an Art therapy book, do-it yourself... coloring book...
two options on the coloring book... inside the lines, or
outside the lines... depending upon the day and mood...
The most intimidating gift of the season is three blank journals... but all the pages have lines on them...
thats more scary then a blank page with no lines !!
i really have a hard time writing on lined paper or pages.
it feels so formal & form like... don't get it wrong !
i feel like i can only write on every other line...
so i have space to add or make changes...
new things for my seventh year...

New day dawning through office window screen...

Sooooooo back the making leather bags...
daily post office runs with the Deeks dog...
writing & drawing in my sketch books...
trying to stay warm...
and now some Art therapy each day to sooth
my overactive mind...
daily morning scripture reading to keep up
with the Lord and His desires for me...
those morning reading have the ability to
change the course of doing and thinking
of a day and influence the "work" i do in a
given day... food for though so to speak ...
sparks to/in what could be an otherwise dull day.

"I know what LOVE is because of YOU"

see you all in the next year    CHEERS...

Snow on ground & P-38's by air...

snow moose in the window...

         Always trying to get to the heART of the matter, some days are harder then others...
have been a homebody the past couple of weeks... today 11 degrees at sunrise along with snow on the ground and a very biting wind... the window snow moose is back along with a bright blue sky above. 
A whole load of P-38 can openers arrived, morning post office run, so all the kids and grandkids get one for their CHRISTmas stocking this year... one of those bet ya don't know what this is gift. Now most our food comes in milar sealed bags and freeze dried!

Not my heart... mine is used & damaged...

The old heart had lots of work done this summer, ya know you have had a lot done when the hospital staff greets ya on a first name basis... i am thankful for for the great work they did for me. No new stints, but i did get a new ICD Pacemaker with all the bells and whistles and then an ablation so that everything works great. Bottom line... i feel much better... back for a check in February...

So as i was saying... the window sill guys are hard at work on getting ready for CHRISTmas
along with the rest of town... the place is dead
no places to eat open, everyone making the mass exit to wal*mart sixty-five miles away.... cause it's so much cheaper there, don't forget the gas $$$ and the two hour round trip drive and the icey roads over and 8K mountain. BUUUUUT it is nice to get out of town every once n awhile...

Out the river lane looking north...

The weather is cold with not a lot of snow yet... but it is coming sometime after the first of the new year... hopefully we will get the bulk of the snow at 7K and above, because during the melt in the spring it will run bye us at 6K and we can take whats needed for our spring & summer needs. shoveling snow has been declared not heart healthy... just saying.

add one match this year for 70.



          Then i can hang out with the family companion for the Holiday and we can all stay warm and enjoy the kids and grandkids... Merry CHRISTmas and have a good new year... " come what may and love it..."

                                                                                CHEERS.

Mr. Deeks... come on lets go sit down...

Collages & Ruminations 2016

Collage # 7

 Lots of HeART work this past six months, all stable now, the visitor season complete, now trying to get some much needed ideas out of me head...
Collage work with all the images i have from the season past, also going back to ideas/images i worked with back in 2011...
I also want to start writing more again this off season, combine the writing/images in the same piece... 
i think i will deactivate myself from FB, there seems to be more verbal contention there since the election, and a lot of that seems to be more false information then i desire to wade through... makes one start to wonder if these folks are really "friends"... but i was the one that asked most of the 135 to be my friend... and most of them i only know through FB... maybe that's why i don't have many friends outside of the social media network. it's a superficial friendship at best.

Collage # 3

So this is a good time to bring about some changes that i can have some control over... and we can watch what happens with the new political team for the next four years... after all somebody voted them in office, and with the grace and mercy of God they might just get something right.
So again lets bite into another peanut cluster, look up at the CHRISTmas tree and remember what this CHRISTmas season is all about the birth of the Savior and Light of the world...
Lets get back to basics and stop complicating and creating so much contention in this world... life is a test to see/prove that we will obey the Savior...
and remember we are Spiritual being first and we human/ physical being next... thus we are Spiritual beings having a physical/human experience. 

Sketch book idea for Collage # 6

Drawing/Writing are they the same thing?  marks on a paper or page, some of the marks being easer to understand/read then others...
sometimes i like the black and white marks of a sketch better then what i may turn it into later in the finished piece... I love to draw and have for most of my life, my next love is to color inside the lines... and on rare times ignore the lines and spread color all over everywhere... i think my love of color within the lines has come from my building/construction background... there is more then likely more to it then just that... but i don't need/want to go there now.

Collage # 4

Ya know that peanut cluster was pretty dry... and some of this swing to get back to writing is getting pretty dry also...
drawing/writing are much the same, to get good at either one  i must practice every day, both are mechanical skills... both also take practice moving ideas or knowledge from head/heart out and down an arm to fingers and the mechanical device, pencil/pen, to make the mark on the paper that is the same as the image in head or heart.
Both skills can be very abstract or very true to life depending on how i choose to use/practice them...
Some people always what a meaning for my work... and ya know some days i don't know what that meaning is myself...
Foe sure my work is about what goes on around me on any given day,week or month... because i try to use the process of observe, listen, discern, then speak/draw/write... so my max time limit or deadline on a piece is about a week, depending on where that falls between sunrise and sunset.

Collage #2

                       
This here, Collage #2, is the first completed piece, completed at the end of my working season of November '16. This collage started with a little girl, the one on the white horse, and her family in the visitor center coming up to me with a travel magazine saying this is me!... said i; well autograph it so i can keep it here to remind me you where here... she was so excited... That is the image in the top part of the collage, the remainder of the collage are the bits and pieces collected during the remainder of that week.

The remaining two collages, #5 & #6   posted below are other pieces i have completed since being off of my seasonal work at the visitor center... during my work season i do pieces called RUMINATIONS that are photographic images i make from around the visitor center with computer generated text as a vail over the top of the photo image. i usually create 12-16 of these per season dealing with feeling and thoughts about the ongoing season at the time.
So again drawing/writing/photo images...
collage & ruminations...

Collage# 6

Collage # 5

Rumination # 16

 CHEERS !!