Wordless Wednesday: Spicer Meadow Campground, Ebbitts Pass, CA.

Traveling Sisterhood

What a week it was.
My friend "D", from Montana, arrived at Sacramento Airport last Friday night, with a heavy bag and a weary expression. She had all her big camera equipment in her "carry on"  and wanted to keep her luggage with her, so she didn't check her bags... she carried them and they were heavy.  She had a long layover in Seattle where she had to switch planes. She was really glad to be done with being "in the air". We drove back up to Jackson and settled in.
We rested up on the weekend, only going to the River Reflections celebration at Pardee Reservoir on Saturday and going to dinner at Teresa's for dinner on Mother's Day.

 This was one of the really creative artists that contributed to the River Reflections festivities. Her name is Leslie Vasquez and this is an interpretation of the beautiful Mokelumne River.

Amazing costume. Amazing idea. She is the river.

She is all the parts of the river that make it what it is... the rocks, the flora and fauna, the water...flowing from her finger tips. I'm not sure how this was done, but it was mesmerizing.
We had a good time and enjoyed the beautiful day.
Sunday I showed "D" how to blow out eggs and create little ornaments out of them. She even did some Squeekie eggs. One of the reasons that she came down was to learn how to make these eggs... kind of like a Mother's Day special workshop. She was inspired by my post on my mom's eggs at Easter. We had a great time working on them. She was an egg-obssessed woman. She created 6 or 7 of them and then we packed them up and sent them to Montana. When the mail guy asked if we had anything "fragile" in the package... we laughed and said "Oh, yeah." at the same time. I forgot to take a picture of them before we packaged them. They were beautiful.

On Monday we left for Yosemite. We drove south on highway 49 through Angels Camp and Jamestown, continued south to Coulterville where we stopped for coffee and information. The place is called Mary Lou's Cup of Brew and it was just what we needed.  We were able to stop and stretch, use her bathroom, drink some good coffee, eat a blueberry scone and... she gave us some great information about getting to Yosemite.

She  recommended the route east, over to 120 instead of the really winding highway 49 into Mariposa. So we drove east to 120... which was a nicer drive and went into the park at the north entrance. 

We drove through the Rim fire area, the fire that started in August of 2013. It's such a scar on the landscape.

 It was the third largest wildfire in California's history and burned 257,314 acres (402.053 sq. miles). It was the largest wildfire on record in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.Yes, there's some green growth on the ground but the trees are burned beyond anything you can imagine. It's very sad. As far as you can see, there is nothing but scorched earth.
Even after we entered the park the burned area continued. The fire consumed 78,895 acres of parkland on its North edge.
We drove to Crane Flat and decided to drive east to the upper part of Yosemite. We had reservations in Yosemite Valley but couldn't get into our room until 5:00 p.m. anyway, so we thought that a drive east on Tioga Rd. would be fun. Donna had never seen any of this and it has been years since I had traveled in the upper part of the park.This is an amazingly beautiful drive.
We stopped many times. There were trees growing out of the granite.

 Looking like someone just stuck them in place.

These are, I believe called Bristlecone pines. Some are more than 5,000 years old.

These beautiful twisted trees sometimes have roots that are growing out on the rock, as if they didn't need dirt... as if the elements are giving them what they need and they are completely adapted to their environment. This is deceptive though. They are really kind of endangered because of their low rate of reproduction and regeneration. It is thought that under present climatic and environmental conditions the rate of regeneration may be insufficient to sustain its population.

We parked and got out at Olmsted Point.  It was very cold and extremely windy.  It was so cold that I forgot to reset the settings on my camera and over exposed every photo at the lookout. I did get better results coming back that night. I will show some photos of this later.

Then we drove up through Tuolumne Meadows where the Pacific Coast Trail and the John Muir Trail come through. This is a beautiful high mountain valley... with a visitor's center and facilities (yes... bathrooms.)

With a beautiful Coyote that greeted us on the highway.

This Coyote was way too use to people. It was weary but not that afraid.

I think it was young and thought we might have some food. There is up to a $5,000. fine for feeding the animals in the park, but still... this animal acted like he had been fed before. 

What a beautiful creature .

It stuck around for quite a while... waiting and watching  for anyone who might give it something to eat. We loved being so close to something so wild but it's a shame that they aren't afraid of humans.

The Stellar Jay was the same. Waiting in the rest area for someone to throw bread or food in its direction.
Looking annoyed about the situation...

Demanding attention...

 ... looking for food and making a lot of noise about it. "D" wanted those blue feathers to decorate her eggs, but there weren't any lying around so... here are your feathers, m' dear. Frame them and enjoy. The bird didn't want to give them up. You know I tried. I talked to him.  He said "No... no food, no feathers."

The scenery is awesome on Tioga Pass. It's so huge and wild.

Every turn in the road takes your breath away.

This is somewhere near Tioga Pass and the eastern entrance to the park. I'm going to stop now and save Lee Vining and Mono Lake for another post. I'm still tired from all the activity and need my beauty sleep.
Haven't really caught up yet. It's all Donna's fault. She's been dragging me around and getting me in trouble since we were 10 years old.... but I love it.

deMeng Madness

Last Saturday morning sis and I dragged our tails to the shower, put some cloths on and went to breakfast  before our next workshop.
I highly recommend the buffet breakfast at the Sheraton Sonoma Hotel. The food is delicious and there's a  lot of fresh fruit, yogurt and granola.

Oh... and sweet rolls. This is a sample plate. Some mornings there was BACON, sometimes delicious potatoes with egg casseroles, scrambled eggs and always Starbuck's coffee or tea. Delightful way to start the day.
So... after breakfast we would return to our room, brush the teeth, grab our supplies and head for our workshop of the day. This one, on Saturday, was called Dreampunk Mask. Our fearless leader and instructor for this class is one Michael deMeng.

I don't know what it is about this man.

He looks like the average guy. He's very nice. He is an exceptional artist and he loves to teach...
But... he has this more sinister side and it comes out in his work. Before I tell you about his class I want you to go to this link.. and his Google images.  Take a good look at these images. This is what he does.... and I believe that inside this mild mannered person is a full blown. dead or alive, Alchemist... made of toy parts, paint and an insane brain function that transcends mortal man. He probably has all the "snips, snails and puppy dog tails" in there too, but mostly it's weird, demented de Meng stuff... done really well.
This is my second workshop with Michael and I believe that I have officially become one of his major fans. He is one cool artist and this class was more fun than a barrel of (reassembled and transformed) monkeys. When I find myself laughing out loud, because I just figured out how to paint "light" into a series of colorful layers of paint... I know I have learned something about art and myself.
This workshop was called Dreampunk Mask and we were asked to bring a mask of any kind, a product called Epoxy Clay, some acrylic paint and some brushes.
I found an inexpensive mask at a party store and I wanted to use the deer skull that a neighbor had given me. This is how it all started. This would be a mask to hang on the wall, not to wear.

After the mask was firmly attached to the skull... with Epoxy clay and tin foil...

I added some clay embellishments and brought this deer 'back to life'... in another form. I call it Revenge or "He who seeks those who destroy animals."
It's all about anthropomorphism and myth. In Jewish mythology  there exists a giant kind of stag creature by the name "Keresh". maybe this would be a good name for my mythical creature.
 In the story of Saint Hubertus (a Christian saint)  on Good Friday morning, when the faithful were crowding the churches, Hubertus joined a hunt. As he was pursuing a magnificent stag the animal turned and, as the pious legend narrates, he was astounded at perceiving a crucifix standing between its antlers, which gave him a change of heart that led him to a saintly life.
And then....Cernunnos, a god in Celtic mythology that possessed two deer antlers on the top of his head. He was known as The Horned One or The Horned God despite having antlers and not horns. Cernunnos is also known as The Stag Lord, The Horned God of the Hunt and The Lord of the Forest.
I like to think that these myths about deer are because they are such tranquil but strong creatures, with a look of nobility and pride. In Celtic mythology, the deer is a magical creature, able to move between the worlds. In Ireland, many tales have humans transformed into deer.
 And so, with these images in mind and the idea that this deer might want revenge for its death by other animals or humans, I chose to make my new creation a buck that would wreak some form of retaliation on others for its demise. (Oh my, that says something about me doesn't it?)
Yes, it's sinister and scary to think that every deer that is hit by a car or shot by a hunter will come back as a huge fiery monster that seeks revenge... but this is Art and the myth is mine.

I secured the mask to the skull with foil and epoxy clay and then started the process of building up the face and blending it into the antlers.

Can you see were the skull plates are connected to each other in the middle bottom of the photo? Isn't that a beautiful pattern? Nature is an intriguing complexity. There is always some amazing intricacy in forms that are not man made. Look again at the antlers. They're like a tree that grows out of its skin. Antlers are extensions of the skull grown by members of the deer family. Antlers are shed and regrown each year.
(My neighbor did not kill this deer. He found the deer already dead. We don't know the cause. "D" is a hunter and has killed other deer before... but only for the meat and always with great respect for the animal. I couldn't, personally, shoot and kill any animal. You do have a choice when you have an abundance of food available, as we do in this country, but that's not always the case and some folks have to find their own sources.)
Anyway, my feelings are known and I will move on to the artwork.

After we finished, we displayed the masks and Michael critiqued them.... always pointing out the best aspects of each one and ideas for improvement afterwards.
This mask was my sisters. She is showing how it's worn.

It was kind of a Pinocchio mask that she completely changed.
She put a small set of antlers on the top with some found dried grass for hair.
This is Big Bird at his most incomparable moment.

This artist went outside the classroom and found some dried twigs to use on her ladies mask. Then used some horns that she had ordered and shells to embellish. The most amazing and creative idea was the use of peacock feathers for the eyes.

I love her fingernails. Each was a different color.

This mask was a very simple mask that, with the use of epoxy clay, was recreated into this amazing creature.The mouth, eyes, nose and forehead were all built up out of epoxy clay. Great work.

She then used a thin "slip" (water and clay) to covered the whole mask. I love the wings for eyebrows.

Keep in mind that all of these faces were started with a plastic mask like my grandchildren would wear on Halloween. In Michael's information sheet he wrote, "Making masks is different than merely wearing them; it can be a process for artists to reveal what is veiled inside one's soul."
When I look at these... and especially when I look at mine... I think that man, or woman, has a definite "inner place" somewhere deep inside and whether myth or magic, it is in our abilities to believe what we choose, given the scope of our imagination.  Mr. deMeng says, "It is a strange art form that keeps secrets, but also simultaneously unearths hidden worlds. Oh, the irony."
Where do you think your "inner place" is? What is it like?  How do you express this in the real world?

Here are some photos of my mask taken after I got home. I don't feel any animosity from this mythical deer... but I will watch for any change of expression or movement on the livingroom wall.

A view underneath the mask. 

I would like to do more work on this mask. There are some transitions from the mask to the bones that I need to make. 

The dogs do not like it sitting on the front porch. They back away and growl... just like in a spooky movie. Maybe there is a deer spirit there. I will let you know how this plays out and if any odd occurrences come of it.
After all... Halloween is almost here.

"Creativity is a drug I cannot live without." ~G.B. Shaw~

Oh, did we have fun in "Chickaluma"... oops... I mean Petaluma... P-Town, Egg Basket, Egg Capital of the World. I guess that, historically, chickens were a big deal here. Petaluma is known for its chicken, egg and grain production. In 1879,  the egg incubator was invented by Lyman Byce right here. Chickens use to rule in this town... well, for the good of the humans anyway. It was big business. It's still a tourism attraction.

This was our hotel on highway 101 (taken from the marshland walking trail). It's a big blue and white hotel with a marina and some really beautiful boats floating around its edges.

That's highway 101 in the background.

This is the Alman Marsh...

To the south of the hotel are miles of converted wetlands that continue to San Pablo Bay, a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay. So we not only learned all kinds of wonderful artistic things at this workshop, we also had a beautiful place to create them in.

This is what the hotel really looks like.

We had wonderful, RAINY weather with lots of sunshine in between.

This is the lobby of the hotel with our fearless leaders, Sallianne from Australia and Ellen from Connecticut, welcoming us and registering everyone as they arrived.

We came over from my sister's house on Wednesday afternoon, so we could be there on Thursday morning for our first class.

The first class was called Text & Textiles: Hand Stitched Story Squares. Our instructor was Jane LaFazio... take a look at her blog for more information on this textile artist.
We were taught how to make small squares of quilted fabric with text written by each of us. We were given a prompt, like "a childhood memory", and asked to spend three minutes writing something about this on a piece of cloth, with a fabric gel pen, which then would be incorporated into the small (about 3x3) quilted square. We did nine of these and each one was about a different aspect of our lives... ("What do you want to do with your life?", "What do you love?" or "Where were you the happiest?" etc.) and along with each square came a "gather round" at Jane's table, showing us a new fabric technique and a new embroidery stitch.

Then we would go back to our table and work on that piece of the quilt.
It was labor intensive, especially for me, because I don't quilt and I don't embroider. So it was a long learning curve and somehow... I ended up with eight, not nine, of them. But, I wasn't the only one.
At the end of the day, we laid them all out on a felt backing of our choice...

And, although most of them were not finished, we had a session of comments and kudos to show what everyone had done.
This was my sisters...lovely isn't it?

And this was mine... with a square missing. I still don't know how I missed a square, but I will add one more and practice my stitching on them all.

 

 Mine are my usual catty wompus, fully loaded, "what more can I add" creations, with most of the pins still holding everything together. I have some work to do.

Here are some close ups on other pieces, so you can see what one finished square is suppose to look like.

I don't see any writing on this one, above. Maybe she wasn't finished with it. There is still a pin holding things together. I feel better.
This one is very nice. 

I love the loose weave on top of the other fabric. She still has some stay stitching to do too. Now, I really feel better.

Some of these ladies really knew what they were doing with the stitching. But, in my defense, I now know the difference between a back stitch, a blanket stitch and a cross stitch. I also know how to make a French knot. Ta da!!!

We attached the pieces of fabric to a small ( again, approx. 3x3 ) piece of low loft batting. Then we added any embellishment that we wanted to. 

For me, this was a labor intensive class that taxed my ability to hand sew fabric, but I learned a lot and will hang this small quilt on my livingroom wall... as soon as I finish it. I need to start soon, before I forget all my new found stitching knowledge.

I'm hoping for something close to these... the examples...

I'm hoping for some semblance of order on my square piece of felt... something that looks like I knew what I was doing and that I learned something.

This was our view out of the window. That's a huge yacht floating in the water outside the classroom... HUGE and definitely sea worthy.

Some folks have some money...

On Friday we left the venue. We didn't sign up for any classes that day... on purpose. We choose to just have fun and go into town, eat lunch and shop... all day.

It was a beautiful day.

Petaluma is a cool town. Many buildings survived the 1906 earthquake, (Petaluma is just north of San Francisco.) so the old town is still filled with great architecture. The Petaluma River runs right up through town and they have a river walk behind all the buildings, along the river. The downtown Petaluma Historic commercial District  is a very pretty place and still has the old historic chicken processing plant and grain mill buildings that now house restaurants and businesses.

We walked down Petaluma Blvd. from the old Mystic theater to Washington St and back. We had to move the car three times because there was only a 2 hour limit on street parking. Never found a parking garage.

We hit the Halloween store...

and the sport shoe store... Two of our favorites from years past. We did more looking than buying but it was fun. We ate lunch and then found a beautiful yarn store right next door on Kentucky St. We also found one of those picture booths that you go inside of and have your photos taken. We decided to try it.

Good grief.. she actually stuck her tongue out. 

We did this twice (they cost $4.00 each time) and never did get both of our heads in the picture window frame together... but it was fun. I don't think that I have done one of these photos since I was a kid at Playland, on the beach in San Francisco. It's been a long time. Still, we laughed ourselves silly.
We ended up driving to the outlets, walking around until we were so tired that we just about died. Didn't buy much. I bought SOCKS... hey... important stuff. We picked up some salads at Trader Joe's and went back to the hotel, settled in with a pay per view movie and went to bed early. We needed a good night's sleep for our next class... Dreampunk Mask with Michael deMeng.
Just wait until you see what I did with the deer skull that my neighbor, Dennis, gave me and a cheap Halloween mask from the Party store.

Wild stuff... continued.