Mineral Platter... Earth Food Tasty Grits

 

A landscape of Tasty Grit…

This image hosts so much “history” for me… It records a construct of rock & stone which I displayed for some while on my studio desktop sometime in the mid-seventies when I lived in Sedona, Arizona for 14 years. I’ve had studios in my home for most of my life. Many artists prefer being able to move easily between the areas of work & personal life. Home & studio shelter the total me. I named this home Up-Willow because it had the large weeping willow tree for which I suppose the street was named… Willow Way.

The hefty ironstone platter is still a favorite for serving our Thanksgiving turkey, but I was then having a bit of an affair with “rough”… that being the term for raw stone or rock which could be cut into usefully finished pieces by the various lapidary processes I was exploring as ancillary to my work as a jeweler.

I began collecting rough material of numerous varieties, thinking I would cut or carve some of it for projects I was fantasizing during this wildly fertile period… particularly when I was designing larger projects like the egg & the backgammon set, which incorporated materials other than the more usual gemstones & were often accomplished in collaboration with other artists working with such diversity of materials.

I still have most of that collection of raw stones, having never pursued much of such ambition. But, being always a cook, I once was inspired to serve it up this way, posing as being at least visually edible, with colors & textures suggesting meats & vegetables… a roast with potatoes & gravy with cauliflower, perhaps?

Set at a place with ancillary utensils of magnification, tweezers for gripping, & with a selection of colorful silk “napkins” my friend Marie Stewart made for my use as pocket squares for the rare occasions I wore sport coats in those days. These were scraps of silk she dyed to make the cravats which I was also sporting affecting!> as I danced with my claim of being a fantasy artist in cowboy country.

Thus, this playful presentation as a display becomes a rather more fulsomely archival statement, bringing numerous memories I’m intrigued to attempt to share. Beginning with that “cauliflower” form, the whitish brain-like specimen in the center, which I assume is quartz of some variety, which I collected for its sculptural form, but now piques memories of my study of the sculptural form of the human brain, which I was researching to accomplish reducing that form into a gold pendent barely larger than a garbanzo bean as a graduation gift for a daughter’s degree in some sort of brain science from her father. This was a period when I was accepting commissions for working with the wide, & sometimes wild, variety of clientele who found their way to this studio.

There are many of these rocks about which I know little more than they captured me in that way in which stone… from alabaster to diamonds… owns its own attraction & seduction toward being used in the realm of jewelry or sculpture.

Ultimately all becomes personal taste, of course.

Thus, I see a rutilated quartz version of the egg form with which I have an affinity as a symbol of birth & rebirth… plus a cube of the same material nearby, because I love the geometry which brings these initially dull rocks into their glory as gemstones. To the left is a piece of coconut shell, because I was teach-learning myself by playing with numerous materials to carve other than the wax work I do for designing & casting.

I love making a single verb out of processes, usually used hierarchically. I’ve come to believe one cannot teach unless one is also learning… & vice versa. One verb in my lexicology!

Into that coconut curve nestles/cradles a piece of the “rind” [The weathered exterior of a piece of mammoth tusk I acquired for carving the heron birds of the egg. This wonderful carving material is the lovely ivory of the tusks of extinct mammoths, thus making it legal, but surfacing evermore rarely as the glaciers melt. The old ice is mostly melted… progress, in one sense… out with the old… but, being extinct …there is now little more to replace it…

I carved the fish swimming in the cordial glass from a light blue stone named varasite, which is soft enough to allow me to work it with my familiar tools. This piece is a total rarity, being the only full sculpture in stone which I ever accomplished. I worked only a few pieces of stone to any useful state during this period of haphazard experimentation.

I did enjoy experimenting with some enhancements to the botryoidal botrys in ancient Greek> of fire agate, which benefits from shaping a translucent layer to form a “lens”through which the color below is amplified

The horizontal slab is a cross-section of petrified palm wood, with a visually fibrous texture captured to become stone, waiting for some aesthetic purpose. A smaller slab of blue lapis-lazuli sits atop it… a material using which I used in the designs of several rings. On top that a rutillated quartz cube & a small egg made of that same material… clear, but embedded with fine crystals of rutile, creating a sparkly, straw-like interior atmosphere.

Behind that is another piece of the mastodon ivory, which was the source of material in which I carved the birds on the egg… https://www.grbbells.com/the-egg-returning/

I have long collected eggs in many materials. There is a turkey eggshell leaning close-by & a brass egg which has threads which unscrews to open as a container which I used as a presentation box for my custom jewelry. I wish I could still find these, which were then relatively inexpensive, being made in India.

In the back shadow is a spherical “artifact” of cobalt glazed clay which is part of a project of my deepest com padre, soul lover & long-time fellow artist whom I met during this period, Dwight Davidson davidsonsculpture.com/artifact.htm>… I tell our part in that project in this post: https://www.grbbells.com/india-archival-2005-travelogue/. Obviously, there are oh so many more stories… for later!

The varisite fish perches on a pillar of alabaster along with a selection of unpolished castings from the Limited Edition Bells & a mastodon ivory tile made by Jahn Baker, with whom I collaborated to make the Backgammon Set, about which I intend to write soon. That tile was scrimshawed with my lion logo by Kim Kori. [https://www.facebook.com/KimKoriSculpture

Below are several of the Cypress Crotals are the cutlery of this study, all are shown resting on the desk top which I made in Poppa’s shop on the farm before returning to DU as a junior, into my first off-campus apartment. It is currently my computer desk & I am writing this post now on that same desk! This too becomes quite another slice, or slab, of my life…

Memories become history…

Orca Sounding 2021...

 

We’ve had a fair richness of the usually more rare Orca whale sightings in the Puget Sound in front of us since the year began. What a treat! They are examples of life under the duress of dwindling food supply while still playing hard. Unfortunately, this event was harassed by a stupidly overweening boat which intentionally moved in front of their obvious path, causing them to dive, in order to thwart the stupidity of such yahoo energy attempting to corral them… & thus ending the show for all of us. It is so sad that our culture seems to be spawning more of such insensitive bullies…

Then he sped off toward the next spot where they might breach. But they are clever & easily might foil him with their capability to dive, turn & hide.

That wake does not belong to a lover of nature…

Fortunately, we live in a place with many much wiser beings. Our Mother Mountain, whom we call by the indigenous name Tahoma. Mt Rainier was named for a British Admiral who fought against the American Colonies in the Revolutionary War. A dude who never saw it!

Being a volcano overdue, she hovers with the deliciously destructive possibility of becoming an enlivened menace of smoke, ash & lava, possibly even triggering a tsunami as retribution should we humans continue to get in the way of nature’s actual progress!

That ends my sermon…

Since Stephen planned to make his way into town to do errands, he took the opportunity to drive on down to the southern point, around which their usual route takes these pods as they circulate around the Island. I suppose the word circumambulate isn’t quite the proper word for these swimming mammals with astounding fins.

Thank you, Stephen, for sharing these shots of them showing their stuff at closer range!

They seem to enjoy this variety of human appreciation. There are no idiots in boats to escape. What a wonderful thing to experience as a child, no matter what age!

Puget Sound is another manifestation of the abundant mother energy, which I celebrate. Her mysterious hidden depths resonate in contrast to the more visible loft of our Lady Mountain.

Drone's View Over Soundcliff & The Garden...

 

An acquaintance made this video from a drone’s camera lifting a view over our home & garden… https://youtu.be/_sXrbCcuEw0

Gardening Soundcliff - from Winter Solstice 2020 Into Spring... Part Two

 

Because many years in our Pacific Northwest climate have little of winter harshness we often garden almost continuously, but we did have a significant snow storm this February, while we were taking a break from home to visit Orcas Island, leaving care of Soundcliff with a friend. We became snowbound in a cabin with few of our usual amenities, but we enjoyed the change of view.

After that snow we continued to slowly welcome spring in our typically broken rhythm gradually bringing sporadic warmth to the soil the garden needs to bloom into the colors of blossoms.

This Star Magnolia has grown into a magnificent billow of white for many years.

But the quince from similar vintage has stayed small, while gifting its red as a harbinger of very early spring…

The sixteen sided bed Whitney built last fall bloomed full of a variety of daffodils.

A new favorite is a complex double having a peachy coloration.

We got these tulips on a trip including Amsterdam https://www.grbbells.com/croatia-venice-amsterdam-part-six/> in 2018.

One arrangement of tulips became a temporary grazing ground for a trio of golden dinosaurs with spiny air plants which Our friend Kate Thompson gifted Stephen for his birthday.

The checkered fritillaria meleagris has seemingly established itself, showing up for a third year to delight with its improbably magical geometry.

Our eastern exposure brings sunrise into the bed… making sometimes quite a spectacular wake-up call… but usually I can pull the covers over my head for a little more snoozing!

Daffodils often came to the table. This time cupped into a rather large version of a tussy mussy made of a Petisides leaf which is another exotic plant we love to use in our garden for its very large round leaves, making a large statement as a border planting.

We’d set up the large dining table with extra leaves for enough length to make better social distancing as we negotiated the few times we had a guest or two during the pandemic. It encouraged bringing-out some of our wilder table coverings, like this ikat weaving from Indonesia.

But that only added to the strong color & pattern already present in the atypical scheme which we’ve been experimenting. The new red wood stove has been joined by a pair of too-low chairs in a too-bright blue… wanting dense foam “risers” upholstered in the low toned green in the rug… plus some indigo runners tucked over to tame the blue.

That blue is similar to Stephen’s choice for the rocking chair he painted during the winter, which now invites contemplation of the view from the deck of his writing cottage…

The rhododendron season became spectacular.

Stephen has been collecting rhodies for years, often as memorials for friends. This “capuchin” is one of my favorites.

& this deep red one’s hue frequently vibrates in my camera so much as to frequently be almost impossible to capture.

The prow deck, perched on pilings holding the retaining walls holding us atop this cliff, is flanked by rhodies with foxglove in the border above & three big dahlia bushes beginning to grow toward blooming in a couple of months.
The garden is always evolving, whether with expansion of established plantings or the placement of new things we are constantly bringing home.

The bench outside the studio door has for months accumulated such collections waiting their for the soil & beds prepared & ready to receive them… plus the planning to place them.

We have several duplex viburnums, but this one has been here for some 20 years & now raises its horizontal blooms high enough to walk under it.

The “Dutchman’s pipe” vine on the main deck railing is a total trooper, having been cut back last mid-summer to allow painting its support, after which it grew back with surprising vigor for the late season. I prune it back to the main stems each winter, revealing the fascinatingly twisted integration with the metal grid.

Lupin is another sculptural lovely.

Iris have been a favorite since my childhood. This is a lovely traditional blossom.

Still, we have half a dozen varieties, including Japanese & Siberian.

There’s nothing like poppies to make us happy, if not “sleepy” …

The raspberries are coming along. Stephen loves them on cereal. I hope for ice cream.

As are the peonies, which are another flower I’ve known since childhood on the farm.

Hostas are so much about the northwest & we are growing a collection of their gorgeously ribbed & convoluted leaf forms in various coloration.

A two year old “sweet potato vine” wants to take over the north garden gate… just as we’d hope it will. Covered with blossoms of lovely periwinkle blue it should help shield the view from the road down into the garden, although we are quite happy to share tasty views of our efforts to the few neighbors who pass by on walks or, more usually, too quickly in autos.

Much of the garden is quite a mash-up in early spring. The yellow is buttercup, which is a weed invading all our beds as well as the lawn… thriving to better even the grass while being frequently mowed flat.
The blue of Forget Me Nots are mostly welcome as early color, but it seeds so profusely & grows so vigorously that it can shade other plants, so we have to become ruthless to keep it under control.

A plant I bought several years ago has become a curious volunteer from seed as well. It is another rather impossible color… cerinthe an intense purplish blue against a grayish green foliage which takes-on tinges of the same hues. I’m learning to like its rangy structure, which can work well allowed to trail over the edge of a raised bed. I’m recently enjoying it as a cut flower draping out of a vase of iris.

Another lovely blue is the blossoming of rosemary, tiny & tucked into the sturdy fragrant herb. When I’m patient, I love to collect a small handful to finish a salad.

Still the structure of our ancient native cherry tree… the one for which Tom & I built a Japanese “crutch” holds the south lawn & garden borders with sturdy elegance gifting structure as well as lovely light & shadow.

My favorite mask was a gift from my siblings-in-love Alice & John. Perfect for a double Leo!

Recent, frequent rains have conspired with my neglect to provide the dramatic leek scapes I enjoy as sculpture in the garden each year. There is a small patch of garlic just behind.

While the leek scapes soar up into the hazy sky of what I’ve begun calling the Wet Coast there came the gift of an introduction to a new acquaintance who had just acquired a drone & offered to play with making a film of Soundcliff. It was a good experience to watch. I’d been curious about such new technology & found myself begin to become desirous. But, no, this is not my new creative medium, even as I watched to learn.

I do certainly enjoy having some great trips into new visual realms I appreciate having been gifted. My favorite is soaring up high enough above those leek scapes to see the entire property & garden, from the Shenanigan Road down to the beach, giving a sense of the cliff as the view widens to show just where we live… always on the edge… lively!

Another sunrise, showing our mountain, Tahoma across the Puget Sound.