Boulder’s Open Studios is coming up this weekend. Most of my visitors enjoy abstract painting. Some don’t. To prepare I’m thinking tender thoughts about those who may feel at a loss… wondering what I can do to help them feel comfortable in my space.
Anyone who’s taken the time to do some cloud watching has the capacity to enjoy an abstract painting. Our minds are built to find pattern and meaning everywhere. It’s one of the reasons why we have language. It’s why every culture has its own star stories and constellations. If you’ve ever looked at a cloud and found a picture there you know exactly what I mean.
In my studio there are no right or wrong answers about what a painting represents. The paintings are created as objects of reverie. I sometimes use symbols but you don’t need to know what they are to experience a painting in a full way. It’s enough to respond to color and shape. If your mind creates a story about what’s in a painting, then that’s wonderful. If you have an emotional response, better yet. And if you don’t, that’s OK too. Not every painting is for every person.
Wax painters, take note! Joanne Mattera is accepting presentation & demo proposals for the 2009 National Encaustic Conference. I presented Sister Bee at the 2008 Conference in June and it was a wonderful experience. “Any and all ideas” are being considered. The deadline for submissions is Monday, October 20th. Submission guidelines available here.
Oh, man… this is gorgeous. Giant honeybees (apis dorsata) doing “the wave” in a spiral formation. The behavior is called “shimmering” and the bees use it to defend their colony against hornet attacks.
Here’s the article with links to more video. Thanks to my dear friend, Abby Wright, for the heads up.
Boulder’s Open Studios is coming soon! My downtown Boulder painting studio will be open to the public from noon to 6 on Saturday and Sunday October 4th, 5th, 11th and 12th. You’re so invited to stop by and say hello.
More great news for the bee-interested in Boulder, Colorado! The Boulder County Beekeepers’ Association is again offering its annual beekeeping class starting this October 7th.
Topics include:
A Beginner’s Year
The History of Beekeeping in Colorado
Honey Bee Biology
Bees & Wasps of Colorado
Honey Bee Pests, Predators & Diseases
The Impact and Importance of Pollination
The Hardware of Beekeeping
Alternative Approaches to Beekeeping
The Beekeeper’s Year
I took this class in 2000 and it’s wonderful. Engrossing. Comprehensive. A great way to connect with the beekeeping community here in Boulder. Highly, highly recommended.
It’s times like this, when the human world feels unsteady, that I take comfort in the abundance made by honeybees. Here’s a picture of our garden from this morning. There’s a zucchini, some carrots and chard in the front with some just-ripening tomatoes, peppers and a few spent okra plants bringing up the rear.
And it’s honey season! Flowing. Flowering. We extracted our 2008 crop over Labor Day weekend with the help of family and friends. Maybe I’m being naive… But it’s hard to work up too much world-news anxiety at harvest time. As Marge McClellan said rightly in Sister Bee… “It’s all just so… BEAUTIFUL!”
Honey lovers in Colorado are invited to taste our honey at the Boulder Farmers’ Market on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings now through the end of September.
May your cupboards be blessed with abundance this fall.
“When I am finishing a picture, I hold some God-made object up to it – a rock, a flower, the branch of a tree or my hand – as a final test. If the painting stands up beside a thing man cannot make, the painting is authentic. If there’s a clash between the two, it’s bad art.”
Thanks to Deanna Wood, author of the wonderful painting blog Artist, Emerging, for tipping me off on a cool Science News article about archaeological honeybees.
A group of scientists have dug up a 3000 year old apiary in northern Israel. It’s the oldest one found to date. The photo accompanying the article is beautiful. It’s hard for me to make out exactly what’s going on but the repetitive ovoid shapes remind me of honeycomb found in the wild.
Here’s a funny quote:
“Many scholars assume that ancient Israelis made honey from fruits such as figs and dates. Nowhere does the Bible mention beekeeping as a way to produce honey.”
