Fran Meneley

Hello?

Anybody out there?

I know I've been gone a terribly long time, the place has grown moss and cobwebs.

My life took over and my time wasn't my own. It was The Summer Of Healing.

So here are a few hightlights: My 15 year old son had scoliosis surgery...that's his new titanium rodded back in the upper left hand corner. It was a BIG surgery, correcting a 68 degree curvature. And he's doing great now! Nine weeks of rest, mom's attention and cooking, acupuncture and lazy (according to him incredibly boring) days and he was able to do a 9 day backpacking trip with his school. He only carried 25 pounds, but he did it. He's back to be being on the rock climbing team and running a mile in under 8 minutes. Ah youth! My 20 year old daughter was home recovering from a bout of Graves Disease which is hyper-thyroidism. That required mom's cooking, attention from mom, sleep, rest, acupuncture and a calm life - the exact opposite of what she gets in New York City. And she's doing great! In August we helped her move into her first city apartment (with 2 roommates) and she's healthy and happily back in The City and school. We completed the new house landscaping which took about 6 weeks longer than expected. I had mariachi music in the back and blaring classic rock in the front...for weeks. We rescued 6 baby bunnies from the back entrance just as the concrete guys were about to put in the back steps...and safely delivered them to the Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Sanctuary. We escaped for some mountain hiking which I was finally able to do after 15 months of dealing with hip bursitus. Whew! Oh and we just had a 100 year flood in Boulder, which gratefully did not impact us personally. Double whew!

Before I set sail on The Summer Of Healing, I traveled to Sweden at the end of May and did a workshop with Camilla Engman, that's her in upper right hand corner. What a wonderful artist and human being Camilla is. She will get her own blog next time, but you can preview her work on her website and on her blog.

I did escape for one creative day in July with The Makerie and have written about it on the Two Hands Paperie blog, here. And speaking of Two Hands Paperie...I'll be teaching my Finding Your Voice - Introduction To Visual Journaling there next Saturday, October 5th from 1 - 4...

...you can check out the class description and details here. I would love to have you join me.

Before I leave you to start working on my next Sweden post, I will leave you with one of the most inspiring Commencement speeches I have heard. It speaks to all of us who follow a creative path, in whatever capacity we do. Enjoy it and be inspired...it's worth your time. It feels good to be back.

 

A Paris Lunch

2013 is off to a very good start! I am working my way through The Artist's Way with 3 wonderful women friends and fellow artists. I've done it twice before over the years, but always on my own. This time we've formed a group, a sacred circle, and are getting together once a week to check in and share our experiences. It's powerful stuff and I feel blessed to be a part of it. Thanks, Alix!

These journal pages came out of my weekly Morning Pages assignment...a little reminder to be open to the new and a visual that came to me reminding me to just let it go...all the things that I don't need anymore. Little lanterns of light set free to flow on down the river. 

And part of our weekly assignment is to go on an Artist's Date. A weekly check in of fun, play, frivolity...a joyous, well filling, outing each week designed to inspire our inner artist. Last week I wandered over to the newly moved and remodeled Longmont Cheese Importers.What a total TREAT! If you live in a 100 mile radius...go there!! Housed in Longmont's defunct original diesel-fueled power plant, built in 1931...

...just the building oozes that vintage charm that cannot be duplicated. And look at the gold typography on the doors!

Once inside, you feel as if you have landed in Paris...or somewhere near by.

They have paid great attention to detail in recreating both a...

...French cafe and Europeans style shop. Oh how this makes me miss bread!

My lunch was delightful. A little charcuterie plate and gluten-free crackers! So accommodating and I didn't even ask, they offered, when I sadly, but politely turned down that ridiculously fabulous french bread. My company was a new book by Canadian author Louise Penny...very smart and charming murder mystery...thanks Lisa!

After lunch I strolled through the shop taking in all the yummy delightfulness. They have an entire room that is a refrigerator - with coats to borrow so you don't get cold...

...filled with CHEESE!...

...and olives and other wonderful accompaniments.

And linens from Europe...

...and dishes from France, Spain and Italy...

...and jams and sauces...

...and other sweets...

...and books that made me want to go home and have a tea party right away! What a wonderful hour and a half! I felt transported and inspired. Exactly what an artist's date should do! I highly recommend the group experience of doing the Artist's Way. Form your own sacred circle and see what magic comes your way!

Architectural Gems

Way back in December...what seems like forever ago now..I ventured to the big city to take Judith Cassel-Mamet's wonderful Architectural Gems drawing class. For three Mondays we gathered to learn about perspective drawing and had the chance to explore some great Denver landmarks. This is a keyhole view from inside the State Capitol Building looking out to Civic Center Park and the Rockies in the background.

We wandered the Capitol building on one of the days. It was too cold to draw outside...this journal page is the result of my explorations. Amazing what you can do with an iPhone these days. Just loved the beauty and grandeur of the old civic building. Very surprised how completely accessible everything was.

Beautiful brass statue of Abe Lincoln...the patina of his hands worn off from the people's touch...

...and these great reflective, solid brass drinking fountains...love the shapes against the geometry of the floor. They don't make 'em like this anymore!

Another day I ventured to the plaza by the Denver Art Museum and the public library to take in the architectural gems by Michael Graves (library on the right), old Denver Art Museum by Gio Ponti and the new Denver Art Museum by Daniel Libeskind. That's quite a few big egos in one small space...but we are lucky to have them represent in little 'ol Denver.

My journal pages of that day...so many good things to draw and angles to take in! 

Other days were spent in the Capitol Hill neighborhood (what I think is also called, Quality Hill) with grand old homes from the silver mining boom days of yore. 

This detail from the wonderful old building on 23rd and York, where Judith teaches. It looks a little chinese to me...but was working on the lines. A little wonky, but what a treat to sit in the winter sun and just look and take those lines for a walk!

Hope you are walking your lines and doing something creatively good in this last stretch of winter!

An Atlas of Unsettling Vision - Sketchbook Project 2013

Well.. I got my Sketchbook Project finished and mailed just in the nick of time yesterday! I'm not sure why I procrastinated, it was a joy to work on.

My theme this year was "Almanac" but I made it into a kind of dream Atlas.

I came across this wonderful quote from the movie, Here, and just let the images flow keeping the beautiful text in mind. I couldn't explain it all to you, even if I wanted to. I just responded to the words, loosley thinking about how we all make up our own realities and we are like those map makers of old, just trying to chart our way, comparing maps, trying to make sense of the world as we know it.

"The story is still asleep. It dreams. Scientists and dreamers they traveled the world with watchful eyes and guzzled hope like water. The journeys were separate but their purpose was common. To map the world. One begged for money and pencils. Another tore his shirt to strips, carefully wrapping his shredded feet. Yet another, thirsty, near starving, suckled the sap from plants. No one had an easy road. Though utterly dependent on one another, most found the other's maps unsettling. They denied one's perspective by charting the land incomprehensibly, calling into question one's very being. 

Still when they met on the lonely roads, the explorers would present one another with their maps. Some seemed to say so plainly, directly, "the world is like this." Others were more oblique, skating, impressionistic, unstable, they froze mere slivers of the infinite earth as it skittered by in orbit. If ever these maps could be gathered together, they would comprise an atlas of unsettling vision. A final proof that truth is conjecture." by Dani Valent - In Every Roaming Heart.

To learn more about The Sketchbook Project, go here. If you'd like to see what other Sketchbooks I've done in years past, plus a story I wrote for The Fiction Project, you can go their site and go to the 'Digital Libaray" from the menu at the top of their banner. Type in my name and, voila! you should see my other work. I know they are working on their digial library, so be patient. You can see about a million other amazing and cool journals as well. Warning: It's a rabbit hole...proceed with caution, lest hours be eaten up with deluxe inspiration!   

p.s. this just in: a great little video about the Art House Co-Op from my fellow sketchbook artist, Cynthia Fawcett -

 

Check out her blog, Cynful Musings, to learn more about her work here...and see how she cleverly took over her kitchen as a studio space for her Sketchbook Project journal! Love it!

Break Into Fall

I have to say, whoever invented fall break was a freaking genius in my book. While the teachers need time to plan, the kids get time to goof off. As a side note, I think I went to school from the day after Labor Day until Thanksgiving with nary a day off...but that was back in the stone ages, know what I mean?

But I digress. I was happy that my son had a long 5 day weekend so we could hit the long ribbon of highway down to Santa Fe for a little autumn adventure.

We trekked out to Bandelier National Monument and hiked through the Ancestral Pueblo ruins. I look very tiny here against the magnificent stone backdrop...

...while Parker climbs to peer into one of the ancient dwelling spaces.

I think one of the main reasons we make the trek is to EAT! And this time...

...we participated in a great cooking class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking...

...making 4 different kinds of Tacos and...

...our own tortillas. Oh so good and really easy. Here the oldest and the youngest in the class begin the feast. 

A little journal to record...

...our aventures...

...and daydreams...

...and autumn hike in the wind and rain.

The color these past few weeks here in Colorado and in New Mexico...

...has been pure gold. Everywhere. What a beautiful autumn season. 

The colors making their way into my recent journal pages...

...I'm going to miss it when the leaves fly and the days darken, with the beckoning of the next season. All the more beautiful for the fleeting. Hope your days are golden too.

 

Let's Get Out The Vote

 

I am going to be bold here and just say it: I want to see our President re-elected for a second term. I try to leave the political out of my art and off my blog, but I feel strongly that there is an awful lot at stake with this election. I believe we need to move forward, not backward. And I believe President Obama is the one to lead us. In this spirit, I would like to urge everyone to vote. It is an honor and a privilege; one that is denied to many. Please be sure you are registered correctly. You can look here and here for more information to do this online. If you need an absentee ballot you can go here. Make sure everyone you know is registered to vote. Consider volunteering. Consider making a donation. Participate.

I have done two pages featuring our President of these United States - one right after the inauguration in 2008 and one this week. The quotes inspire my civic mindedness. Be inspired too. To make a difference. To participate in our democracy. Get out the vote!

"The occasion is piled high with difficulties as our case is new, so we must think anew. We must disenthrall ourselves. And then we shall save our country." Abraham Lincoln

"We go now to walk together children pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone with your hands of power and your heart of love. Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen." Dr. Joseph Lowery, Inauguration benediction.

A Walk In The Woods

So far the tail end of summer has been a whirlwind of transitions and the to-do list keeps getting longer instead of shorter. Whew! I'm kind of ready for the cooler, shorter days of fall! So when I had the chance to take Marty Colon's wonderful Illustrated Field Journaling class, I jumped! Two whole days with nary a cell phone or computer in sight - just the beautiful woods above Jamestown, a wonderful teacher and our journals.

I've always looked at wonderful nature journals like Hannah Hinchman's and wondered, where do I even start? I am a committed journaler, but have not really included or explored a field journal approach. Marty is a masterful teacher, leading us four eager students through step-by-step instruction on how to both structure and fill an illustrated field journal. HIs "No Big Deal" approach made so much sense and put everyone at ease.

After some discussion and explanation of field journaling, we jumped right in. He had this fabulous box of treasures that I could have ogled for about an hour, but we were asked to pick one object to draw. One that seemed difficult, one we didn't think we could draw. Of course everyone's biggest hurdle in this class is thinking that they can't "draw". 

So we began with a blind contour drawing to connect with the page. If you really do it right, it shouldn't look like what it is. The idea is to make your eye and your hand move at the same pace while you "draw" your object and NOT look at your paper. Which for me was the hardest part. It's really simple hand eye coordination and very satisfying. 

Leading us into another bit of drawing, we picked a new object, this is one of the cool bird skulls from the box. From upper left, a blind contour drawing, a mostly blind contour drawing, a minute drawing and a 30 second drawing...changing the angle each time. We added some observational writing and three questions....and voila! An Illustrated Field Journaling page! 

Another approach is using thumbnails to create a page. This limits the intimidation factor by narrowing your drawing space to a 2 X 2 inch square, eight of them on the page. And some observational writing and the place and date and...another page is created!

This time we were to choose a flower or plant and create a page. I chose thumbnails so I could capture different parts of the plant. It was at the end of it's life cycle and it created a marvelous standing plant skeleton, with many dried parts to explore.

We went back to the box for another nature object and this time the assignment was diagraming...another fun and useful technique for field journaling. Simple drawings and observations along with questions. I discovered a lot about sea urchins just by taking 40 minutes to observe and draw. I knew nothing when I started and now I really see the structure and have 10,000 questions about this amazing creature's shell and life.

 

Our final assignment was to make an Event Map. We all said we could have done this for a whole day. It's a wander and wonder on paper. We began at a little pond surrounded by an aspen grove. You just start to wander and "map" your walk through the woods. Whatever catches your attention, stop and record it. Continue until you've filled as many pages as you have time for. This is a wonderful way to learn a "place". Marty likes to do this soon after he sets up a camp site to really dive in and learn about his surroundings. I think it easily translates to an urban environment. The next time I check into a hotel in a new city, I'm heading out for a walk around the block to see what's there in my new neighborhood, stopping to observe and record along the way. It was great to be a student again and just wander and wonder and journal. Soul food for sure!

I don't think Marty has a website, but you can contact him via email - [email protected]. I signed up for this class through the wonderful Two Hands Paperie (and BTW their new class schedule is up) but I know he teaches other places, so shoot him an email to find out about his next class.

 

A Lifetime Isn't Enough For The Beauty Of This World...

The last of the New Mexico road trip posts. A journal spread/watercolor of the front of Mabel's house from a shady adirondack chair one hot afternoon - pencilled onsite and finished in the studio. 

Mabel's front door...my comfort drawing in the midst of a week of stretching and experimentation with the pencil and looking and seeing in a different way.

An early morning retreat for drawing on the mighty Rio Grande while it was peaceful, quiet and cool. A little cross and it's reflection in the water. A watery memorial? Sun glinting.

Besides my little retreat to outline drawing (Mabel's door), I spent the week in Sas's Drawing as Discovery class really exploring other ways to draw.

Four exercises for seeing with a pencil...blind contour in the lower right hand corner...a quick gestural drawing of the same nest, apple and rock to it's left. A little more time for detail in the upper right hand corner. And finally a five minute drawing in the upper left. One pencil, looking for the both the volume and texture. Ditched the rock, added a horizon line.

A sunny morning in my solarium perch brought my trusty Faber-Castell pen to the creamy white page for a blind contour drawing of my bed.

And oh the figure drawing morning...difficult for me, not my favorite drawing activity. Looking for the volume and not the outline. Much easier when I switched it up and picked up a brush and some ink. With this drawing I finally felt like I was getting closer. Such a mystery.

Approached this BIG piece of blank paper as a fencer would. Black gesso, brush in hand. Begin. Make a mark. Respond. Draw. Obliterate. Draw again. Some white gesso fencing. Add some pencil marks. Moments and movement caught in time. Satisfying. Freeing.

I journaled along the way and as contemplation when I reached home base. The map of my summer rambles in the Land of Enchantment. Little photos and watercolors...

...detailed borders, ephemera and lists...

...black and white photos and haikus. A shelf of bones...

...and reflections on my visit to Georgia O'keefe's house in Abiquiu. 

An altered postcard for Consuelo and a bit of a poem from Mary Oliver...

"A lifetime isn't long enough for the beauty of this world and the responsibilities of your life. Scatter your flowers over the graves, and walk away. Be good-natured and untidy in your exuberance. In the glare of your mind, be modest. And beholden to what is tactile and thrilling. Live with the beetle, and the wind."

from: The Leaf and The Cloud.

Alterations

I spent the afternoon in the studio (one eye on the fires smouldering in the distance) with a couple of friends making altered postcards. It is just what I needed after yesterday's 100 plus temps, roaring winds and freakin' fires billowing smoke down into Boulder! Today was a cool drink of friendship and some much needed soul soothing. Frida altered with dreamy shoes and a wreath of roses...as the rain fell outside, cooling all living things down! Thank you, goddess!

And this little Cy Twombly postcard a dream of sailing away on a leap to another realm and a reminder to Be Brave. Keep watch. Breathe. 

On A Green Day In June...

Still loving June and trying to say yes every chance I get, soaking up every precious day. Spent a lovely morning with my friend Alix sketching at Chautauqua Park and lunching in the old grand dame of a dining hall - a retreat to a bygone time. Meanwhile back in the studio I fleshed out my sketches to capture the very first day, of my very favorite month in this journal spread. Mary Oliver captures the essence of the month for me in this beautiful poem entitled Writing Poems:

This morning I watched

the pale green cones of the rhododendrons

opening their small pink and red blouses –

 

the bodies of the flowers

were instantly beautiful to the bees, they hurried

out of that dark place in the thick tree

 

one after another, an invisible line

upon which their iridescence caught fire

as the sun caught them, sliding down.

 

Is there anything more important

than hunger and happiness? Each bee entered

the frills of a flower to find

 

the sticky fountain, and if some dust

spilled on the walkways of the petals

and caught onto their bodies, I don’t know

 

if the bees know that otherwise death

is everywhere, even in the red swamp

of a flower. But they did this

 

with no small amount of desperation – you might say: love.

 

And the flowers, as daft as mud, poured out their honey.