Creativity, Crafts, Books, Movies, Greyhounds & Favorite Things

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Every week, I take you on an Artist Date with me. The Artist Date comes from the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

Last weekend, I headed down to West Lafayette, Indiana, and attended the 46th Annual Feast of the Hunters’ Moon.

The Feast of the Hunters’ Moon is a re-creation of the annual fall gathering of the French and Native Americans which took place Fort Ouiatenon, a fur-trading outpost in the mid-1700s.

Fort Ouiatenon was active from 1717-1791. In 1791, President George Washington ordered the destruction of the Wabash Native villages. All crops and houses were burned, bringing the era of Ouiatenon to an end. Ouiatenon lay in ruins when white settlement began to grow in its neighborhood in the 1820s. Its existence was slowly forgotten until even its exact location was no longer known.

In 1928, a local physician, Dr. Richard B. Wetherill, acquired the land around what was believed to be the site of an early French trading post known as the Fort Ouiatenon. In 1930, he built a 452 square foot replica of a fort on this land.

In 1968, archaeological excavations and document research began to recapture and preserve the almost-forgotten French heritage of Ouiatenon. The archaeological excavation uncovered the actual site of the original stockade approximately one mile downriver from Dr. Wetherill’s replica fort. Excavations ended in 1979.

There is something for everyone at Feast of the Hunters’ Moon. Traditional artisans demonstrate crafts in the style of the 18th-century using only materials and methods available at that time.

Over 50 different French, English and Native American foods, adapted from original recipes, are prepared over open fires and served by costumed participants.

Blanket traders and merchants sell replicas of 18th-century trade goods from blankets and tents. Products for sale include colonial goods, period clothing, toys, Native American items, pewter, leather, wood and woven goods.

You can also see French and Native American music and dance, fife and drum corps performances, military drills and demonstrations, fashion shows, puppet shows, games and contests.

The day started out rainy and overcast, but thankfully the afternoon was sunny and beautiful. The perfect weather for stepping back into the 18th-century.

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Every Friday, I share a poem. Friday is also the day I post a prompt of something you can do to make the world a kinder place. I call this the Kind is Kool challenge.

I offer both the poem and the kindness challenge without any obligation, so “Comments” are turned off every Friday. Enjoy.

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The Autumn

Go, sit upon the lofty hill,
And turn your eyes around,
Where waving woods and waters wild
Do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sun is faint on them,
The summer flowers depart,
Sit still, as all transform’d to stone,
Except your musing heart.

How there you sat in summer-time,
May yet be in your mind;
And how you heard the green woods sing
Beneath the freshening wind.
Though the same wind now blows around,
You would its blast recall;
For every breath that stirs the trees,
Doth cause a leaf to fall.

Oh! like that wind, is all the mirth
That flesh and dust impart:
We cannot bear its visitings,
When change is on the heart.
Gay words and jests may make us smile,
When Sorrow is asleep;
But other things must make us smile,
When Sorrow bids us weep!

The dearest hands that clasp our hands,
Their presence may be o’er;
The dearest voice that meets our ear,
That tone may come no more!
Youth fades; and then, the joys of youth,
Which once refresh’d our mind,
Shall come, as, on those sighing woods,
The chilling autumn wind.

Hear not the wind, view not the woods;
Look out o’er vale and hill
In spring, the sky encircled them,
The sky is round them still.
Come autumn’s scathe, come winter’s cold,
Come change, and human fate!
Whatever prospect Heaven doth bound,
Can ne’er be desolate.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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Kind is Kool Challenge

Week 35 Challenge – Give someone an old-fashioned treat. Some ideas…a corsage, lemon or horehound drops, a handkerchief, a malted milk or maybe Cracker Jack.

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Every Monday, I post a painting “inspiration.” Every Thursday, I post how I interpreted the inspiration. I decided to do this to keep myself painting, to strengthen how I go from an idea to a painting, and to give myself permission to play and try new things.

For the rest of year, I’m taking my inspiration from the great ideas you sent me. The first inspiration is AUTUMN. She now has a dress and hair.

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I do an “Every Day Ugly” post on the second Wednesday of every month. I look around at all the things I use the most, to make sure those are my “best” things. This series was inspired by my friend, Amy, who noticed that some of the ickiest things she owned were the things she used the most. She wanted to change that to make sure that her every day life was filled with beautiful, functional things. This inspired me to take a look around and make sure that I wasn’t saving “the best” for days that rarely come.

This month, the change came for two reasons…form and function. I have two personal care products on my nightstand, lip balm and foot cream. The foot cream tube has been annoying me for quite some time. First, the form. I’m constantly knocking over the tube. Second, the function. I tend to apply the foot cream with the lights out. Coming from a tube, I’m never sure how much I’m squeezing out…sometimes too much, sometimes too little.

Enter, a beautiful solution. I purchased this lovely terra cotta pot of 100% shea butter at Ten Thousand Villages. I love the look of the jar and the low profile. I also love that I need very little of the shea butter to do the job, and I can just tamp my finger on the top of the shea butter, giving me much better control over how much I’m getting.

My only fear is that one of the pups will discover this jar and eat the shea butter. It happened once before with a tin of Booda Butter.

I love to see what you’re doing too. Veronica (Bettina and Blue’s momma), from Yes I Know, My Dogs Look Funny, added a little dazzle to her routine office work. Behold…bedazzled office supplies.

Veronica says it’s a small thing, but it does make bill paying a little more enjoyable. Anything that makes a task like bill paying more pleasant is worth considering. Thank you, Veronica!

I would love to have you join in. If you have some plain thing that you make beautiful, send me a picture or pictures and tell me about it at whatremainsnow@gmail.com.

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The mini-me’s are staging a protest…

What is the unrest about?

Good question. A new Mini-Me Theatre will premiere on October 22nd.

Note: The mini-me’s are custom handmade by Lynne of  Dip-Dip and the Bridge. Want a mini-me of your own? Contact Lynne at chi-chigirls86@hotmail.com and she’ll give you the details.

Next week, we’re participating in the Be the Change for Animals blog hop. Want to participate in the blog hop too? Check out this link.

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What’s happening in my studio?

Slow going. Here’s where I’m at with the Autumn Girl. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I’ll post what the painting currently looks like until I’m done.

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For the next few weeks, I’m reading the book Creative Thursday by Marisa Anne.

Creative Thursday is a book about learning to make creativity a daily habit. Over the last few years, I have made creativity a priority, but just like any habit or practice, it requires consistent attention.

Chapter 7, Finding Your Voice, is particularly relevant to me this year. This is the year I chose to focus on my painting…in particular, painting girls. This chapter discusses how to find your voice. It was not difficult for me to find my voice, the difficult choice was to focus my voice. I don’t think narrowing your focus is necessary for a creative life, but I do think it is helpful for an artist who wants to create a recognizable style or body of work.

Chapter 8, In Search of Encouragement, is one of my favorite chapters and deals with sharing your work and being encouraged. I love what Marisa says, “If I were to strip this book down to the bare bones, that would be the message. This is about creating for you. Whether professional or hobbyist, never lose sight of the fact that this practice is always about creating for you. Tune out other’s ideas of what life is supposed to be and tune into your own voice.” This is often easier said than done, and Marisa talks about how to start sharing your work and arranging supportive environments. Sharing my work at this stage of life is much easier than it probably would have been when I was younger because I’m much gentler with myself, and I don’t put as much stock in other’s opinions. This is not to say that it doesn’t make me feel scared and vulnerable to share my work, but I’m better able to walk my way through it. Marisa also suggests using tokens or totems…symbols to remind and help yourself along. My favorite totem is a picture of myself as a little girl, that I have hanging in my studio. It’s helpful to my creativity because when I look at it, I remember that as a small child I didn’t compare myself to others. I was curious, happy and loved to creative. Remembering that child-spirit helps me to be myself.

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Every Saturday, I share my weekly Artist Date.

I volunteer at the Center for History and give tours at Copshaholm (The Oliver Mansion).

Copshaholm has beautiful gardens.

This year, I planned to document four Artist Dates in the Copshaholm gardens…one for each season.

I’ve taken my Artist Dates late in each season, so I don’t think I’ve captured the gardens at their seasonal best.

In March, I posted about my Winter Artist Date. In June, I posted about my Spring Artist Date.

Regardless of the season, these gardens are one of my favorite Artist Dates.

Peaceful, quiet, historic.

The perfect place to rest after a busy week.

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Every Friday, I share a poem. Friday is also the day I post a prompt of something you can do to make the world a kinder place. I call this the Kind is Kool challenge.

I offer both the poem and the kindness challenge without any obligation, so “Comments” are turned off every Friday. Enjoy.

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The Forest Of Dreams

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Where was I last Friday night?
Within the forest of dark dreams
Following the blur of a goblin-light,
That led me over ugly streams,
Whereon the scum of the spawn was spread,
And the blistered slime, in stagnant seams;
Where the weed and the moss swam black and dead,
Like a drowned girl’s hair in the ropy ooze:
And the jack-o’-lantern light that led,
Flickered the fox-fire trees o’erhead,
And the owl-like things at airy cruise.

II.

Where was I last Friday night?
Within the forest of dark dreams
Following a form of shadowy white
With my own wild face it seems.
Did a raven’s wing just flap my hair?
Or a web-winged bat brush by my face?
Or the hand of something I did not dare
Look round to see in that obscene place?
Where the boughs, with leaves a-devil’s-dance,
And the thorn-tree bush, where the wind made moan,
Had more than a strange significance
Of life and of evil not their own.

III.

Where was I last Friday night?
Within the forest of dark dreams
Seeing the mists rise left and right,
Like the leathery fog that heaves and steams
From the rolling horror of Hell’s red streams.
While the wind, that tossed in the tattered tree,
And danced alone with the last mad leaf …
Or was it the wind?… kept whispering me
“Now bury it here with its own black grief,
And its eyes of fire you can not brave!”
And in the darkness I seemed to see
My own self digging my soul a grave.

Madison Julius Cawein

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Kind is Kool Challenge

Week 34 Challenge – Purchase a get well card and put a stamp on the envelope. Next time you hear someone is ill, send it off to them.

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Every Monday, I post a painting “inspiration.” Every Thursday, I post how I interpreted the inspiration. I decided to do this to keep myself painting, to strengthen how I go from an idea to a painting, and to give myself permission to play and try new things.

For the rest of year, I’m taking my inspiration from the great ideas you sent me. The first inspiration is AUTUMN…

The background is all I got started this week. I’m not too hopeful that I’ll have her finished next week, but I’ll keep at it and hopefully have her done in a few weeks.