Jerry Fenter

This has truly been a week of ups and downs.  First, I crashed my car for the third time in three months.  I thought I was a good driver in snow (!) but it seems that that is not the case. While driving up Canyon Road I  hit an icy spot, spun around and crashed into the side of the hill into a ditch.  Somehow I got the car out of the ditch and made it home in a snowstorm.  This was sad.

Even sadder were the people I lost this week.  First there was J. D. (Jerome David) Salinger, writer and a huge influence on me when I was finding my way through the maze that was high school and college, and confronting my own creativity.  The Catcher in the Rye was a book that helped me finally understand that what I wanted to do with my life was to develop creative skills that could move people the way Salinger did with his words.  His short stories were amazing.  I thank him and will miss him.

“The worst thing that being an artist could do to you would be that it would make you slightly unhappy constantly.” –J.D. Salinger

 

The saddest loss this week was of Philip Klindt, owner of Klindt’s Bookstore in The Dalles, Oregon.  When I first moved to the country, isolated in Timber Valley, I felt so alone.  I would do my shopping in The Dalles each week.  Driving down second avenue one day I noticed Klindt’s, right downtown, a great looking bookstore, with an interesting looking  Annex. So I stopped in.  There I met Philip.  He was a wonderful man, an intellectual,  a speaker of many languages, a lover of independent film, a traveler and totally up to date on all new books and magazines.  We talked.  I felt less alone.  He invited me to join his book club.  I did.  Philip lived for fun and company.  He gathered up all lost creative strays and created a type of “salon” right in the middle of The Dalles.  He and his wife, Linda, welcomed anyone with a love of books, antiques, gossip, laughter, the arts, and just life itself.  After Linda died, Philip continued to be a mentor to me.  He will be missed by everyone.   He saved my creative life.  Thank you, Philip

Next, sad but un-preventable, was “The Red Disaster”.  If you’ve been reading my posts, you know I was excited to be showing two red pieces for “The Red Show” at Columbia Arts Gallery in Hood River.  Well, while framing these pieces, something happened to both paintings that has never happened to me before.  There was a lot of warping on the watercolor paper.  Thirty years of experience and I don’t know why the paper warped.  Ron and I tried everything, from the normal ways of flattening to a steam iron.  Nothing worked.  The last I saw of my beautiful paintings was a burst of flames as they whispered their soft goodbyes and were  burned in a firey ritual Ron and I oversaw  in the wood stove.  The ritual  gave me some closure.  I’ll be working on some more pieces similar to the lost ones  because I liked them so much.  Unlike Phillip and J.D. the paintings are replaceable. 

Another sad thing, I’ve had no time this week to draw or paint because I’ve been filling out forms, and writing proposals.  This is work that has to be done, but it makes me crazy sometimes and I feel like my body is going to turn to stone over my keyboard.  Of course the positive side would be if my proposals and forms are accepted and my career will follow a path to the top.  It’s a coin flip.

 

This week also had some high spots.  On Saturday night we got together with our friends Patty and John from Mosier and our friend Bill from Seattle and watched the old TV series Dallas.  Many of you will remember this “first nightime soap opera”.  When Patty confided to me that she had never seen it,  I was of course appalled!  How could a person live their life without knowing J.R., Pam, Sue Ellen, Cliff Barnes and Miss Ellie!  Soooo…Ron and I have ordered the entire Dallas series from Netflix and all of us are determined to enrich Patty’s life by having Dallas parties every few weeks, Dallas themed dinners, Dallas eye shadow, big hats, big boots, and even some Texas Bourban. Now we’ve all got Dallas fever.  Great company and great fun!

My grandson has been writing out “small moments” in his first grade class and sharing them with family.  Tavish’s Auntie Amy got one the other day in the mail that made us so happy we cried.  He is an exceptional child.

We had a great class at The DallesArt Center last month.  What fun. Painting fruits and hearts…and eating lunch at Burgerville and that Chinese Place on second street.  Great people, great laughs and lots of excellent art produced.  The next class will be on the 27th and 28th of February.  I’ll be teaching how to do one-of a-kind mono types with crayons, pastels, a copper plate and an iron.  Sound interesting?  I’ll post something soon.  For sign up and information call The Dalles Art Center at 541-296-4759.  It’s a crazy class and can be messy so I’m limiting it to eight students. 

I delivered a wonderful commission titled “Yesterday a Child Came Out to Wonder”, to Valerie Hively.  Her daughter Lily looks beautiful in it, peacock costume and all.

Ron and John Maher will have a show together at The Dalles Art Center in July.

Poems:

Gate C22

by Ellen Bass

At gate C22 in the Portland airport
a man in a broad-band leather hat kissed
a woman arriving from Orange County.
They kissed and kissed and kissed. Long after
the other passengers clicked the handles of their carry-ons
and wheeled briskly toward short-term parking,
the couple stood there, arms wrapped around each other
like he’d just staggered off the boat at Ellis Island,
like she’d been released at last from ICU, snapped
out of a coma, survived bone cancer, made it down
from Annapurna in only the clothes she was wearing.

Neither of them was young. His beard was gray.
She carried a few extra pounds you could imagine
her saying she had to lose. But they kissed lavish
kisses like the ocean in the early morning,
the way it gathers and swells, sucking
each rock under, swallowing it
again and again. We were all watching–
passengers waiting for the delayed flight
to San Jose, the stewardesses, the pilots,
the aproned woman icing Cinnabons, the man selling
sunglasses. We couldn’t look away. We could
taste the kisses crushed in our mouths.

But the best part was his face. When he drew back
and looked at her, his smile soft with wonder, almost
as though he were a mother still open from giving birth,
as your mother must have looked at you, no matter
what happened after–if she beat you or left you or
you’re lonely now–you once lay there, the vernix
not yet wiped off, and someone gazed at you
as if you were the first sunrise seen from the Earth.
The whole wing of the airport hushed,
all of us trying to slip into that woman’s middle-aged body,
her plaid Bermuda shorts, sleeveless blouse, glasses,
little gold hoop earrings, tilting our heads up.

 

Pet Milk

(a family poem handed down for generations)

sent in by Sue Martin

Good ol’ Pet Milk,
The best in the land,
Fits right in
The palm of your hand.
No teats to squeeze,
No manure to pitch,
Just punch two holes
In the son of a bitch.

 

breathing slowly

by Victor Field

 

on the inside

there are sirens

heavy rains

  that inspire madness or desire

laughter and despair

on the inside wilting flowers can regain vitality

on the inside

rivers make their way in an endless search for the bottom

trees stand upright

in a sunlight that never disappears

children invent games

a thousand rules that make perfect sense

to reach inside

for one’s lucky star

to see out beyond the darkness

with an owl’s eye

to find something worth pursuing

stumbling over the loose edges

hoping to bring back a treasure

bring it back

          to the inside

where thoughts are like comets

minor explosions

as they meet the atmosphere

the inside

where time is invisible

and the eyes are not required in order to see.

 

Thank you poets.  You help to make our lives more beautiful.

Hint:  Don’t buy the so-called software that will supposedly speed up your slow dial up connection on your computer.  It doesn’t work. I hope to be getting a refund in 5-6 weeks.

Happy Birthday Norman Rockwell. 

I am now a member of the Creativity Coaching Association. I’m accepted, and when I get the time, will fill out my forms to be listed as a Creative Coach on their website. I had a good conversation with Beverly Down who is the President and CEO of the association. While talking to her I realized how much we had in common. It was uncanny. I feel like I’ve finally found my tribe. At least I know it’s another tribe to add to my existing ones. (Painters, Artists, Instructors, Counselors, Mothers, Mexico Lovers, Students, Fans of Mad Men, etc.) As we all get older our tribes seem to multiply as the years go by. But I’m excited and proud of myself for becoming a member. I hope to get more clients through the connection and also learn more about this strange new community of creativity coaches. The ideas never stop.

Yes, to those who are asking, I am giving a workshop this weekend at The Dalles Art Center. We will be learning watercolor skills while painting fruits of all types and hearts (because love and Valentines are in the air). I know this sounds a little crazy but it is going to be fun. We’ll be working and playing from 11:00 to 4:00 both Saturday and Sunday, January 23rd and 24th. We’ll go crazy with color and insane with insight. Lots of famous stars from my class will be there. I think it will be a great way to spend a weekend.

Also, I’ve just finished my two pieces for The Red Show at Columbia Arts Center in Hood River. The images are small, 10” x 14”, but will be framed. They are juicy, fruit watercolors based on some of my favorite poetry and embellished with a little collage.

This first piece is titled from a poem written by Sylvia Plath called Metaphors.

Metaphors

By Sylvia Plath

I’m a riddle in nine syllables,

An elephant, a ponderous house,

A melon strolling on two tendrils.

O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!

This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising.

Money’s new-minted in this fat purse.

 I’m a means, a stage, a cow in calf.

I’ve eaten a bag of green apples,

 Boarded the train there’s no getting off.

 

The second piece is titled from William Carlos Williams’ poem This is Just to Say.

This is Just to Say

By William Carlos Williams

I have eaten

 the plums

 that were in

 the icebox

 

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

 

forgive me

they were delicious

 so sweet

and so cold

Poems can really inspire the writer and the painter in me. I would love it if some of you could send some of your favorite poetry to me and I’ll print some poems here for all of us to enjoy. It tells a lot about a person if they share with you their favorite poetry, books, music or visual arts. Feel free to send some of your own poems if you’re not too shy. I have at least one excellent poet that reads this blog (Victor).

The holidays are over and it’s time to take some risks in the New Year. Try some new things but stay safe.

I’ve been reading lots of lists of New Years Resolutions and would like to share my own strange list of suggested resolutions for artists, writers and all those outrageous creative types who walk daily on the rough path towards creative meaning.  Take them or leave them but I’ve tried all of them at one time or another and found them invigorating and inspiring. They will really get those juices flowing. Trust me. These are in no specific order. 

1. Take some of your supposedly awful ideas…long rejected…and transform them into a miracle piece. Rework it. (Terrible ideas…don’t you just love those?) Do this at least twice this year.    

2. Set aside a whole day: No plans, no responsibilities. Start driving, biking or walking. Go in unexpected and random directions. Document your day with photos, sketches and odd memorabilia. Do this at least once a month. Warning: This may bring lots of new ideas into your brain. Welcome them, write them down, sketch them, remember them and maybe even sing them.

 3. If  rejections make you crazy (I know this is true of all of us) do this. Write an incredibly cold and generic rejection letter to that irritating gallery owner, book publisher, juried show, reviewer or person that has pissed you off in the past. Explain why you won’t sell any artwork /stories/songs/books to them, no matter how much money or fame they might offer. Make it clear that they are not worthy of your talent. No amount of compensation will change your mind. The price to them will always be too high! Don’t mail it.  Treasure it.   

4. Nourish your childish enthusiasm each day of the year. For instance read a small part of a favorite childhood book, look at your old view master discs, notice smells and tastes that remind you of the good parts of being a child. Buy a hula hoop.  

 5. Give away things, without hesitation, to someone who does need them at the time. You can do this anonymously.                                               

6. Share your talent for free with at least one person per month.

7. Spend a whole day without speaking. Try this once a month. Warn your family and friends.

 8. Look for signs during all of the seasons.

9. Be discerning in who you choose to spend time with. Don’t waste your own precious time with unworthy people.

10. Paint, draw, joke, laugh, write, sing, talk and laugh as much as you can.

11. Write, draw or tape a long personal letter. Send one of these to a special person each month. Enclose a picture, photo or clipping that makes you laugh, cry or ponder.

12. Actively acknowledge the people and animals that you love each and every day.

13. Celebrate your birthday for at least a whole week but always try for the longest celebration you can negotiate.

14. Tired and crabby from over creativity? Curl up in your new Snuggie and watch Law and Order, Criminal Minds or Top Chef to rest your brain and renew your energy. (Other programs on TV can be substituted but they must be mindless and must not make you think). Mad Men is a must see. Artists need to be up to date on the latest cultural happenings, news and weird trends. Artists are the canaries in the mine shaft. That is why it’s important to read and watch as much as you can.  Become familiar with more of the world than your own little space.  Expand your thinking.

15. Find yourself an incredible mentor or creativity coach if you need help on your path.

As I re-read my list I realize it’s a little crazy, sometimes too sentimental and sometimes a little cruel. But I guess so am I. Have a good new year. This list is dedicated to one of the craziest and most influential people I’ve ever known.  He was a loved and respected professor and mentor to me.

 

Don Berry 1931-2001

Find out more about him at donberry.com and berryworks.

 

 

“To the Looking-glass world it was Alice that said, I’ve a scepter in hand, I’ve   a crown on my head; Let the Looking-glass creatures, whatever they be Come and dine with the Red Queen, the White Queen, and me!”

Yes, it’s been a queen’s week for me. I participated in the show at Maryhill Art Museum and showed for the first time my watercolor/collages of the Queens of Maryhill. They were a big hit and I think “Royalty for Everyone” will now be my motto. All of us want to be Queens or Kings in our heart and rightly so. The weather out on the eastern gorge was beautiful and cool. We passed lots and lots of wineries on the drive out. The whole of highway 14 after the Dalles exit seems to be grapes, grapes and more grapes. The art at the show was high quality and all in all it was an excellent weekend. There was an astronomy booth filled with the guys from the Observatory in Goldendale. (If you know nothing about this you must Google it and you’re in for a big surprise). There was also a Three-D art booth that of course I loved. I bought two cards, one Three-D card of Multnomah Falls that I will send to my friend in Liverpool, Maureen. She’s in love with Multnomah Falls as am I. The other three-D card was one of a painting of Van Gogh’s made into a viewer so it looks like it pops right out at you!  This will go to my friend Bill who needs a little laughter right now.    

 ”Then fill up the glasses as quick as you can,And sprinkle the table with buttons and bran;Put cats in the coffee, and mice in the tea–And welcome Queen Alice with thirty times three!”

This Queen Alice (aka me) spent Wednesday trying to wrangle three squirrelly black cats to the vet on her own. First the problem was finding the kitties that seem to hide when their carriers come anywhere near them. They find impossible places and seem to disappear into thin air as easy as the Cheshire Cat. I finally got the two little ones into one carrier. Since they are both about 10 pounds a piece I had to strain to get them into the back seat of the car. Then I tried to find Arlo. Arlo, being very smart and awfully sneaky, ran past me, up the stairs to the bedroom and flew under the King size bed, stopping and lying down right in the exact center spot so I couldn’t reach him. Of course Arlo knows about my fake knees (long story) and the fact that I cannot crawl under the bed to reach him so he just grinned at me as I tried to figure a way to chase him out. I went downstairs and left him there. I got the treats. I shook the treats. I could see his head pop out at the top of the stairs. I went after him. He ran into the closet and I dived (YES I dived) and grabbed him, finally putting him into his carrier and getting in the car. They whined and cried all the way as we drove to Bingen. My kitties hate not being at home. We get to the vet. Holly and Berry run out of their carrier and proceed to jump up on to everything in the exam room, knocking down soap and solutions and exploring everything. They finally open all of the cupboards and decide to shut themselves up in one deep space  under the exam table. Then there was Arlo. I had to shake him upside down out of his carrier and then he went straight to the corner of the room, under a little ledge and flattened himself out like a pancake. He figured if he made himself very small and flat no one would notice him. He would be invisible.  When Dr. Craig Vance (our hero) came in he and the nurses laughed at the two girls hidden away in the cupboard, by now playing with anything they could get their hands on. Arlo, I swear, looked like a small piece of lint by that time.  And so it goes.

 ‘You are old,’ said the youth, ‘and your jaws are too weak For anything tougher than suet; Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak— Pray, how did you manage to do it?’

I found out my diabetes is worse and now I’m trying to take meds for it. The meds make me sick and I feel like my body is turning against me. So…I’m trying to change my old lunch-mouth habits and going on a low carb diet and learning to take my blood sugar. For a long time I was in denial, but now I can’t ignore it any more. My blood sugar is a mystery to me but I have classes at good old Kaiser next month that should help change all that. I swear when I die they’re going to chisel that Kaiser number on my grave. Anyway, I crave all sweets, cookies, gallons of real Coke, potatoes, fries, and all that good stuff. Never to be enjoyed again. Splenda is my new friend and I don’t like her so much.

 No new news on the Anita Wolf situation. I have an interview with a close personal friend of hers during the second week of September. Maybe I’ll find out more good stuff then. She is not allowed visitors or correspondence at the Goldendale Jail. Hornets have surpassed murder as the subject of discussion here in Timber Valley for the time being. But Cody and I will be back on the job soon.

 “In a Wonderland they lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the summers die.” –Lewis Carroll

 Happy back to school for some of you! Be kind to your bus drivers. It’s Tavish, my grandson’s first attempt at public school. I wish him to be the best! He’s of course the most gifted and creative.  I’ll be doing the Kings Mountain Fair in California over Labor Day.  All of you pray that I’ll meet Neil Young in a bar in the Redwoods.  I’ll be drinking water of course.

Before I leave for Seattle this weekend I just wanted to say how much I appreciated the people who took my class over this last weekend.  It was the first really hot and sunny day in The Dalles, usually time to work on gardens, ride horses and just kick back.  But I was lucky and had a great group of students join me on Saturday and Sunday for a watercolor workshop.  This class just clicked.  Everyone worked hard and came out with some wonderful paintings and poems!  We all got very inspired.

 

I got all abstract as you can see above, and my students showed both their painting and writing talents. Eva painted this beautiful watercolor image and when asked to write about her self wrote this poem.

 Take and Give                                                                                                                          

 By E. Piatt

 Strengthen the womb                            

Prevents Miscarriage

But

Takes away fingers

and toes.

 Who knew

She can still draw

And paint

Even with missing fingers

And toes?

 

Pat came up with a great image and left us with this poem. 

 

The Frolic

By Pat

 

Fairies and Elves in the forest

Amongst the foliage

Are they German or English?

Do they like cabbage?

 Do they like tea?

I have seen them in the pasture

Frolicking with the horses,

Tickling their noses

On the dusty coats and furry ears.

 

Vonda’s Poem and piece were great! 

 

 

 Mike

By Vonda

Wise old owl

Who makes me laugh.

Penny tight

Who showers me with gifts

Free Spirit

Who sees chaos clearly

Athlete

Who loves to play. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Bonnie’s poem was an example of her energy and creativity.

 

 

Love is Life 

By Bonnie

Love is life

Change is travel.

World is color.

Change is life.

Love is travel.

Color is the world.

Color is life.

Love is the world.

Life is as good or bad as a spilled Bloody Mary in your lap.

Make the best of it.

Be happy.

 

This past workshop left us all happy.  Nancy, the art center’s drawing instructor was also with us but somehow I couldn’t find her poem or her picture.  She did some beautiful work with ease as usual. Somehow the work was lost on my camera or somewhere in cyberspace.  Sorry, Nancy, next time.  My computer skills will get better!

I also did a poem.

 

Renaissance Woman

By Jerry

 I am a woman done so many things

Detective

Waitress

Teacher

Mother

 I am a woman done so many things

Artist

Student

Lover

Catholic

 I am a woman done so many things

Happy

Afraid

Fearing the future

Loving the future

I am a woman done so many things.

 

That’s all folks!  I’m off to Seattle to see Tavish, Hans, Ellen, Clover and Mari!