I am currently making scrape nests, or rather, the stones, cobbles, pebbles, and grains of sand of which they may be composed. There’s nothing like hand-cutting tiny grains of sand from paper to put things in perspective…I’ve found it to be a good meditative process when I need to work through a challenging studio problem and want something to do with my hands.
One such fun structural challenge is figuring out how to construct and design the Social Weaver’s colony that will be part of this series. I will share images once I get a bit further along in the process.
Speaking of constructing, here a few images that reflect a variety of nest forms. Each one is made of individually hand-cut paper grasses, leaves, and fibers.
This time of year, I harvest fresh herbs as often as possible before the first frost. It finally happened last week. The day before, I gathered huge bunches of sage, rosemary, thyme, lemon thyme, dill, savory, lovage, mint, and oregano, and a few bay leaves from my young tree to use fresh, to dry, and to freeze. They go so well with roasted root vegetables and squash.
I’ve been cooking lots of greens and grains this fall. As it grows cold, it’s a good time for roasting vegetables, and making soups, and stews, toasting nuts, and crafting mushrooms on toast.
I’ve been outdoors as much as possible—hiking, kayaking, canoeing (for the first time in many years) and walking in the pine woods. On our canoe trip, we saw lively otters popping their glossy pointed snouts up out of the water, diving, and coming up with fish. Cormorants were abundant in the water and on the rocks around us, and we got great views of several Great Blue Herons, a Kingfisher, and a pair of Wood Ducks.
Mushrooms seem to be popping up everywhere, and the forest is full of small, camouflaged creatures that blend in so well with the fallen dried leaves. This is one of my favorite times of year as it finally turns to autumn.
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