The Art of Woven Letters – In Mourning

woven letterHello.  Today I am sharing about a paper weaving technique as a way to mourn for the death of a loved one. I am very much mourning lately, since my mom died four months ago.  Did you know there is a difference between grief and mourning?  Grief is an emotion. Mourning is actually doing something to symbolize the grief and taking time to express it. continue reading

An Artist’s Action Items … Rebuilding

The Artist’s Action Items after a WILD fire:

Clean.
Rebuild.
Recuperate.
Thank God that
Makers Make and
Makers do not rest…
Beginning with Mother Nature
Who kindly brings
naught but fresh rain and green grass.

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After: The site of the once astonishing Red Round Barn. In remembrance. Photo by Irene Rowley, December 2017.

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Sonoma Fires Part 2: Trees on Fire!

The Santa Rosa fires were of epic proportion. Here is a current page from my creative journal. I titled this drawing, My Memory of Trees on Fire!

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It is a sketch of trees that I see along the 101 Freeway after the fire. You can see the handprint of the edge of the fire, where a green tree ends and black trees start. continue reading

Sonoma Fires

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Map of the Oakmont Fire threatening Spring Lake, several miles to the east, at the Ledson Winery area. This is the fire activity on October 16th.

The fires around Sonoma County are frightening. The Ledson Winery,  the one I wrote about in The Art of Getting Lost in Sonoma, is standing dramatically against a backdrop of flames in the Oakmont Fire!  My mom’s apartment  is just two miles away from this fire and she has been under mandatory evacuation orders since October 9th, and she’s sick so I worry about her. Her neighbors at the retirement community were evacuated to the fairgrounds or to their family. We wait for the rain expected on Thursday to stop this madness…

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