My nephew, David Hedding, to my delight and at my urging, has signed up with Patreon, an innovative site which connects artists with people who support their work. David is a musician, music producer and visual artist who will be creating videos as well as other artistic offerings. He's just put his page up, so please check it out and support him, as well as the many other talented creators (musicians, writers, visual artist and more) who are using the crowd sourcing of Patreon to build a stable base of income, as well as a community of people who support their artistry. You can pledge a sum which you choose (nominal or generous; you choose) which is given to the artist (I use PayPal) everytime they upload their work. Really a cool idea.

Check out David's page here.

Here's a video of David singing 'Blackbird,' accompanied by his brother, Mike.



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My seventeenth Kiva loan goes to a woman here in the U.S. (in Ohio), also named Peggy, who teaches Irish stepdancing.

A bit more frivolous than my previous loans, perhaps, but I want to support women in the arts, and I could use more dancing in my life, dammit.

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Another thing cleaned out of Mom's closet and now coming to me:

One of our summer vacations was a trip to Rockport, Massachusetts, an artist's colony along the eastern seaboard. While we were there, my parents had portraits done of us four kids.

Here's mine. I've always quite liked it. I look like quite an ordinary little girl, but thoughtful.



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From my post 5/5/08 "The Tree and the Sun." Click to see close up:



This was sure pretty when I printed it out. I'm going to hang it above my desk at work, and add it to my Trees collection.

anam_cara told me about Soulcollaging, and I got so interested I ordered the book. This is another thing which could be really rewarding to do on the retreat. I'll need to assemble some of the materials to take with me.

Anyone know a source of used art cards (to cut up for collaging)? And where should I get the mat cards for the base? It looks as though they suggest cards made of mat cardboard, 5" x 8".

Any of you tried doing this?

We went back to the workshop for the Heart of the Beast to work on the May Day parade. Fiona repainted her book, because she changed her mind about which book she was doing. Then she repainted it again because I pointed out that she had placed the book title on the wrong side. Then she repainted it yet again because someone stepped on it and smeared it. I hope the poor girl will not have to repaint it yet another time. Four times is enough! I have a picture of her showing it off, and once I figure out how to download pictures from my camera phone, I'll post it here it is. I had reminded her of the mistake she made at the last workshop, painting in her windbreaker, and asked her to remember to take it off before she started. I went to check on her a half hour later and discovered, yep, she'd forgotten to take it off, and it was covered with paint. I squawked at her, stripped her of the jacket and washed it off in the sink; we carried it home in a plastic bag. Fortunately, since I washed it while the paint was still wet, I was able to get most of it out.

I took another cute picture of Delia crouched in the center of a cardboard box, contemplating how she was going to turn it into a blue giraffe costume. She enjoyed the paper mache very much, but needed my big girl hands when it came to wielding the staple gun.

I wandered restlessly from one table to another, trying to decide which section of the parade to work on, and indeed, whether I even wanted to be in the parade at all. I have so enjoyed watching it for so many years. Did I really want to give up the fun and ease of being a spectator? C'mon, Peg, I told myself. Break out of your old comfortable pattern, here. Participate, don't just watch. I had thought of joining the books section, with Fiona. I was uncertain whether I really had time to start a costume for myself, especially since I was periodically helping Delia.

There is another section of the parade which is featuring ravens and cranes. One raven was already made, a paper mache headpiece with attached black fabric wings, mounted on a corner of one of the tables. I kept staring over at it. It made me think of the "ravens of unresting thought" which have loomed so large in my life in the past year, in the Yeats poem "The Two Trees," one my favorite poems. I went over and asked the artist for that section of the parade about it. "Oh, that's a piece that a woman made for another event, but we need someone to operate it. Would you like to do so?"

I looked up at the raven, which seemed to be cocking a baleful eye at me, and I smiled. What better way, perhaps, to exorcise those pesky ravens from my life?

"Yes. I will."

The workshops are great fun, a cacophony of excited noises, color, and new ways of looking at things. It is amazing what these artists can accomplish with clay, cloth, shopping carts, cardboard, paint, whiffle bats, flower pots, plastic cabling and a staple gun. I spoke with minnehaha K. for awhile (she was helping Fiona paint grass as Fiona was waiting for her book to dry again). And I had a nice conversation with Aaron, who popped up on my journal for the first time recently, although he has been lurking reading my entries for several years. See lurkers? If you know that you are going to be somewhere that I will be, please introduce yourself, and I will be happy to make your acquaintence.

I have written over the years about attending the In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater's annual May Day parade and ceremony. I went to a fundraiser for HOTB earlier this month (thank you for inviting me, minnehaha K., and sorry I didn't have more money to cough up for a worthy cause). The fundraiser was a lovely occasion. I was quite interested to hear what the artistic director had to say on that occasion about their mission: They create performances, just like any theater company, but they also work for various social justice causes. And, perhaps most interestingly enough, they create rituals: for individuals, for families and for communities. I really love rituals, which is partly why I love May Day so much.

However, although we have enjoyed the parade and ceremony at Powderhorn Park, we have never participated in the planning/making workshops or the parade itself. So we stopped by the theater today for a two hour workshop. I had been thinking lately that I need to do something to bring more art into my life; I love the HOTB and the May Day parade, and I thought it would be fun make the parade a different kind of experience for us this year. In February, members of the community meet with theater artists, and all brainstorm together to envision a "parade story," which will talk about what people agree needs to be said. Then, starting in April, people meet to bring that vision into a reality. We heard the artistic director describe the different sections of the parade and then we had to decide which section we would like to join. The theme this year is "Common Ground."

Delia was attracted to the portion of the parade which talks about listening to your heart, and emphasizes drumbeats (the earth's heartbeat) and the celestial. This section of the parade is deep sky and dark blue, with elephants (large listening ears) and giraffes (with long necks that reach up into the heavens). Delia started making a giraffe mask out of cardboard. In the weeks to come, it will be painted a brilliant deep blue, with stars for spots, and then the mask will be mounted on a long neck over her head.

Fiona and I were drawn to the section of the parade which has been designed partly in honor of the new downtown library which will be opening two weeks after the May Day parade. This section is called "Check out the Common wealth" (?) and has a lot of book-themed parts. Fiona is part of the Banned Book Band: she spent the day painting the cover of a banned book (she chose Eragon by Christopher Paolini). These will march along, and then will periodically be liberated by the "liberation librarians," a force fighting for freedom against forces of censorship (symbolized by the bookworms). I may join this section, too; haven't decided yet.

The two hours went very quickly. The girls had worn okay-to-be-splashed-by-paint clothes, but much to my annoyance, Fiona absently stuffed the paint smock they had given her under her chair instead of wearing it, and then got paint on her windbreaker, since she had never bothered to take it off.

We stopped at the May Day Cafe for treats afterwards (it seemed appropriate) and look forward to going back next week. A fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.