Auspicious Goats

sold

I have been doing animal studies for the past 6 months or so. I love the patterns on goats and their body shape and expression. Anyone who has spent time with goats knows how much personality they have!

(first stanza of) The Goat, by Umberto Saba

Ho parlato a una capra

Era sola sul prato, era legata.

Sazia d'erbe, bagnata

dalla pioggia, belava.

I have spoken with a goat.

She was alone in the meadow, tied to a post.

Satiated with grass and her coat

rain-sodden, she was bleating.

Why is this only thing I remember by heart after studying Italian for three years in college?

Fur-Peace

Fur-Peace

10" x 10"

jute on board

This is the piece I have in the "Foor-in-the-Door" show at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts - artsmia.org/foot-in-the-door-4/ . Some of you may not have seen my fiber work, all made of baling twine that I collect, discarded from farms and ranches. It is now getting harder to find, as most hayers now use plastic "twine". If anyone comes across some of the natural jute, I could really use more. I love using recycled material.

I am starting the second year of the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas Project - mnbba.org. Any of you citizen-scientists who are interested in helping out and supporting conservation planning based on current, scientific information - they need volunteers! Check out the web-site. There are only 7 states that don't have this breeding bird information yet.

Cranes at Bosque Del Apache NWR

I leave tomorrow morning..... mixed feelings. Here is video I took with very cold hands early morning on my way down here. I stopped at the the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge on the Rio Grande in New Mexico.

"The world is big, and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark." - John Muir

Cliffs, paint box

This is a small 6 x 8 oil paint study I did last week. The view is looking up at the cliffs just down the canyon from where I am staying in the Chiricahuas Mountains. I included a photo of the new paint box I am using and liking very much. It is only 9 x 7 x 2.5 and fully loaded weighs less than 5 lbs. I can sling it over my shoulder, have everything I need for two small studies, and hike back in areas that it is difficult to drag a bunch of painting equipment around.

" Above on either side tower sheer cliffs, topped by crenellated battlements and groups of slender columns, while yawning caves, arches, and windows have been carved into the stone by centuries of wind, rain, frost, and melted snow. The rock, called rhiolite, is of volcanic origin and glows with soft shades of orange, pink, yellow, and deep salmon as if it had been dabbed by a giant paint brush." - Weldon Heald, The Chiricahuas Sky Island