Spirit of Bees Moves to a New Home

Spirit of Bees is now located here.

Spirit of Bees, Redux.

Someone emailed and asked why I called this Spirit of Bees. I wrote about that in the very first post, way back in '06. But, if you don't want to travel back in time to find out, here it is in the now.

Spirit of bees? I first saw the phrase in an old pharmacological text which I repaired. The original blog entry about that can be found here in my original old blog.

Technically, spirit of bees was an ancient curative made in medieval times from extract of bees. I just liked the sound of the phrase, the rhythm of the words, the spirit of bees. Reminded me of the buzzing of the swarm, the activity of the hive, the business of bee-ness.

Acting with energy and purpose, this is the Spirit of Bees.

Her Wish is My Command

Everyone deserves a chance to realize their fantasy. So when I had an opportunity last week to make that happen for my 2 1/2 year old grand daughter I was right there ready to fulfill her special wish.

The Papaya loves the Olivia the Pig books which are her favorite bedtime stories these days. Her favorite Christmas gift this year was the plush Olivia she received in her stocking. When I was babysitting recently, reading her one of the books, she pointed to the picture of the monster who was scaring Ian and said, "I want dis monster. I want to have dis." I guess she assumed that if you could get Olivia, you might also be able to get the other characters in the book.



"Hmmm..." I said. "I think that just might be possible."

And the next time I came over, I brought all the necessary supplies to make the monster in the book. First I sketched out the basics. Then she helped me color in the black areas with her magic marker. Next we cut out the eye holes and armholes. Then she tried it on.

She was so excited to see herself in the mirror, transformed into the character in the book. I asked her if she wanted to scare somebody. She said, "But I don't have an Ian here."

I suggested that we might scare Boppy instead. She said, "But not too scary, OK? Only a little bit scary."

So we did. As you can see he was only a little bit scared. Then she peeked around the doorway to see who else she could frighten. When she was done being scary, but only a little bit scary, she sat in my lap and we read the book paying special attention to the monster page. Grandparenting doesn't get much better than this.

Janus

These ceramic heads reside in the pigeonhole cubbies of an old hotel mail shelf which hangs in my dining room. I like the sense of past and present and future, looking forward to a new start of the year.

As I approach 65 in 2009, it's really hard to keep from looking back and getting mired down in reviewing all my past mistakes. Especially when I have never been more aware than I am now that there are few or no chances for making some things right or opportunities for do overs.

Instead, I try to remind myself that it does no good to look back and regret, because, if I do that, I might miss the good, new and interesting things that are happening now.

Focus forward. My motto for 2009.

Plan Ahead

Another doll head photo. This one taken at my studio. She sits in a cubby waiting for me to find a use for her. All of the items you see in the photo were in the cubby originally, arranged as you see them. The doll head sitting on top of the plan ahead sign. When I realized what the sign said, I just pulled it forward so that the words were more visible.

I have a lot of doll parts hanging around my studio. I bought several hundred, arms legs torsos and heads in a lot at an auction a number of years ago. Every once in a while I look through them and take out some parts thinking that I will actually make art out of them or use them in a collage or something like that. Usually it never goes much farther then that. I end up setting them down in various places and forgetting about them.

As I mentioned before in this post about the lobster party, my studio is filled with various collections of stuff/junk, some of which I think I might use in art projects, or whatever. For the time being the catacombs of doll parts are stacked away in one corner of the studio, just another reminder of my folly.

I suppose photographing them could count as using them. Hmmm... I sense a theme.

Caged

Many years ago my friend gave me this chalk-ware baby head. I immediately placed it in the birdcage where it has been hanging amongst the plants ever since.

She always catches people by surprise. When they come into the living room they don't immediately notice her hidden behind the Shefflera, like the wallflower that she is, yearning to be free. Maybe this will be her year.