Five Badgers

That was the week that was

2011-12-30T06:46:00.000-08:00

Yes, there we were, together again! The Grizzly Badgers! We came, we saw, we ate turkey, played games, and managed some good conversations. A wonderful family Christmas, three generations enjoying each other's company. And the turkey was pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Now it's back to our separate realities, but we move forward with good memories and the anticipation of more to come in the future.

Red Queen

2011-03-01T16:25:00.000-08:00

I have two prints at the Beaumont Art League's National, "Red Queen" and "Portrait of Jennie T."

Wish I could be there, but I think some family will be able to represent me. "Red Queen" won the BAL's Purchase Prize and will become part of their permanent collection.

In other news, we received yet another foot of snow, the driveway is becoming narrower by the minute, and we are SO ready for Spring. Another month to go...

High Island visit

2010-05-10T13:35:00.001-07:00

What a great visit!

Exhibition of the Great Cranberry Island Portrait Project

2010-01-23T14:41:00.000-08:00

The art looks very handsome in the Blum Gallery at the College of the Atlantic. Our Gallery Talk and Reception will be January 28th. The stories that go with the art (written by Rebecca Buyers-Basso from her interviews with the islanders) are on the 12 chairs in the center. On the other wall are large posters of documentary photos.

Going Nuclear

2010-01-23T14:36:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed getting together for the Christmas holidays. Just ordinary times made special by the five of us being together. Tom made some of his wonderful Indian meals and I managed a nice Christmas Eve Pasta y Fagioli thanks to a recipe shared by friend Patti. We did order pizza more than once!

I have embraced the Bread Machine. We'll never Be Hungry Again!

Ferry back to Reality

2009-10-18T18:40:00.000-07:00

Becky and I had a great weekend on the Island. the exhibition was well attended; it was the final week of the season, and the chill of fall was in the air. The prints looked well in their white mats, and the stories were on tables in booklets; the room became like a library; once people had looked at the prints and read the biographical info on the tags, they became absorbed in the stories behind the faces. All "our" Islanders came to see it, and left with their own print portrait. Becky and I will now endeavor to get the Exhibition shown in venues around the state, and Beyond!

Nortons

2009-09-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

Always good to hang out with Momma and Daddy. L'aissez les bon temps roulez!

Stylin' Part 2

2009-09-01T14:04:00.000-07:00

Bruce and Tom went to an Outlet Mall and made good use of their time. Tom is ready for anything now!

Stylin'!!

2009-09-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

We went to the Post Office and then had our traditional Wander through Wal-mart. Once upon a time we pushed kids in carts through that place, now it's just us.

Warmth

2009-09-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

It was good to visit family, a whirlwind trip of a little over a week. We couldn't get enough Mexican Food! I finally got smart and ordered an empty plate at one restaurant, getting donations from everyone else. And we still had enough to take home to make a good lunch the next day.

Here we are at Paul's Seafood Restaurant. Paul, we were thinking about you!

Great Cranberry Island Portrait Project

2009-06-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

Here I am taking reference photos for my Portrait Project on Great Cranberry Island. The seven islanders my Photo-Journalist partner, Becky Buyers-Basso, and I contacted were so very gracious. They let me sketch and take reference photos for my linoleum prints, and answered Becky's questions for the story she will write to go with each portrait in a forthcoming exhibition.

Becky and I are Residents with the Heliker-LaHotan Foundation on the Island. The Foundation brings artists from all over the country to the island. The artists are inspired by the landscape/seascape of the island, but I want to capture the other part of the picture...the People! And I will.

Journey to Geneva

2008-09-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

Thursday, August 28 John and his parents got into the car and headed to Geneva, New York. The rolling hills and farmland of upstate New York brought back many memories, and it was a relatively pleasant drive. We went right to Penn Yan, where we got a room at the Vineyard Inn. Cousin Susan and Elliott drove over to lead us to a restaurant where we enjoyed good conversation and caught up some of the activities of the Williams clan.

The next day we drove to Geneva, found the campus and got in line to shake the Dean's hand and eventually obtained John's key to his dorm room. Along the way various student volunteers would come over and answer any questions we had. John signed the Book and we went on to his dorm, Hale Hall.

John had a very busy schedule Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which included some community service, also pictured above. Monday classes began! So he is going to be very busy, with school, studying, work, and service. We are very proud of him and know he will do well.

The Graduate

2008-06-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

After the ceremony we came home for a few more photos and some Chinese food from the new restaurant on the corner. John is now ready to enjoy his summer, working part time at the Bangor Raceway as he did last year, until he leaves for Hobart in late August.

Graduation Day

2008-06-08T16:31:00.001-07:00

With great pride and love we watched John graduate from Bangor High School. He stood head and shoulders above the crowd in more ways than one.

Spring at Last!

2008-05-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

I left Bangor March 21st for a lengthy family holiday; they were de-icing the plane that morning! Spring had already arrived in the South, and April in High Island was perfect. There were games of croquet, washer-pitching, and horseshoes. Even the real-life adventure of having to dig up and replace some plumbing pipes out in the yard was a satisfying activity (of course I only watched Carolyn, Daddy and Paul dig). We saw the beautiful birds, the Baltimore Oriole, Indigo buntings, and Rose-breasted grosbeaks. But the Rare Norton Birds were the main attraction!

Somehow the men back in Bangor got along without me and my cooking for all those weeks. Bruce and I are proud of our three fine young men. Soon Tom will head for UT Austin where he will complete his Master's in Eastern European studies. John graduates from Bangor High School at the end of June and will be off to college in the fall. Austin will leave for Washington, DC in August, where he's been accepted into Law School. So come September, Bruce and I will be on our own, alone together for the first time in 29 years. It's all good....
Janet

Snow, snow, and more snow

2008-02-24T07:17:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the Badgers of Bangor! Here it is the end of February and it just keeps on snowing! I don't get out as much as I used to, but Bruce pitches in with the grocery shopping and Tom has cooked a few excellent meals from his Indian cookbook. And I have been busy in the art studio, working on my Musicians of Bangor series.

A few weeks ago John, Austin and I (Tom was in Texas) attended the Democratic Caucus here in Maine. It was a chance to be registered and cast our votes all on the same day. We stood in line together at the Civic Center for an hour and a half, grateful that most of the time we were indoors as it was snowing outside. Governor Baldacci made his way through our crowd and shook my hand, and then a little while later John Kerry shook my hand also. I was sorry there were no loudspeakers in our anteroom so we could hear the speeches while we waited to register.

But the important thing was, we did get registered, and we went to our Precinct Room, and were counted...we three voted for Barack Obama. For the first time in decades I felt an excitement about the political process, and that my vote counted. These are exciting times.

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-09T10:26:00.001-08:00

Happy Anniversary

2007-12-01T15:44:00.001-08:00

It's hard to believe it's been 35 years since two kids got married and headed off for Las Vegas in the '62 Cadillac. Then again, it doesn't feel like "only yesterday" any more! We're almost to the point of rocking chairs on the porch...no, maybe in another 35 years!

Blast from the Past

2007-11-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

This is a recent linoleum print; I created the sketch on an Etch-a-Sketch and then re-created it with linoleum. The Women Printmakers of Austin are having a members show in December and this will be in it.

Trip to Portland (Maine)

2007-11-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

Bruce and I went to Portland last weekend for a charity dinner. I glimpsed Glen Close in the crowd! It was nice to be staying at the hotel and not have to drive home afterward.We had an excellent meal and the next day went to the Museum of Art and an antique book store. I found two new art books for my library.

October in Maine

2007-10-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

October is coming to a close; the leaves are still beautiful but falling, now. We still have flowers in our front yard; one purple gladiolus bloomed and I snatched it to put into a vase in the kitchen. I detected a chill in the air downtown and wore a jacket but of course the Mainers were all in their shirtsleeves. Winter is coming, but it isn't here yet!

You may notice the picture of me in front of a lot of portraits. This is my wall of linoleum prints, hand-painted. There are 20 in the edition of "Memory of Ofelia" and fourteen are exhibited at Ofelia's in downtown Bangor. It is a rare experience for a printmaker to have most of an edition up on the wall...kind of the Warhol effect! Opening night of the exhibit was a lot of fun, with music and refreshments and plenty of people enjoying the artistic ambience.

Weekend on Cranberry Island

2007-10-13T05:22:00.000-07:00

Badge and I caught the ferry to Cranberry Island Saturday morning. We stepped onto a small boat; it had a cabin with two long bench seats as well as seating in the back exposed to the elements (and the beautiful view).

Two artists (Mr. Heliker and Mr. LaHotan) had built a lovely home on the island and left it in trust for Artists to use, so there are Residencies people can apply for. My fellow printmaker from Austin, Anna Marie Pavlik, was the only applicant for the first Printmaking residency and I was glad to be in the neighborhood. We picked her up at the airport here and took her to the ferry a couple of weeks ago. It was very nice for me that Patricia Bailey (trustee for the Foundation) invited me to assist Anna Marie with a printmaking workshop on the island this past weekend, letting me and Badge spend the night in the main house Saturday.

It all worked out well because Badge didn't mind taking a bicycle and going around the island on his own while A-M and I were in the studio. Patricia also took him around in her pickup truck; she is around our age, probably closer to Badge's, and actually grew up in Beaumont, Texas! So we had some things in common.

Anyway, for me it was an ideal mix of art and sociability. We had our successful printmaking workshop with about eleven adult attendees, wine and brie for lunch, overlooking flowers and then the coast and water beyond...open house that afternoon with visitors coming in and lots of conversation about art and life...a turkey and dressing (and pie) dinner at the church that evening, the final one before the summer residents left until next year. Badge and I elected to walk back "home" after the dinner rather than perch in the back of someone's pickup...it was romantic til we discovered we'd taken a wrong turn and gone 20 minutes in the wrong direction!! I got a bit cranky but Badge insisted he knew where we were, and actually, he did because we finally found a familiar corner and then Patricia pulled up and verified that we were nearly there (but she had to turn around and get Anna Marie back at the church).

That left me and Badge walking toward the house alone, off the road, on a long path between two pich-black walls of tall trees. The road was just a grayer shade of dark beneath our feet, the sky a roof of charcoal over our heads. We walked forward, hand in hand, setting our feet down onto the unseeable path, moving forward together on blind faith.

And then we saw the gate, the sign, the lights in the house, and we all gathered around the big Ben Franklin stove in the kitchen, lit the fire, and talked over the day together til people's eyelids started drooping and it was time to go to bed.

Sunday Badge and I were to take the 3:45 ferry, so that gave Anna Marie and me some time to try an experimental printmaking process in the studio while Badge and Patricia went exploring. Rendezvous at 1 for brunch, eggs, brie, champagne, grapes and good company. It was cooler than the day before but sunny and beautiful.

The sun is still shining, and I'm happy to be back here with the Badger Boys in Bangor. Love, Janet

Sunday evening

2007-10-07T20:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Badgers!

start up

2007-10-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

My first post; more to come!