Frog-Man II

Frog-Man
Sculpted 2011 or earlier;
Photos August 2018.

Sculpture mix; glazed with transparent brown and (lightly, quickly) sea-foam.
(I was expecting more green from the sea-foam, but that was a misjudgment on my part.)

Brother-of-Pearl: A Sequence

Aquaman:
sculpture mix; green house-paint;
leather cord; and abalone shell.

Mendocino: 7/23/18

Cave-Time

Louise Gluck's "The Mountain"

THE MOUNTAIN

My students look at me expectantly.
I explain to them that the life of art is a life
of endless labor. Their expressions
hardly change; they need to know
a little more about endless labor.
So I tell them the story of Sisyphus,
how he was doomed to push
a rock up a mountain, knowing nothing
would come of this effort
but that he would repeat it
indefinitely. I tell them
there is joy in this, in the artist’s life,
that one eludes
judgment, and as I speak
I am secretly pushing a rock myself,
slyly pushing it up the steep
face of a mountain. Why do I lie
to these children? They aren’t listening,
they aren’t deceived, their fingers
tapping at the wooden desks—
So I retract
the myth; I tell them it occurs
in hell, and that the artist lies
because he is obsessed with attainment,
that he perceives the summit
as that place where he will live forever,
a place about to be
transformed by his burden: with every breath,
I am standing at the top of the mountain.
Both my hands are free. And the rock has added
height to the mountain.

--Louise Gluck


Thank you, AB, for the gift.

Rapa Nui NorCal?

Or, When Will The Sleeping Rock-Giant Awaken?

"Whirl is King" -- Aristophanes

Kayaking Mendocino: Four Shots

(Sorry about the waterspots.  I need to figure out how to get the water off the lens better.  Maybe keep a small spray bottle of fresh water handy for the amphib camera.  I think that the waterspots are part of the experience and that the photos work, but that may not work for everyone.)

This last photo shows a tricky spot a bit to the south of Van Damme State Beach. If you go through this narrow archway, you find a cathedral-like cavern open to the sky, The trick is that there's a mass of kelp growing in the center of that archway passage that will slow your kayak to a crawl. (I vividly recall past experiences digging, digging, digging with the paddle to get through and out.) This day, the swell was working, and I couldn't tell how much clearance I was going to have at the top of the swell's rising, and I did not want to get spiked; also, the tide was rather low at this time, which may have meant more headroom, but which also meant at the surge's drop the kayak would be in a too narrow space that wouldn't matter with a higher tide or with a mellower surge.

I looked, shot, and paddled on. Another day for entry. See, I am maturing (finally).

It's A Devil-Duck World . . . .

(Sand and pebbles from Monastery Beach.)

Beach Plaid

Wistful

Mermaid w/Fin:
sculpture mix; green glazing.

Dreams and Shadows -- Robert Graves' "Theseus and Ariadne"

Amazon: sculpture mix; cobalt carbonate oxide.

THESEUS AND ARIADNE

High on his figured couch beyond the waves

He dreams, in dream recalling her set walk

Down paths of oyster-shell bordered with flowers,

Across the shadowy turf below the vines.

He sighs: "Deep sunk in my erroneous past

She haunts the ruins and the ravaged lawns."

Yet still unharmed it stands, the regal house

Crooked with age and overtopped by pines

Where first he wearied of her constancy.

And with a surer foot she goes than when

Dread of his hate was thunder in the air,

When the pines agonised with flaws of wind

And flowers glared up at her with frantic eyes.

Of him, now all is done, she never dreams

But calls a living blessing down upon

What he supposes rubble and rank grass;

Playing queen to nobler company.

--ROBERT GRAVES

Attitude, Finitude

Rockfish.