Sunday, March 29, 2015

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

like walking on water

























like walking on water
in brilliant sunlight
frozen snow
in the woods
by noon
the spell
was fading

ok,
so what do
you guys want?
he said to the trees
they
after having
putting up with him
amused at times
for a while now

since last they had spoken
together the trees
had decided what
they had decided

like walking on water
frozen snow in the woods
by noon the spell
has passed




























the dress rehearsal
like rearranging the furniture
with silver grey and snow
sweet glistening wood
under a clear blue sky
laughing

we had some fun at
the end of the day
the last tree hung up
I took a line up with a ladder
and pulled it over

like walking on water
frozen snow in the woods
by noon the spell
had passed



















into another tree
did I mention that  then
I got one saw pinched
so I had to go get the
" O'eight S" and cut it out
man
talk about an over-weight saw



















by the light of
a crescent moon
I feel your pain
at the base
of my spine
and remember
what once was
was once
new

like walking on water
frozen snow in the woods
by dark the spell
had resumed
as
painting




Saturday, March 14, 2015

spring



























a whisky moon
has lurched into
the gloom
the season's snow
thunders off 
the metal slopes
as spring displays
an angry face



























sunshine at zero
one of the three maples
from my island
is split and stacked
after being
so hung up
that the tractor 
couldn't pull it over
so I dragged the butt
off the stump
and down the frozen lane





































the ply-wood remembers 
being alive and growing tall
remembers the warmth of 
spring sunshine when
it was small



























I see you 
in passing
and revise your image 
in the book-matched veneer
through my eyes
in the windy 
spring moonlight
where 
in the tree-tops 
there is singing 
as the sap is drawn
skyward
into the
dawn





















I found the 
table saw 
and
planer, and router 
and
air tools  
and some Ash
from amongst the Maples
who wanted to
come into
the house
to hang out
as the woodenboat
catalogue




















so eventually 
some of the 
neighbourhood wood
might sail amongst whales


Sunday, March 1, 2015

...another vain attempt at defining art



















as "inspiration"and "art"

 share an orbit.... 


Inspiration:
 breathing 
    involuntary
      essential to life
painting to dissolve 
into the interconnectedness of all things
through the eyes of others.


the box grand piano 
that stands outside my back door
as a giant gargoyle because
it was beyond repair and 
that was as far as 
I chose to move it that day
has taken on a new function
Part of the living lightly is
in dancing with the forces of nature
the canoe that I built becomes a familiar 
standard of comparison
The steady motion of the sailboat 
that caught my eye
The angle of the piano 
while splitting the prevailing westerlies
increases the velocity of the wind
which clears the snow from the 
up-wind side of the base
so, what looks like an 
inert obstruction 
or art 
is in effect, 
shovelling snow.... 
so by definition, 
it is not art



thanks to the tractors.... a toast

fresh snow in a glass
to celebrate the distillers art
fresh snow to reflect sunlight
into the house to enable the
interaction of sensation of reflection
that we call seeing
to blanket the forest floor from freezing so
spring can prepare back-stage
Thanks to all the friends and neighbours 
busily, silently capturing and storing
with-out fanfare or fatigue  
the radiant heat of the sun
that comforts my bones



















The house is a reflection of values passed down and
observation in that light from childhood
As my friend Nat says, design is compromise.
as Frank LLoyd Wright says, form follows function

the requirements for the studio/ house, as seen from the perspective of a 25 year-old aspiring carpenter,
and painter with a degree in art history were specific .. Modular, passive solar with the
heating requirements compromised by the need for a high ceiling  and  north-light in the studio.
Maple forest provides heat and sunlight in winter and the cool shade of summer.
The integrity of the envelope re.  site appropriate materials, heavy insulation, convection air circulation
and mechanical concentration were priorities. Prevailing winds were taken in to consideration.
Aesthetics were achieved by balancing modular efficiencies with site requirements through symmetry
and a combination of  timber and balloon-framing. 




















Frozen clothes 
at twenty below
become animated
as the wind picks up
The wood stove groans
but knows of the thaw
blowing in from 
beyond the horizon




finally February has come and gone


The whole back room 
has been a 
refrigerator 
for months 
so
the beer's 
cold
but the potatoes 
froze
 I lit the stove 
out in the shop and
low and behold
I found the 
table saw
and my choice of 
freshly 
sharpened
carbid tipped 
blades
Snow shoes 
hang on a post 
near the door
firewood stacked 
behind the stove
so I paint
another 





























plywood portrait