Wednesday 12 November 2008-  Someone well meaning gave me a half hide of leather, nicely cured and finished.  It really should be put to a good purpose, as some large and probably gentle animal was murdered for it.  I can find no use for it, however.  If there's a leatherworker out there, it's yours for the asking.

  Saturday 15 November 2008-  Since the election, I've sold two pieces of work, which doubles my sales for the year.  So my theory of art and politics, based on fifty years as an artist trying to peddle my work, still holds-  Democrats are good for art.

  Sunday 16 November 2008-  What a glorious autumn this year.  Trees have held their color bright into mid-November.  Then two days and nights of rain, and we wake to winter.

  Tuesday 18 November 2008-  One of the last surviving art heroes from my youth has died, Grace Hartigan, at age 86.  There are some blank canvases and panels lying about that ought to be put to use- perhaps a few paintings as an act of remembrance?  My paintings won't look like Hartigan's, though.  Color was in her genetic code.  I'm no colorist.  I have to work at it.

  Thursday 20 November 2008-  Lately, I've been contracted to do some product design for  a manufacturer in the adjoining county 25 miles east.  On days when I must work on-site, I spend my lunch break in a marvelous little park maintained by the village of Fountain Inn (left and below). A quiet and simple refuge, with a single picnic shelter and several paths meandering across a creek and through a wood.  Besides the occasional tourist of my own species, I've met hawks, deer and wild turkeys among the varied inhabitants of the place.

Below:
"Traverse"
wood, stone, found objects, acrylic
11 x 14 x 3 in.
Private Collection, Bayside NY

Above:
"Assisi"
wood, stone, acrylic
16 x 16 x 3 in.
Private Collection, Greenville SC

Below:
The west window at North Main Friends meeting place.

  Saturday 22 November 2008-  Spent the day baking bread for about eighty homeless folks North Main Friends will be cooking lunch for tomorrow.  Jane Ella and I have been attending this Quaker worship group in our neighborhood for about a month now. During that time I've been reminded that while I have been a Baptist by practice for the past seven years, I have remained a Quaker by convincement.  As my friend and pastor, Jeff Rogers says, "Now you have a place to come home to."

  Thursday 27 November 2008-  I've taken a vow of silence- sort of.  Since I began attending Friends Meeting again, I'd not spoken in meeting until last week, when I said a couple of sentences, having felt prompted to do so.
Yet, as soon as I shut my mouth, I realized silence would have served better.
Then, sudden clarity about why I attend meeting- not for the few words, but for the abiding quiet.  I can hear better words than mine at the Baptist church.  We are surrounded by talking.
But there are few places where we can simply be still and silent to hear the Truth that is too deep to be spoken.

  Monday 1 December 2008-  My wife and I spent Thanksgiving week with my daughter in Providence, Rhode Island where she is a graduate student in history at Brown University.  She gave us a tour of the Brown campus, which offered the usual old school architecture, as well as some surprises like this wild and whimsical site specific installation (left) by Patrick Dougherty (who is from North Carolina), and a three-piece reclining figure by Henry Moore (right).
  While in town, I met Christian Calderone, who is showing my constructions in October 2009 at his Holden Street Gallery in Providence.

Below:
"Square Roots"
2006
willow and maple saplings
Patrick Dougherty
Collection: Brown University, Providence RI

Below:
Three-Piece Reclining Figure
bronze
Henry Moore
Collection:  Brown University, Providence RI