Delay Not

...I believe you cannot wait ...

And let life peaceably pass you by....


You must grab it...

Arms spread wide...

With both hands.... and an inquiring mind...


Savor it...

Devour it...

Intoxicate your mind with it.....



.......To the depths of your very soul...

....No one.... can do it... but you...

Time moves much too quickly.....

This sunrise occurred during the late fall, last year at 8:30 on a November morning, where the sun rises directly in front of our view over the Bay of Fundy.... where the sky is vast....
... it changed immensely during very brief moments... taken from the front verandah.

Coffee or Tea...

"Molly, my sister and I fell out...

What do you think it was all about?

She loved Coffee and I loved Tea,

That was the reason we couldn't agree..."

What's your Pleasure?........

"I'm a little teapot, short and stout,

Here is my handle,

Here is my spout,

When I get all steamed up,

Hear me shout!.........

Tip me over and Pour me out"

Every piece is individually created... the texture patterns are always different... and the heat from the torch may vary slightly in its intensity... as it moves across the design... therefore altering the manner in which the silver flows across the piece...

No two are ever identical... they each have their own little specialness... color, texture, shape...



...detail of the cup... showing varying texture in the silver and copper...

"Polly put the kettle on,

Polly put the kettle on,

Polly put the kettle on,

We'll all have tea..."

My grandmother Parlee used to sing this song... I remember it so clearly... she was always singing songs as she went about the house...

Coffee or Tea?... Enjoyed socially or privately... Personally, I like both...... with a bit of sugar..



A finished pair ... We have been creating the little "Coffee or Tea" earrings design since January 2000.

I love it when I see people wearing our work.... here and there about the village, the town and city... sometimes they know we are the ones who created them... sometimes they are oblivious to us...

I love it either way.....


Coffee...a widely consumed stimulant beverage prepared from roasted seeds of the coffee plant, Coffea belonging to a genus of the Rubiaceae family... first consumed in the 9th century when it was discovered in the highlands of Ethiopia...
....about ¾ of the coffee cultivated worldwide is Coffea arabica... the remaining is Coffea canephora... ideal storage conditions of coffee beans are air-tight and cool..


Tea... an infusion made by steeping the leaves, buds or twigs of the tea bush, Camellia sinensis, in hot water for several minutes... one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world... second only to water... tea originated in southeast Asia...
..."herbal tea" usually refers to infusions of fruit or herbs that contain no cameillia sinensis..


approx. 1" - 1½" long plus ear wires... handmade antiqued Sterling Silver and Copper...

Limited Production...   ........to see more Desideratum Art Jewelry designs





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John's Solo Show

John has been extremely diligent....

During the last year... Every spare moment... he was in his studio working on a large number of canvases...

Painting is his love... If he could go into his painting studio and never come out ... I think he would...

I lived with a man in deep concentration for quite a while now... It is his nature that when he begins a project, no matter what kind of challenge it is... to absorb himself fully into it... ... nothing can deter him from it... it is all consuming... he is driven to create...




Everything he knows... he has taught himself........

Everything he creates......... is a marvel of perfection...




Paintings by John Ackerson are being shown at the Saint John Art Center in Saint John, New Brunswick, till June 28/08...

He has shots of the show on his blog... but they are a million times better in person!!!! ....It is in the library room on the second floor... and it is worth seeing!!!


.................He creates Works of Art........



Painting shown and detail "Lone Voice in the Wilderness" is one of John's latest oil on canvas... 16" x 16" gallery style and is in the show...

Warm Feet - Darning Socks

There's a ho-le.... in my stock-ing ..... dear Li-za... dear Li-za...

There's a ho-le.... in my stock-ing ..... dear Li-za, my love...

and it needs fixin'...

It won't be the first time... they have lived with me for years and I have mended them several times now...

I found a window with good light and a comfy seat... a darning needle... some of my own hand-spun  natural cream-colored Border Leicester wool ...from strong, long-fibered fleece.... this time it is still on the spool... it is only single ply so I used it double...

... the evidence of earlier mending... also evidence that I had more time then and a more appropriate color... my socks are showing me the patterns of my life...

...that time I used natural brown Suffolk handspun... soft springy fleece...
...this time it was purely for function... not beauty... service... doing what time allowed... and what was needed...





I have a hard time throwing things away... especially things that have served me well and made me feel good... besides just a little wool ... a few stitches... and they will work as well as before...




Almost done.... didn't take long................




All mended... Feels warm and soft... no drafts... back in use...

... looks perfect from this angle... never know I did a thing to them, at all...


......But I forgot how others may feel when they see them... from their direction.... helter-skelter little stitches going this way... and that...
...like a mad man had had his way with my needle...






...But after careful observing by Pirate... they passed the test...


Guess it doesn't bother dogs... seems they just want a warm leg to lean on...



 

A Quote by Georgia O'Keeffe

"I found I could say things with color and shapes...
that I couldn't say any other way...
...things I had no words for".

Georgia O'Keeffe... 1887 - 1986... American Artist, Painter... her family were farmers...
She was married to pioneer Photographer Alfred Stieglitz for 22 years till his death in 1946...




On reading this quote... It empathized the way I have always thought... wishing I could explain or transfer my thoughts and ideas through the tips of my fingers...

Barrie

J.M Barrie... 1860 - 1937 ... Scottish journalist, playwright, novelist and dramatist...

...his father, a handloom weaver... his mother, the daughter of a stonemason...
...Barrie was 9th of 10 children...

..........Exploring the eye.......




...He became world famous with his play "PETER PAN"... 1904..... and the narrative story ... 1911... an exciting adventure and exploration of growing up....... originally called Peter and Wendy... the magical world of Peter Pan had also been presented in Barrie's The Little White Bird... 1902...

....interesting to note... Barrie stopped growing when he reached five feet in height, he suffered migraines and rarely smiled...

........Exploring facial composition..............





...He appealed to both adults and children... adults for the symbolic sub-text... children for the ripping good story...

........Examining an ear........




He was made a Baronet in 1913.... Sir James Matthew Barrie received the order of Merit in 1922... He was elected Lord Rector of St. Andrew's University and in 1930 Chancellor of Edinburgh University..


"When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies." (from Peter Pan)


I worked this in watercolor, india ink, colored inks... with brushes and crow quill dip pen...

approx. 4" x 6" on CP 140 lb WC paper

From Ruth's Still Life

I was inspired to do this little sketch when I saw a delicate photograph of beautiful tulips in a quirky purple vase... with a parrot for a handle... So Cheery...

It was Spring... Color ... and Fun... all wrapped up in one...





I used watercolor... Grumbacher soft pastels and conte... and worked it fairly quickly...

Thank you, Ruth ... for the beauty...


... some of my other Paintings...


this is approx. 3½" x 5" on watercolor paper

A - Hunting We Will Go... Moose Skull

One day John went hunting.... this is what he got... found on the forest floor...

No... the rest of the beast did not come home with him... just this... Slim pickens... at first I thought...


But no... if not our bellies filled... it allowed the feeding of something else within us ... one of the understanding of nature.... that forms every mammal.



This structure of the Moose skull was intriguing to examine... 24" from base to tip of nose... the sheer size alone was something to behold... even with the antlers chewed off... from a passing porcupine or two... showing another step in how this creature fit into the food chain..



Huge worn teeth... that chewed a cud... before he became part of the process...



The teeth are barely held in place now... due to the wearing away of the skull... which allowed the inquiry of how the teeth were held in place .... how large the roots were.... and how far back they went into the skull...

When I shook it ... it click-itty-click jangled like a musical instrument...



Lichens have taken up residence on most of the upper surface...



...A beauty in themselves...


...Feeding on the bone in the never-ending cycle... death feeding life...



I keep it outdoors in the garden... and watch this process continue as the years go by...



Moose... Alces alces... 6' - 9' tall... largest deer in the world... horse size...dk. brown hair... high humped shoulders... huge pendulous muzzle... males have massive palmate antlers, broadly flattened... spread 4'-5'

... cloven hoof prints usually more than 5" long and pointed... poor eyesight, actually moose are color-blind, but have excellent hearing and sense of smell to compensate... very good swimmers,up to 6 mph... and runners, 35 mph... mothers are extremely aggressive and very protective of their calves...

...habitat is spruce forests and swamps... most of Canada, upper regions of United States... when black flies and mosquitoes torment them in summer, they may nearly submerge themselves in lakes...or roll in a wallow to acquire a protective coating...

...Moose are browsers rather than grazers... love waterlilies, aquatic and marsh plants, twigs, buds, aspen, dogwood, cherry, maple , viburnum.... also peeled -off willow and poplar bark and leaves stripped with their bottom lip...

...tend to be solitary animals..


They visit us every now and then...

Best Chili We Ever Made

Our Chili recipe... it is soooo good... Our favourite!... We love it!... here goes:

2 lg. cans kidney beans (rinsed well)
1 lb. ground beef
2 - 4 med. onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
many cloves of garlic, minced
1 green pepper,chopped
2 lg. cans of plum tomatoes
4-5 Tbsp. of chili powder
2 tsp. cocoa powder
2 tsp. ground cumin (the secret ingredient!)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. chili pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

After browning the beef, add the next 4 ingredients and cook for 10-15 minutes... stir in the tomatoes... break up with a fork... add all the spices... cook for about 5 minutes... add the kidney beans... simmer for about an hour...

It smells so good..

My assistant and son, Max... took every opportunity to goof off in the spattered mirror... he doesn't know I got a shot of him acting silly... he thought he made his silly faces faster than I could catch him.... ha ha ... gotcha! .... it was too fun to leave out of the recipe...


Most of the time, he just added ingredients and stirred... all sensible like...



Oh... can't forget the homemade oatmeal raisin brown bread.... something to soak up those hot spices and sink our teeth into... perfect compliment...



Add lots of grated cheese... we usually use 3 different kinds... probably... 'cause we just can't make up our minds... and by this time we are all really hungry... our appetites stimulated by the that wonderful aroma...



....Add a glass of wine and we are all set...


......... Salute!!!!

Hope... The Farmer's Song

....diggin' in the dirt...

...on my knees...
...diggin' in the dirt...
...planting peas...
...diggin' in the dirt...

I planted some snow peas the other day... an heirloom variety... tall sugar..."Mammoth Melting"... they say they will have 3" pods... grow 5 feet tall... take 74 days... spaced the seeds about 1½" apart... I covered them with about an inch of soil when I was done...

With my small hatchet, I cut a couple poles from the brush pile lying in the firepit that were waiting for a rainy day to burn... might as well get some extra life out of those sticks first... the air was chilly... the wind was blowing... my fingers were very cold... but peas like cool weather...

I poked 2 deep holes in the ground... stuck the poles in... spread some netting between them and tied it tightly with some string...... hope it works...... hope the wind doesn't blow them down...

....Hope they grow.....

The Belleisle Bay and a Surprise

The Belleisle Bay... fresh water... inland about 45 minutes... close to where I lived for over 25 years...

...pastoral... rolling farm fields leading down to the water... rising hills on both sides... summer cottages dotting its edges... sailboats... summer lovers... shade trees bordering its edges... sandy beaches... old wharfs no longer used, from an earlier time where the paddleboats and steam driven ships used to stop... there is even a corpse of a paddleboat along one shore..

...a slow moving ferry taking cars from one side to the other, down where it narrows... canoeing... summer... time always seemed to stand still there...





One time when my older children were younger, we were canoeing along its upper reaches, where the water is quite shallow and calm... the bottom sandy in places... gravelly in other spots.... with some places having that gooey silty muck that no one ever liked stepping into...

... beautiful warm evening just before sunset... I looked over my shoulder as we maneuvered past some rushes and the strangest thing I had ever seen jumped out of the water in a big arch about 12' away... then slid back in... and was gone... at least 6' - 7' long... covered with patterns and designs and bony spikes.... I thought I was seeing things... something prehistoric... What was that?... Amazing!

..oh, such a wonderful place to take my young children for a quiet time at the shore... to a place  where sea monsters dwell..!!!!

What was lurking in those waters ?....





I went home... did some research... and discovered it was an "Atlantic Sturgeon"... Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus... one of the oldest families of bony fish in existence... I never knew they came up in the Belleisle and realized I was so lucky to have seen it... They live in the salty ocean and only come up into the rivers and inland bays in the spring when they are fully grown... she must have been finding a spot in the gravelly areas to lay her eggs......possibly 2 million of them... or she could have been feeding in the shallows on worms, crustaceans....

I needn't have worried... they don't eat people... they are benthic feeders which stir up the bottom with their wedge shaped snouts to find food... they don't even have teeth...

This species is threatened due to overfishing, pollution, and poaching in some countries.... This very fish could have put caviar... something I have never tried... on someone's table... They are not all killed to do this... some are milked and put back... I hope she was...

So the next time you venture down to the water look around closely... you never know what you may see...


approx. 5"x 7" brushes, watercolor on 300 lb. CP Arches WP

The Pear and The Apple

"The Pear and the Apple".... A new design for this year..... Individually cut pieces of Sterling Silver and Copper.... measured, shaped, hammered, textured, assembled...


A few pears have been carefully laid out on the soldering board... ready for the next step in the process...

Some tools hanging from the edge of a can... the red gauge of my acetylene "B" tank can be seen in the lower right corner...


My trusty torch beginning its job... This part of the process is the most painstaking, exacting and time-consuming... and nerve wracking...

detail of The Apple

The phrase I often utter, while this is taking place ..."please, don't walk heavy by my table"...
if the pieces get jiggled and move out of place... I have to set them up, all over again... and that has happened many times... and oh, sometimes I accidentally knock the tray myself and the little pieces go flying...

detail of The Pear

....Also the light in the room has to be just right... I have to watch carefully to see when the silver starts to flow... and take the heat away immediately when it seems enough... if I linger too long I melt the whole piece...

...believe me I have melted my share by glancing away for just a moment...

..All the steps of creating a finished piece are not shown here in this entry.. I will post them while working on different designs in the future... they are the messy stages such as the acid bath, the antiquing, drilling, more hammering, and polishing...





The finished... " Pear and Apple"...


Our Logo can be seen on our card above... There is a meaning to it... you will find it on my sidebar.

This design is Limited Production... $25.00 pr .... more Whimsical Designs here

Available... if interested in DESIDERATUM Art Jewelry, please contact me, Thank-You.

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Learning

"Learning is superior to beauty....
Learning is better than hidden treasure....
Learning is a companion on a journey to a strange country....
Learning is strength inexhaustible"

.....from The Hitopadesa, c. 500... a collection of Sanskrit fables... one of the most widely read Sanskrit books in India... containing short stories that have the priceless treasure of morality and knowledge... the stories feature animals and birds as main characters... It has been translated into many languages and spread around the world...

The Hitopadesa... hita and upadesa... mean to counsel or advise with benevolence...

St. Martins ...... Peace

 

 

Photographs taken near my home in St.Martins, on the Bay of Fundy shore between 6:00 pm and 7:30 pm on Saturday, May 3, 2008 when my 3 faithful friends and I, went to see the quiet....