Matted "Off the Haystack Deck"

Off the Haystack Deck

7x10

archivally matted

watercolor

$125

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine, is a special place, almost sacred to me. It is the place where I go to get deeper into everything I am thinking of, and to move ahead in my art. I haven't been recently, but have been there 8 times, each meaningful in a different way. It's a community of 70-80 artists living and working and playing together. It sits in a balsam boreal forest with rocky boulders and many lichens and mosses and magic spots. Most of all, it tumbles down the hill to the sea, with wide steps good for sitting, and if you step off the stairs you find places to work and places to dream, to wonder, and to relax. I am remembering when we all took our blankets one night in August and stayed into the night watching the meteor showers until I left at 3. Some stayed all night. And the art! It is the best fine crafts in the world, and each session they have one paper studio that offers things like printmaking, drawing, bookmaking, and papermaking. That's where I usually land. This small painting is done from the deck right outside my cabin. All this beauty under your nose!