october richness

i've been
watching carefully the i am ai, we are ai project led by 
rowland ricketts
and the natural colours exhibition
that i wish i could attend
and then there's all the energy
at the morgan this week
and i go back to this...
remembering what asao taught
in syracuse
and i smile.
it's good to have limitations, yes?
i do however, have the newest mary oliver
a thousand mornings to 
savor.
i will take words and wendy  
and enjoy my everyday
everydays.
(milkweed and silk) 

working with a master

in 1997 i attended a wonderful workshop
we worked with pina
so 
when aimee lee told me asao 
was coming to the u.s.
and I found that he would be teaching in syracuse
i asked holly greenberg about it 
and received a gracious invitation to
sit in on the class.
so i drove down yesterday
 asao creates magic: a table full of color
(pigments, dyes)
 placed  by asao shimura
master papermaker
 who is on his kon'nyaku tour
 so we ogled the dyes and pigments he prepared
and used them
asao wearing pina shifu
up close
asao clothed in shifu with dyed paper yarns
bengara (for jean)
holly and a sutra by asao
printing 
kon'nyaku thickened pigments and dyes
holly's papermaking students got to play
with the "paste"
genevieve nordmark
a lover of hand papermaking
and a friend 
who may find her way to my mill sometime soon
some of her lovely paper
working into her paper with kon'nyaku and pigment
coating sheets with kon'nyaku
the lime cook
a short immersion
rinse and dry
printing blocks
and a final note:
pina spun paper, colors to dye for.
i almost jumped over the table for these treasures.
it was a good day.
making marks, making friends.