I had a piece of lino laying around so I made this quick print. I called it “Epic Journey” because my friend Joel Craig let me peruse his photos to get ideas for a sailboat print. Joel is a crew member of the sailboat “Epic” and participates in several races around the Great Lakes. The lighthouse is a rough representation of the Round Island Lighthouse near Mackinaw Island. This is hanging with the others to dry. I’ll hand paint a few of these next week.
I reprinted this block because I didnt like the previous two-block experiment. I plan to hand paint this with watercolor in a week or so. I only printed 9 so this edition will be very small.
On the drying rack to be painted next week.
Photo journal of the last two days….hiking, kayaking, birding.
Sorry for the lack of art on this art blog! I’ve been busting my buns on a few projects in the yard. Today I completed my first cold frame for growing cold crops through the winter. I also plan to start some Pinus nigra from seed. I’ve been harvesting seeds since September as the cones ripened. If all goes as planned I hope to plant at least a half-dozen new trees in my yard next year. My goal is to attempt to grow a new species every year. Succeed or fail it should be fun. And, it’s all connected to my art in one way or another. First of all I am a woodblock printmaker. If I plan to use wood I should commit to making it sustainable. Secondly, I intend to switch to all natural dyes and inks in the next few years. This is going to require some serious work. With the help of friends I intend to grow the plants that are used to make the natural pigments. I’ll put off making my own paper for now….but it’s on my long-range master plan. So there is a method to my madness in case you were wondering.
Paul H. Young was a cane rod builder and fly-fishing pioneer from Detroit, MI. Trout Unlimited named the Detroit chapter after him. The Paul H. Young Chapter of Trout Unlimited is dedicated to helping sustain the fragile ecological balance which trout depend on. I was honored to have been given the opportunity to stay at his lodge last weekend, which is now called “Trafeh Lodge”.
Anyone who has ever been to the Au Sable knows its beauty. It truly is a fly-fisher’s paradise and deserves the name, “the holy water”. Paul and his wife Martha built the log cabin on the mainstream sometime in the early 1900’s. The soft light of the interior glows with knotty pine. The stone fireplace and living room was my favorite hangout. The sound of crackling wood fills the room. The smell of burning firewood and fine cigars drift through the air. The kitchen is spacious. The men all came together at the enormous dining room table for breakfast and dinner. “Doc”, the cook, served prime rib that rivaled any 5 star restaurant. The coffee was always hot. The wine was homemade and the perfect solution to warm the bones after a long wade down the river. The showers were hot. The beds were warm. The conversation was good.
Outside the lodge was just like any place in the northern Michigan woods, full of Pine, Birch, Aspen, Wild Cherry, Oak and Cedar. Who can argue that the finest music ever made comes from a cold trout stream? The bird feeder behind the cabin was the largest I’ve ever seen. Even the birds are treated to a feast at every meal. Chickadees, Nuthatches, bluejay and Juncos added to natures symphony.
It’s cast and blast season on the Au Sable. Fly fish in the morning; bird hunt in the afternoon. But, I left my gun at home. Instead I cast streamers all day under a clear blue sky….which is not good streamer fishing weather. I didn’t complain. Who would? I also went fly fishing after dark under the moonlight. It was my very first attempt at wading the Au Sable at night. It was cold. I could see my breath…but not much else….only the shadows of trees in the night sky. It was a sensory experience like none other, casting blindfolded, feeling my way down river. The trout would not come out and play that night. I didn’t care. A hot fireplace and glass of wine was waiting for me at the cabin. The next day I floated down the South Branch in a 21′ Au Sable River drift boat. It was tricky to maneuver it through downed sweepers. The fishing was just as slow as the day before. But, I finally got to see the famous George Mason Chapel.
What a beautiful sight to behold. It is without a doubt the most beautiful Chapel I have ever seen. It is modest, simple, and sturdy and sufficiently provides a perfect perspective on God’s creation. It’s all I need. Give me the woods, Faith and George Mason‘s Chapel and I’m spiritually fulfilled.
A sincere thanks goes out to my fly fishing friend Sherm for taking me on this trip. This winter I plan to create a woodcut for the lodge and Sherm. It’s the least I can do.
I was riding my bike down the Kiwanis Rail Trail on my day off and noticed a few things. The first thing I noticed was the beauty of Fall in Michigan. Then, as I rode along the trail I came across a few people, a jogger, then a walker, and another biker. All of them were wired for sound. Music is motivating. I wont argue with that. But, I personally enjoy disconnecting from technology temporarily and connecting with nature. Perhaps it’s my infantile desire to pretend to be Max, king of the Wild Things! Or maybe I’m just starting to learn that a good life doesn’t have anything to do with gadgets or technology? Maybe I’m just starting to learn what freedom really is? Henry David Thoreau said we all live lives of quiet desperation. We live in debt. Our homes are anchors. Our cars are expensive and costly to maintain and operate. But, in the woods or on the trail I am free. I wish there were more rail trails like the Kiwanis Trail. I consider the few alternatives to automotive transportation. I wonder how I can ride my bike from my house to Heritage Park without getting run over by careless or impatient drivers. I wonder how I can ride from my house to Hidden Lake Gardens without riding on the freeway? Edward Abbey, author of Desert Solitaire, pointed out that our Parks are for everyone, but where does it say that they are for everyone in cars? Who decided that Americans should not have an alternative to the automobile? When did Americans become so afraid of the unknown? When did we lose our spirit of adventure? Who put corporate American in charge of my life? My message to them is that I chose freedom. I chose to turn 180 degrees and keep moving forward. I choose to disconnect. When I do my eyes and ears are filled with joy. I see the golden leaves of the Sugar Maple, an acorn, a hickory nut, a stream, a mushroom on a tree. I hear the faint whispers of the Cedar Waxwing, the chip of a chipmunk, leaves under my feet, the wind in the trees, a rare Field Sparrow. I notice Crows chasing a Coopers Hawk and a Turkey Vulture circling ominously above. And, all my stress and worries fall from my soul like leaves from a tree as Muir said they would.
Today I will be near or in the Ives Road Fen (where these Silver Spotted Skippers were hanging out) searching for insects in the River Raisin watershed. Why? Here’s an excerpt from the River Raisin Watershed Council….
The River Raisin Watershed Council’s Adopt-A-Stream program consists of three events; Training Day, Stream Search and Bug I.D. Day. Volunteers from all across the watershed work in teams to collect macroinvetebrates from twenty sites to determine the water quality of each site. Macroinvertebrates are one of the best indicators of water quality as there are a variety of types of macroinvertebrates that are tolerant, somewhat tolerant, sensitive and high sensitive to pollutants.
Two collectors wade into a stream and work with a special net to collect the insects. Sorters are stationed along the bank and sift through the nets to extract the macroinvertebates and place them in jars for further analysis on Bug ID Day. The Stream Captain directs the volunteers and ensures all tasks have been completed.
On Bug ID Day, experts work alongside volunteers to identify the macroinvetebrates to the family level. Results are quantified and statistically analyzed to produce a report that ranks each site as poor, fair, good or excellent. The report is forwarded to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
On December 19, 2009 Rusty Gates passed away. He owned and operated Gates AuSable Lodge near Grayling, Michigan. I liked Rusty. So did a lot of other people. He liked bird dogs. He loved to fly fish. He drove an old truck. I didn’t know him personally. He helped me select flies in his shop just like he helped thousands of others. But, I loved his writing. I loved his stream reports. They were about fishing, but they were also about caretaking. Rusty was one of the founders of the Anglers of the AuSable organization. Their newsletter is called “The Riverkeeper”. The Riverkeeper symbol is a Kingfisher. Today I’m adopting “The Heron” as the unofficial symbol for my observations. Why not? Rusty may be gone but his spirit lives within us.
I took some friends down the Huron River in my drift boat yesterday. In my opinion, the fishing is a whole lot sweeter when you take a day off work to do it. Also, kids are in school and there are less people on the river. There’s a lot of preparation that goes into a drift boat trip. I started scouting the river a few weeks ago. I read maps; I talked to outfitters and friends. There’s also a lot boat preparation. I won’t go into all the details for that. The to do list was long. By the time the day comes for the actual trip there’s a huge sense of relief.
The weather was cool and cloudy at 8:00 am when my friends showed up at my house. Fishermen always want to get on the water early even when the fishing report says fishing is better later in the day. But, since we had never been on this stretch of river it was a wise decision to get an early start.
We put the boat in around 10 am in the city of Flatrock. The fishing report said the Smallmouth Bass feed on larger baitfish in this section since it runs unobstructed all the way to Lake Erie. We all purchased a few big flies from Colton Bay Outfitters for the trip. The water was silty and the high water marks indicated a big fluctuation in water levels. But there were still a lot of Cardinal Flower lining the banks. It took the sun a few hours to come out. When it did come out the fishing turned on. We fished all the likely holding areas and many of them produced not one fish but three or four. At one point the fishing was so good we had one Smallmouth Bass jump into the boat….SERIOUSLY! That’s a true fishing story that I’ll never forget.
My goal for the day was to get my drift boat out. I was happy to see my friends catching fish. I put the anchor down to make a few casts to catch a few myself. But, mostly I rowed and observed the surroundings. I saw a lot of Great Blue Heron, Hawks, White Egrets, Kingfishers, Blue jays, one Green Heron and one Bald Eagle. It was wooded mostly along this stretch of river. My friend spotted a Redbud among the Silver Maples and Sycamores. Erosion is everywhere. Bank stability efforts were everywhere. If you ever wonder what happens to demolished concrete blocks, bricks and old sewer pipe look to a river’s edge that runs through an industrialized area and that’s where you’ll find it. I started to daydream about Conrad’s “The Heart of Darkness”. We were not going up the Congo. We were going down the Huron. But there was a sense that we were heading through the darkness as we traveled into the heart of industry. I wondered if I should report to you Kurtz’s last words, “The horror, the horror” or should I only mention the good fishing? I decided to give you both. I am not selling guided fly fishing trips. I am not selling an outdoor magazine. I’m not selling anything. I’m just a Heron and these are my observations. Among the many Smallmouth Bass caught yesterday were just as many lawn chairs, old tires, beer cans and miscellaneous plastic junk in the river. I don’t believe people don’t care about the river. I think they do. But I learned a long time ago that caring doesn’t fix things. Action does. I guess the next time I fish the lower Huron I’ll need to bring a garbage bag. I think that’s what Rusty would do.
We finished the day at the Oakwoods Metropark with some grilled salmon, cheese, potato salad and cold drinks in an old Oak savanna. The metro parks are the souls antidote to the poison of industry in my opinion. We need more of them. I remarked how great it would be to live on the border of a metropark. We made a toast to a great day of fishing, watched the sun go down and headed home.
On August 28th, 2010 I participated in the Plein Air Paint Out in downtown Adrian, MI. I chose to cut a linoleum block in Berry Park which is right next door to the Historical Museum. It’s one of my favorite parks in Adrian. Many folks dont even know it exists since it’s tucked away in a little corner of Adrian. I found it a few years ago looking for a geocache. I dont know if the cache is still there? I didnt look for it when I cut this block. I just sat and carved among the conifer trees. In my mind this is what a park should be. Landscape designer, Jens Jensen would approve. Jens believed that parks were for the visual arts, music, literature and drama as much as they were for sports. Creativity and imagination start there. The problem solvers of tomorrow are born in places like this. I want to say thanks to the person who designed this park. The Secret Garden is small, but it’s perfect!
The Secret Garden, will be on display in the Historical Museum from September 18 – October. The Lenawee Historical Museum is located at 107 E Church Street in downtown Adrian, MI.
The Heron 