Pinecone Dress in Progress

Let the obsessive compulsion begin! I have scrubbed hundreds of pinecones and begun the labor-intensive process of attaching them all to the wire dress form I have constructed...

My Father's Memory

October 25th was the one year anniversary of my father's passing. I can hardly believe it has been a whole year, with so many changes filling the time in between. To honor him on this day, I scattered some of his ashes at a favorite cove beach here in Maine. I have been doing these scatterings in various parts of the country, with the idea that his spirit will journey to all those places he wanted to travel to, if he had the chance.

MacNamara Foundation, Westport Island, MAINE

During October/November 2006, I am staying at the MacNamara Foundation Arts Residency on Westport Island off the coast of Maine. The seven artists here are housed in a beautifully renovated barn from the 1860's, where we are served gourmet food 3 times a day! I feel very spoiled, although it has been a bit of an adjustment getting up at 7:30 every morning for breatkfast! Here is a shot of me, Jen and Ian enjoying a typical East Coast lobster dinner...

Cinderella of the Woods!

Maine is called the "Pine State". and the first settlers here were impressed with the gigantic white pines, which they called "King's Pine". There are still pine trees all over the state, as well as along the coast and on the island where I am staying. So, after deciding on pinecones as the material for the dress project in Maine, I discovered that pinecones are only produced by the white pine trees every OTHER year, which, unfortunately for me, was last year. There are still cones to be found on the forest floor, if I am choosy and inspect them for rot and insects. Better still are last year's cones still clinging to the tops of the trees. We just had a big windstorm here that blew many down, so I was able to collect them. Then the scrubbing begins! I feel like a character from a fairy tale as I sit outside for hours scrubbing pinecones....