TOUCHSTONE

It was time to return to the ocean.  
North Head Lighthouse, Cape Disappointment, Ilwaco, Washington.


Time to return to the sea.  
Willapa Bay, Bay Center, Washington.

It had been too long that we were standing on the shore during the summer.

We had the winter covered, but that was a world away, seasons away.

We sought out a touchstone. A place to remember what we had lost.

LET THERE BE LIGHT (BOX)

"Let there be light!"
—God, Genesis 1:3

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For the past few years, I've been using The Wife's "Mickey Mouse Club Light Up Drawing Desk," which dates from her childhood. It is old. And small (8½" x 11"). And yellowed. And is still using the original incandescent bulb. (Center of photo.)

It also doesn't do exactly what I want it to do, although I made it work for what I needed.

Today, Troy's Work Table Publishing bought a Artograph LightTracer®2. It is new. And larger (12" x 18"). And crisp, clean white. And LED. ("Frame" of photo.)

And easily 10 times brighter.

There are light pads that are brighter, but also a lot more expensive. This new light box was a good deal when considering functionality and price.

I'm ready to get to work!

SELF-WASHED BRAINS

"Because more and more in the modern Internet era you came across isolated instances of a mind virus or worm: brains that self-washed, bathed in received ideologies that came down from on high, ideologies that could remain dormant of hidden for years, silent as death until they struck. Almost anything could happen now, and did. The government could not investigate every farmer's purchase of fertilizer and fireworks—could not self-police every deviant brain within its own ranks."

—pages 234-235, Authority (Southern Reach trilogy hardcover edition) by Jeff VanderMeer

SUMMER BEER

It's been a long time since I've picked up a bunch of beer for tasting and taking notes. Part of that is due to the closure of my favorite beer store. Part of that is due to so many changes in the beer industry. Part of that is due to a stomach ulcer that meant a great diminishment in the frequency of imbibing beer. It appears that beer may be a young person's game.

So I hunkered down a bit and fell back on some of my core favorite beers for some time. Deschutes Red Chair Northwest Pale Ale. Iron Horse Double Rainbow Red IPA. Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale. Rogue Dead Guy Ale. And they lasted because I wasn't having them all that often.

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But now, feeling a bit better and looking out at a craft brewing "landscape" that is being transformed by new hop varieties, I figured it was time to explore a bit. This round is going to be focused on some IPAs, a couple of gose ales, and stuff that is flavored by fruit. Notes will be forthcoming as beers are sampled.

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Georgetown Lucille IPA

Aslan Batch 15 IPA

Deschutes Passion Fruit IPA

Puyallup River Brewing Hazey's Comet IPA

Anderson Valley Briney Melon Gose

Anderson Valley Framboise Rose Gose

Dogfish Head Sea Quench Ale Session Sour

CROCOSMIA

Crocosmia, home flower bed.

TIPSOO LAKE

Tipsoo Lake, Chinook Pass, Mount Rainier National Park.

RILKEAN HOARE

Detail of "Eider Duck," plate 246 of Birds of America, published 1827–1838, by John James Audubon.

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"Perhaps it is those eyes. Yes, it's those eyes. It always is. They take in the whole of the world, even as they ignore it."

—page 39, RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR by Philip Hoare

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"Animals see the open with their whole eyes."

"Or maybe an animal, incapable of speech, lifts its head / and quietly sees right through us."

—from "The Eighth Elegy" by Rainer Maria Rilke, as translated by Gary Miranda

AMOS

I'm working on multiple reading projects right now. I'm still in the midst of my yearlong "Homer" project and reading a wonderful book on Homeric Moments. I'm preparing for "Read a Classic Book Club" for my local library's adult summer reading program and researching both Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart. I'm reading a couple of books of poetry and prose for my own summer reading pleasure. And, finally, tonight, I was visiting a university library to learn a bit more about the prophet Amos for a work-related Bible study on Interrupting Silence.

I'm loving every minute of all of this time between the pages of books.

RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR

Time, tides, tempest. Sea, wind, storm. Shakespeare, Melville, Conrad, Eliot, Auden. Headless avocet, body-less deer.

RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR by Philip Hoare is poetic prose of the highest order. I've made it through the first chapter, THERISINGSEA, but at a glacial pace because the sentences are meant to be savored and I'm doing just that.

COSMIC OCTOPUS

"The Cosmic Octopus" by Troy's Work Table.

Watercolor ink, India ink, gouache,and pigment-based iridescent calligraphy ink on 12” x 16” watercolor paper.

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This is the "Cosmic Octopus," the source which gives birth to all of the other Inktopodes. This is the "Big Bang" version of her. This is #0 of The Grand Armada.

(This is the largest piece I've done to date, and it's creation included a few new techniques.)

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"Cosmic Octopus (Big Bang)" was a gift for my dad on Father's Day. It includes a few references to my mother, since I use to joke with her that she was an avatar of the Cosmic Octopus and that her Parkinson's disease was actually this divine being trying to figure out how to use her body. (My mother informed that this was *not* funny.)

My mother's dates of birth and death are worked in to the Cosmic Octopus's chromataphore camouflage. Likewise, the constellations (gold) in the silver star field refer to the night sky in the months of my mother's birth and death.

Her coloring is Fauvist in background, with the nebulae that flow from her providing the richness and saturation of pinks, magentas, purples, blue, and a bit of yellow and green that appear as her skin.

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The model for this painting is a giant North Pacific octopus named Melanie. I had the privilege of visiting Melanie for a number of hours over a few visits to the Highline MaST Center and Aquarium. Every time I visited, Melanie came out of hiding and interacted with me from the other side of her aquarium glass.