Legend Rock State Petroglyph Site

Many of the petroglyphs at Legend Rock are in the Dinwoody tradition, with humanlike figures having unusual headdresses, and exaggerated body parts.

This unsuspecting cliff is the home for all the amazing rock art I've featured the past couple of weeks.

Cliff Swallows at Legend Rock

Looking up at the rocks, we found ourselves intrigued by the nests of the cliff swallows. Such amazing builders!
And such intriguing communities they have created!

Very fun!

Legend Rock - Animal Petroglyphs

Legend Rock has some of the most varied rock art we have seen (not that we have seen it all, by any means). Rock art is a passion of mine, and I like to see it whenever I can, so I track it down when we travel.

I love the wide range of animal life depicted at Legend Rock. The turtle, above is wonderful.

I think the animal above looks a bit like a moose. Below, I think it looks like a person dragging a bundle behind.

How about this one? I think it looks a bit weasel - like.

Legend Rock Petroglyphs

The rock art here is very low to the ground - within easy reach. Someone has defaced this wonderful elk image with a lot of scratches to the right.

This one is rather faint, but I like the image - which looks like a canine to me.

Joe and I pondered the possible reason for this particular location for all this rock art. One reason may have been this creek, which flows nearby. Perhaps in ancient times, it was much larger. Nevertheless, the cliffs do provide some shelter, and water was flowing even this late in the year (November).

We enjoyed walking along the creek, as well.

Legend Rock - More Petroglyphs

There are over 300 individual petroglyphs at Legend Rock.

The imagery is varied, and experts believe they range in age from 11,000 to 250 years ago.

Some of these will be appearing in my work in the future, I expect.

Legend Rock State Historic Site

Legend Rock Historic Site has been on my wish list for a while. Last time I visited, there was a downpour and the hillside turned into a mudslide and I had to climb down before I was able to view all the rock art.

We've had some nice weather in November, so Joe and I took a day off and drove down to Thermopolis, Wyoming. We stopped at the State Hot Springs, where we soaked in the steaming mineral pool. On our way out, we checked out a gate key for the Legend Rock Historic Site.

The day was partly sunny, but windy.

We arrived late enough in the day for the light to be just perfect for photographing the ancient rock art in this area.

I'll be posting my images over the next several days. Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday Gloria!

I was honored to be invited by my sister and brother in law to create a commemorative T-shirt for the Jorge's mother, who is celebrating her 70th birthday on November 15.

The family is all gathering for a surprise party in Florida.

I dyed 10 cotton Tshirts using a Low Water Immersion technique with turquoise and cobalt MX dyes.

I screen printed the text - using a Thermofax screen created in Photoshop Elements 7, and the photo was added using TransferMagic.com's Inkejet Transfer to Dark product. This heat transfer paper printed beautifully in my Epson printer, then I trimmed around each photo and peeled away the backing paper. It was then applied with my home iron on the cotton setting - just 60 seconds with a parchment paper protection sheet.

Happy Birthday, Gloria!

Elizabeth's Addition

I have not been getting much accomplished in the studio these days. Every chance we get (essentially, whenever Elizabeth is not scheduled to work) - we do something on the addition.
We have made good progress since starting this project in early September.

The walls and roof are in place. We have taken advantage of a week of good weather to attach the plank siding to the north side, where we will build access stairs along the wall, leading down from the deck.

It took three levels of rented scaffolding to reach the uppermost level. Yikes. I did not climb to the top of the scaffolding. My job was cutting each piece using the circular saw and passing it up so they could attach it. I did have to climb the extension ladder to get up to hand it off.

In the far left, you can see Elizabeth coming down from the scaffolding.
I am really glad this high altitude stuff is done for the most part. Of course, they will have to get up there to paint later on, but I do not expect to be involved with the painting. Joe and I are just helping her get it built.

Cat Costume

Airus loves the "cat" costume I made for him and he insists on wear ing it whenever possible!
He happened to see a preview of the musical "Cats" that was attached to one of his videos and he has been fascinated with the character "Macavity" - one of the rather over the top cats in the muscial. This is what he wanted to be for Halloween, so I agreed to create his costume.

I discharged black terrycloth knit to create the patterning. The long hairs are eyelash yarn hand sewn in place and the lightening painted on the front of the costume was done with metallic fabric paint. Airus is 3 years old.

Puerto Penasco - Shrimp Gumbo!

During our week in Puerto Penasco, we ate "in" each evening. We went to the fish market each day to select our shrimp and/or fish for dinner. To keep things interesting, we tried a variety of ways of fixing it.

I did most of the cooking. My choice. I have a lot of food allergies and if I am cooking, I know I can eat it.

The picture above is the Gumbo I made using fresh peppers, tomato, parsley, bay leaf and onions from the market. I made a traditional southern style roux - by browning the flour in oil until dark as a copper penny. Since I don't eat wheat (and neither does sister Shirley), I tried using corn flour. It worked perfectly!

After the base of roux and vegetables had simmered all day, I added the fish and shrimp at the last minute - until cooked through. Then served over rice and garnished with cilantro. The fish in this dish were the ones we caught on our fishing trip! Yum!

Puerto Penasco - Low Tide

Is there anything more fun for a bunch of Montana girls than a beach walk at low tide?
Maybe not.

Because the tide here is so gentle, the seashells are often quite intact, so hunting for them was great!

And how about this picture of my 80 year old mother wading in the warm waters of the Gulf of California? She is not a water person - so pretty cool to see her out there enjoying herself!

I loved the play of the light on the shallow receding water.

Puerto Penasco - Sunrise

The sunrise on the beach in Mexico was just as delightful as the sunset. Since I am usually the earliest riser - I had the pleasure of enjoying the brilliant colors in solitude.

The rooftops added a nice dimension to the view.

And the neighborhood looked lovely in the light of dawn.

Puerto Penasco Sunset

One of the most fabulous features of the location of the condo at Los Conchas is the southern orientation, which allows for enjoyment of both sunsets and sunrises!

This series is from our final evening at the beach in Puerto Penasco.

Red Summer

This past summer, my 22 year old daughter, Michelle was invited to join a all female crew on a fishing boat in Alaska's Bristol Bay. The fishing season is brief - lasting only as long as the Sockeye Salmon are running, but the work is extremely physical and demanding.

Michelle suggested I read the book, but she wanted me to wait until after she was done and safely back in civilization. I ordered the book through Amazon and took it along for the plane ride between Montana and Arizona. It was the perfect book for the trip. I was able to finish it on the return flight!

Red Summer is no literary gem, but it does provide a good overview of the process of net fishing for salmon. It helped me understand exactly what it was Michelle was doing during the 6 weeks that she was out of contact.

Beach Sand - Sea of Cortez

One of the most delightful things at the beach in Mexico is the wonderful patterns in the sand during low tide.
During our visit in October, we had the extra treat of low tide at sunrise and sunset, so the play of light on the sand was exquisite!

By the way, the water was a warm 86 degrees!

Bunting for Breckin

Baby Breckin is 6 months old now and the weather has turned chilly. I have traditionally made a polarfleece bunting for every baby of a friend or family member. I spent several hours in several stores searching for the perfect yardage. This green stripe said Breckin to me.

I can't wait to see him in it!

Livingston Cultural Art Center - Delivery Roadtrip

I was honored to be invited to participate in an upcoming textile art show at the Livingston Center for Art and Culture. This non-profit group has been in existence for about 10 years, with a gallery presence at 119 South Main in Livingston, Montana. The textile show, called "In Stitches" will hang for the month of November.
You can read more about the other featured artists here.

The curator had requested delivery of the artwork today, so I drove 2 hours each way to personally deliver my 5 pieces.

I made the trip alone. I've not had a lot of alone time in recent days, and I hoped to be able to use the time for creative thinking. Instead, I found myself experiencing a rather eerie deja vous melancholy. I lived in the Livingston area for 10 years from 1979 - 1989. Not the happiest years of my life. Those were the early years of my adulthood. An unhappy marriage. All kinds of stress, isolation, destruction by fire (the school where I was teaching as well as the big fires in Yellowstone Park - essentially our backyard), life threatening complications with the birth of my first child, etc. . . . Anyway . . . . .

Livingston is known for having extreme wind and the wind was unbelievable today! I found my car being buffeted by the winds all the way there and back.

I've not been in downtown Livingston for many years. It has not changed much from the time I lived in the area. Many of the same businesses are there. The wind still blows. It is a beautiful area, and I once passionately loved the Paradise Valley. I tend to remember the area fondly for its wonderful scenery. Today, I realized how glad I am that I no longer live there!

I stopped along the Yellowstone River on my way out of town to snap these pictures.

Beach Time

I didn't take any of the pictures in this post.
The photo above was taken by the housekeeping staff who arrived at the condo to clean before we were gone. This was our last moment on the beach at Las Conchas.

All the other pictures in this post were taken by Mom.
Her birthday gift from all six of us was her first digital camera.
She did very well with it. Her pictures are terrific and I think she enjoyed it.

The pelicans on the beach were fun to watch.

A short walk from the condo, the mega sized beach mansions begin to appear. These are amazing structures . . . . most of them empty during the week we were there.

Zapotec Indian Weaver

A favorite stop in Puerto Penasco is the Zapotec Indian Rug Weaver shop. I have a Spanish style stucco house with wrought iron railings, and I am gradually collecting rugs for my floors.
This time, I purchased an 8 x 10 ' rug to go under my dining room table.

Five members of our group purchased rugs from him!
They are beautiful - this tribe creates these rugs directly from their own sheep.
Shearing, carding, dyeing, spinning and weaving.
There are a few tiny bits of plant matter in the yarn - a wonderful keepsake from our trip.

Las Conchas Condo

High tide at Las Conchas beach. This photo was taken from the condo patio.

Here is the view of the condo from the beach. (below)

The patio was a favorite place to hang out.

Coffee on the patio at low tide.