ARITHWYN’S FOREST
A monthly
newsletter
to celebrate
artistic endeavors
Sasha Wolfe
Fine Art & photography
Date: January 2014 Volume: 3
Greetings,
Everyone,
Happy New Year! I
hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. The past year was an emotional
roller coaster ride. The ideas for projects that stream into my brain are never
ending. It’s hard to decide which to pursue and too often there are so many
that I end up doing nothing.
I’m looking forward
to finishing works in progress. I am currently working on three major projects
and that’s not counting the seven drawings in various stages. There are
upcoming shows to get ready for and I need a whole new inventory of cards to
design. It’s all very exciting.
I contemplated
another trip south this winter, but I don’t think that can happen this year. I
need to get the house ready to put on the market. I have to downsize. This
place is too big for one person. There’s over 3,400 square feet of living space
which includes a master bedroom on the first floor, two bedrooms on the second,
and three paneled and carpeted rooms in the basement. There’s a small
greenhouse attached to the house which is such a waste as I am not a gardener. This
is a wonderful property and deserves a family willing and able to maintain the
place.
Let’s raise our
glasses and make 2014 a successful year!
Enjoy and
Thank-YOU!
2013 in Retrospect
The biggest
accomplishment of the year was that trip down south last winter. It’s hard to
believe that I would ever do anything like that, but I did it. It was so
wonderful and I’d love to do it again. I have the travel bug. I want to see
other places, experience different areas.
The ensuing months
were spent in writing about the journey. I put aside most everything while
focused on that huge project which is titled Too Cold for Alligators which is a combination of personal
experience while traveling, short history bits of areas visited, and lots of
photos. I did manage to do one show for the Fourth of July town celebration in
which I sold two drawings. That was very exciting. I expected to have the book
done by now, but in July I was dealt a terrible blow with the death of my
beloved kitty, Freyja. That threw me off my game as I crashed and burned and by
the time I crawled back out of that hole, other projects got in the way.
The traveling and
writing still held me and I began to turn some of my photography expeditions
into a book on day trips. It was good that I did the smaller book as I am
taking a different publishing route than I did with My Life Isn’t Flowers. I am actually learning how to publish an
entire book myself and with what I’ve discovered, I’ll have to go back and
apply those discoveries to Too Cold for
Alligators before sending to a printer.
Some of the rules
used in writing for the newspaper cannot be applied to the book. Plus, the set
up of pages and margins, templates, and learning how to work with photos and
text wrapping has been time consuming. Photos to be used in a book require a
little different editing than if used for prints. It took the smaller book for
that “lesson” to sink in which means I’ll also have to go back and re-edit all
the photos in Too Cold for Alligators.
I still have a lot ahead of me.
In mid-December,
another project jumped to the fore with the demolition of an old building in
town. It started out as a newspaper article with before and after photos, but I
also decided to do an entire photo exhibition which will be on display at the
Brown Memorial Library sometime this year.
I still have a lot
of work ahead of me to finish these projects. New ideas and plans are already
coming forth for this coming year. It’s very exciting!
News:
The
InterTown Record, the newspaper where
I am assistant editor and freelance writer/photographer is making exciting
changes. The Facebook page is strong and I often post area photos to that site.
We have a new website. We will also be starting an Arts and Entertainment
section of which I was asked to be editor. I am very happy.
Book Excerpt from Too Cold
for Alligators, Day 5:
The
road eventually widens with a big area between north and south bound lanes.
Crossing the Tar River is a trip! This is an Oh-My-Gosh bridge; high above
swamp and river where the Tar River becomes the Pamlico. I see my first
moss-laden trees. They look like huge gray ghosts creeping out of the swamps.
Are these cypresses? The moss on some trees looks like furry gray creatures
hanging from limbs and wrapped around trunks. The highway climbs. The entire
bridge is cement with K-rail sides and it goes up and up. Aaargh, to be able to
get photos! The river is sleepy and I want to look and look. There’s not even a
break-down lane, not that I’d dare stop on a bridge in this traffic. But I oh,
so want to! My mind is babbling.
I’m excited with my first sights of the
moss-covered trees. Soon I approach another bridge. This one crosses the Neuse
River into New Bern. I don’t even know how to describe it and if I wanted a
picture of that other bridge, this one is the most impressive I’ve ever seen.
The cement roadway makes the tires give off a funny whistle and it’s like
driving up a hill. Two lanes between cement walls going up and up make me feel
a little claustrophobic and above there is nothing but sky. This would be tough
for anyone afraid of heights.
And
the VIEW! If I thought that other bridge was Oh, My God, this one is OHHH-MY-GODDD!
It’s scary high especially with traffic moving at 60 mph. This bridge
immediately turns into another bridge crossing the Trent River from which there
is an off ramp which is also a bridge and clover leafs. How anything like this
could be built is totally amazing. I have GOT to come home this way. Maybe I’ll
figure out where to get off to get photos.
Then
to top it off, the bridge continues on through swampland with more of those
moss-covered trees. These tall, colorless giants, naked except for the furry
moss hanging in long clumps, trees that seem to come out of the wetlands like
zombies creeping up to grab travelers have me squealing inside with excitement.
The bridge eventually gives way to “normal” dry land, but my mind continues to
run wild.
Current art work exhibits:
I have five
photographs on display in Goffstown, two pictures at the Brown Memorial Library
in Bradford, two drawings and two photographs at Sunapee Lake Massage, two
drawings at Z Pharmacy in Newport and photo notecards at Newfound Grocer in
Bridgewater.
Two photographs will
be on display at the 15th Annual Member Exhibit of the New Hampshire
Society of Photographic Artists at the Exeter Town Hall Gallery, January 11
through February 2. I will be at the opening reception on January 11, noon - 4 p.m.
Stop by to say hello.
Upcoming show:
Jaffrey Civic Center, February 21 - March 22.
More photos and
other writings have been posted to my online sites. Visit:
On Facebook at
Sasha Wolfe Fine Art & Photography
