Last Paintings in Studio This Season??

The Advent of the Flowery Mage

The Moon Goddess Enters the Fray (Flowery Wars)

The Moon Goddess Prepares to Bathe

Well a few more sunny autumn days . . . a few more paintings in work . . .meanwhile, I am getting my indoor studio ready for foul weather . . .

Cosmos After the Super Eclipse

At my studio door: Cosmos still blooming . . .

Saturday in Fremont

We install a bike wall at Spencer's. 125 year old fir siding from an old building in Conway!

In the Garden

Charles has been an avid, indefatigable art gardener all summer, working every night and every weekend on his painting.  He has nearly completed 12 large, wonderful canvases collectively entitled 'God is in the Garden.'  Together with his Bee paintings from last year, it's all part of his retirement plan.

Holidays Coming!

This isn't something you see everyday!
 Lori has been getting into the Halloween / Thanksgiving mood.
Place your orders!!

Happy Autumnal Equinox !!!!

Well, in an hour or so . . .

 anyway . . .

It's beautiful now . . .

And remember . . .  just for reference . . .

The spring equinox will be March 19, 2016, at 9:31 p.m. PDT.

Studio Tour / Lake Ann

The Methow Valley . . . just to remind you of what it looks like . . .

The trail to Lake Ann

Alpine Pond

John at Lake Ann

Forest fire burn at Newhalem

Saturday and Sunday we went on an artist's studio tour over the mountains in the Methow Valley.  We saw maybe a dozen studios and I picked up some tips, (including a design for a simplified metal easel based on one stolen from the University of Washington years ago by a local painter.)  All the painter's had their own processes and themes, but for me seeing the different studios was the biggest attraction.  I couldn't help but notice that -- unlike mine -- they universally had heat and water . . .

On the drive home Sunday, Julia and I decided to do a short 3.4 mile hike in the North Cascades mountains into Lake Ann.  Lake Ann is a lovely little alpine lake lying in a mountain cirque at an elevation of about 5500 ft. (1676 m.).  We hit the season just right.  The weather was sunny and all the autumn colors were out in force. 

This beauty was offset by the scenery around Newhalem where the forest fire this summer came right to the highway through town . . .

Kyra Sends: Mary Oliver poem

-------- Original message --------
From kyra hurd <kyrahurd@gmail.com>
Date: 09/19/2015 08:43 (GMT-08:00)
To John Hurd <jhurd@qsoup.net>,Julia Hurd <julia@qsoup.net>
Subject Mary Oliver poem


I was thinking of this poem yesterday. 

I Ask Percy How I Should Live My Life
Mary Oliver

Love, love, love, says Percy.
And hurry as fast as you can
along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust.

Then, go to sleep.
Give up your body heat, your beating heart.
Then, trust.

Melancholy no doubt. Hope this isn't too morbid. But I just love it.

Love,  love, love,

Kyra

Bowman Bay / Rosario Head

On the way from Bowman Bay; Rosario Head in the distance.

Madrona trees.  Just 'cuz.

Me with the Maiden of Deception Pass

Took a walk at Bowman Bay near Deception Pass on Wednesday with Julia and Olivia.  We walked out to Rosario Head.  All these years living here -- and visiting Deception Pass and the beaches there --  and we had never been to this lovely place.  A beautiful little campsite there too.  And the Maiden of Deception Pass, a Native American supernatural love story.

The Advent of the Flowery Mage

Here's a little 12x12 sketch I did.  Now I'm trying out a slightly larger version as a part of my intended series on "The Flowery Wars."  Only two paintings in the series so far, and this sketch.  The idea of the series came from Meso-American history that I became aware of last year in Puebla, Mexico, viz.  The Flowery War.  We will see if the intent of this series can survive a Northwest Winter.

Charles Writes: Another Beatles story

I AM THE WALRUS TWO 

And I know I said before that I am the Walrus was over my head and I would like to take the time now to retract that statement because lately I've taken to listening to that song by the Beatles over and over again and And I find that no the song was not over my head but rather the song went through my head and what I mean by that is that I'm pretty sure that I am the Walrus is more than a song and rather I have begun to understand that this song is a multi-media assault meant to open all of our minds up to an understanding of the collective unconscious right there in front of us and right there in front of the Beatles ever seeking minds there and especially in the right now mind of John Lennon there in 1968 and this song seductively brain washed my mind and scrambled my mind and it made me willing to accept almost anything in this life as true and I was drawn  right in from the beginning of the song with the weird opening music that is in some strange key and then the collective unconscious business starts in the first verse and I am me and you are me and we are all together and then I'm right there with the egg man and I get they are the egg men and I know that  I am the Walrus as well and woo kooch a khoo and I'm crying too and really just go ahead and stick it up your gumpa and the four minutes of this song actually mesmerized me as a kid and I listened so quietly to this song and this song really added a lot of data to my collective unconscious and I think I really was brain washed by the song so I could understand the fact that life is not what you always think it is and I was relieved to know that penguins could sing Hare Krishna and then turnaround and kick Edgar Allen Poe.

And I can safely say that my surreal studies of the strange life around me, where ever I go, had begun right there in my childhood bedroom on Dewberry street listening to the Magical Mystery Tour on my sister's old portable stereo and now almost 50 years later I am playing this song over and over again on my I Pad in Ann Arbor and I am reliving the data input and the subsequent brain washing of my mind again and it feels good and the song sounds even better than I remember it and I'm going to go out side now and look at the stars out in the dark of the night while I'm sitting on a cornflake, out there, in my back yard. 

-- Charles

First Soccer Game

First game ever, Eason in center

Charlotte and Papa Gary Watch Intently

Half time coaching with Coach Thomas

Good sportsmanship through the end of the game

Labor Day Cajun Fest!

Dustin (L) got to go out on the boat down the river to the bay
to pull the crab pots

Checking out progress in cooking

What's in the pot

All cooked and pouring out on the table to eat

Eason is thinking about it all

My plate (got some bbq ribs too)

Charlotte finds time for the horses . . .

 . . . and the dirt

Disbelieving . . .

The family (well, part of it anyway) gathered at Lori and John's on Labor Day for a Cajun Boil featuring crabs they had just pulled from the water an hour before.  Dustin was a welcome addition.

FW: From marius

From: Peter Hibbard
Sent: Sunday, September 6, 2015 2:13 AM
To: Julia Hurd
Subject: From marius

Made it ! I managed to get here on my own. The Gusics are nice folks and are very accommodating. My biggest problem is paying the rent. I fear I am going to have to straitarm Slavko to accept any money at all. I have attempted to pay him twice now and he keeps putting me off. He finally agreed to accept 1/2 of the rent but wouldn't tell when!

Everything is better then I thought it would be. Even the weather is cooperating (the heat spell is over). Sorry you won't be here.

I hope everything is good at your end.  - M

August Paintings

The Origins of the Flowery Wars (aka How Death Entered the World)_36x48

I Remember the Fall of Gods_36x48

A couple of paintings from August.

Auugust Visit to Charles "Studio East"

Charles's youngest son, Ben, now a farmer in North Carolina, and his granddaughter Eva visit "Studio East" in Ann Arbor Michigan.

Here's a link to Ben's Dawnbreaker farms page.