Arrived.

I’m half-lying on a daybed (who thought these were comfortable for sitting? They are only comfortable for lying down…maybe that’s the point)…wondering how hard it would be to bring the nice comfy chair from upstairs down here. Do I want to end up in a cast in the first week of my residency? Not really. Hmmm. Will think that over. Right now, it’s in the mid-90s, I have a fan blowing on me, and I’m processing lunch in my normal afternoon lull of energy. I’m on a computer, but all my photos are on a different set of devices, so I’m going to write and then add pictures, I guess. Or I could go over to the device and add all the photos and come back here and type? I do not have the brain power for this level of decisionmaking at the moment.

It seems the app also has issues. Ah well…back to the smaller device that is more difficult to type on. I’m a few days behind my actual existence. Honestly, I’m not sure what day it is. Friday? I think so. So on Wednesday, we made it to Crater Lake and it was much cooler than the apps claimed it would be. Something about a big body of water and elevation seems to make that happen. We were OK with it…also flabbergasted by the size of the lake/crater/mountain that existed before the volcano blew.

Really that’s what we do…stare at the valley/crater/lake and imagine the size of the volcano that used to exist there.

There were a few hikes available, but we only did one…

Out to a version of pinnacles…we’ve seen a lot of pinnacly things in our time (Bryce, Chiracahua, Pinnacles), and these were definitely different.

Caused by geothermal things (shockingly). Cemented minerals from the inside of fumaroles…mostly hollow. Very bizarre. But cool to see. Hot out though, so the Man refused the hike to the waterfall after. Not a problem…just a reason to come back. I always need a reason to come back.

The next morning, we were up and out early to get the Man on a plane home.

We drove north to Redmond, where the smoke was bad; lots of fires going on north of here. Hope they are improving. We did follow this truck.

Definitely smoky. I worked on this bird. I dropped the Man at the airport, and then ran some errands (gas is cheap here, y’all), picked up one of the other residents, went shopping at a variety of places, and headed south to Playa at Summer Lake, where I will be for the next 17 days, which sounds like forever. So I just saw a group of residents heading off to the local reservoir to go swimming. I’m OK. I’m tired, honestly…water might help? But I think I need some quiet headspace more than I need to swim. There’s plenty of time for all that.

Painting from Bend.

It was hot when we arrived, and a lot of the stuff in my car is from the trip up, but I moved it all in and just piled it up in places.

Mine is the building in the middle. Bedroom upstairs, living area, kitchen, and bathroom downstairs, and the one-story bit to the right is my studio, which is bigger than anything I get to use in my house. I’m debating going and asking them for another table at the moment.

There’s a pond right across the grass from me. It hosts coots and grebes and a muskrat I saw last night (first muskrat ever).

Then way out there is Summer Lake…we’ll walk out there eventually. It’s too hot and windy at the moment.

I woke up around 6 AM and saw this out the upper window.

I breakfasted with a marmot.

Here’s the first, relatively clear version of the studio, with everything unpacked. It’s all moved since then.

I spent time today making print paste and urea water, plus doing my laundry. I’m waiting for the print paste to set up a bit and then I’ll start mixing some dyes. I don’t have a ton of fridge space in my cabin, but I can store things in the Commons, which is the building just to the left in the photo up above. I might need to store the dye concentrates there. It’s too warm here.

There’s the wind picking up earlier.

So yeah. I’m here. Doing different stuff. I have some commercial fabric with me, not a lot. I have two dye paintings that need embroidery. I have a few line-drawing dye paintings from last summer that need color; I brought some Inktense pencils to try, but also might just dye paint them. I have about 10 yards of prepared fabric that can be dye painted. I have paper for a few quilt drawings for upcoming shows. And of course, I have my sketchbooks (only 3?). A lot of the people here have admitted to just needing headspace for a while, and I’m with that crew I think. Prepping dye things is one part of the brain (mix this with that and label it) and actually making something with it is another part. That part is not ready yet, but it will be.