The Last Weekend of the Barn Sale

Well, The Barn Sale is happening! A slow beginning but ended up really doing well. When I asked Jay at the store who could help me get some stuff hauled off he said he knew just the person and would see him soon. An hour or so later 2 guys came by and took away the scrap iron and then hauled some trash as well. Of course, I gave one of them the treadle sewing machine. So all were happy.

People were here very early , one when I came back from setting up a sign at 8am. I just kept setting up things and taking off the tarps.

The neighbors were aslo having a yard sale so it got lively with cars stopping and trucks manovering in and out of driveways. But was good to have more stuff gone. One more day and I will make a call to see who can come and get the rest of the "stuff" and also see what they will pay to do this!

I am anxious to get back to painting as I have been consumed with the logistics of work and getting everything tagged for the big clean. I already feel lighter and an artist stopped by at work to see if I would give her a refresher in encaustics so there is a sea change in the air which is a very positive outcome of clearing out the clutter.

And another positive note. I could not get the licence plates onto my car. I did not have the right tool and a neighbor on the island said she thought she did and would come back and help me get legal. She brought back socket wrenches but then the bolts were metric, go figure, so I went to look for anything I thought would work and used the tools I open my oil paints with. She was patient and we got the job done. That's one of the perks of living in a small community. You never know who can help you but there is always someone.

Be well and travel lightly on this wonderful earth of ours. She is in need of extreme care, Diane

Chasing time

With the 4th of July, summer has officially arrived to the island. I heralded this with a big barn sale! I am on a tear to have more room to make larger art, to stretch bigger canvasses and just cut down on so much work being done in my one room school house. I want the barn clear and will continue the barn sale for one more weekend and then call the "u-call we haul guys" and it will all magically disapear. At the same time I am rearranging the insides of the one large room. This now houses the encaustic area, the sitting and reading area, the office and the dining room and the sewing room with all the fabric! The fabric and most of the canvasses will be hauled up into the front room, no longer even pretending to be a guest room. This room is for storage. I will carve out a spot to sew in until the winter snows make the room way too cold. That said, and its all only on paper but that is the first step. My dream for many years is to have bare and spare and I do envision this happening now. I have emptied many boxes and put most everything in the barn sale. I will find more I can live without. When I moved to this island 30 years ago, I came from 8 rooms , 2 sheds and a barn and moved into a farmhouse with little storage so we built a barn. Downstairs was for the sheep and hay storage one side of the loft. The other side was for my stuff. So it has been years since I had my stuff out of boxes and now its time to unload this wealth of "stuff" and live the simple life I have yearned toward for a long while. The kids are long gone into their varied lives, no longer want mom's junk or if they d, they need to come and get it soon as that too will be history. My daughter and I still move around beds and bureaus and other things but I do feel we are at an apex now where there is nothing more to move back and forth. Plus with the price of gas its not so easy to say do you want the other spool bed and if so I'll bring it down on my next trip. In fact the bed went with my brother to my daughter's house. So change is in the air, thoughts of winter curtains lined with several layers of insulated warmth are what I am thinking about as we move through this fast paced summer.

In the art corner I have been to the Encaustic conference where I had the delighful honor of having 3 pieces chosen for "On the Edge" at Gallery 301 at Montserrat Colleg of Art in Beverly, MA. I heard lots of wonderful ideas, met many new artists and shared the ride down and back with my friend Kimberly Curry whose diptych made the distiction of being juried into the Conrad Wild Gallery in Tuscon, Congratulation Kimberly.

Once home I have been madly experimenting with many of the techniques I saw demonstrated while at the conference. Adding words into the encaustic ala Mary Hart, trying out new monoprint techniques from Paul Roland's demos and thinking more about textiles from Daniella Woolf's slide show. I have begun also to use some of my new colors but need more time to add to my series of Enzo or the large circles from Zen thinking of infinity that I had begun in my entry to the On the Egde exhibition. One of the images, Memory II is at the beginning of this post.

Now its time to go plug in the wax and see what I will come up with for today. I have been on a mission to be in the studio either making or cleaning and creating more space every day or every other day.

Be well, be creative, Diane

Winter just does not stop!

Hello from a wintry island where it snows one minute, sleets the next and then rains all of 2 hrs then changes to snow again and stays at the snow for a day and a half. Had trouble yesterday loading the images onto the blog so here i am trying again. I wanted to show you the Sahiko stitching in encaustic. Hots wax stitches.... lets see what happens this time. Ok Here thye are but they still are up aboove the text when I want them to be beside the text But you get the idea the blue on the sides is tape to protect the edges. I want to have a wall of the stitches in wax as though it were a futon cover that was patched many times.

I have also been painting today another white painting not quite finshed though. Will now get back to it. And am working on the binding of a quilt and the small 12 " sample for my rug hooking class so even though deep winter here I am finding lots to keep me busy on days I don't go out to work in the fabric store. Live well, Diane

New Images From January 2008

New Years Greetings from the Island, Here the land has turned white and stayed white inspiring a new series of painting using , white!!! At the end of 2007 I challenged myself to get back to the oils and have something to show for it whether it took months or 2 years but to keep steady at the process. I have been able to do this spending many hours in the studio. First off I had to come up with 3 paintings for a show in February called Big Big Love. The show is up now at the North Dam Mill in Saco and runs for the month of February. The image of my submissions is at the top.

And also the drying wall in my studio with a few of the white paintings. In tomorrows post I will show a few of the encaustics I am working on . Its a series harkening back to my days in textiles when I wove rag rugs and did some production weaving in napkins, placemats and other small items. I also used to dye 200 pounds of wool in a season. The series is called Indigo and uses some graphics from the stitching method in Japan to make decorative items as well as common day cleaning cloths. This Sashiko stitch binds cloth togther. The cleaning cloths are called Sashiko Zokin. I have immersed myself in these encaustics and now find myself even trying to do the stitching on some batik cloth which is the closest I can come to the dark blues of Indigo and the other resist dyes that are used in some woven garments. Until then live well, Diane

Here is is already past the fourth and I am just getting back to up date the posts. Here is the last top ready for the machine quilter, called Shoofly. Three ready to be picked up tomorrow for me to bind. The show at Handworks Gallery was a huge success for me ; I sold a triptych of the Chain Link Islands in oil on panel. Friday I picked up my friend Nancy in Thomaston where she vulunteers at the animal shelter. We drove all the way to Blue Hill where we had a nice lunch and saw the Handworks Gallery in full swing. When I dropped off my work Marcia was just getting the floor painted for the opening show which was the Great Spruce Head Island Show. From there we drove over to the Leighton Gallery to see the new show there and were not disappointed. Then we meandered over to Stonington where they were going to be having First Friday with 11 galleries and studios open including Isalos where I had an encaustic painting. I was glad to see the show in the afternoon before it got too crowded. We checked out several other galleries, Nancy got an ice cream and we walked down on the working piers. I tried taking some photos but the camera was not cooperating so went back for a sketch book. The sky was spectacular with fog coming in and the water luminescent as the colors turned from blues to silver and smoke.

Time for the opening and off we went glad to be inside and a chill had come in off the water with the fog. The show Ames Pond was hung very well and even the color of one wall was just right. I liked where they had hung my piece and enjoyed looking at the variety of work that came out of Michael's call for Ames Pond art. The pond itself is spectacular when at the height of the season its full of a soft pink waterlily and a few majestic herons. I had seen it on my many trips to Haystack and made a special trip to see it last fall. I sketched a few pages and when I came home from that trip made a series of encaustics form the sketches. From here we went to more of the galleries that were open and then the rain began. We said we;d call it a day and head back to Port Clyde. Then we went by Anne-Claude Cotty's studio which was open. So we dashed inside out of the rain to be pleasantly surprised with her delightful pinhole camera photographs. Made me wish I was still into photography. She also uses the plastic camera of which I also tried. Especially the Holga with all the light leaks and tape that wound around the camera. But what struck me most were the brooches. Delicate photos set around with hammered silver. I coveted one immediately but when I saw the price realised I would have to work many hours to come up with the money. But just sometimes it all works out. Through many emails we came to an agreement and I will be getting one of the beautiful brooches in the mail this week. Please go to http://www.anneclaudecotty.com/ to see both the photos and the silver work she does.

From there we drove home stopping for a light dinner in Lincolnville. Talking over the varying pieces of art we saw and how fun Stonington had been even though the ride is long its a beautiful small town on the coast of Maine full of artists, galleries and wonderful views of the water.

The summer is here make sure you do something wonderful, take a long drive down to the wateror walk along the beach. Cheers, Diane

Another Quilt Top

Hello again from Westport Island, I keep thinking I will be on line in a timely fashion only to find life gets in the way. I am on the home stretch with my goal of having 12 quilts for a show in August. I took 3 to a machine quilter to quilt them and chose patterns that will go with the finished quilts. That was a fun experience as this is my first venture into the machine quilting realm. The next 2 will go to another machine quilter in Northport. I am working on 2 small and 1 twin with hand quilting. Plus have been going to a home sewing machine quilting class. What an interesting time that has been. My machine balked right off. It snarled the threads jammed the needle and was very much like an adolescent in its behavior. Once home and with some beautiful all cotton thread the machine has been a charm Now it is operator error that holds me back. So I have made lots of "sandwiches" with muslin and batting and another slice of muslin and am "practising" until my stitches look more or less even. They are controlled by the pressure on the foot pedal. I needed to slow down and that has been difficult. But I like to think I am improving and once I have a piece for show and tell will post it here.

On the web site front I have someone working on it as I type. The whole project is to learn how to update it myself. Especially to add new work and shows as they come not a year later and then say oh my word I need to update! This is what has happened now. Things look so old and I have lots of new encaustic paintings to put on the site. I will have an encaustic piece in Isalos Fine Art Gallery in Stonington, Maine for the Ames Pond Show. The opening night is July 6th. If you are near Stonington I invite you to come see the show. I still have encaustic postcards at the Deer Ilse Art Association Gallery in Deer Isle. They had a fund raiser where 2 of mine sold and they are keeping the unsold work over the summer so lots of good art for a worthy cause and not so much money. They are selling for $50.00 a piece and artists all over sent in post cards for this fundraiser. I think the number was over 600 cards.

Well, the garden calls and needs attention. All the rain and sun have added weeds to places I never expected but the overall look is one of lushness as the lupine are in full bloom, different colors this year as a pale pink has crept in. Foxglove are in bloom with the lemon lilies; blue and yellow Siberian irises, white anemones and a few primroses still blooming away,

Have a great week now that summer is just about here. Diane

Holiday weekend

Writing every day does not appear to be an option at this point. Somthing always gets in the way. I am madly trying to fill out forms and answer questions and write about proposals for 2 residency forms. This all takes time but helps to clarify what I want to spend a month doing in the middle of next winter. My house was way too cold this past year. I had an inefficiaet furnace taken out and 2 Rinnais put in . They were just not up to the job. Too mnay air spaces so I said I'd try to go somewhere during January or/and February next year. All the ground work needs to be done now.

And so do quilts need to be finsihed and the yard caught up to speed. My lawn is what they call a hot lawn you look at it and it grows 8 in and then you turn your back and its up over 12". My son is/was supposed to keep up with it since he took my lawnmower last year to change the oil and sparkplug and get it running. This did not happen and I fear the motor seized up which has left me with no mower when I had a decent mower that needeed some work last year. While i was at work on Saturday the lawn got "mowed". I am not clear what was used and because it was so high it looked chewed. In talking to my daughter who lives an hour away her husband over heard and I got a call back saying they were coming up and would bring lunch and a weed whacker. I have to say my yard looks 100% different now. Places that were not getting mowed are now all neat and tidy the wild strawberry bed is back in a circle and not coming over a large portion of the yard. My little garden of herbs I can see and the beautiful hosta plants that I made into a circle last year are all happy and weedfree. This does as much for my ablity to concentrate on art as having the laubdry caught up and the groceries bought and put away. So today is open to work on the last 2 quilt tops that seem to allude finishing. And I also want to take all the encaustic paint along with the table , well the whole set up out into what was last year a gallery. With 2 jobs this summer I need to make art when I can and want that area designated to encaustic. I can paint ourdoors with the oils and that way I will have the house more or less as house. When I come home tired from work I want to relax and not "see" my studio as it sprawls out into the living space. I live in a 1 room schoolhouse no partions in the big room so what is there you "see". And just sometimes like now I woudl like to not "see" all the stuff.

Ok I need to take my morning walk before the day gets away from me. I will put up another encaustic. "Dreaming of the Sea" And eventually will have awhole section devoted to the encaustics.

Gardening is a form of meditation allowing the mind to clear itself, Diane

ok where did the photo go???

This one got here but what happened to the other ones. Guess I need to learn a bit more I'll post this before I loose it, Chow, Diane

Now that we have the sun and spring has appered....

Here it is finally sunny. The State of Maine has had more rain then I ever want to see at one time again. But today was a gorgeous day sunny and warm a slight breeze and i spent the major part of it getting images turned into slides to submit for a winter residency. Seems a strange way to spend a day off when the grass is knee high, the dandilions are blooming and so many weeds are in the flower beds. But deadlines come and a day off is a chance to get caught up on paper work. I said i'd put some images into the blog today and will attempt it now. I took pics of lots of encaustics to see what i wanted to send. Ok I just uploaded 3 images and now I want to end this post to see if they got onto the blog.

Next is to update my web site seems like the time to make art grows shorter and the time for maintenmance grows longer..... Happy Spring, Diane

Time to write, time to paint, time make quilts

Well, Here it is 8 months since the last post or update to my web site. And I say its about time for some changes. I have been busy working 2 jobs and making quilts and encuastics. I will try to put new work here tomorrow taking some digital images first thing in the morning. I have been busy getting work framed and out to shows. In January I had 2 pieces in the Residency Exhibit at CMCA in Rockport Maine. The next exhibition was encaustic in New Hampshire at the Gattley Gallery. This May I have post cards in the Deer Isle Post Cards from Away fundraiser coming up this weekend and also paintings at Handworks Gallery in Blue Hill from my week at Great Spruce Head Island last June. In July, look for one of my encaustics in the Ames Pond Show at Isalos Gallery in Stonington.

I am planning a quilt show later this summer and will post updates as I get closer to that realisation. I have 10 quilt tops done but now need to have them machine quilted and then I will bind and put a hanging sleeve on. Seems like all I do is go to work and sew but its been great fun to gather the differnt colors of fabric and work out interesting designs for the quilts. But as the weather warms I really want to be outside painting again. I also need to put the series of encaustics I have done over the winter on the web site. So more to come... keep watching for new pages on the web site, Happy Spring, Diane

Where Have I Been???

Hello, Its been quite a while and summer is about over. I threw my back out and have been recouping . Not fun! I also am getting ready to hang a show at Dogfish Cafe in Portland on Congress Street this Friday. Am excited by this and have 15 paintings to go up on the walls.

Then September 9th here on Westport Island we will have our Artist Alliance Art Tour where we open the studios for a day from 11 to 4pm. If you are anywhere near Wiscasset come onto the island. Take Rt 144 and pick up a map at the Island Variety just after the end of the bridge. All studios have bright pink signs and a letter. I am B on the map hope to see you then. I have been painting and making encaustics to show for this event. There will be refreshments also at the different studios. The event is free and open to the public. Discover these "off the beaten path studios".

That's about it for now, summer went by so quickly it's scary and with the colder weather already visiting, the swamp maples are turning and it all points to winter. So get out to visit artist studios or paint outside before the really cold weather gets here, Diane

Where does the time go?

Hello, Its a beautiful, not too hot day here on Westport Island. I have been painting, mowing the lawn and attending a few openings so where has the rest of the time gone? All of a sudden it will be August and the morning air is cool, the bluejays are back (from where?) the chickadees too are very noisy again in the mornings. All the colorful song birds seem to have vanished and its not even August. The golden rod is in bloom as are fields of milk weed and other weeds and road sideianna way ahead of schedule. My garden looks like the end of August not much blooming but hollyhocks and daylillies and waiting for the mums and glorioso daisies. I need an idea to paint and am wandering around the garden trying to be inspired. It's not working. I have 7 small canvasses ready to go and have not an idea or inspiration to latch on to. These need to be ready for September first and I am getting panicky. So will do what I know and drag out the quilt that was supposed to be on my bed this summer and has yet to be finished. The colors will wet my appetite and who knows maybe I can come up with an idea for the paint and canvas. Enjoy the summer, Diane

Up Early

Hello, Its just 10am now and I have been up for hours. Must have been the crows they were especially noisy this morning and very early with their noise. That was it for me, I was ready for the day. Began with a cup of white tea and my notebook of which I mean an old fashioned loose leaf notebook not the lap top. I wrote for a long while. Lots to mull over. I went to the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine yesterday to see the Charlie Hewitt show and was bowled over. So much energy, such depth of feelings and emotions when confronting the work. Now that's a strange word to use but that's what it felt like. A confrontation. And yet I was drawn into the darkness, the range and richness of color, the ideas that informed the work. The titles were also leading you into thought patterns of what our world is now and where it had been. These were mostly new work but some had been done a some years ago. It is called a 20 year retrospective. His wide array of mediums was also exciting. I too, like a lot of different mediums and have always gotten chastised for that so it was validating and refreshing as well to see what he took on with passion, color and subject. He repeats several images that can be read from your own perspective or you can actually read the catalogue and learn where they have come from. Rooster, comma, spade, fox or wolf, fish/man, jazz trumpet, nails, rebar and on. He uses these image to break the plane of his canvasses and under the many layers some other meaning is formed. His drawings are very beautiful on white Arches paper with ink. Then a few prints hidden over in a small corridor were worth the search. Pure delight and again just a few colors, sanguine, white of the paper and black ink. One wall when you first came in was covered in 8 by 10 canvasses which formed a grid not unlike a quilt. And according to one security man was done to engage the feminine perspective. He had more to say about the whys and wherefores of hanging and curating a show. Some was interesting some not. If you live in Maine I highly recommend this show its up until October 15th. Then we are also in luck as he will have a print show at Bates this fall from October 27th thru March 18th, 2007. This will be in conjunction with the Maine Print Project which has its own web site of the same name fmi.

I have had some interesting comments lately about writing and even books using my paintings in them. For now I am rereading all my Natalie Goldberg books and highly recommend them if you have any inclination to write. I just finished The long Quiet Highway where she tells of her encounter with Zen practice and what it has meant to her as a person and a writer. Just beautifully written, Next is Wild Mind. Then I have to find a copy of Writing Down the Bones as mine has disappeared. So looks like I will keep on filling notebooks for a while but writing is important to me now. I welcome your comments!

Be creative and engage life, Diane

Up for air

Well, Its been a long week and more. As I said earlier I got nailed with that cold/flu. It is not nice zaps your energy and leaves the body listless and tired of coughing all the time. I am finally feeling better and ready to get serious about my painting. The days go by and all I have to show for the past 2 weeks is 2 paintings. My daughter was up her this past Monday and she liked both thought my brushstrokes had changed a bit and some other things she noticed. It is so nice to have a comment like that. We who work in our studios work away and never quite know what the response will be to our latest art making. Sometimes its silence which is the most difficult to take. For I never know did they not like the painting, the color the idea or were they just too shy to say anything. I suppose silence is better than what happened to me last year when I was in a blue mood and painting blue paintings. One person just told me she hated blue so could not even look at them and another asked if there had been a sale on blue paint. Its never easy being an artist. So much comes at you out of the "blue"! Could not resist. I have many conversations with fellow artists about the no comment situation and we can never figure it out. Sometimes these same people who give no comment actually buy a painting. So no comment doesn't always mean don't like it. Does anyone have any other ideas why people are so reticent to say anything when looking at someone's art.

Ok now I've got that off my chest its time to go paint. I got all the boards gessoed yesterday. These boards were cut before I went to Art Week so am thrilled to feel better and have some energy to paint. My studio/gallery is now open on the Island noon to 5 Thursday thru Sunday. May close early Sat to go to a reception in Damariscotta... Happy painting, Diane

More from the retreat

Hello, I'm slow getting this all down as I got nailed by a flu/cold virus that was going around at the end of the retreat. I thought I would be painting at home by now.....

One morning I was late getting to my paints and the cooks came hunting for people to help pick mussels. So off we went to gather the clam baskets and down to the shore at low tide to pick mussels. It had been a long time since I had been anywhere to do this. You pick up long strands of seaweed that is like a Mermaids hair and tucked onto the rocks and deep in crevices are these shiny black mussels. We were told to gather what did have barnacles on the backs but that was almost impossible. I had on my bright yellow garden boots and was so glad I had brought them as I could wade into the water and find the special spots where the mussels grew. Also unearthing a few rock crabs who scuttled back under the seaweed. Always a bit startling as this crustacean came up out of the dense seaweed. We quickly gathered 2 baskets full and off we went to scrape and clean the beards off the shells. By 1 o'clock we sat down to the sweetest bowls of mussels ever. Cooked in a broth of half water half wine with a stick of butter some garlic and a few onions. It was the best!!! The food all week was incredible from Salade Nicoise to the night from Morocco. We also had Mexican food, Salmon and Haddock. Lunch was just as tasty with beautiful soups and salads and good thick breads. The fruits also were not to be believed. The peaches were huge and once ripe were everyone's favorites. Weather drawing, painting them or eating them. The red peppers were also a hit as they were painted in gouache or oils before being roasted on the grill. Desert went from the popular strawberry short cake to some very innovative crisps. All this cooked on a wood stove except for grilled veggies and the fish. Astonishing.... Ok now I've made myself totally hungry and there is no Barney here cooking so I'll take myself off to the kitchen... Happy painting, Diane

Back from the island

Reentry to regular life is difficult after spending a fogbound week on an island in Penobscot Bay with 11 other artists including a harpist and a singer/songwriter and an exstrodinary chef and helper chef.... The "Big House" sheltered us all during rain, thunder, fog, and occasional glimpses of sun. The beaches and trails drew us out when the rain stopped. The many porches found easels set up, carving tools out along with sketchbooks and journals. A full week of productivity until the very last moment. The beauty and peace washed over us with the tides. We saw seals, eagles, ospreys; took outdoor showers looking into tree tops, battled very large mosqitos, drifted to sleep hearing the thump of cards from the game Oh Hell and the loud cracks as the pitch burned out of the spruce logs in the fire.

I came home with many paintings, some work, some are just in the idea stage and then I have the ones I want to make now.

More tomorrow, keep painting, Diane

It"s now easier to comment

Thanks to all who emailed me to let me know the comments weren't working! I wondered why it got so quiet. I was asked if I am a professional artist. Depends on your criteria. Do I earn a living with my art, no I don't. Do I paint as much as I can and is my life constructed around my art making yes. I have both a BFA and a MFA. I devote as much time to my art as is possible. Although the past early spring writing has come up many ways. I took a memoir class and hope to gather a few stories from the notebook and will do something with them. I do write every day and last month visited a psychic who said I could be doing a lot more with writing. What could be better painting and writing and living on a island in a one room school house with an abundance of roses surrounding the house. Well, maybe living on an island further out to sea... Be well, Diane

MakingComments

Hi Again. Hey, I'm still learning the "art" of blogging so please be patient while I work through the kinks. My last couple of entries did not allow for comments from you, but now you can make comments. Sorry about the mix-up. So feel free to make comments about the last two entries after this posting. Thanks!

Still Packing

Hello from sunny and a bit breezy Westport Island. I hear that some rainy weather is coming in on Saturday just in time for my boatride to the Art Retreat! Wouldn't it be just like that! Here in Maine we have had such a glorious week with weather just about perfect and if we had rain it was at night. The flowers this year are stellar especailly the wild roses. I have many jars of rose petals changing into rose elixer. The peonies are so huge they bend over with the weight of their blossoms. My paints are all packed or I would be painting them now as they sit so beautifully in a tall blue and white Japanese vase. But I have taken photographs for later inspiration. I don't paint from photos but sometimes I will get inspiration by going thru some photos and making drawings then getting out the canvas. I am getting both excited and a bit nervous which is usual for me in new situations. This may be the last post until I come back July 1st so I wish you all great weather to go out and paint, Diane

20 June 2006

We just had a wonderful thunder and lightning shower here on the island. Because the island is surrounded by 3 rivers the storms seem to follow the path of a river so the storm began at the north end and continued to rumble and flash its way down island and then across and finally way over to the left before leaving us with a varied sky of soft cobalt blue and paynes gray hit with the snow white clouds. I expected a rainbow but never did see one. I have been busy packing all my art supplies for the week retreat beginning on Saturday June 24th. Since it is out on an island what I take is what I get to use. Plus all of us with our supplies need to fit onto the mail/lobster boat for the ride to the island. I have lots of canvas bags packed with my canvasses to paint. Then the proverbial green joint compound bucket with turps, alkyd, large tubes of paint that don't fit in my paint box, paper bags for trash, plyers to open stuck caps. You can just imagine the "stuff" I have to think of. Not to say sketch books, cameras, film for one and charged batteries for the digital as the voltage on the island is not what we can use to recharge the batteries. Now, I just have left what clothes I think I may need out on a Maine island in what we call summer. I am getting very psyched to finally have everything done that needs doing and be on my way. I won't be able to blog from the island but will fill you in once I come back again the first of July. Happy painting, Diane