Sara Kirschenbaum
Palm Up

Blog :: Miscellaneous

  1. Academie de la Grande Chaumiere

    Tuesday, Jul 23rd, 2019 at 11:21pm

    In 1948, my mother skipped her high school graduation and took a troop ship to France. Her mother walked the stage for her as my mom sailed across the ocean.

    1e4 comments

  2. Returning to My Favorite Place

    Tuesday, Oct 09th, 2018 at 1:35am

    Mon20181

    5144 comments

  3. My Father Glows

    Thursday, Mar 26th, 2015 at 5:50am

    Here are some photos I've taken in the past two and a half months. Now you see why I keep going to NYC!

    742 comments

  4. A Black Mountain College Visit

    Thursday, Feb 05th, 2015 at 7:34am

    New Identity

    740 comments

  5. Lots Of New Drawings In the Drawing Section Of This Website

    Monday, Dec 22nd, 2014 at 8:46am

    I've posted 400 new drawings:

    1734 comments

  6. More Palette Portraits on Monhegan Island

    Friday, Oct 03rd, 2014 at 8:54pm

    I had the chance to spend some more time on my favorite island, Monhegan, where artists often come to paint. I asked each painter I saw if I could photograph their palette. It is an easy question to ask because painters are generally not self-conscious of their palette (I think that is what makes them so wonderful) and I don't feel like I am asking to steal their painterly intellectual property. Pretty soon word got around the island and when I would walk up to painters they would say, "I was waiting for you to ask!" Here are some of the new images.

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  7. Water for Dessert

    Tuesday, Dec 03rd, 2013 at 6:36am

    On August 30, 2013 I went for a little solo adventure to the Oregon Coast. These water photos were taken at Cannon Beach. The light was perfect to show the tiny ripples in the water. I stripped down to my underwear and went for a swim! It was pretty foggy on the beach so I don't think anyone noticed!

    921 comments

  8. Sand For My Birthday

    Tuesday, Dec 03rd, 2013 at 6:16am

    My friends Julia and David took me to the Oregon Beach for my August birthday. The cold rainy weather was more typical of January but the sand was beautiful! Here it is December but I just re-discovered these photos as I went through the year's pictures. I like how quiet and subtle they are. Except for the last one!

    698 comments

  9. Greatest Response Ever

    Monday, Oct 07th, 2013 at 7:10am

    I received this letter from someone who stumbled on this, my website:

    2275 comments

  10. A Trip to Astoria, Oregon and Long Beach, Washington

    Monday, Mar 04th, 2013 at 5:33am

    I just got back a couple of hours ago but here are a few water photos from my weekend trip to the beautiful coast of the Pacific Northwest.

    716 comments

  11. Acts of Kindness

    Friday, Feb 22nd, 2013 at 5:34am

    I had been planning this for a couple weeks. To place 28 gifts around Portland, Oregon on Valentine's Day in honor of the 28 people who died in the Connecticut school shooting. But then when I broke up with my girlfriend two days before Valentine's Day (after 12 years of being alone on Valentine's Day) the effort to spread kindness and love seemed even more poignant. I got the idea from Facebook: 26actsofkindness. I wanted to add two more acts of kindness for the shooter and his mother who were both killed that day as well.

    697 comments

  12. Vernissage! 2002

    Wednesday, Feb 06th, 2013 at 5:28am

    I am thrilled to have finally been able to see a video that was made back in 2002 of an opening of my work, and the work of my friend, Vera Staub in Lucerne, Switzerland. And here it is for your viewing pleasure. In addition to Vera and I, the video features performance by Agnes Hunger and videography by Rahel Holenstein.

    993 comments

  13. Belly!

    Wednesday, Jan 23rd, 2013 at 11:58pm

    I recently had the great honor of photographing a young pregnant woman and her mother. Here is the link to some of the 350 photos that resulted from our photo session:

    710 comments

  14. Campaigning in Ohio

    Thursday, Nov 08th, 2012 at 9:57pm

    With the emotional roller coaster that was the presidential debates, I was starting to get stomach aches over the election. I felt that so much was at stake in this election - not only my beloved president but perhaps also the fate of the nuclear arms race. With election day nearing, and support for Obama in Oregon pretty much in the bag, I decided to contact my friend, River, an Obama campaigner in Ohio to see if she could use some help there. She gave me an enthusiastic "Yes." I booked a flight with a credit I had at Delta Airlines and the remaining fare came out an exact $44 dollars (for our 44th. President).

    751 comments

  15. My Ceramic Work Is Now Available on Etsy.com

    Wednesday, Oct 24th, 2012 at 5:13am

    Lots of beautiful pieces for sale.

    1024 comments

  16. A Poem Finally Fulfilled

    Wednesday, Sep 26th, 2012 at 9:56pm

    Here is a link to a very exciting post in the Writing section of this website

    1019 comments

  17. Entering Paintings in Opal Creek

    Saturday, Sep 08th, 2012 at 3:54am

    In early August of this year I had the opportunity to visit one of the most beautiful places I know - Opal Creek Ancient Forest with my friend Christina. This is the third year in row we have spent a weekend there. It has been very special each year although in a different way each year. I felt very challenged this year to be out of cell/computer range with my parents' health so vulnerable and with my teenage daughter still a bit wild. But wonder of wonders the world went on fine without me. And it proved an artistic and spiritual renewal.

    4532 comments

  18. Sunset Light in the Oregon Forest

    Tuesday, Jul 31st, 2012 at 6:24pm

    A few days ago i had the chance to walk on one of my favorite hikes in Oregon - Little Zig Zag Falls in Rhododendron. it is tiny - 1/4 each way - and precious. it is the closest I can get to something that feels like Monhegan Island - my favorite place on earth. Here are a few pix.

    712 comments

  19. My Interview With Calyx

    Wednesday, Jul 18th, 2012 at 9:22pm

    I was honored to be interviewed by Calyx - A Journal of Art and Literature By Women.

    725 comments

  20. Gay Pride 2012

    Thursday, Jun 21st, 2012 at 6:13am

    My we have come a long way! I started going to Gay Pride in the early eighties in Columbus,Ohio where the parade was lined with protestors. As a result of so much courage we have arrived at the point that our President has come out in favor of gay marriage. Love prevails!

    2709 comments

  21. Lots of Publishing Lately

    Monday, Jun 04th, 2012 at 12:41am

    I have had five pieces accepted recently. I try to keep current with calls for submissions by marking up my copy of the magazine Poets and Writers.

    697 comments

  22. On To Amsterdam

    Wednesday, May 30th, 2012 at 6:14pm

    And off we went on the train to Amsterdam. With two minutes to spare we caught our train and settled in for the three hour trip.

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  23. A Trip To Normandy

    Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 at 8:58pm

    This is my third blog post about my May 2012 trip to Europe. At least one more coming after this.

    689 comments

  24. More Paris Photos

    Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 at 4:26am

    Upon arrival: pigeon looking at me looking at Notre Dame.

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  25. Flowers In My Garden

    Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 at 7:11pm

    A few years back i attempted to photograph every different kind of flower in my garden. it took me a couple of years but i got most of them. Here are the links to 10 months of flowers in my garden. The photos are stored on Flickr.

    806 comments

  26. Europe Pictures - Eiffel Tower

    Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 at 4:08am

    Well I had a wonderful opportunity to go to Paris. A friend of mine had access to an apartment and offered me a chance to stay there. I planned it a year ahead of time but was reluctant to go when the time came around because of my parents being unwell. But who can resist? I marched off to Paris on May 1 with a new friend, Sally Senior. It was to be her first time in Paris. For me it was the third. I stayed in this same apartment in 1979. Then I took my grouchy teenagers to Europe in 2008. It would however be my first trip to the Eiffel Tower.

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  27. Hawaii!

    Thursday, Jan 26th, 2012 at 11:38pm

    Annie and I went to see Sage and Candice in Hawaii after Christmas. Here are some photos.

    696 comments

  28. A Trip to Cental Oregon

    Saturday, Oct 22nd, 2011 at 5:56am

    It all started with a Living Social coupon for two nights at the Lodge at Suttle Lake. I couldn't resist the bargain with all the extras - champagne, boat rental, wine social, jacuzzi. My dear friend Christina agreed to join me and we set off to discover what Central Oregon had to offer. I know the northern coast of Oregon, and some of the desert towns but I had never been to Sisters or Bend.

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  29. My Garden

    Wednesday, Aug 31st, 2011 at 7:12pm

    My garden is bursting with flowers! I consider myself a vegetable grower not a flower gal, so this is a surprise. Flowers are an after thought. Here are some photos of the garden's progression this year:

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  30. A Sublime And Ridiculous Trip

    Wednesday, Aug 03rd, 2011 at 12:54am

    On July 17 I set out on a red-eye flight to Portland, Maine. After a five hour layover in NYC, I made it to Portland. I grabbed a rental car and followed my instincts to the city. I had been there years ago and I mysteriously found my way around. In the first 30 minutes, I had bought my first souvenir and lobster salad, and was listening to blue grass music. I discovered that I really love traveling alone, and the zest for the adventure followed me up and down the coast. Here are some pictures from the next week and a half.

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  31. A Good Memoir

    Tuesday, Aug 02nd, 2011 at 8:21pm

    I recently returned from a wonderful writing workshop in Freeport, Maine. My group was led by Ann Hood. She was wonderful! I learned so much from her and the others in my group. The conference was in a handsome stone house with beautiful grounds.

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  32. In Process

    Tuesday, Jun 14th, 2011 at 8:20pm

    I have been taking pictures of my clay work in process.

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  33. Fleeting

    Tuesday, Jun 14th, 2011 at 8:05pm

    Cracks. I have a devil of a time with cracks. I've been told that it is one of the inherent difficulties of making large tiles. Here's one fortuitous crack that actually looks like part of the drawing:

    700 comments

  34. Sacred Work

    Monday, May 16th, 2011 at 8:32pm

    I had an amazing opportunity the other day to watch as a traditional icon was being painted. I've posted five images of the process in the photography gallery of this website. Here's a link to first of five images:

    1003 comments

  35. A Quiet Peace Action At Ground Zero

    Wednesday, May 04th, 2011 at 1:13am

    I happened to be visiting my parents in New York when the news came that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan. My parents live only 7 blocks from ground zero and I have always been one to be drawn to an historical moment (When my mom took me to City Hall when I was very young, I screeched, "Mom, look! They're making laws! Real laws!").

    818 comments

  36. New Essay: Sweet Phoenix

    Thursday, Apr 14th, 2011 at 7:18pm

    Here's the link:

    3359 comments

  37. Made 8 New Clay Pieces This Week

    Thursday, Apr 14th, 2011 at 5:43pm

    I was on a roll (pun intended) with the slab roller this week. I'm trying new clay ("Three-Fingered-Jack") that has more grit to it in hopes that my pieces don't all crack like they have been doing. But of course I immediately used even larger slabs than normal so I'll probably still get plenty of cracks.

    764 comments

  38. More Palette Portraits

    Thursday, Apr 14th, 2011 at 5:48am

    Check out this beauty:

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  39. New Photography Section!

    Thursday, Apr 14th, 2011 at 1:23am

    See how drawings talk to each other at night. All photographs so far were taken at Hipbone Studios in Portland.

    843 comments

  40. Palette Bonanza 2011

    Friday, Apr 08th, 2011 at 12:14am

    I am enjoying another year of Artist A Day at the Muse art store. I look forward to a lot of beautiful palettes this month. Here is the first one I have photographed this year:

    5495 comments

  41. New Section In My Drawing Gallery: Recycled Drawings

    Wednesday, Mar 02nd, 2011 at 8:04pm

    Click Here to see

    784 comments

  42. Glazing Tiles

    Wednesday, Mar 02nd, 2011 at 8:00pm

    Last Friday was dedicated to glazing.

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  43. Getting Back To The Drawing Studio

    Tuesday, Mar 01st, 2011 at 1:40am

    Here's a before:

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  44. Sara Kirschenbaum's books are available

    Tuesday, Feb 22nd, 2011 at 5:57pm

    Seven books are currently available:

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  45. Spoons

    Tuesday, Feb 22nd, 2011 at 5:46pm

    I am enjoying drawing my hands holding things.

    755 comments

  46. More Slab Work

    Tuesday, Feb 15th, 2011 at 10:26pm

    Here are two pieces I made of drawings of a hand holding a roll of masking tape.

    715 comments

  47. Spring Sprung

    Tuesday, Feb 15th, 2011 at 10:18pm

    Each year I start my tomatoes indoors. Here is a nice photo of two of the first ones up.

    713 comments

  48. Slab Work

    Monday, Feb 07th, 2011 at 11:09pm

    Here are some shots of what I have been doing in the clay studio:

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  49. Painting Again

    Monday, Feb 07th, 2011 at 11:02pm

    My son Sage learned to crawl by chasing a lemon. So I thought I could get back into painting by painting a lemon.

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  50. A Writer's Nightmare

    Thursday, Jan 27th, 2011 at 11:43pm

    I had this dream yesterday:

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  51. My Medium Is Not Biting

    Monday, Jan 24th, 2011 at 11:58pm

    On Friday I went back to the Rhodie Gardens to do some more drawing in ducks. I spread out the duck food and not a one came to eat! It was a sunny day and so there were lots of visitors to the garden - I guess the ducks were full. I'll try again another day - a rainier day!

    1041 comments

  52. A New Medium!

    Monday, Jan 03rd, 2011 at 10:13pm

    Yesterday I went for a walk in Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. Sometimes in early January you can see a few things blooming there but it has been very cold and there was not a blossom in sight. The ducks and geese were very hungry and I brought along some of my chicken's food to share with them. That's when I had the idea of drawing in ducks! I made a nice round circle in chicken food and watched the ducks come and eat. So now, in addition to drawing in charcoal, pencil, pen and ink, conte crayon and watercolor, I have drawn in ducks! think to the possibilities!

    2745 comments

  53. Two New Artists Share Their Palettes

    Thursday, Nov 18th, 2010 at 8:24pm

    I have had the honor of photographing the palettes of two painters in the recent weeks. One is Morgan Walker who has a rich, packed, muted palette:

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  54. Save The Date - December 3, 2010

    Friday, Oct 29th, 2010 at 9:49pm

    I am hoping to have a book reading of the long-awaited Outer Island by Leonard Dankmar Weil on the evening of December 3 at Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon. But for that to happen I need to quickly finish responding to the edits recommended by our proofreader/ editor. This is so exciting! Only 83 years in the making!

    755 comments

  55. Self-Reflection

    Sunday, Oct 24th, 2010 at 3:36am

    The other day I was spending time with my god-daughter - Marie. She was trying to work on an essay about what it is like growing up disabled after the passage of the ADA. She has cerebral palsy. It seemed to me that she was really stuck in her writing process - using the same phrases and stories she has often used. So I suggested that we try something completely different. I had her lie down on a big piece of butcher paper and I made an outline of her body. Then I encouraged her to fill the outline with stories that were linked to a part of her body. She totally got what I was talking about and immediately wrote on her arm outline about hugging her aunt. Here are some pictures I took of this wonderful process. We both loved it.

    1057 comments

  56. Lost and Found Kirschenbaums

    Sunday, Jul 11th, 2010 at 6:04am

    I've started my summer series of my lost and found pieces that never got finished. Here's the link to the first essay: HERE

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  57. Spring

    Tuesday, Jun 08th, 2010 at 12:24am

    It has been raining here relentlessly. But today the sun came out and I went for a walk with my very pregnant (overdue!) friend Martha. I like these fertile photos of her:

    723 comments

  58. Going Blurb Crazy

    Friday, Jun 04th, 2010 at 10:25pm

    I love the Blurb website! I have two new books that are now available through Blurb.

    856 comments

  59. More Beach Pictures

    Thursday, May 27th, 2010 at 6:43pm

    Now that I am back from Italy I have had a chance to go over some of the beach pictures I took on my short consolation-prize trip to the beach in Newport, Oregon, back in April. I have gone through the 800 pictures two times now and picked out favorites. It was interesting to see that I picked the same favorites most of the time but not all of the time. Now I have 250 favorites and I have printed out 8 large prints so far on my wonderful Epson printer that my dad gave me. It prints as large as 13' X 19'. It is hard for me to predict which ones are going to work well as large prints. Sometimes a photo that works as a 81/2" X 11" doesn't work as a larger print. I wish I wasn't constrained by the cost of ink and could print up 50 or 60.

    727 comments

  60. A Summer of Lost and Found

    Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 7:15pm

    For those of you who have been missing my weekly posts of chapters from my book, Home Sweet Nuthouse, I have decided to launch a new weekly series for the summer. For the month of June I will regularly post a new "lost" piece of writing that I have recently discovered by my grandfather, Leonard Dankmar Weil. I am working hard editing his unfinished memoir of living on his own island in the Long Island Sound and have found a treasure trove of literary gems. Then for July and August I will dig through my own unfinished notes and exercises and post a rediscovered piece each week.

    2748 comments

  61. The Last of the Italy Pictures

    Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 6:15pm

    Here are the rest of the Italy pictures I would like to share:

    4512 comments

  62. Italian Produce

    Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 5:41pm

    Here are 5 photos of produce that I took while in Italy.

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  63. Itinerary

    Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 9:39pm

    Day One

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  64. Folds

    Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 6:10pm

    In the Palazzo Massimo of the National Museum of Rome, I fell in love with the granite folds. Here are some of the photos I took of sculptures there.

    837 comments

  65. The Mediterranean!

    Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 5:06pm

    I have been photographing water for ever and it has been a dream of mine to be able to photograph Mediterranean water. Thanks to my friend Jill, a rented car, and a four-hour trip to Cinque Terre I was able to fulfill that dream.

    1017 comments

  66. New Italian Palettes

    Friday, May 07th, 2010 at 3:54pm

    I found an unexpected treat in Italy - palettes. Especially in front of the grand Galleria Decli Uffizi - the Uffizi Gallery - in Florence. At any one time there were 5 or 6 artists painting and selling their work there - something I imagine has been going on for hundreds of years. Here are a few of my favorites:

    762 comments

  67. Back From Rome!

    Wednesday, May 05th, 2010 at 11:54pm

    It was supposed to be a 16 day trip to Italy but Eyjafjallajökull, the Icelandic Volcano, put a stop to that. So it turned into a 7-day trip to Italy and I have got to say I packed two weeks of fun into one week. I had a great time dashing about between four cities (Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, and Cortona), eating as much gelato as possible.

    738 comments

  68. In Rome

    Friday, Apr 30th, 2010 at 7:33pm

    I am currently in Rome and can't wait to post some photos. Having a great but short trip. Stay tuned for photos in a few days

    4481 comments

  69. Waylayed

    Sunday, Apr 25th, 2010 at 12:09am

    I was supposed to go to Florence, Italy last week but a volcano had other plans. Instead I went on a solitary pilgrimage to the Oregon coast. Here are a few of the two hundred pictures (out of 800) that I took that I like.

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  70. New Commentary: Obama is my Daddy

    Thursday, Apr 15th, 2010 at 9:32pm

    I've posted a short commentary in the writing gallery of this website. It's not the fanciest writing ever but it is something I feel very strongly about and whipped together before taking off to Florence, Italy.

    720 comments

  71. New Drawings

    Wednesday, Apr 14th, 2010 at 8:42pm

    Here's my process: I made around 40 drawings during a 3-hour modeling session. I like 4 - 12 of them well enough when I get home that I hang them up in my studio. Then I stare at them. I stare at them while talking on the phone. And my eye goes to what doesn't work. I just look at them unthinking and over the following days their problems become clear. Sometimes I can fix it up. Like in this picture of a hand behind a back:

    2844 comments

  72. New Pottery Pieces

    Wednesday, Apr 14th, 2010 at 6:56pm

    I've posted several new pottery pieces in the pottery gallery of this website. Here's a link.

    2565 comments

  73. Another Good Day At Hipbone

    Friday, Apr 09th, 2010 at 12:25am

    Yesterday was another good day at Hipbone Drawing Studio. I swear every time I go to drawing I get afraid that I will have completely lost my mojo. Here are my favorites from this session:

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  74. My Mom Turns 80!

    Thursday, Apr 08th, 2010 at 11:38pm

    My brother and I celebrated my mom, Susan Weil's 80th birthday recently in NYC. Here she is looking joyful and young:

    681 comments

  75. A Palette Bonanza

    Wednesday, Apr 07th, 2010 at 2:46am

    My palette artist friend, Virginia Church, let me know about an event here at a small Portland art store. It is called An Artist A Day and here is their website. For the month of April every afternoon will feature an artist painting in their front window. It occurred to me it might be a bonanza for my palette series. Here is the work I found there today. The artist is named Jason Kappus and his website is here. He is a self-taught artist with impressive discipline and care. It shows in his palette! Here is his whole set-up:

    681 comments

  76. Rebuffing a Bridge

    Wednesday, Apr 07th, 2010 at 1:57am

    I recently went to NYC with my kids to celebrate my mother's 80th. birthday (more about that later). And I didn't once walk or run on "my" bridge: the Brooklyn Bridge. It was all about the Williamsburg Bridge this trip. Here are some photos from my walks over the bridge and its environs.

    666 comments

  77. Picking Raspberries

    Tuesday, Apr 06th, 2010 at 5:56pm

    After many submissions, I have found a great home for my tiny essay called Picking Raspberries. Here it is. Perseverance furthers!

    879 comments

  78. Where All Bad Drawings Go...

    Thursday, Mar 18th, 2010 at 4:40pm

    Bad drawings make good mulch. I put a bunch of lousy drawings down over my asparagus patch to hold down the weeds. I covered them with great compost that I saved from last spring. I'm hoping that the asparagus can poke their way through.

    633 comments

  79. Here's What A Good Day At The Drawing Studio Looks Like

    Monday, Mar 15th, 2010 at 11:10pm

    Last Wednesday I ventured back to the studio and found that I hadn't lost my groove forever...

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  80. This Is What A Bad Day At The Drawing Studio Looks Like

    Monday, Mar 15th, 2010 at 11:07pm

    Here is a measly gathering of drawings from an unsuccessful day at Hipbone Studio.

    655 comments

  81. Multnomah Art Center

    Monday, Mar 15th, 2010 at 10:56pm

    Here are this week's photos from my clay class at the Multnomah Art Center. I have been going there for around 15 years and it continues to be a great creative and supportive working environment.

    713 comments

  82. Last "Random Chapter" of Home Sweet Nuthouse!

    Monday, Mar 15th, 2010 at 10:47pm

    Over the past year I have posted 31 chapters of my manuscript called Home Sweet Nuthouse. The other 19 aren't appropriate to be taken out of context. I hope you have enjoyed these chapters about my intense experience of postpartum Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

    786 comments

  83. Low Battery

    Monday, Mar 08th, 2010 at 7:33pm

    Last week I lost the battery charger for my camera and I only had enough juice for a couple of shots at pottery class. I was working alone in a back room with only one window (I like a little privacy when I'm drawing on the clay - it takes such a delicate combination of concentration and luck). I kept the light off and the grey winter light came in low from this one window. I had rolled out big slabs of clay on the slab roller and just loved how rich the texture of canvas looked on the clay (I use canvas to press the clay against). When I took out my handy pin-tool it was like drawing with a nib of light with the beautiful shadows from the low light. Here are the few pictures I took before my camera ran out of battery.

    700 comments

  84. New Ceramic Delights

    Monday, Mar 01st, 2010 at 8:03pm

    I continue to enjoy watching other people's laying on of hands in the pottery studio:

    679 comments

  85. More Pottery Class Photos

    Tuesday, Feb 23rd, 2010 at 7:55pm

    Here are a few more:

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  86. Now The Palettes Are Coming To Me!

    Tuesday, Feb 23rd, 2010 at 5:55pm

    The other day Virginia Church stopped by to pick up the photos I made for her of her palette. But she brought along a surprise: Allison K. Bollman and her beautiful palette that she, just that morning, had been planning to scrape clean! But we got this thing of beauty photographed in the nick of time. The palette sure looked great strapped to the back of her bicycle as she rode up to my house! Here are some of the photos I took of it before she rode it back home on her bicycle to be scraped:

    2216 comments

  87. Another Pottery Class; More Dazzling Distractions

    Tuesday, Feb 16th, 2010 at 10:52pm

    Here are some photos from my most recent pottery class:

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  88. More Palettes

    Tuesday, Feb 16th, 2010 at 10:25pm

    I got a call from a friend, Virginia Church, yesterday who was about to clean off her palette. I, of course, made an emergency visit with my camera. Here are some of the photos:

    710 comments

  89. Having Trouble Concentrating...

    Thursday, Feb 11th, 2010 at 11:43pm

    I'm having a hard time in pottery class! I am so moved by the beauty of people working around me that I keep grabbing my camera and taking pictures! My picture taking time is taking over my clay-forming time. Our class has been around, roughly consistently, for several years. Our teacher is Kicki Masthem. We are a motley assortment - virtually all amateur. Our ages range from twenties to eighties. Our professions? former Dean of medical school, cancer therapist, paper artist, teacher. Here are some of my favorite photos so far.

    1471 comments

  90. Sara's New Photobook: Ocean,Ocean

    Tuesday, Feb 09th, 2010 at 10:10pm

    Take a peak at my new book of water-photos that is available on Blurb.com! It's a beauty but not cheap. Available, though, at cost. It is a nice 12" X 12" book ("coffee table book" size).

    693 comments

  91. New Series?

    Wednesday, Feb 03rd, 2010 at 6:24pm

    I am interested in starting a new series of photographs of artist's palettes. I put an ad in an art newsletter offering to give prints of palettes in exchange for getting to photograph them. Here's my first two:

    705 comments

  92. The Launch of My New Book: "Ruined"

    Tuesday, Dec 08th, 2009 at 7:35pm

    My precious photobooth collection of photobooth pictures, taken throughout my childhood and beyond, was sitting on the floor in my basement. But the last time I moved the box I forgot to get it up off the ground on wooden supports. Earlier this year I found that much of the contents, photobooths and other photographs, was wrecked by mold, mildew, and water. But wait..the wrecked photos seemed to have a beauty all their own. I have just compiled a book of my favorites and have titled it "Ruined."

    648 comments

  93. A Trip to Breitenbush

    Monday, Nov 30th, 2009 at 6:31pm

    We made our annual trip to Breitenbush thanksgiving weekend. (I wasn't sure I would go back after a friend caught the Norovirus after visiting Breitenbush earlier this year but I finally decided to return) Sage bowed out this year but Annie brought her friend Mesa. Here are some photos:

    662 comments

  94. Another Good Day at the Pottery Studio

    Saturday, Nov 21st, 2009 at 7:13am

    Last week I made exactly nothing in the pottery studio. This week it went better. Here's a couple of pics.

    691 comments

  95. Oil Painting Again?!

    Thursday, Oct 29th, 2009 at 9:13pm

    Yesterday I took out my oil paint supplies (that were given to me in 1964 by my then five-year-old friend Charis Conn who told me this year that she had to throw a fit to get her parents to buy such a lavish present for me). Mysteriously the brushes were gone (absconded to my ex-husband's house by my daughter: "You never use them!"). With a few cheap brushes from the nighborhood craft store, I decided to paint. For a few days I'd had a picture in my head of a painting of a hand - done in nearly-white pastel colors. Here's what I set up (never mind the pottery piece). Notice the lovely wooden box from Charis.

    773 comments

  96. In Pursuit of Garbage

    Thursday, Oct 29th, 2009 at 6:35pm

    I love the colors and textures of compost and I have been trying to photograph my compost - both in the big bin in the yard and in the small container I keep in my kitchen. I find this photo to be one of my favorite garbage photos so far. I like the formality that my grandmother Celia's cloth napkin gives the whole thing. And by the way - I didn't change anything except lifting it out of the compost container and laying it on the napkin.

    661 comments

  97. Welcoming Fall

    Tuesday, Oct 27th, 2009 at 10:13pm

    I must really be turning into an Oregonian - I feel a satisfaction at the coming of the fall rains. I went on a wet walk in the woods this Sunday with my dear friends Julia, Lily and David.

    979 comments

  98. New Camera!

    Thursday, Oct 22nd, 2009 at 12:40am

    I finally have a new camera and I went out and took a bunch of woods photos today. They are are scattered about in the photography gallery. Some under the water section, some in a new tree section and the last two in Misc..

    696 comments

  99. Moldy Photobooth Pictures

    Tuesday, Oct 06th, 2009 at 5:31pm

    I just added 25 photos to a new photo section on this website: Moldy Photobooths.

    1001 comments

  100. Sara is on Smugmug

    Wednesday, Sep 16th, 2009 at 10:18pm

    In order to make my Willowbrook photos available to the staff, campers and families of Willowbrook, I have joined Smugmug. You can look at this summer's entire collection of photographs and order them for keeps. Proceeds to benefit Willowbrook. Here's the direct link:

    794 comments

  101. A Cousin-Fest!

    Monday, Sep 14th, 2009 at 6:15pm

    After Annie and I went to the Michigan Women's Music Festival, we went to visit our sweet cousins in Chicago. Karen and her husband Ken have lived for a few years in a beautiful apartment overlooking Lake Michigan. Sherry and her husband Paul, moved to Chicago a little over a year ago. Here are some pictures from our trip there and Sherry and Paul's trip, two week later, here. I love that I am getting closer to my cousins. Our grandmother, Celia, would have delighted in it.

    973 comments

  102. More "What I Did this summer"

    Thursday, Sep 10th, 2009 at 11:03pm

    I had three big trips this summer - first to Ohio in June, then to NYC in July, and lastly to Michigan and Chicago in August. The trip to Michigan was with Annie. She and I attended the Michigan Women's Music Festiva. This was the 34th. year for the feminist gathering. I had been there a couple of times in the eighties and Annie and I had been there last year.

    681 comments

  103. New Green and Brown Reflections

    Tuesday, Sep 08th, 2009 at 11:03pm

    I have posted some new photos in the photography gallery of this website. Here is a link to the water section where most of them are. They will be at the bottom of the rows of pictures.

    675 comments

  104. A Pre-Demolition Photo Jaunt

    Thursday, Aug 20th, 2009 at 8:51pm

    I recently re-connected with an old friend - Mina Hamilton. My friend Beth and I spent a summer with her back in 1976 helping her fight the good fight against the Army Corps of Engineers. The Army Corps was about to dam the Delaware River. They had already bought thousands of homes that were to be flooded, including Mina's old family home on the banks of the river. Beth and I volunteered for one month for room and board and a skinny dip in the river every afternoon. Mina was renting her home back from the Army Corps so that is where we all lived. It was a beautiful, old, and very solid house. When Mina's family owned it they also owned two miles of riverfront property!

    685 comments

  105. I Can Turn Fifty Now...

    Sunday, Aug 02nd, 2009 at 12:07am

    Today I completed a full Sprint Triathlon which was my goal to complete before turning fifty. It was a 1/2 mile swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and a 3.2 mile run. The swim was delicious and easy. I surprised myself by doing the whole thing with the crawl stroke. I've never done that much crawl before. The biking was pretty easy but I was disconcerted by how many women passed me (it was an all-women's event). Last year I did the shorter version swimming only 1/4 mile.

    631 comments

  106. Full Distraction Living

    Tuesday, Jul 07th, 2009 at 6:44am

    When I was recovering from the postpartum obsessive compulsive disorder that sent me to the psych ward in 1991, the child psychiatrist that I insisted my infant visit, recommended a book to me: Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD. I read some of it. The bookmark is still stuck at Commitment, Self-Discipline and Intentionality. The book talks about Dr. Kabat-Zinn's work with people with major medical conditions in a stress clinic. It is a call for living with mindfulness. But what stuck with me throughout the years was the wonderful title - welcoming that which we dread. (His name is cool sounding too.) It's taken me full 18-years to come up with my own answer to Full Catastrophe Living. Now the baby is 18 and is going off the college. And I've discovered a new code to live by: full distraction living.

    675 comments

  107. Best Kept Sacred Secret

    Tuesday, Jun 30th, 2009 at 5:43am

    I just got back from a trip to Ohio with Sage and Annie. I don't know what it is about Ohio, but part of me feels at home there - it's a quiet spiritual part of me that breathes a sigh of relief driving through the abundant Ohio corn fields and gazing at the dusk's smattering of fireflies. And those Ohio lightening storms can't be beat! I drove 1,100 miles around the state visiting old friends and special places. I find it very moving that people I haven't seen in 20+ years still remember me and seem to care for me. I know they are dear to me. Stella Burnes, who was part of the Soup Kitchen Community, invited me to her home and showed me her photo album that included a picture I took of her 25 years ago. She also had a wedding picture of Bud and I and baby pictures of Sage and Annie. What a miracle how dear we remain to each other.

    678 comments

  108. Hope Springs Eternal

    Wednesday, Jun 17th, 2009 at 7:18am

    Many of you know that I ruined most of my life-long collection of photobooth pictures - although they did resurrect in all their moldy splendor. (See earlier blog post with pictures of their moldy excellence). Well here are some photobooths that Annie and Sage gave me for mother's day and that Annie and her friend made. Thus, the circle of life...

    725 comments

  109. Annie "Promotes"

    Tuesday, Jun 16th, 2009 at 7:07am

    Annie graduated from middle school this week. They call it a promotion - not a graduation. moment

    1056 comments

  110. Sage Graduates!

    Sunday, Jun 14th, 2009 at 6:04am

    On June 12, 2009 Sage received his high school diploma from Portland Community College. He graduated with 43 hours of college credit. He will be going to Portland State University in the fall. Here are some photos from this glorious occasion:

    2300 comments

  111. Self-Portaits Exhibited at Blue Sky Gallery No Strings

    Wednesday, May 06th, 2009 at 8:38pm

    Here's my one-week show of moldy photobooth self-portriats at Blue Sky Gallery No Strings.

    2682 comments

  112. Chickens in the Pottery Studio!

    Thursday, Apr 30th, 2009 at 5:04am

    I recently brought a couple of my chickens to my pottery class (3-D sculpture). They were a big hit. I believe chickens to be marvelous art models. They have such distinctive curves - distinctive but not obvious. They actually look quite different from your stereotyped cartoon chicken. So you really know when you've drawn them right. Here are some photos from the session. We made sculptures and tiles and as a class are considering having a chicken show!

    642 comments

  113. Sara on Outer Island

    Saturday, Apr 25th, 2009 at 4:25am

    Many of you know that I have been relishing my grandfather's writing about Outer Island - an island he bought in 1927. I'm delighted to have just found 4 negatives of me on the island! It was sold when I was 3 and I have no direct memory of it although it has informed who I am and what stirs my heart. Never underestimate a toddler's perceptions and understanding. Here are the pix:

    691 comments

  114. A New Series of Self-Portraits

    Thursday, Apr 09th, 2009 at 8:13pm

    Looking for a photo in my basement I discovered that many of my old photos stored down there were wrecked by mold. My beloved photobooth pictures where the hardest hit. I've comforted myself by making these spooky sweet portraits out of them.

    987 comments

  115. Wedding in a Week

    Wednesday, Apr 01st, 2009 at 9:29pm

    My dear friend Julia gave us all a week's notice that she was marrying her sweetheart of many years. Here are some of my favorite pictures that I took at the wedding.

    679 comments

  116. My YouTube Videos!

    Friday, Mar 06th, 2009 at 6:49am

    Six months ago I posted two videos on YouTube.

    957 comments

  117. My trip to NYC

    Friday, Feb 27th, 2009 at 4:54am

    I just got back from NY. Now that my father's health is stabilized, I'm only making a week-long trip there every three months. These trips are adding up. I'm beginning to feel a sense of belonging in NY. Lots of people noticed my haircut this trip which makes me realize that the building guards, restaurant owners, friends and neighbors are getting used to seeing me around in NY. I'm of mixed feeling about my acclimation there. I love my parents and I love the city but it does pull me away from home and confuses my identity as a grown woman separate from my parents.

    644 comments

  118. A Good Day at the Clay Studio

    Sunday, Feb 15th, 2009 at 3:40am

    I had a great day at pottery yesterday, I did a big drawing on a huge slab of clay. It was of a behind and a front with vagina. I wanted to wrap it around itself, stand it up, and make a big vase. As I stood it up it collapsed in my hands in a magnificent floppy way. But then I opened it up for a photo. Here is the photo:

    2745 comments

  119. A Good Day for Drawing

    Thursday, Feb 12th, 2009 at 11:22pm

    Yesterday I went drawing at my favorite place to draw - Hipbone Studios - and I did better than average. Normally I only get a couple acceptable drawings. But yesterday I came away with 16 that made the first cut. Now I will hang them up in my studio and mindlessly stare at them while I am talking on the phone. If a line is wrong it will start to bug me and I'll take the picture down and put it in my recycling. Or if it is alterable I'll add a line or two to fix it up. Would you like to see some of the drawings? Here are some links:

    2720 comments

  120. How Well-Equiped Do You Like To Be?

    Saturday, Jan 31st, 2009 at 2:59am

    Years ago my friend Ben and I went on a bicycle tour of the island of Nova Scotia. It was a two-week trip. We had bought new bicycles a couple of years before in London. The terrain was pretty flat at first but it became very hilly as we neared the Northern end of the island called Cape Breton. There was only one way to make it around the Northern tip of the island and that was on an extremely steep trail called Cabot Trail. As we neared the Cabot Trail, we'd meet bicyclists coming the other way who had just completed the trail. They would stop and tell us how incredibly hard the Cabot Trail was to ride. The nearer we got, the more extreme were the descriptions. We started to get nervous. When we finally entered the trail, it was every bit as bad as everyone had described it. There were long sections of this road that had a 10% grade. And imagine riding that with the 50 lbs. of gear we each had on your bikes! When we were half-way through the steep terrain, we saw two bicyclists coming in the other direction. They had the cheapest, oldest, rattiest bicycles I'd ever seen. Old three-speeders. And they didn't have any formal panniers - just bags tied on to their bikes.

    1419 comments

  121. Oops

    Friday, Jan 23rd, 2009 at 11:19pm

    I am fascinated by the mistakes that Justice Roberts made in giving the oath of office to our new president. Myself, I hate making mistakes. I get feeling so mortified. Can you imagine how it feels to make an error like Justice Roberts did - in front of, say, 1 billion people? 1 billion is a thousand million! Do you think he did it unconsciously on purpose? If so why? Purely political?

    696 comments

  122. Day One

    Thursday, Jan 22nd, 2009 at 6:41am

    I have just been watching a recording of ABC's coverage of The Neighborhood Ball. And I feel that I am dreaming. I really didn't think we'd get this far. I really didn't think that the fearful greedy forces in the world would let Barack Hussein Obama be president for even one minute. I suppose its my OCD but I just didn't believe we'd actually get here and have a president who is so intelligent, hip, deep, suave and in his way, down-to-earth.

    640 comments

  123. Hallelujah!

    Wednesday, Jan 21st, 2009 at 1:30am

    I am so delighted to be alive for this historic election and inauguration. I'm loving the fact that every 4 or 8 years we ditch the old and give voice to a fresh start (I especially like sweeping out the Bush administration). What a radical idea democracy is. I'm getting so swept up in it all that I went out and bought an American flag - my first American flag.

    650 comments

  124. What Is It About Random Arrays of Food?

    Monday, Jan 12th, 2009 at 8:59pm

    This post announces a new section of photographs on my site: Random Arrays of Food. If you would like to go straight there, click here. There are even more food arrays on my flickr photostream which you can access Flickr.

    2705 comments

  125. Happy New Year!

    Friday, Jan 02nd, 2009 at 2:22am

    I wish everyone a year of unexpected dreams. Barack and Michelle have carried us into uncharted dream territory. There are terrible dangers, yes, but unheard of opportunities as well.

    626 comments

  126. Sue and Bernie Smile for Christmas Photos

    Friday, Dec 19th, 2008 at 6:11am

    On my last trip to NYC to see Sue and Bernie I took these cute photos:

    696 comments

  127. Woodnymphs

    Wednesday, Nov 26th, 2008 at 5:23am

    I had the most wonderful day yesterday photographing Annie and her friends running around Tryon Creek Park in dress-up clothes. I have all the luck! Sara heaven really. The girls all arrived with no shoes and they spent the next hour and a half running around barefoot.

    2679 comments

  128. R.I.J. Robert Rauschenberg

    Thursday, Nov 20th, 2008 at 9:26pm

    Annie, Sue, Bernie, Chris and Janet and I had the honor to attend Bob's Memorial at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC on November 3rd, 2008. It was a spectacular event with the museum open at night in an arms-open reception for Bob. Everything was grand, formal, austere, important, and beautiful. Below is Janet's great photo:

    1639 comments

  129. A Summer's Worth of New Water Photos

    Tuesday, Nov 18th, 2008 at 9:26pm

    I had an intense summer with no less than 5 trips to NYC to visit my ailing dad, Bernard Kirschenbaum. He is hanging in there with various serious ailments of the mind, body and spirit. But that did not stop me from getting to some beautiful bodies of water in the San Juan Islands, the Oregon Coast, and Coney Island. You can click here to go directly to the water pictures in my website.

    650 comments

  130. Time in NYC

    Tuesday, Sep 30th, 2008 at 5:38pm

    This summer kicked off with my dad's heart attack.. On summer solstice - June 21 - he collapsed and had to be revived with a shock to his heart. He is doing better although a severely infected gall bladder has complicated the recovery. He has been in the hospital several times and I've made many trips back to NYC several times this summer to be with him and cheer him up.

    955 comments

  131. First Chapter of Home Sweet Nuthouse

    Monday, Sep 15th, 2008 at 12:54am

    Chapter One: Home Sweet Nuthouse

    725 comments

  132. Remembering Robert Rauschenberg

    Thursday, Jun 05th, 2008 at 8:10pm 719 comments

  133. New Pottery

    Friday, Apr 04th, 2008 at 9:36pm

    I just added a bunch of new pottery pieces. Its been a hard quarter for my ceramics; so many things cracked! I was trying to work on a much larger scale and found that pretty challenging. The studio where I work does high-fire firing and that is hard on pieces. I lost more than half of what I made to cracks. But there is still a lot of new pieces. You can click here as a short cut to the Pottery gallery. Let me know what you think!

    974 comments

  134. New photos

    Thursday, Apr 03rd, 2008 at 6:07pm

    I've added lots of new photos to the photo gallery. Whole new sections like People Making Art, Water with Fowl, Julia's Farm. What do you think?

    681 comments

  135. I finished my book!

    Thursday, Mar 27th, 2008 at 4:26am

    Well, I'm sure I'll have a lot more editing to do but at least I finished my first draft. It has 51 chapters and is about 345 pages long. Its been 10, count'em TEN, years in the making. But most of it was written in the past year. Right now Karen Karbo is taking a look at it and will tell me what I might do next. She took a look at it a few months ago and was very helpful. You can check her out at karenkarbo.com. If you'd like to see more of my book than the first chapter, drop me a line on the contact page.

    674 comments

  136. Newest first

    Wednesday, Mar 12th, 2008 at 3:10am

    Did you know that the most recently posted images in the galleries (on this website) appear first in the line of images? So if you want to check to see what I've posted most recently, you just click on the first squares in the various catagories in my Drawing, Pottery and Photography galleries.

    671 comments

  137. Welcome to Sara Kirschenbaum's blog

    Wednesday, Feb 27th, 2008 at 6:58am

    Thanks for stopping by. I'll keep you posted on my latest adventures in writing, drawing, photography and pottery. I'd love to know what you think of this site.

    646 comments