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January 23, 2021 by Crow Johnson Evans 11 Comments

What makes a Home?

PJ (Paul Johnson) and I lived in a real cowman’s cottage, 90 kilometers west of London in Vernham Dean, Andover, Hampshire. The postmaster asked us what we wanted to name the place. Of course, we picked “BagEnd” (because I was short and had fur on the top of my feet.) Well, not exactly.. but the place was similar to this one in the same sweet village.

It was in the late ’60s and early ’70s, that my ex and I were in England. We’d signed contracts for publishing, recording, and performing with a company in London (at #1 Harley Street.) Back then, one or two successful acts could support a whole stable of musicians. We were treated very well…( until we weren’t–But that’s another story.)

Before finding our music business “home”, we squatted for a few months in an abandoned one-room house on stilts. We wrote songs and got to know some musicians in the area. After a great gig at the Round House in London, we came back to our seashore place and all of our stuff had been stolen. There’s nothing like being down to one change of clothes and your instruments to make one get serious. I really liked our squat, but it wasn’t legal. It was so remote, no one could get to us when the tide was in. We were so far from the rest of the world we could rehearse with all our might at any hour of the day or night.

After signing with RingMaker, we were provided a rental cottage, a car, and a recording schedule, etc. The cottage we lived in (legally) no longer had its thatched roof. We cooked on and were heated by a giant pale blue porcelain coal-fired stove nicknamed “Mother Rayburn”. There was a room on the porch that served as a refrigerator. The greengrocer, bread baker, and canned goods guy.. all made house calls and took orders for the following week. The baker was also the filling station and delivered mail. Sometimes we drove into Andover for the farmers’ market. Freshly butchered rabbits hanging upside down in the open air nudged me into vegetarian eating. The landlords left a can of fresh milk on the fence for us. It was a home.

When the company split up and things didn’t go well for us, I knew we would be leaving. I wrote the song “BagEnd” for that cottage– and eventually recorded it on “As the Crow Flies” . James Wilson of Aerie Designs in North Carolina did the cover art. (Thank him many times.)

And just this year an ancient copy of the recordings we made in London…surfaced magically. I’ll get some help to put both versions of that song in this blog.

I’m curious to know if you prefer one to the other.

 

Bag End

Bag End my friend good morning
open eyes to a brand new day
living in the country, dirt road, down-home style

 

Yellow leaves blow ’round, mornings
Birds feed on your window sills
Jackdaws in the field, dirt road, down-home style

Houses build up and tear down
Home is somethin’ else
Soon home will be on the highway
Dreaming of somewhere else.

Pheasants walk by, mornings
They don’t seem to know to hide
Like rabbits in the hedges, dirt road, down-home style

Houses build up and tear down
Home is somethin’ else
Soon home will be on the highway
Dreaming of somewhere else.

Filed Under: Blog, Music, Random Thoughts, Uncategorized Tagged With: BagEnd, Crow Johnson Evans, Folkmusic, London, sweetness of life

January 15, 2021 by Crow Johnson Evans 5 Comments

What are you doing while the sky falls?

Have you ever been antsy and unsettled and watched yourself do some activity that doesn’t make any sense? Welcome to my world, and the world of many critters.

noun: displacement activity; plural noun: displacement activities

An animal or human activity that seems inappropriate to the context, such as head-scratching when one is confused, considered to arise unconsciously when a conflict between antagonistic urges cannot be resolved.

As I watch the news, one of my inner voices shouts, “Don’t just sit there. Do something to make everything alright.”

With the anxiety that comes from this impossible command, I jump into determined action—— knitting!

My sarcastic-self chides, “So you think you can knit up a batch of world peace and cooperation? Really?”

Arthur told me that he needed a hat that was warm but not scratchy for winter adventures. Just what I needed…A mission. TAH TAH

Some doings calm me and help me think: knitting, spinning, drawing, weaving. So maybe it’s not all just a waste of time.

Being a fiber freak, I do have precious skeins of wool stashed away. I started with 132 stitches of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift. About 7 stitches per inch. Knit two, purl two… all the way around. Keep this up for 7.5 inches…. then reduce to the tippy top using any style you like.

Then…. after the wool hat was done… I picked up stitches from the beginning edge.. and using cotton Comfy from Knitpicks finish 5 inches of k2- p2. You can flip the “lining” inside the hat. Et voila.

But after I finished Arthur’s hat… I just kept going.  Busy busy, Auntie Crow.

 


@crowspun @crowjohnsonevans #knitting #distraction #pattern #relaxing.

Filed Under: Blog, Fiber Arts, Random Thoughts, Uncategorized

January 2, 2021 by Crow Johnson Evans 4 Comments

Interview: Julia Cairns- traveler, artist, and….

Crow: Julia, I bought one of your note cards in Santa Fe a couple of years ago and I treasure it. Your contact information was on the back. I’ve been involved in music and writing.. and recently art. We have never spoken or met, but I can tell that you have multiple talents and interests. There is such energy (and joy) in your work. Thank you for being willing to do this interview.

You live in NM now, but tell us about your upbringing and adventures, please. (Oh, If only I could paint my memories of India with your skill.)

Julia: I was born in Oxford, England, a very long time ago (61 years) but grew up in a village outside Oxford called Harwell. I was the second of 4 children. My Mum was a single mother, which in the ’60s was very challenging. We had little money but we were pretty happy. I used to paint and draw on the kitchen table, somehow that creativity sustained me as it does to this day. I loved to ride and was able to buy a pony from the New Forest when I was 13 (they were auctioned off every year for very little money). My best friend’s father was a farmer and allowed me to keep the pony in a field with her pony. Riding became another pastime for me and got me outside a lot. When I was about 17, I bought a motorcycle and drove around the countryside painting. With my painting box, easel, and paints strapped to the back of my Suzuki 200cc I’d tear around looking for the perfect view. Using my motorcycle as a perch, I’d sit and paint for many hours.
At 18 I wanted to travel and left for a kibbutz in Israel where I stayed for many months. This created a wanderlust in me. Every time I returned to the UK I would set to work saving money so I could travel somewhere else. After grape picking in France, I headed to Kenya where I was fortunate to get a job working on a ‘ranch’ that was owned by a colonial family. There was a Maasai tribe living on the ranch and they were permitted to remain there as long as they danced every afternoon for tourists. It was an odd disconnect between an indigenous people and those of privilege but at the time I was not fully aware of this and enjoyed the interaction with the Masai who would come and visit me and the other helpers at the time.

This is where I began to draw seriously, I was fascinated by the Masai and their beautiful elegance. When we brought the tourists up from the Manyatta where the Masai resided and danced to the lush grounds of the colonial house, I was able to offer my drawings for sale. The thrill of having a complete stranger purchase a piece of my art was very exciting. From Kenya, I went to South Africa, which was a real culture shock. Apartheid was in full swing and in Capetown I did not see many Africans, they were all in their ‘homelands’ only allowed into the city to work. I got a job for a few months in an advertising agency and when I had saved some money, I took the train up to Botswana. This was the real Africa for me. I fell in love with the Okavango delta in the northern part of the country and vowed to return when I’d saved some money and could obtain a residence permit.


I did return, a year later, in 1983 when I was 23 years old, permits in hand and a case full of art supplies. From the first week I was there, I had many adventures but did end up back in the Delta where I spent the next 9 years. At first, I lived off the land with a friend I’d made, Sally, who was a photographer, we shot pigeons and fished the rivers, camping out on the islands that were surrounded by the waters of the Okavango. We got around in a dugout canoe, becoming adept polers, knowing where hippos and crocodiles might be lurking.

Every day I painted so by the time we left the swamps for the big city of Gaberone, I had enough work for an exhibition. From the exhibition came the commission by the Postal Service to illustrate stamps for the country. I illustrated 4 series of stamps over the time I was in Botswana. Besides regular exhibitions, I also published postcards and greeting cards which sold very well and kept my VW beetle gassed up.

I was thrilled that my work could support me and I was able to sustain a lifestyle that involved long periods of time in the Swamps followed by time in the city where I did my business. At this time I inherited a black labrador from a woman who had returned to the UK but could not take the dog. Nare (Naree) soon became my best friend, coming with me everywhere. He had an uncanny ability to swim underwater, a talent that saved his life when he was attacked by a crocodile. He lived to tell the tale and even accompanied me to the US when I came here in 1992. I also had a cat, Biggles who I found in the delta. She was not so fortunate as Nare and was taken by a leopard one evening when we were sitting by the fire.

It was in the delta I met my future husband, John Bulger, who was running a baboon research camp not far from where Sally and I had our little camp. On discovering we both had parasites, Sally and I poled our dugout to Baboon camp in order to radio town for some medicine. John’s friend Paul was visiting at the time so the four of us had a party, it was lovely to see some other young people after so long on a little island. John invited me to live at Baboon camp, which I happily did, setting up a little studio in one of the reed huts that was perched on the edge of the island. John went out to watch his baboons every day and I went out to paint. It was an idyllic few years. Eventually, John had to return to the U.S to finish his Ph.D. I was reluctant to leave Africa, especially to go to the States, a country I had no desire to visit, let alone live!

Eventually love won out. We married in 1992 in Kasane, a little town on the edge of the Chobe river in N. Botswana. Living in the U.S was a huge culture shock for me. I began to paint the Africa I remembered, creating stylized figures and animals. I met a lovely woman in Davis, CA, who owned a gallery and took my work on. She sold everything I painted and I was able to pay our rent for many months until John graduated.

We lived for 13 years by the ocean, just north of Santa Cruz, CA. In this idyllic spot, we raised two children. I continued to paint and found a licensing agent in N.York who took me on. My work found its way onto many products from jigsaw puzzles to shower curtains and gave me a ‘passive’ income for many years.

It was in 2000 that I got my first children’s book deal, with Scholastic books, a book entitled ‘The Spider Weaver’ which is no longer in print but gave me a leg up into the world of children’s book illustration. I have to date illustrated 12 books for children, the latest of which will be published in January of 2021.

We moved to Salt Spring Island in Canada for a year in 2007 but the rain chased us back to the U.S. We settled in Santa Fe, NM where the sun shines for 300 days a year.
Since living in Galisteo, a little village just outside Santa Fe, I have continued to paint. I began teaching shortly after arriving in NM, teaching classes in my studio and the local Community college. I also traveled to Canada and the UK to teach. Recently I’ve been teaching classes on Zoom which has been such a blessing.

Over the years I have traveled to Brazil, Zimbabwe, Nepal, Morocco, and India. Each culture has inspired me. When I return from my travels I am able to use my experiences to create a series of paintings.

Crow: Have you always drawn and painted? What other creative activities do you enjoy? Do you have a favorite kind of music.. or musicians?

Julia: I have drawn and painted for as long as I can remember. I am also a yoga teacher which I also teach online. My passions, besides painting and yoga, are swimming and hiking. We are fortunate to live in a beautiful place with many hiking trails. Both my children are musicians, my daughter plays the fiddle and my son the guitar. They do not make a living from it but love doing it and are very good. I do not have a musical skill but enjoy listening to whatever music they suggest I listen to. Right now I love the Ruen Brothers.

Crow:  Can you tell us more about your personal life and how you developed your style. If you don’t mind my being so curious.

Julia: I am 61, married to John Bulger for 28 years. I have one sister, two half-sisters, and two brothers. All except my younger sister live in England.
I developed my style many years ago, realizing that the background of a painting could be as important and colorful as the foreground. I love using negative space. Watercolor is perhaps my favorite medium although I have done a lot of work in mixed media and acrylic. I love to vary the themes of my work and cannot imagine painting the same thing every day. Even though I began painting landscapes, and still do, I love to use my imagination and play with color. I have not published any books about my style but have illustrated many children’s books.

Crow: What are the highest and lowest points you’ve hit? How do you get yourself back into balance after upheavals?

Julia: Highest point, probably bringing up the children in California and finding success with my work simultaneously. My time in Africa was also a high point, my memories and experiences are still very much a part of my work today. Low points, probably this year and the covid pandemic. My father died of covid in April and I have not been able to get back and see my family in England. (Crow: this is heartbreaking to hear.)

Crow: How has the pandemic changed your life? Have you discovered things that you might not have discovered without this global disaster?

Julia: The pandemic did bring opportunities for me. I discovered zoom and am able to continue teaching art and yoga on that platform. I also took part in 100 days project in Scotland where I did a painting a day for 100 days. That was a challenge but I did it and it kept me working when I could easily have just wallowed in the sadness of everything.  I have also discovered that people are basically the same everywhere, we all want the same things, and in that way are all connected. Our son has been home with us since March when he returned for spring break and was not able to return to college. He graduated on zoom. It has been wonderful having him around for so long (even though it’s driving him nuts!).

Crow: What do you look forward to exploring next? I sure want to follow whatever you are going.
Julia: I am excited about a project that I’m going to be working on with some people in L.A. I am not at liberty to say what that is but I’m excited to be going in a new direction with my work.

Crow: Thank you so much for sharing your life and work with us.  As I read I was saying “I was in London ’68 -72… and my degree was in Zoology, —  well, we are all connected.

Filed Under: Art, Blog, Travel Tagged With: Africa, art, childrensbooks, NM, yoga

December 30, 2020 by Crow Johnson Evans Leave a Comment

Capital “T” Truth.

As I approach the new year, my thoughts swirl and my imagination stretches for tree limbs and ideas beyond the reach of my fingertips. Here’s a conversation between the elderly, woodsy, recluse Miss Henrietta and Lillian… a teen with the world spinning out in a million directions before her.

“Miss Henrietta, what does truth mean with a capital T?

“Child, you do ask tricky questions. Didn’t you want to start today with an easier question? Like what makes rain? Or rainbows? Or what makes the world spin on its axis? Or who made the man who made God, and the man who made the man who made God?”

“Seriously, Miss Henrietta, everyone says I must tell the truth with a capital T. But you told me that Wisdom is wise because it imagines looking through the eyes of others. Like if a hunter shoots a beautiful deer he sees a sacrifice that will feed his family. And the deer might see tragic murder  with a gun that leaves the deer family orphans in the tough days ahead. What is the capital T truth of that story?”

“How old are you Lil? Fourteen going on four hundred and fourteen? Darn girl.”

I wrinkled my nose and just gave her my “and so what?” look. So she continued.

“As life developed on this planet, it was important for creatures to know things that were beneficial versus things that could get them injured or killed. Are you with me?”

“Yes, you are talking about A or B choices, things falling into two columns only, black or white, life saving or losing.”

“Right, Lil. Our early human minds facing a meat-eating dinosaur didn’t have time for a philosophical discussion. Fight, flee, or hide were their immediate choices.

“It is frightening to most modern people to consider that there are a million gray tones between black and white. We want a clean answer, “that was right” or “that was wrong.” “Should I do it or not?” Dear Lil, please be suspicious when someone tells you they have all the right answers.

“Well, how do I find the right answers if I can’t rely on other people?”

“Do you know the meaning of the word discernment, Lil? It is the curse and joy of our human minds. We weigh the situation and make a judgment.”

“But you told me that judging is a bad thing. We shouldn’t judge others.”

“Yes, but how do you know if you in your life are making the best choice? You must consider without prejudice all the implications of your actions.”

“Oh heck, Miss Henrietta, it’s easier to know, “this is right and that is wrong.”

“Lil, people your age have the opportunity to make the choices that will steer the rest of their lives. Do you choose to take the more difficult path or the easy way? Do you choose to think with your own unique, exceptional mind or to follow the opinions of others who appear more powerful, better-informed, or smarter than you?

“It’s a decision you can’t ignore. Deciding not to decide, Child, is a choice.”

“Miss Henrietta, you are doing it again. You’re making me think without telling me the easy answers. I’m only 14 years old. I’m not qualified.”

“Lillian A. Bohanan, those are fighting words. Don’t ever try to run that trick by me. Young minds are capable of limitless astounding thoughts. In fact some of the most brilliant scientific discoveries have germinated before the student was 19 years old. Those who tell you that you are not qualified are only trying to control, subdue, and discourage you. My advice is to politely say ‘thank you,’ but deep in your heart, don’t believe it for a minute.

“If each human soul and mind were loaded with the same exact hardware and software, perhaps generalizations could be made about human potential. But each person on this planet is totally unique. Yes, I said totally unique. You are the only you there ever was or will be. And you may not be able to juggle ten balls at a time, or win a race over hurdles, or swim the fastest… but I promise you… you have gifts that no one else on this earth has…or will ever have in future generations.

“But how do I figure out what my skills are or what I might do with my special skills?”

“Now you are asking good questions. You laugh, love, dream, and listen deep inside your person. Some Hindus believe that the holy is in each of us. Namaste means, the part in me that is the divine… recognizes that part in you.”

There are no shortcuts. Dear Lillian, you have embarked on a glorious and difficult journey. You are in good company back through the centuries. If you choose to pretend that you have not seen the expanse of the Universe before you, I still love and support you unconditionally..

I like to envision a world where your spirit has contracted or accepted special challenges, but those are not my business. Those are between you and your gods,.

Filed Under: Blog, Miss Henrietta stories, Random Thoughts, Writing Tagged With: `````

December 26, 2020 by Crow Johnson Evans 8 Comments

New Beginnings and Possibilities

What is it about Holidays and our memories?

Here it is the day after Christmas 2020 in NW Arkansas, and I’m eager to open the front and back doors to let the new year in… and the old year out.

These celebrations are important, but ya know I can’t remember every Christmas, birthday, and New Year from my past. It seems like they’d be etched in my mind, who I was with, what we did, and where we were.

One year in the mid 1940s, when I was four years old, my parents and I lived in the Old Maverick house. Part of the Woodstock arts community. Saint Nicholas knocked on our door and all covered with snow came right in the farmhouse. He said he’d left the reindeer at the White Horse Inn. (Where they served me “girlhattens” when the adults drank Manhattans). It’s funny the things we remember. We hauled water and cooked with coal.

When I was a teen, I once went to Waco, TX. My stepmother and I stayed in a nice hotel, while my father played piano in his jazz band, the Keynoters? The wore matching jackets in wild colors.

One year in the late sixties, I cheered in London standing on the roof of a building with my first husband as the snow fell iridescent as slow-motion multicolored confetti.

When I lived with my mother in Houston, the parties would last as long a four days. Everyone back then took alcohol like it was the elixir of life and chain-smoked cigarettes. But that was the fifties and television convinced us that “that’s what all the fashionable people do”.

One year Arthur and I went to a party where the hostess had each of us write down our resolutions and sign it. She pretended to officially register our words. That may be the only year I fulfilled all of the list. Lose weight, record an album, spend more time with my father….

And birthdays… can you remember where you were for each of your birthdays? I can’t.

Each New Year feels like a clean beginning, clean cup move down, musical chairs. Each year I have hope. It will be an opportunity to do it better.. whatever it is at the time. The new year is when I remember the never-agains, near misses, and victory laps. Each year I start a new Journal with the intention of faithfully recording each day of this amazing journey.

I do remember the emotion, the feeling that I was living a landmark moment in my life. And maybe that’s the memory I’ve kept. The thrill of new beginnings and possibilities.

Filed Under: Blog, Uncategorized

December 19, 2020 by Crow Johnson Evans 2 Comments

Learning to Draw for Fun and Adventure

I love learning about things, but you might have guessed that by now. Here’s some progress on a portrait I’m doing. I got permission to do a drawing based on this great photo.. which came from the Kerrville Music Festival family. Looking at the photo I can imagine making up a story, a song, a watercolor… the image gives me happy, tender, and optimistic feelings.

Values and drawing contours are areas I want to understand better. How does that magic flip occur –from seeing two dimensions to believing you are seeing 3 dimensions? The change seems as dramatic to me as the difference between seeing someone a block away vs. meeting him or her and having a heart to heart conversation.

I found a great course online for less than $10 (Realistic Portrait with Graphite Pencil taught by Diego Catalan Amilivia. Domestika.org). It is a “beginner course” but I may watch this over and over for the next decade. The information is dense and presented without any silly posturing. Reading the English subtitles of the Spanish and watching the picture is tricky, but I can rerun anything to catch up.

Creepy skull images have never interested me, but if you want to draw a face it helps to know what’s under the skin. How do we tell one person from another? What makes our physical appearances different?  Trying to draw a skull, I noticed things I’ve never seen before. CoolDescribe learning to draw. I’m making myself slow down and work in layers.

I’m told that anyone can draw well if they focus, slow down, measure proportions, be patient, and learn to see differently. Being “up in years” there’s no ego stress for me in experimenting. The adventure is the excitement.

If the voice in your head says, “You can’t do it” … don’t let that keep you from exploring and having fun. In a few weeks I’ll share with you my finished sketch.

.

Filed Under: Art, Blog, Uncategorized Tagged With: beginner, Crow Johnson Evans, drawing, fun, learning, Ozarks

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Where do I start? just got broadband.

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Which blogs do you read? Are there DIY how-tos that make a difference? Recipes? Your time is precious… where do you get the best value and amusement? We just got broadband to our house in the woods. And there is so much out there. Where to begin? What do you love? I like about 20% […]

The Trick of Knowing About Why and Because…

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Miss Henrietta announced, “The two most dangerous words in the human language are why and because.” She sounded like she was answering a person I couldn’t see. Me and Miss Henrietta were down by the creek. (Oops, I should have said Miss Henrietta and I were the only people at that spot on Howard creek.  […]

Next up Interview: Kelly and Donna of Still on the Hill

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I’m excited.. coming up in March is the interview with Kelly and Donna aka Still on the Hill, Toucan Jam, and more. The problem with introducing these marvelous folks is that we could write a book about them. If you are not familiar with their music, plan to have a sense of joy after their […]

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