Happy birthday to Mayor Bellamy!
June 29, 2010
Cathryn’s June update
Cathryn McLeod * Asheville, North Carolina * 828.232.4677
Everyone is traveling right now! Different sections of my family are either staying in Savannah a few more days or returning home as I write.
My daughter, her children and I were driving back to our temporary abode in downtown Savannah a few evenings ago and negotiated a flooding street and crazy thunderstorm. Neither of us had ‘enjoyed’ that fender-deep opportunity before and of course we thought “it wouldn’t happen to us.” All you have to do is slow down. Wrong! After she dropped me off and was headed toward the beach for the night, her car refused to budge at the next traffic light. So, it’s true.. if you see a flooded street, pull over or go back. She made it alright, but there’s no need to hurry through that much water.
I’m going through a re-defining moment in my photography after browsing a bridal magazine. There are so many good photos in it but few grab attention. I want to share only photos that Make You Look.. or laugh! Adding to that resolve is my experience in Charlotte a couple of weekends ago, attending an American Photographic Artists (APA) workshop by Los Angeles photographer Lee White called “Secrets of Video for Photographers” where I learned a ton of information, and was introduced to the very positive, talented young actress and model Katie-Britt Greenway, who seems not to have the capacity to grumble about anything. A great example! People are drawn to her like the moth to the flame.. I can do that! I’ve been trying to remember to shine on everyone and every situation since then and it makes for great here and now, AND memory making. So – salud !! Cheers!
All the family will be back in Asheville after July 4. The week after, I’m planning to splash into painting – ha! – I know nothing about painting.. yet! but don’t tell that to the lady whose clothing donation closet I’m going to change from pale blah tan to soft morning yellow. It’s a tiny little place and I know how to spread newspaper on the floor. That’s the most important part.. !? Well.. okay it’s like hair. It’ll grow back. Or you can paint over it. 
In Savannah, though, we need to get the kids out of the house for a while. Thunder in the distance – the summer afternoon storm. I’ll write again soon and you feel free to leave a comment. This photo seems appropriate here, a detail of the fountain in Forsyth Park. 
If you need an American passport photo call Iris Photo-Graphics on Merrimon Avenue in Asheville – 828.254.6103. They are shooting foreign passport photos too. I’ll be back.
One more thing.. I ran into triplet identical three year-old boys and their parents yesterday. My brain went crazy thinking of the fun images I could capture, and incorporated those thoughts into the new ways I want to produce my work.
Cathryn
ps: I had links included for some of this info, but they opened on my page rather than opening in new pages and you’d wander after that.. so I got rid of ‘em! You’ll find the info if you want it, or ask and I’ll send you the links.
March 9, 2009
photos of “Playful Piano”
- top of box
- inside of box
- framed artist statement
The Artist’s Statement reads: Cathryn McLeod’s “Playful Piano” idea originated with her photograph of a beautiful old upright she found in a schoolhouse at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly near her home in North Carolina. This creation brings her flat paper photographs into the world of three dimensional objects, rounded out with a song.
March 7, 2009
Tillett Gardens decorated Cigar Box, as of Feb 27
Yes, I changed the whole “writers” idea mid-stream. The box was going to be ENTIRELY different… I must have given insufficient information to the friends to whom I wrote. That will be phase two, we’ll start over. Thank you in advance!
For my cigar box, which will hopefully be chosen as one of the top ten boxes donated and auctioned on April 17 at Tillett Gardens in St Thomas, I worked all my photos in Photoshop. The keyboard is a photo I took in an antique store in Biltmore. The photo of the inside of an old upright piano was taken a few years ago when I drove a busload of students to the Blue Ridge Assembly for a field trip. I love to wander around and explore.. the piano was upstairs in an old schoolhouse there.
My friend Donna Allaire in Massachusetts – aka The Craft Queen – gave me great info about giving the box an old look, by painting it twice with amber shellac and then toasting it with a heat gun, which Steve Monahan did. Thank you so much, Donna, and Steve. Blessings you are!
Inside, see photo – showing 2 scrolls I added. The scroll with the knobs on top is a letter with my light-hearted research on the song “Row Row Row Your Boat” – the music box attached to the box (in front of the larger scroll) plays that song. Steve was invaluable with his carpentry tools, cleverly attaching the music box to the cigar box with two screws that are hidden by the photo of the knobs above the keyboard. And Steve pointed out that those ‘pull knobs’ aren’t found on a piano.. adding the knobs made my creation - – organ-ic – -
The larger scroll contains the same letter about the song, but kindly Brailled for me by a lady named Margie at Industries for the Blind on Sardis Rd here in Asheville. I thought it would be a good thing to include an other-sighted person in the art project. Margie made the nicest little soft giggles as she typed while I was reading aloud for her. She’s a very sweet lady and I think she was pleased to be a part of the process. I can’t wait to see if the Lord brings a blind person to the cigar box auction in St Thomas, or if my cigar box finds its way to a blind person’s hands for whatever length of time.
On the radio I heard a beautiful story about a man who was on a plane, seated near Stevie Wonder. This man wanted so much to let Steve know how much he loved his music and the part Steve had played in his life, so he wrote that on a note and passed it to Steve’s companion, not knowing whether he’d be flat-out rejected. The assistant took the note, and later Steve asked for the man who’d written the note. To his surprise, Steve drew the note-writer into a tight hug – so close that “he could smell him.” It was a surprise as he realized that Steve would recognize a person by his smell, and of course, he could smell Steve too. Talk about a bonding. That’s more friendship than either of them would have known than if they’d just seen each other and shaken hands. I like that story. Steve, you bless people you’ll never meet. And whoever purchases my cigar box.. consider yourself hugged by all the people who were involved in my creation.
My “artist’s statement” is about 2 inches high.. can you read it? I made it into a little work of art of its own, framed it and wrapped it in an old ladies’ hanky and put it inside the box, with the two scrolls. There’s also a chocolate candy, a small ‘seacoast’ sachet and two nickels. Something for everyone…
So.. my cigar box is somewhere over land or sea now. I couldn’t have done it without my husband’s kindness.
I’m trying to place the photos on this blog but haven’t figured that out yet..
Next: what’s written on the scrolls.
Cathryn
February 9, 2009
Calling all writers!!
Friends!
As you may know, my husband John and I are fortunate to be able to travel to the Virgin Islands somewhat often. Since we married in May 2007, we’ve been there several times and have had opportunities to begin making friends there, and then to find ways that I can connect those people with my friends here. Why? Because there are so many similarities. When I’m talking with some of the wonderful people there, I think – what if they could meet so-and-so back in North Carolina. What if my friend Dolly in North Carolina could talk with my friend Margaret in St.Thomas? They would be friends too!
Is it so impossible that they will never meet? What about – right here, right now?
Here’s the project:
Take any piece of paper 8.5” x 11”, cut it down the side so it is now 6.5” wide. Decorate it any way you like but it must remain flat.
Write a true story about someone in your family history. One friend is writing about how he met the woman he is soon going to marry, and that’s alright because that’s the first thing that came to his mind and the story that excites him the most.
I prefer that these stories be written about someone in your family history, but in any case, the point is that is that it must be a true story.
I am asking friends in the Caribbean as well as friends in North Carolina to participate, but writers are not exclusively from these two places. One of my largest goals here is to make acquaintances and FRIENDS out of people who would otherwise not have known of each other at all. WHO KNOWS but that some of you may actually meet sometime! And because many of you writers were brought to my attention because of the Light in your faces, we ARE going to meet One Day! We are One in the Spirit, we are One in the Lord.
There are three destinations for this collection of stories, the first having a short deadline of only one week! That means I need your story in my hand by Monday, February 16, 2009. I apologize for the short notice but having a fire under our tails can sometimes be very helpful!
My husband John entered my name into a fundraising effort for Tillett Gardens http://www.tillettgardens.com/ in St Thomas. An auction of decorated wooden cigar boxes will be held there on April 17. Your story will be included in my contribution, and your name will be proudly included in every credit! I will return your original to you if you would like, and will certainly post the conclusion on this blog.
The two other uses for the stories will be described to you shortly, as my time is pressed too. Please see the blog for that info. Be assured that I will handle your story with utmost respect, and credit will always be given to you as author of your story.
Write! Share! As they say in the Caribbean, it’s a beautiful ting. (In NC it would be THANG!) Ting, thang, walla walla bing bang – ooops sorry, that just slipped out!
MAIL YOUR STORY THIS WEEK!
21 Battery Park Ave 402
Asheville, NC 28801
Include your name, address, phone, email etc. to me so I have that on hand. Sign your story as simply as you wish. I won’t pass on your personal contact information beyond the way you sign your story, but I need it for my own records.
Email it if you have to – I say that because a handwritten story will be more personal, but if you just can’t make yourself sit down and write one little page and send it off.. I say that with a smile, just hoping to encourage you!
Thank you thank you thank you!!!! Send this along if you know someone else who would be kind enough to participate. Stories that come in a little late will be reserved for phase two, but don’t delay, please.
One more t’ing:
Make new friends, but keep the old! One is silver, and the other gold.
CHA CHA CHA! 
Love!
Cathryn
February 5, 2009
Well hello!
New blog, can’t wait to get started here. John and I are ready to share our adventures with you!
Thanks,
Cathryn
