I have been so busy, here and there. Here is a brief glimpse of me, look quick before I'm off to something else!
I keep looking at my feet in this photo. I have been attending yoga class regularly and often find myself focused on the contact between my feet and the floor. I really like this grounding. It is a point of mindfulness.
I put a few birds in my etsy shop earlier today. Please take a look if you like. Lovely World Handmade.
Hope all is well. ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡
I have a table at the Twist Craft Fair this Friday and Saturday. Twist is held at the Northampton Center for the Arts in downtown Northampton, MA. I enjoyed the fair when I participated last November, and look forward to seeing the other crafters who will be there this weekend. If you are in the neighborhood, stop by!
Thanks to all who left such thoughtful comments on my last post. I really appreciate them!
I finished the flamingo over the weekend. This burst of pink is now sitting on a shelf in my work room and I am enjoying it very much. It is made from hand-dyed wool, linen, and cotton and stands about a foot tall.
The process of designing and making this bird was a pleasure. I would say that I was in my creative "zone," that place in which my creative spirit is made manifest in the piece I am creating. The experience of making something that truly expresses me - my style and vision - is powerful.
I see so many beautiful, creative, and clever things online. At times I have wondered how I could ever find my own unique style with so many images of other people's work clouding my mind. Because I am self-taught in my craft, the internet (as well as art and craft books) have become my school. I have had to learn to take from what I see: technique, use of color, thematic ideas, materials, and meld it all into an expression of my own. My craft is what emerges after and apart from the inspiration I find online and in books.
In making my soft sculpture, I have been inspired by these artists: Lemmikkiapina, Abby Glassenberg, Jennifer Muskopf, Abigail Brown, Ann Wood, Stephanie Congdon Barnes, Tamar Mogendorff, Mimi Kirchner, and many others I'm sure. I honor their work and thank them for their inspiration. But, I need to do the hard work of making my own craft.
If you have a reasonable level of skill, it is easy to copy someone else. But, is that honest? Does that ultimately feed and satisfy your creative soul? Does it make you feel joyful? Having a creative vision and manifesting it is hard work. It does not happen overnight. You have to practice, make mistakes, rethink your ideas. You have to try and try again. The work is worth the effort - as you begin to see yourself in the pieces you create.
I have been sewing and painting this year. I paint a little each day (on my calendar) and sew on and off throughout the week. I can see many connections forming between my paintings and my sewn sculpture. The way I relate to color, shape, texture. I can see hints of this cohesive style as well when I embroider or crochet or make a collage. It is through repetition and everyday practice that I learn about myself and experience the joy of being in the moment of creation.
I am thankful for the opportunity to make things. My life is so much richer for it.
Another thunderstorm with hard rain this morning. I was out walking my brother's dog while he and his family are away. We took shelter before the height of the storm.
So many wildflowers to see now: red trillium, trout lily, and spring beauties. Also skunk cabbage and fiddleheads. We hope to hike on Pine Cobble this weekend. There are many, many ladies' slippers there, although it might be too early for them.
Do you like the flamingo so far? Wings, eyes, and legs today.
The wildflower paintings are from a very large, old guide book I found at the library book sale. The paintings are quite nice, particularly in the large format.
My daughter changed the quilt on her bed. I love the blue and white. Her room is so quiet. I hope she will always be able to have such a retreat.
Warm temperatures. Thunder storms. Daffodils in the garden. Wildflowers along the trail in the woods. I think spring is settling in.
I purchased this Peterson's Field Guide to Birds' Nests at the library book sale last week. I am enjoy looking through the pages at the wide variety of nesting that birds do. What a leap of faith for these birds to leave such fragile packages among the branches of trees and brush, or even on the ground. I guess it is the same leap of faith that we humans take when we have a baby. I believe that pregnancy and parenting are such practices in letting go. Letting go of control. Letting go of preconceived notions of how things should be. These are not always easy lessons. And they can bring both great joy and terrible heartbreak.
I made a couple more linen and wool wading birds. I think I will make a flamingo next. I have some beautiful pink hand-dyed wool and pink linen. I am also working out some patterns for butterflies. I see the wings as opportunities for embroidery. These are my spring projects.
Thank you all for your nice comments about the birds I posted earlier this week.
I just finished this bird. It is a wading bird. Long legs, long neck, long beak. I am very happy with its sturdy elegance.
I will be listing some new things, including birds, in my etsy shop. I will let you know in this space when that happens. Also, if anyone would like me to make a bird in a particular color, I can do a special order for you. Just let me know. I have many colors of hand-dyed wool just waiting to be turned into a lovely creature.
I finished these new birds last week. I am very happy with the bright and cheery colors. The hand-dyed wool is so nice to work with. I especially like cutting and stitching the tail feathers.
It was 77 degrees here yesterday. The resident birds worked themselves into a frenzy of song. I can hear them out there again today. I expect we'll be seeing baby birds before too long. I also heard the frogs peeping last evening. That is a sure sign of spring. The peepers are one of my earliest childhood memories. I remember my mother holding me as we stood outside in the growing dark. She told me that the peeping sound that enveloped us was the frogs awaking to spring.
What is it that makes early memories? An experience with strong emotion surrounding it? An experience reinforced by repeated retelling? An experience of something so new that it deeply embeds in our mind and heart?
Everything is still gray and brown around here. Even a bit of grungy white snow on the north-facing slopes near the house. I suppose this neutral landscape is what sent me looking for color in my work room over the weekend. I pulled out a bag of hand-dyed wool and was amazed to find such luscious color within. I had somehow forgotten I had such treasure hidden away. The fabric reminded of the watercolors I have been using for painting.
I am working on a new collection of wool songbirds. I sold all of the ones in my etsy shop during the fundraiser for Save the Children earthquake relief in Japan. I want to give everyone who participated in this group fundraiser a huge THANK YOU for helping out. Because of your generosity, I raised $148.50 from sales in my shop. I know that the other crafters involved were very successful as well. I am honored to have been a part of this effort.
I'll be back with some finished birds before long. I am working out a new bird pattern for spring as well. It feels good to be doing some focused sewing after a spell of primarily painting and knitting. I am participating in the Twist Craft Fair in early May, so that has given me focus as well.
{I found some color in my daughter's room as well - her violets are blooming like crazy.}
Be well. XO
More snow today. School delayed by two hours. At least the sun is shining in the window right now.
Finished up this little squirrel for a special order in my etsy shop. I was excited to use some of the German mohair I bought a while back. I think it makes a spectacular tail.
As I was tidying up my desk top, I collected these papers that I have used for blotting while painting. I enjoyed looking at them. You can see where I cut out a pattern for squirrel legs from one of the papers.
The bottom photo shows a painting exercise I did from Heather Smith Jones' book. I really like this book and look forward to trying more of the exercises.
I want to do some yoga. I read this and it makes sense to me right now:
Twist and become whole. Bend and become straight. Empty out and become full. Expend energy and be renewed.
Two days of snow. And it is still coming down. Another storm forecast for tomorrow night.
Inside a lot. Cabin fever? Being shut in makes me investigate my internal dialogues more closely. Wondering what is enough. Enough material comfort. Enough love. Enough success.
There is so often too much here in the United States. I am overwhelmed by excess. Just this morning my mother bemoaned her feelings of distress upon entering a K-Mart earlier this week: too much stuff, too much needless, poorly-made stuff. I would also say that Americans, amid our great material comforts, often worry excessively about security, or the sense of a lack there of. (Elizabeth posted this, which points to our conflicted culture.)
Excess and overload. Here is what the Tao Te Ching says:
Hold to these principles: Seek simplicity, grasp the essential, overcome selfishness and wasteful desires.
Great trouble comes from not knowing what is enough. Great conflict arises from wanting too much. When we know when enough is enough, there will always be enough.
Painting and sewing animals. Wondering how I might combine these two?
