oddly conscious and not



How happy I am to finally have something to show you.
Yesterday, was a special day out for me. ( Geez, you'd think I lived in a sanitorium or something.)
I was gathered up and whisked  off to an artist friend's house with 2 other artist friends where we laughed and ate and painted.  In the afternoon I did some hand-stitched embellishement to my little pictures while these 3 goddesses watched a painting DVD that I'd already seen, all in a remote and magnificent setting on a wonderful lake near Georgian Bay.

How recharged I feel. This is the week I must pull my yard sale together, sorting, pricing and otherwise organizing, and all I want to do - finally - is play in the studio. I call this perverse,  the irony of life,  that we are often somewhere other than where we'd like to be. Not like a tree that never complains or a duck that follows its instincts. Just human, oddly conscious and not at the same time.

Miss Lettuce Head is what she was christened by my friends who couldn't quite make out what I was doing.

But for my etsy shop, I named this piece Into the Green.

It is done in watercolour and taupe-coloured silk thread.  It measures 4" x 6", done on a thick acid free lightly textured watercolour paper.

I had so much fun doing this. I've been influenced by so many wonderful artists over the years. I think fibre and mixed media artist, Lenore Tawney,  has had the greatest impact. I have had some contemporary artists come close; Cathy Cullis out of England being very important over the last year for her rare artistic and poetic connection with the subconscious mind. Recently I have been attuned to American mixed media artist Patti Roberts-Pizzuto who writes a superbly insightful blog into the process of wakening oneself to the wonders of the creative process, and whose work I admire. I think she was somehow with me as I created this piece.

Welcome to my new follower Owen Sound based artist Elly MacKay. Such delightfully whimsical work.

And with that, I bid you adieu.

All my best wishes for connecting

to universal love and passing it on.



Alice in Hinterland



Well, it might appear to some that 6 days is a long time between posts, but it  feels  like yesterday. There has still been a lot of work to do with helping my mom to release the material flotsam of her life, and in so doing there lays a message for me as well.  Because I am in transition anyway between careers, but not quite released from the last one ( I have 2 shows for my pottery scheduled),  it is difficult to release the support materials (reference files, books, supplies,etc.) on the chance ( and this is the big hitch)  that I might renew my love for this huge part of my life by reconceiving it.

Between being as sentimental as my mom and as attached to the poverty mentality (what if...?) I am forcing myself to release some of my possessions back into the universe with a due date of Saturday April 23 for a big yard sale of mom's stuff and mine.

A warm welcome to my new follower Patti Roberts-Pizzuto of Missouri Bend Studio who I was so pleased to meet on etsy, where both our shops are located.

In the meantime, that old sidekick of mine, Time,  marches on,

 and the warm temperatures over the last few days are causing big changes around here.

The mist rising off the snow is so beautiful.

You wouldn't know that the air is warm and sweet with the smell of earth and wood.

You wouldn't know that I could take these shots quite comfortably in my pajamas as the rising sun warmed everything up.

The birds were singing and flying all around me: the robin, the phoebe, the woodpecker.

Everything making ready for the return of life, new life, including our little garden.

And, so, finally, a little peek at the Alice

I began a week and a half ago.

All good wishes to all and each who remember and those who forget

how to be present with what is working, sprouting, growing

in our lives.

Presence.

northern russian needlework

More than a little time has passed since I last posted. Thank-you to those loyal readers who have patiently awaited my return.

My creative energy has gone into several things other than artwork, though last week I did manage to work on a project for the Bohemian Cafe & Gallery's show, The Mad Hatter's Tea Party, which I finished late at night and delivered before sunrise the following morning on the way to Toronto to help my mother with her big move to a wonderful new home.  If you look at the 7th picture down on this link you will see a glimpse of my piece in the direction of 1 o'clock from the central figure, a young lady dressed as Alice. This is a unique gallery in Muskoka that offers rental space to artists to show whatever they wish in downtown Bracebridge.

So, in lieu of showing something of my own, I am posting a rare photo of historic northern Russian needlework that shows its obvious Scandinavian influence.

I'm not normally a fan of cross stitch, but the geometrics in this piece are charmingly comical in their primitive drawings, sophisticated in their execution.

I expect to be back soon with some new things I've been working on.

'Til then,  all my best wishes.