bee creative

to be so many things (going big)

I used to worry (and every once and awhile still do) that I loved to do too many things.

The worry is/was driven, I think, by being part of a culture that values specialization. Success is often defined as becoming very good at one thing. 

That's just not who some of us are.

It's not who I am.

A few months ago (I know I should have paid more attention to where but I can't remember or find where) I discovered an artist that I wanted to know more about, Meryl McMaster.

So, I ordered her book. It arrived at the end of last week and it is full of wonder.

Buffy Sainte-Marie, in the foreword, writes about how it wasn't always that people were specialists.

We knew how to do many things. 

After some of the other reading/listening I've been doing recently (Nick Offerman/Wendell Berry in particular), it really clicked into place that we lose something really important when we specialize too much.  It's not just about not knowing where food comes from or how something is made, but how we might be and interact with the world around us.

There is a loss of faith in our ability to be something more than a consumer. It shows up every day in the news.

And as I go out into the garden every day right now and collect or harvest for projects or food, I am watch all the changes that are happening so quickly in this season. I am thinking about how much I learn from being curious about growth, about nurturing a garden. Thinking about how a garden is always a process. 

About how it influences me as someone who makes things; how I make them and why I make them.  A garden is abundant with possibilities. 

This is partly a response to Grace's and Jude's posts regarding making, but also something that I am almost always thinking about...

"Tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"  Mary Oliver

 

always something

When all three cats are in the same place something interesting is happening.

This morning it was an opossum.

And Chester, one of the neighborhood cats, who wasn't budging from the path.

The opossum worked its way slowly towards the fence with all of us watching until it went out of sight.

And then it was back to watching the birds.

*

Heading for a hot weekend, over 80 degrees which is 20 degrees over normal.

 

learning from mistakes

Gibson and Widget were napping on one of the rocking chairs.

Timber was napping on top of the armoire.

I thought, here's my opportunity to cut out some fabric!

The fabric wasn't even unfolded before I had all three cats playing peek-a-boo as I shook it out.

I retreated to the front porch...

First cutting the yardage in half and then laying out my two pattern pieces.

The top is from, The Act of Sewing and the skirt is one that I self drafted. 

I rounded the curve in the arm hole a little bit as I cut the first piece. 

The first layer was used as the pattern for the second layer.

I've found that I like this top better when I use the neckline for the back on both sides.

***

This afternoon I've been listening to presentations for an online early childhood education conference.  There was discussion on the power of making mistakes. 

I thought about how many pieces of clothing its taken me to reach the point of being comfortable making clothes that I am happy with. 

To reach the point where a pattern is a suggestion and nothing else because I know what I like and what works with my body type. 

There have been a lot of things through the years that were cut up and used for something else or that are still waiting for me to imagine another use.

Thinking about how mistakes are only mistakes when we imagine a desired outcome, when we are expecting a certain result. 

***

Thinking about this:

"Our culture has beheld with suspicion unproductive time, things not utilitarian and daydreaming in general, but we live in a time when it is especially challenging to articulate the importance of experiences that don't produce anything obvious, aren't easily quantifiable, resist measurement, aren't easily named, are categorically in-between."  Ann Hamilton (found here)

And, from Neil Gaiman's book Fragile Things (which I am getting my own copy of as soon as possible!)

“600 professional dreamers would have been needed, to reveal the nature of things hidden beneath the roots of the trees and in the deepest mountain cabins and the depths of the seas for the map to be worth anything needed to contain the visible empire and the invisible.” Neil Gaiman Fragile Things Chapter 2

Professional dreamer...that's the job I want. 

 

making things, growing things

Salve making:

Olive oil (about 1 cup) that  calendula petals have been steeping in + beeswax (about 1 tablespoon).

I usually dry any plant matter before adding to the olive oil.  This keeps it from molding.

I have a dedicated jar that I use for melting the beeswax in and use a frying pan as a double boiler to heat the oil and the wax.  Once the wax is melted, it is poured into the heated oil and stirred (I usually use a wood skewer).  If you try this, be careful with this step and don't walk away. 

The salve will solidify as it cools. 

The proportion of wax to oil will impact how hard the salve is.  My proportion makes a fairly soft salve that can almost become a liquid on a really hot day. 

Sewing:  This was dress length.  I never really wore it much and it's been sitting in a "re-do" pile.  Today I cut it to just above knee length and am now hemming it.  I will probably make a bag with the fabric I cut off.

Growing: 

The ginger has sprouted! I will put it in a planter and give it a good dose of fish fertilizer (recommended by a local farmer who grew it to sell at the farmer's market for many years).

The cherry, plums, pears and one of the apple trees are blooming.  This cherry has never set fruit.  It's supposed to be self-pollinating but I don't think it is!

Eating:

Pasta + homemade ricotta + sorrel (garden) + oregano (garden) + asparagus (garden) + hazelnuts and hazelnut oil (local, farmer's market) + parmigiano reggiano (from far away Italy because I am not perfect and I love it so).

Listening to:  Where the Deer and the Antelope Play by Nick Offerman.  Interesting, sometimes funny, political, and seriously concerned about the state of our world. He sometimes seems to go off on a tangent, which might drive some crazy, and he has what I would call a "potty mouth."

I am not quite done yet, but am pretty sure one of my favorite things he discusses is about how disconnected we become from our  environment and what it means to be a community, when we are only consumers... 

#100 still so many questions

Today's marks, inspired by the neighbor's porch light and tree branches. 

Made with oak gall and iron ink which is an ink that is pretty much permanent and has a long history of use.  Using it is a connection to tradition.

Turmeric ink which isn't light fast and will fade eventually.

The top image was made with layering the page three times digitally; the center a cropped section of the page.

This is the original page.

I also copied the page and then used the copy to make the two painted butterflies.  I added more turmeric ink and indigo ink to these.

I made some notes today...thoughts about the last 100 days. Still processing really.

A list of words: time, location, story, ephemeral, permanent, sky, layers, filters, flowers, birds, the ocean, boats, rocks, dots, lines, wet, dry, found, organic, digital, connections, relationships, unpredictable, and resist.

I've played with a variety of ways of making marks, a variety of papers. 

And this too, layered images as another way of telling a story.  A liminal space between digital and handmade.

There are still so many things to explore...

 

 

#91 on the edge

Or maybe the home stretch.

Today I finished the third panel for my insomnia blanket and stitched them all together.

It is now bed sized and cat approved.

I am adding a crocheted edge and will be putting it in the washing machine to felt/full. 

When I started this (August 2020) Lola was still keeping me company and I knew it wouldn't be useful unless it was sturdy.  Lola loved to make a good nest.

While I may not need it as sturdy, I still want to felt it.  I love that texture. And I have a few other ideas for embellishment. 

The edge will go fairly quickly so I suspect it will be in the washing machine by Sunday.

I am also almost done with my 100 day pledge.

My intent was to make a rock. 

It's becoming something else.

Definitely something I've learned over the last few months.

#89 spring fever

There are signs of spring everywhere!

The dandelions are very welcome in the garden, the bindweed is not...but wait, it can be used for twining!

Hmm...this is how I get into trouble.

One more day of good gardening weather and then it's supposed to rain again.

April showers!

It's time to watch Enchanted April again.

The camellia is about to bloom. 

It doesn't do very well if the flowers get wet.  Not really the best choice for this area but they are so beautiful and they can be brought in as a cut flower.

I need to get organized with my plan to put a shelf up for flowers high enough so that the cats can't reach them. 

I was trying to make an umbrella but things got out of control...

#85 capacity

Tonight's dinner: broth (store), potstickers (store), spinach, dehydrated carrots/celery/tomatoes, a splash of tamari sauce, a few pieces of dehydrated tomato sauce.

Perfect for a chilly day.  There is a chance of snow in the forecast!

A perfect project for this afternoon...a few rows on the wool blanket.

A little help from Gibson.

I listened to Rumble Strip while I knitted.

The question discussed was "What class are you?" What a complicated question...what an important question. 

For me it's not just about income or education but also...how vulnerable are you? 

Today's mark making:  A layered image that I did several years ago printed out.  And then I dropped rose hip ink over the top.

Thinking about the capacity to imagine, the capacity to absorb;

 first we have to imagine that it is possible.

#60 the full moon, she is rising

The trees got messy.

But there is this.

Or this.

And this.

Just came in from outside. 

The full moon is about to clear the tops of the trees. 

A train is going by.

The neighborhood is quieting.

#49 a collection

Dots/orbs/crystal balls or maybe bubbles from the last few days all together. 

This morning's dot was altered by a cat tail. 

I think it's a comet now...