bee creative

going places, day six

It's been sunny and cold.

Instead of going places, I made a wreath today with windfall branches, ivy and rose hips from the garden and the local trails.

And made some stars.

It took a few tries. 

Today's collection of dots. 

playing, but not

 

To return to the On Being conversation with Christiana Figures, she introduced me to a new to me word...glocalization;

"think global, act local."

Thinking about that as I move pigment dots around...

local color, sharing globally.

The two small circles are the pigments that I made from rocks. The moment that I hit the rock and it shattered...I don't know that I've shared how that felt. 

Amazement, awe...a sense of gratitude.

Rocks are so old. 

To transform a rock to something else, it's something to do with respect.

 

And here, a little something different. 

Pigment made with willow leaves +  pressed leaves from high bush cranberry (viburnum family) and red twig dogwood.  The willow not native to this area, the other two are.

Looking closer gives a better sense of the willow pigment,

there along the edge...liminal space.

 

 

on the table

Mostly it's been a stormy  weekend.  Early Saturday morning there was a gust of wind measured at 63 MPH. 

During this week's On Being interview with Christiana Figueres, Krista Tippett says,

"When I was growing up, when you were growing up, the weather was a matter of small talk. The weather and the seasons had a predictability that was a rhythm of our lives, and how quickly that has shifted, and we just kind of — It’s so interesting to me and a little bit terrifying how we so quickly move into accepting that there’s fire season."

I was stitching the edges of a cloud patch while I listened to this. 

It is the wind season, the season of power outages and floods.

The cloud patch is now attached to my blanket that I call "Peace and Plenty." It's the name of the quilt square that is on the upper right hand side. 

(There was another cloud close to this spot, it has been temporarily been removed.)

Somewhere on the blog I know I have shared about this blanket (it's mostly 2 layers so not a quilt) but I want to share again.

It started as a memory blanket for my grandfather.  The chambray fabric in the Peace and Plenty squares are from my grandfather's work shirts, the ones he wore gardening. 

Originally the plan was to have a whole quilt of the squares but I needed a blanket and started stitching everything that was handy together and they just seemed to fit. 

I've been adding patches to it for awhile now and suspect that eventually it will be more patches than not.

It is becoming a story quilt, every patch and mend making the story more clear to me. 

I am thinking about choice, and trust, and love...and other things too. 

 

 

ephemeral

Silly...I had forgotten that the ink I made with the red rose petals and alum turned green. 

It has been growing mold but I decided to use it anyway. 

Ephemeral...it will be that anyway.

And...I think I am going to crop it.

One of the beauties of digital images, the ability to experiment. 

rethinking some things

The rock that I picked up at the beach the other day.

Choice.

Magic in the garden.

Possibilities.

Early this morning, boiling onion skins to dye a shirt that I stained.

It won't be this bright as it dries. 

Thinking about how I spend my mornings.

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

 

on the table

I've spent a lot of the weekend rearranging things...

When I paused to look at what was stacked on my table I had to shake my head...pigment making supplies and pigments, dye supplies, the baby indigo vat, sewing projects, paper projects, books, drawing supplies, a water color set, yarn, gifts from friends, the occasional cat and an iron that I rarely use.

So many things that I am interested in. 

So many things that I am or want to be.

And a kind of chaos.

Looking closer,

There was also lunch:

Toppings: pears, smoked cheese, walnuts and radicchio.

And dye experiments.

The fabric on the left and middle were dyed in the baby vat, two dips for the cotton and one dip for the wool.  The wool on the right was dyed in the ice water dye bath. 

And that brings me to my reading...

One of the concepts that I find so validating in  Ways of Being is the idea that it isn't about either/or.  On a personal, small level for me, there is comfort in all the examples that Bridle gives. When I look at my table there is very little either/or. There are possibilities.  Why identify as one kind of maker?

And then there is a discussion on the importance of randomness. I am thinking about how that relates to creativity, how we define creativity. 

More thinking...in this week's newsletter Krista Tippet links to a podcast by Kevin Kelly.  The discussion is about technology, what it is and how it is shaping our world.  It's a great conversation, I especially like this:

So we have this world where, basically, answers have become cheap and ubiquitous and pervasive, and they’re everywhere, and so what’s much scarcer are good questions. And good questions are kind of like a discovery. They’re kind of like a way of exploring “what if?”

What if... :)

vacation, staycation!

So much I want to do...

On the way home I stopped to sit on the beach and pick up a few rocks to try making pigment with. 

To take some deep breathes.

I may stitch "breathe" on the hem of all my shirts. 

I also picked up a few pieces of seaweed that caught my eye and a few shells.  There were some high winds this week, things seemed a little more diverse on the beach. 

It's been really cold, hard frosts most mornings.

Next week it is supposed to warm up and rain so tomorrow will be a good day for the outside projects...maybe some cyanotypes?

Also gathering wreath materials.

Definitely going to see if I can find some rocks that I can make pigment with from the garden, maybe gather some more soil. 

I am planning on posting every day...just a little accountability.

on the line

As a phrase it means, risk and danger.

When the phrase came to me I was really thinking about what was on the laundry line.  That was before I had to get Gibson down; he was dangling by his paws after climbing up the fabric.

I think it's the clothes pins he's after. 

Then I thought of the line I stitched today.

And of writing a line of...poetry? 

I made notes right on the fabric during a class today.

Mantua-makers seam.

All of this is not to be confused with a train of thought.

Which might be derailed.

 

permission slips

This morning I was ready to go to the Farmer's market and decided I just didn't want to go...so I didn't.

So there was a nap.

Some digital collage.

Sewing.

House cleaning.

Lunch.

Maybe a little too much olive oil from frying the panner and almonds in this but it was good. 

Squash + water + panner + almonds + onions + paprika type spice mix + olive oil.

A little puttering in the garden once the air quality improved.  It's been in the moderate to unhealthy categories today.

And a lot of distraction provided by the cats...