bee creative

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.

 

 

research

Using the "portrait" function to take this photo.

Does anyone else call their phone, "the camera" sometimes?  I use the camera function more often than anything else.

Walk through a corridor.

  A liminal space.

Stream. Raindrops. Eddies. 

Yesterday's lunch break.  I gathered a few small branches of doug fir that blew off in the last wind storm and a couple pieces of lichen that fell to the ground.

  I did not take any of the clay I noticed on the bank of the stream.

After walking, I dug up some mullein and goldenrod from the garden border at work.  They were going to be pulled as "weeds."

Off work early today, I walked along the bay. 

There is frequently a heron perched in this tree.

I wonder...

 

transformation

Earlier this week, just before sunrise. 

I wanted a sense of the color and was surprised to realize I also captured an image of Venus (I am pretty sure.).

Today, walking on the boardwalk. 

Thinking about how the rocks are always changing, even if very slowly.

And how water and sky can change so quickly. 

I also watched a seal for awhile.

This is the bottom of the jar that the red cabbage pigment was in. 

It says so much about transformation. 

There has been some sewing. 

I am reclaiming two pieces of clothing.  One with a bleach stain and another that had a torn sleeve. 

Both are vests now with patches and pockets.

what might hold us up

Yesterday I updated my CPR/first aid card, went to the beach and then the farmer's market.

At the beach, I picked up one clam shell, one oyster shell and a piece of brick. I noticed the way that some of the old posts are breaking down; looked at the mix of broken clam and mussel shells, the rocks, glass, and brick. 

Wondered about the things I couldn't see...not just the physical but also stories and history.

Thinking about erosion. 

I listened to the On Being podcast with Baratunde Thurston for a second time and read the transcript.  During the "On Being" conversation he talks about "citizen" as a verb and describes it with four principles: to show up, invest in relationships, to understand power and all the different ways we have it and to value the collective. 

It seems so timely with everything that I am thinking about. 

I've started listening to some of the episodes of his podcast "How to Citizen."  I know that I will be listening to more.  One thing that I love is that the episodes include suggestions for reflection and action...participation!

It's hard to push past (edited, what I mean here is to think of anything else other than...) what is happening in our world right now, on so many fronts.  Some of the instructions given during the CPR/first aid class: stop for a moment and slow down, assess the situation, start over when you have to.

I am holding this thought close, the one that has been in my side bar for years and is one of my touchstones:

"It's not about healing the world by making a huge difference. It's about healing the world that touches you, that's around you." Rachel Naomi Reman

 

One thing I can do right now...

The two pots yesterday.  The pot with the mullein has been simmered for a few hours. The willow has just been soaking but I will heat the water soon and see if the fabric will absorb more color.  The fabric was soaked in a mordant.

Thinking about the act of absorbing.

There is enough fabric to make a top, both pieces are leftover from other projects.  I will probably over-dye with indigo to make a green.

Both of these plants (although maybe not this specific willow) are sometimes considered invasive.  Both have traditional healing qualities, color to share and their own natural beauty.

Thinking about the definition of ruderal again...

plants that grow where the ground has been disturbed.

 

 

 

some big thoughts

Yesterday Jude posted about audience and blogging. Early this morning I wrote a long journal entry about this that went off on all kinds of tangents.  That is one of the differences between writing to an audience and something private.  The effort to be coherent, to say something meaningful, to be thoughtful.  I am still trying to wrap my mind around what I want to say but here is some of it.

Accountability and participation.  While we can make goals and live without sharing in such a public way, it is helpful to be able to put what we are doing out into the world:  "I have this goal and I am showing up as a way to motivate me to keep trying."

Community.  An audience often implies information flowing in one direction, a producer and a consumer. A presentation.  A healthy community invites participation and conversation. 

Teachers, mentors, facilitators, caregivers.  To teach is often  someone imparting information to an audience.  The others involve a more complex relationship, one where there is a possibility of learning from each other.  Participation comes up for me again. 

Validation.  This is the messy and emotional part about sharing (Alfie Kohn,"Five Reasons to Stop Saying Good Job"). We all appreciate a "good job" as human beings occasionally. Buying something that someone has made is a form of validation.  It's hitting the "like" button.  And it can become about popularity... sometimes that is necessary for survival in the society we live in. 

When I consider it, I am not very interested in being part of an audience (but I am not judging people who choose that role, it is a way to participate). I want conversation, space to be curious, room to grow and be creative...

 

 

 

 

bindweed

Bindweed, Morning Glory, Calystegia sepium or Convolvulus arvensis (I am not sure which I have, it's one or the other), weed, invasive, ruderal species (plants that grow on disturbed soil); all names or identities we give this plant depending on your perspective. 

It's also a plant with potential. 

I took a terrific lake pigment class from Natalie Stopka this weekend. The focus was on making pigments from plants considered invasive or ruderal.

For the homework, I started by making a dye bath with bindweed leaves.  The fabric samples are cotton and silk, both mordanted with aluminum triformate.  The paint sample is the pigment "in process."  It should be the same color when I am done, just a smoother texture.   I also gathered some vines for basket making.

I love the idea of finding ways for something that is considered unwanted or waste to be useful or appreciated. There is such a need for us to do this in our world...and to redefine what is unwanted into something that just hasn't found it's purpose yet. 

Next up, buddleia, which is a concern in this area....

 

 

the same but different

About a month ago on an impulse I bought some yarn for socks.

Today I realized it was the same color as the fabric I dyed with goldenrod and marigold.

Knit 2, purl 2...it's soothing. 

 

This morning's sky, first day of fall. 

Early morning ten days ago, still summer...

The same but different.

change the story

At the farmer's market last Saturday I stopped to buy a cauliflower from a vendor I have been visiting more frequently. 

On the table I found a book...

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig.

It looked intriguing and I investigated.

Today I picked up my own copy at the bookstore.

I discovered this video and there is more to explore...

 

 

Tonight I am thinking about how once you "see" something, it is hard to unsee...

 

More to think about

word of the day, memory

I have 2 different directions for "how to make ink" from anything and one suggestion for how to make ink from rose petals.

This is what the ink looked like after following the suggestion for roses.

And this is what rose petals look like after simmering for 2 hours. 

(I love how the petals have become translucent and the veins appeared.)

After it cools I will add a few things and see what happens.

And these just because they are pretty.

Thinking about memory. 

How we hold on to them and how we forget. 

Things that we take pictures of and things that we don't.

Memorabilia and keepsakes.

Documentation, journals and diaries.

Story.

 

#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...