"Timepiece"

You never know where a bit of thought and meditation might take you.  This time it took me on a walk through 'time'.  

Using the door symbol I thought about walking through it, either inside or out, just as we walk through time all of our lives.

Numbers can rule our lives -- and if not rule them they certainly play an important place in our everyday activities.  I've come to think of time and numbers as a tool we've used to enhance civilization.  When there are large numbers of us we must have some way to control it all -- thus we keep time and we count the days.

As for me -- my studio work often takes me away from time.  For a bit of each day I am lost in ideas, thread, fabric and color and I treasure each moment (while not counting it).

"What then is time?  If no one asks me, I know what it is.  If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know." - Saint Augustine

Fourth Month Meditation

My meditation this month is 'time'.  It fills our days.  The sun comes up, the sun goes down, the earth rotates and the universe continues moving through time.  As humans we have managed to 'manufacture' a lot of our time.  We have rules for it, we try to tame it, even change its parameters twice a year.  We worry about having too much time on our hands or not enough time in a day or a month or a year.

Recently I had the opportunity to take a drive with my hubby where he was to attend an a half day meeting.  It was held at a beautiful lodge in the mountains but it turned out to be a grey, rainy, wet day.  I settled myself in a chair, opened my book and started to read.  I had a cup of tea beside me, my book and a beautiful view.  I wasn't 'filling' time while I waited for the meeting to be over.  I was letting go of time. There were no errands to do, no deadlines, no responsibility I had to fulfill.  Just a block of unregulated space and I realized how seldom I allow myself that kind of freedom.

A word such as 'time' is literally a never ending source of meditation and thought for me.

"Meditation is the soul's perspective glass." - Owen Feltham 

Time and Art

I am reading a book about the artist and time and space. As I read the first chapter about time and how we relate to it I realized something about myself that was unexpected.

Because I am fortunate enough not to have to work outside the home I have large blocks of time in which to work (and play) in my studio. All along I have thought that those hours in my studio were 'free time'. I thought that I really wasn't putting any time constraints on my work. But as I read this book I realize that I am not free of time - not even close. Here's what I do. Mornings in my studio begin with turning the computer on. As we all know there is the little clock at the bottom right hand of the screen telling me exactly what time it is. Once my computer work is finished I turn to my artwork -- but I also turn on the radio. I love to stitch to classical music but every hour on the hour the news comes on (telling me exactly what time it is). Looking at these two basic daily rituals I realize that I am not in a 'time-free' zone at all. I am always somewhat conscious of the time and how I'm working to it. Can I get this section finished before lunchtime? Should I get out the sewing machine now or wait till later when I have more time?

Now I'm thinking that it might be fun, for at least one day a week, to not turn on the computer (until the end of the day when I'm finished creating) and to play cd's instead of the radio and see how I feel not having those time reminders in front of me all day.

We have time zones: Pacific time, Mountain time, Central Time, Eastern time - why not a 'time-free' zone? Wouldn't it be fun to spend time without thinking about the fact that you're 'spending' it. Wouldn't it be interesting to find out how 'hooked' I am to time and to always knowing pretty much what time it is?

Do you have any ideas about escaping from our man-made time zones?

"A single day is enough to make us a little larger or, another time, a little smaller". - Paul Klee

Time After Time

Here is my most recently beaded figure - 'Time After Time'.  As I had mentioned in a previous post -- the theme of 'time' was with me throughout the beading of this figure.  You know how it is if you decide you want to buy a red car and then you see red cars everywhere?  Well many times my beading themes create the same thing with me.  I was thinking 'time' often while beading this figure.  At one point I even got into a discussion of quantum physics with the young man bagging my groceries - not that either of us seemed to know much about it - but we both agreed it has the most interesting and exciting possibilities. 

As my beading has progressed I find that other than my monthly BJP piece I am working exclusively on figures.  Most of the figures I've made so far are mounted on a stand using doweling.  I decided that I wanted to branch out and come up with some new-to-me and perhaps even unusual staging for my new pieces.  Thus the figure mounted on the clock face.  When I went to glue it to the clock I was full of trepidation -- wondering if it would actually stay on.  I was so scared that it wouldn’t hold. Once dry I decided to hang it on the bedroom wall – because of course its going to hold as long as its laying flat – but the test is to have it hanging. I woke up really early the next morning thinking I’d heard it fall and lay there in the dark imagining the beaded piece laying on the floor – having left the clock face behind. When I finally opened my eyes to daylight she was right where she should be, in the middle of the clock face. (If you'd like to see a close up of her face, please check out my posting of May 25th).

And now I'm off to start my next figure --

"What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know". - Saint Augustine