"Light and Shadows" Heart

I've completed another heart - this time calling it "Light and Shadows".  The fibers that I recently acquired made this story easy to tell.  I couldn't resist combining the Wildflower shade of 'winter wheat' with warm gold and soft lavender.  As I punched this heart it seemed to speak to me of canyon walls with their warmth and the depths of the shadows within.  The button in the center (which unfortunately reflects light so that you aren't getting a true picture of its color and richness) looks like a glazed tile piece - also in a rich, warm gold color. 

I'd love to know what you see when looking at this design?

"Shadow is a colour as light is, but less brilliant; light and shadow are only the relation of two tones". - Paul Cezanne

Seeing the Light

Finally the sun has come out!!  After what seemed like endless days of grey clouded over skies, the sun has made an appearance.  As I walked around the yard I realized that I could actually see a reflection in the small pond outside my studio.  What joy!

Although the rhododendrons aren't convinced that winter is over (they are still bent over - each leaf like an old woman sheltering herself from the cold) I know that they were feeling the sudden warmth of the sun.

Surely our winter is not over yet -- for that would be a minor miracle.  But for today - this sunny, glorious day - I'll say 'thank you'!!

"The February sunshine steeps your boughs and tints the buds and swells the leaves within". - William C. Bryant 

Absorbing the Light

Imagine the most wonderful light in the world.  Imagine that light surrounding you, lighting up all the corners and then creating shadows.

Imagine looking across a valley, as far as the eye can see with the golden light of fall filling your soul.

Imagine ancient rocks outlined before a sunlit sky.

Imagine a sky so blue it takes your breath away.

These are some of the desert sights I've had over the past week.  It was very hard to come home!

"Wander where there is no path". - Chuang Tzu

Light and Shadow

This time of the year -- the end of fall, the beginning of winter -- is the time when shadows come out to play.  Here in western North Carolina all the leaves have left the trees -- so their bare branches stand out against the late fall sky.  During the summer there are few shadows - mostly shade from all of the leafed out trees.  But now those bare branches and the clear golden sunshine combine to give me shadows when I walk.

I love this time of the year.  I love being able to see the mountains in the distance because they are no longer hidden in the denseness of the leafy trees.  I love the sunshine which often appears in all its glory after we've suffered through some grey, cloudy days.  I love the fact that the shadows of the trees are before me on the pavement as I walk up the hill and that I can walk over the shadows and marvel at the shapes that they take.

Even though this is the 'shadow time' I feel that I can see more clearly at this time of year than at any other.

"Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides." - Junichiro Tanizaki 

Reflections

Not long ago I decided to make a series of beaded pictures whereby I created a beaded piece, mounted it on fabric and framed it.  Here are some thoughts I had as I created these two first pieces.

"Shadow Play" -- a piece that reflects the light and dark, the shadows and glimmer that appear each day.  Sliding into the colors in this piece I let the beads speak for themselves and they seemed to know what they were doing, where they should go.  This piece was stitched 'on the flat' which was a joy to me after completing "RSVP", the hand sculpture.  Beading 'on the flat' allows so much more latitude as to the various stitches that can be used and where the beads go.  I love a piece where I can let the beads flow - as if you come upon a form and shape in nature and it takes on a life of its own.

"On Gossamer Wings" -- this piece was a 'natural'.  I had found the dragonfly button and just had to use it.  As I beaded this piece it was late summer, a perfect time to be using these colors and this theme.  I was able to allow the summer light to creep into the work by using some beads that sparkled - much like the sun on a small pond.  As I've been in a 'learning' mode this past year I hadn't done much about adding bits and bobs on top of the beads but this time I found a stick which had some green lichen on it to attach on top of the beads.  I immediately fell in love with this idea and I know I'll try to layer more in the future. 

I know that a 'series' is not made up of just two pieces so there will be more (and more and more) of these to come -- aren't the opportunities, the inspiration and the creative freedom of encrusted beading just the most wonderful experience?

“Make visible what without you might perhaps never have been seen.” Robert Bresson