Read Me A Story...

A long time ago, my husband and I had the odious task of painting what seemed like hundreds of slats on our front porch.  It was a job that neither of us wanted to do -- but it had to be done.  So, we decided that while one of us painted the other would read aloud and then we'd take turns painting and reading.  We chose an author we both liked and got busy.  It was perfectly lovely painting and listening to each other read.

As I have become more and more involved with punchneedle I've found that once I have the design created and drawn it is just a matter of punching in and out, in and out.  Unlike beadwork or book art or even doll art this is a quiet, routine art form. 

On my last visit to the library I picked up a couple of audio books.  I wasn't sure whether or not I would like having a book read that way but once I tried it, I was hooked.  I've found that I get quite involved with the story -- more so maybe than when I'm reading to myself.  The voice reads the words and I'm listening as I punch and the voice has my complete attention. 

As a lover of the written word, I'm now becoming a lover of the spoken word!

"There is creative reading as well as creative writing". - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"In The Garden"

Are you ready for spring?  I am!!!

Here's my latest doll, already working in her garden.  What will she see as the season comes on?

She'll start with seeds and find a few small stones as she turns the earth over.  She'll see a bright green stem reaching for the sun and later on tiny buds.  Finally, at her feet she'll see flowers. 

She'll literally be surrounded, front and back with all things growing.

"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul". -- Alfred Austin

Strolling Around Charleston

Let’s walk down one of the shaded pedestrian walks in downtown Charleston. This city is very walkable but mind your step -  the cobblestones are uneven and may play havoc on your feet, let alone your balance.

We'll wander into a small cemetary set in a churchyard.  This one has stained glass windows overlooking the markers.

There are wonderful old homes – this one captured my imagination with its open doorway which led into an inner courtyard garden.

Mind you, we have to stop occasionally to step into the many galleries along the way and check out the Belgium chocolate shop!

"A city is a place where there is no need to wait for next week to get the answer to a question, to taste the food of any country, to find new voices to listen to and familiar ones to listen to again". - Margaret Mead

Swamp Fever

Don’t you love it when you take a vacation (long or short) that involves sights you don’t usually see? The joy of driving over to Charleston is that we get to explore worlds that we don’t have here at home.

                                                                  Photo by Tom Baugh

Our first stop on this recent trip was the Audubon Swamp Perserve. This swamp area is part of the original Magnolia Plantation lands. That plantation’s crop was rice and the wetlands served as a perfect growing place.  Today it is a preserve for all manner of wildlife. We were so very fortunate because both the egrets and the herons were breeding and the rookery was filled with these beautiful birds. They would swoop up into the air and then settle down in the trees.

                                                                    Photo by Tom Baugh

The egrets were my favorites because their beautiful, white, fluffy feathers just captured my imagination. What would it be like to crawl onto the back of one of these majestic birds and hitch a ride, nestling down into their white, fluffy feathers? I wish I could know.

There was a thick carpet of bright green duckweed coating many of the surfaces of the swamp. It was so dense and smooth that it looked like a floor of bright green linoleum that you could easily walk upon and never get wet. Of course we weren’t allowed to test that theory.

When I saw this stand of trees with lines and shadows running across the top of the duckweed, my imagination took over. Do you think one day I might translate this picture into punchneedle? I think I might try!

This log, seemingly wrapped with vines (or whatever) made me think texture and sculpture. How I would love to have this in my yard so that I could study its turns and twists and intricacies.

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous". - Aristotle

Road Trip

We're setting out on a small road trip - driving over to Charleston, SC.  We have been to Charleston once - in the summer - when it was so hot and humid as to be intolerable.  We vowed we would go back one day - when the temperature and humidity were more tolerable.  We tried one October only to have to cancel at the last minute because there was a hurricane off the coast and it was raining so hard that we would have been trapped inside a hotel room if we'd made the trip.

And so, hoping that the third time's the charm we head off down the highway to the ocean and the history of a very historical town.

For the first time I am going to be taking stitching with me -- in all my years of art/craft work I have never been able to take something with me.  Book art could not be done far away from glue and sewing machine and lots of supplies - beading could be transported but never seemed like something that could be easily done while sitting on the beach (just too many little tiny seed beads).  But NOW I have punchneedle and it is totally portable.  I have prepared a bird design and have already punched the center design - so that on our trip I will only be working on the background (which eliminates having to take 1,000 embroidery skeins with me). 

See you in a few days.

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living". - Miriam Beard