Clean Up!!

The time has come -- I've met my 'show' quota and its time to clean up my work area.  Although compared to pictures I've seen (and you know who you are *smile*) my work area is actually recognizable underneath my mess.  But for me - 'Miss Neatnik' - it is cluttered and filled with this and that.  

I love cleaning up after a major project (or series of projects) is completed.  Its like clearing my mind, getting it all set up to conjure up new and exciting work.  Happily I weed through all the left over threads, embellishments, buttons, charms and bits and pieces -- putting everything away that I don't think I'll need anytime soon. 

Ah, the joy of a space in which to clutter all over again!

"Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it's not all mixed up." - A. A. Milne

Reverse Punchneedle

As I was busily creating bracelets my husband looked at one still on the frame and commented that he liked it very much.  I then explained to him that he was looking at the back of it - and I turned it over to show him the front.  He still liked the back better than the front *smile*!

This gave me the idea that in future work I might try combining regular punchneedle with reverse punchneedle -- the change in textures should work quite well.  All I have to do now is figure out how to hide the little tags that I usually have dangling on the surface of the back of the work. 

I love the idea of exploring new and exciting techniques in the format that I'm using at the time.  This one will go into my 'idea' book for future pieces.

"Trust that little voice in your head that says 'Wouldn't it be interesting if...'; and then do it". - Duane Michals

Whiteside Mountain

Oh to climb to the top of a mountain -- so high that I can look down upon other mountains.

To look up and see nothing but blue sky above me - no canopy of trees, no airplane flying over, not even a passing cloud.

To be 'king of the hill' for just a moment -- to savor the fact that this short little lady is now actually looking 'down' on everything.

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings." - John Muir

A Bevy of Bracelets

Here are a few of the completed bracelets that I've been working on.  Its really been fun and if I wasn't on a time deadline it would be very enjoyable.  I do think, however, that working on a timeline sometimes gives greater excitement to the completion because with each one finished I smile and say 'I did it'!!

I've loved working with the various colors -- some, of course, are more special to me than others -- but I've also tried to combine colors that I might not often try.  Hopefully those will appeal also.  Come to think about it, are there any bad colors?  Of course not!

I've used Caron's Wildflower threads as my color companion and from those beautiful combinations I've added embroidery floss to coordinate the colors.  The fun part has been the decorating.  I've dug into my stash, once again, and come up with fibers and beads and buttons and such in order to 'dress' up each bracelet.

"All things will be produced in superior quantity and quality, and with greater ease, when each man works at a single occupation, in accordance with his natural gifts, and at the right moment, without meddling with anything else". - Plato

"Rivers and Tides"

 Patrick Dougherty

How do I describe what I feel when seeing art that is not meant to last?  How does the artist feel to create something knowing that its lifespan might be very short -- that it might last for a year or literally a few minutes?  It seems to me to be the very absence of ego and it also pulls me in, with its ethereal quality, in ways that a painting or a sculpture might never do.

Andy Goldsworthy

I'm speaking of the ephemeral natural art created by artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Patrick Dougherty.  These pieces are created from natural objects and then left in site. It is the whim of nature - rain, wind, snow, sun  and water that determines how long they will last. 

Andy Goldsworthy

During the time of duration this art will change shape, but not as the artist planned but by how each piece reacts to the climate and weather to which it is subjected.

Andy Goldsworthy

Sadly, this type of art only lasts a short while, all that will be left are photographs of these lovely natural sculptures.  I stand awestruck by those artists who work with this concept.  To look at a piece of art that I know will never be quite the same, even if I came back to look at it each day, is to know an artist who creates for the shear joy of creating.

[Note: there is the most wonderful DVD of Andy Goldworthy's work called "Rivers and Tides" - just in case you want to be totally awed!]

"At its most successful, my 'touch' looks into the heart of nature; most days I don't even get close.  These things are all part of a transient process that I cannot understand unless my touch is also transient - only in this way can the cycle remain unbroken and the process be complete." - Andy Goldsworthy