An Experiment

Life is full of adventures -- some come upon us not by our choosing, others we bring upon ourselves.  Recently our InspiredArts Guild had a challenge.  The challenge was to use something (anything) that you have had laying around for awhile.  Many of us have a bit of this and a bit of that snugged onto shelves, spilling out of boxes.  Some things were acquired because we liked them but didn't know what to do with them once we got them home. Others acquired because we've 'always wanted to try that'.

My challenge fell into that category.  Paper clay!  I've admired the work done with it for some time and one day I bought a block of it with the idea that I would at least try it out - someday!!  So this past month the 'someday' came in response to the IA challenge.

Thank heavens for Google - for tutorials that walk us through each step - for the opportunity to sit alone trying something, without the onus of 'what other people are doing or thinking about our sad attempts'. 

These days my nails are apt to be sporting bits of dried paper clay as I work through this new-to-me process.  And from the looks of this guy - my learning curve is going to be pretty steep!

"Creativity comes from looking for the unexpected and stepping outside your own experience." - Masura Ibuka

"Out of the Box"

Last January our InspiredArts Guild had a discussion about what we wanted for the coming year (2012).  Here we are beginning 2013 and its time to go back and see how each of us met the challenge of 'getting out of the box'. 

My statement, a year ago went something like this: "I focused too much on production in 2011".  My ways of jumping out of the box for 2012 were:  not doing any shows; trying new kinds of projects; developing punchneedle further.

Here's what actually happened this past year.  I did end up doing two shows - but I used pieces that I had made earlier so there was no production line going on in my studio and the only deadlines I had were to get the paperwork in on time.

Then I really jumped out of the box because I put punchneedle aside and moved on to some stitcheries early in the year.  From there I went into doll construction - first with a few 'stuffies' and then to a whole batch of cloth dolls with costumes that I designed.  Great fun!

As I ended 2012 I found myself still deeply entrenched in doll work - but switching over to paperclay (at least for the head).  This was a huge change for me since cloth has been my medium for years and years and years.  Here I was -getting messy - playing with clay - learning a whole new skill set.

So what do I foresee for 2013?  Hopefully my clay work will improve (it has to as it can't get much worse *smile*).  Hopefully I'll be able to continue exploration of alternative ways to make figures that please me. Perhaps I'll come up with a series of 'out of the box' figures. My overall plan is to work the way I did last year with no timetables to meet nor pressure. 

Let the creativity begin!

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." - Anais Nin

Happy New Year

Photo from Google Images

 

 

Morning has broken, like the first morning.
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird.
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning,
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word.

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlight from heaven.
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass.
Praise for the sweetnes of the wet garden,
Sprung in completeness where His feet pass.

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning.
Born of the one light Eden saw play.
Praise with elation, praise every morning;
God's recreation of the new day.

Morning has broken, like the first morning.
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird.
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning,
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word.

 

 

Happy New Year to one and all!

A Christmas Tale

 

When I was a child, many of my gifts were homemade.  A wooden wardrobe for my doll clothes, built by my father.  Always a new doll for Christmas but with it came doll clothes that my mother made.  The traditional roller skates and bikes were of course part of those exciting mornings.

One year, as my mother tucked me into bed she told me that Christmas might not be as 'full' as it had been in past years, that because she was ill she hadn't been able to 'do as much'.  She then told me of her childhood Christmases, during the Great Depression, when all they got for Christmas was pajamas and an orange.  She said that the orange was always the best one she'd ever tasted.  That explained to me why each year my brother and I always had an orange in our stocking and got a new pair of pajamas, which my mother had made.

The next morning my brother and I approached the Christmas tree and its wonderful gifts.  There were twin dollies which my Mother had crocheted outfits for, there were the roller skates that I had wanted... I loved everything and told my Mother later in the day that it was the best Christmas I'd ever had.  Sadly that was the last Christmas we had with her as she succumbed to cancer the following summer.

As a young mother myself I kept up the tradition -- my son always had an orange in the toe of his stocking and always got new pajamas (whether he needed them or not).

These days for me, it is the holidays that surround Christmas which touch me most deeply.  Thanksgiving for its pause for thankfulness and New Years Day which says goodbye to yesterday and looks ahead with promise to the coming year.  Today I hope you are all making Christmas memories that will remain within your heart forever.
 
"I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all year." - Charles Dickens

Winter Solstice

 

 

Look to this day for it is life.

The very life of life.

In its brief course lie all the verities

and realities of your existence:

The bliss of growth,

The glory of action.

The splendour of beauty.

For yesterday is but a dream,

and tomorrow is only a vision.

But today well-lived,

makes every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore to this day.

 

 

The Salutation of the Dawn

from the Sanskrit