My Drawing and Nancy Galimore’s Poem

Nancy's Poem
Nancy’s Poem and my drawing

I was just experimenting using the water-soluble stabilizer.  That’s the stuff that allows me to stitch drawings on a piece of fabric without using batting so the piece isn’t stiff.  I got it so I  could make scarves with drawings on them.  So, I was experimenting with it and put up a picture of this simple drawing I did on a linen napkin,  on instagram.  Almost immediately, I got a message from Nancy Gallimore.  She said she had a picture in her head when she was writing a poem that morning.  Then she saw the photo of my drawing and said it was the same as the picture she saw when writing her poem.

I’m not sure how this happens, but similar things  have happened before.  As I’ve said, I think some ideas are in the air, just waiting to be plucked.  This one seems to have been plucked by both Nancy and myself.  And I should say that Nancy lives in Oklahoma  and we only know each other online (Nancy has the blog Tales You Win ) except for meeting in person, once,  at the last Bedlam Farm Open House.

Nancy wanted to buy my practice piece, not that I was planning on selling it.  I was planning on putting it in a pile of other practice pieces and mistakes in the corner of my studio.  But a story like this is hard to resist.  I mean, here we are thinking of the same thing at the same time and both of us making it real, me in pictures and her in words.  So I asked to read her poem and if there was a part of it that she would like me to write on the piece around the drawing.

I found Nancy’s poem powerful and affirming and  loved the way it went with my drawing.  So I wrote the three sentences from it that she chose, put a backing on the piece and sent it off to her.

I’m not sure what kind of mojo was going on to make this all come together but it seemed so natural and easy, like it was meant to happen.

Out of the Woods By Nancy Gallimore

Determined roots find purchase,
Defying ever-shifting soil and rock.
Branches reaching, constantly reaching
Though brush and thicket strive to thwart.
Not the tallest in the forest,
Perhaps not the most glorious crown,
But I am strong, I am supple.
I am tenacious,
I can bend without breaking.
I will dance in the wind.
I will offer shelter through the storm.
I will find my path to the sun.

The back of the wall hanging
The back of the wall hanging

4 thoughts on “My Drawing and Nancy Galimore’s Poem

  1. Beautiful! Both words and artwork. What a lovely collaboration.
    As an aside, sorry for Ma. How lucky you all were to share time and space together. Blessings.

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