Category: Art

In a couple of months I’ll  no longer be feeding the animals hay.  When that happens I’ll be finished tying my Blue Bailing Twine on the gate post for the season.

But I don’t think I’ll  be done with it for good.  I can see adding another year of Bailing Twine to it.

It’s my last three Ode To The Moon and Sun, Eclipse Potholders.   There are all suns one with planets. All the moon are gone.

These three Potholders are for sale in my Etsy Shop.  They are $25 each + $5 shipping.  You can buy them here.

One thing leads to another.

I was going to work on my Meditation Tree today. But my work table was still filled with scraps from my Moon and Sun Eclipse Potholders.

I wanted to do something with all this little piece of bright fabric even if I was all out of moons and suns.

So I scoured my stash and found some brightly colored butterflies and moths that had the right feeling for the fabric I was working with.

I took the idea of  the squares made from scraps that I came up with yesterday with the suns I had left.  I added some new colors and patterns and now the Potholders were transformed. Now they were about Butterflies and Moths.

Two creature that are so much about transformation.

Two days ago the snow fell off the roof on the back porch.  It was more than two feet high and packed so hard I had to chop it with the shovel before scooping it up.  I piled it up just off the porch in my garden.

That was my only part in creating the snow sculpture that is now in my garden.  Mother Nature did the rest.

I don’t believe Brancusi have done any finer.

I finished sewing together my Last Batch of Ode to The Moon and Sun Eclipse Potholders today.  Most of them are sold, but I should have at least three to put up for sale in my Etsy Shop tomorrow.

When I was done, I looked at the scraps on my work table.  There were four bits of suns left and lots of brightly colored pieces of fabric.

I couldn’t throw them away and yet, I knew if I tucked them into a little baggie (as I have done before) there’s a good chance they will stay there for a very long time.

And all those little scraps of scraps were kind of begging me to do sew them together.

So I gave in (it wasn’t hard) and from the scraps of the scraps I designed four more potholders.

I got back to sewing my Meditation Tree today.  Sewing the fabric this way makes me want to do more with it. I love the way it looks and feels.  How the fabric responds to my needle and thread.

This really is the last batch of my Ode to the Moon and Sun Eclipse Potholders.  As you can see the suns and moons that I had left, are all a bit obscured.  But then I suppose, being partially hidden works well with the idea of the eclipse.

I had a few people asking for an Eclipse Potholder, so yesterday I pulled the rest of the fabric together and came up with nine more of them.

Some of these are already sold, but I will finish them up and put the rest up for sale in my Etsy Shop on Friday.

I had to look for at each of the Potholders that Rosemary has hanging over her desk to remember them. For most it was  a piece or two of fabric that brought my creating them back to me.

How sweet to see them hanging all together.  But Rosemary’s words felt even better…

“As you can see, “She wrote, “your artwork is near my desk for inspiration. I bought a sewing machine and am learning about quilting because of you.”

That what I am doing has inspired Rosemary to create, affirms my belief in the power and good of doing what fulfills us.  And how it isn’t just for ourselves, but it creates a ripple that can affect the people around us.

“Today we’re going to draw,” I said to the women sitting around the big round wooden table.

“You can draw anything, anytime,” I said, “Just for the enjoyment of it. Draw what’s in front of you.”

Then I read them Pablo Neruda’s poem “Ode To Things”

“…I love
all things,
not just
the grandest,
also
the
infinite
ly
small…”

In my basket I had some “small” things from home.  A red and gray striped stuffed rabbit, a big white scallop shell, a green glass pony, a salt shaker, a steel donkey, a cup with a heart on a stick sticking out of it, a ceramic frog planter, a felted boy holding a balloon, a paper cat.

I pulled them out one by one and when someone made any kind of positive comment about it, I gave it to them to draw.

Except for Nancy, I brought the colorful ceramic frog just for her.  She has a hard time gripping with her hands, so her drawing would be abstract and about color.

Then I handed out paper and asked what each person wanted to draw with.  Some chose pencil, others marker and Claudia used a crayon.

I told everyone this wasn’t about drawing the way you’ve seen someone else draw, or about making the object look exactly as it is.  I asked them to focus on one part of the object, to interpret it through their eyes, to feel it.

Ellen focused on the stripes of the stuffed bunny.  She  captured the organic feel of its floppy ears, arms and legs.

Mary chose the green pony. But she was having a hard time starting.

So we talked about horses a bit (her father had horses) then I suggested she focus on the curve of the horses neck.  She said the green  horse didn’t have a tail which was true.  I drew some dots on the paper for her to connect thinking it might get her interested.

But Mary just told me that I was doing a good job and that I should draw the horse.

She was right.  I was obviously  more into it than she was.  So I suggested she draw the heart that was sticking out of the cup.  When that didn’t inspire I told her it was fine if she didn’t want to draw she didn’t have to.

Drawing isn’t for everyone.

“It looks like Eeyore.”  I said to Betty when I saw her drawing of the donkey.

Everyone agreed. They could see and  the hang-dog donkey.  Betty wasn’t impressed and told me her son could draw anything in front of him, but she could never draw.  I pulled up an image of Picasso’s Don Quixote and showed it to her.

Her eyes sparkled a little, she though it was lovely.  I think she made the same connection that I did.

All I had to do to get Claudia drawing was to tell her to focus on the head of the cat.  She was working from a three dimensional paper “Zip”-cat that Kathy sent Jon in the mail.

“I love to draw,” Claudia said to me.  “I can do this anytime I want.” She said it as if the idea never occurred to her before.  And I don’t think it had.  It’s not generally what we are taught.  That drawing can be enjoyable, stimulating and fulfilling.

Susan shows up to my class sometimes, but she never draws.  She doesn’t do any kind of art.  She claims she doesn’t like to, and isn’t good at it.

But today Susan sat down at the table.  And when I pulled out the big white scallop shell she said “ooh”. So I handed it to her and with a little encouragement she drew it.

When she was done she didn’t think it looked like the shell.  But she sat through the class and worked on her drawing and I think she liked being there.

Even if she wasn’t impressed, I was.

Jane needed no encouragement.

She loves to draw and paint, something she only started doing since she came to live at The Mansion. I put the felted boy with the balloon in front of her. I pointed to the swirly design on his shirt.

That’s all it took.

Jane’s drawings all tell a story.  Her marks are purposeful and confident. She works from a place inside of herself.

Her art makes me wonder, which makes me want to keep looking at them.

Sheila sent me some photos of Thinking About Snow,  in its new home.  She said she had fun turning it around and seeing which way she liked it on the bed best.

I love how sculptural it looks on the bed, the squares and rectangles changing shape as they fit to the form of the bed.  Somehow it makes it seem like there are even more places to go, places to explore in the quilt than when it is hanging flat.

I can see why Sheila wrote me that the quilt was just right for her.