2015---The End!

There are just a few more hours of this year left and I can hear some fireworks in the distance as someone is getting a head start on 2016.  This has been another year of many unexpected changes, my life's story!  Nothing horrible but definitely eye opening.  My daughter had a son, unplanned and worrisome pregnancy, and I now have the sweetest, smiling-est grandchild in the country.  (I would have said the world, but that would have probably been an exaggeration.)  I had a couple of falls and a blood pressure emergency....but I'm just fine.  My sixty year old house also decided that this year would be one of major and no-choice repairs  And my employer decided to close her business.  After running in circles and having to make more decisions, I have finished there and helped close it down on December 18. On December 22, I got sick with the flu my daughter's family had;  it turned into a sinus infection and I am still sick.  I'm now going to go back to private practice (counseling) again and open for business on January 04, 2016.  Right now there is a small office out there filled with furniture and unpacked boxes!  Just stay in the moment.  Be flexible.  Breathe deeply.

 IT'S ALL ABOUT BALANCE!!!

Boro Redux

"Make Do And Mend" came from an old saying about being frugal, not being wasteful, wringing every bit of use out of our belongings.  I think it fits well with this concept.

"Make Do And Mend"
8.75"  x  15.25"

Boro: Metaphor For Life

"Boro" is a Japanese word meaning"tattered rags."  It is used to describe clothes and textiles  that have been patched and repaired many times.  The repairs have extended their lives beyond what would have been expected normally; the life span is altered and continues as work and attention are given to the worn places.  When we do not negatively judge nor deny the inherent value of the fibers, we allow its life to maintain its usefulness and worth.

"Something Old, Nothing New,  Something Pink,
And Something Blue"
8.75"  x  13"

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've got a couple of new pieces but haven't photographed them yet.  In the meantime, "Let's eat!!"

Halloween 2015

"Morning Tea"
by
Serge N. Kozintev

                                   

Impermanence

I believe that there is a Universal Consciousness and all life comes from it, is permeated by it.  In every cell and atom there is consciousness, learning and growing and changing.   As leaves begin to fade, as the summer life slows in its course, different colors appear, the veins are more noticeable, the leaves more brittle.  They will lose more color and crumble and die, while the tree will sleep all winter, storing its resources, building its strength, readying itself for new life. And so the cycle goes.  Nothing is permanent.

Impermanence
7.75"  x  8.5"

Deep Thoughts

Hello, World!

My first grandchild, Noah Hayes Woodis, was born on Friday, September 11, 2015.  And, he is, of course, beautiful.

Whoa!  This is different!

Now, that's funny!

Bits And Pieces

Done to keep my fingers busy while I'm working on a project for my kids.  Made from scraps of denim and cotton, embroidery floss and buttons.

           

Deep Thought

Your job is not to judge.

Your job is not 

to figure out if someone deserves something.

Your job is to lift the fallen,

to restore the broken,

and to heal the hurting.

"No Winter Lasts Forever"

Circles and spirals, day and night, season after season.  The world changes but never changes.  In the midst of winter, it can seem the spring will never come.  When grief and fear live in us, it seems it will never end.  But eventually winter turns to spring, and grief becomes acceptance.

                                                             "No winter lasts forever;

no spring skips its turn "

                 (H. Borland)

The hills on this piece were appliqued and then embroidered on top.  The rest was done with some different embroidery  stitches.  The tiny flowers (french knots) were done by pushing a needle through the cloth, wrapping thread around it 2-3 times, and then pushing the needle on through. Each knot was done individually.  The piece is 9,25"  x  11.25".

  

 

                                                                                                 

                              

                                             

HAMSA: Divine Protection

This image is a talismanic symbol that protects us from harm and brings us goodness and abundance.  It has always been connected with the Goddess or with God, a protective symbol of holiness, healing, and miracles.  This Divine Hand is used by man as a defense as he struggles against the forces of evil in life.  

10  1/4"  x  12"
Hand Appliqued, Embroidered, Beaded 

"Spring's Sweet Flowery Month Of May"

The first day of May has always felt a little exciting to me.   I think somehow May baskets and Spring combined into this anticipation I experience, a yearly rite of Spring passage.  Everything is so new and fresh, flowers are budding and blooming, green is spreading across the fields and yards. My favorite flowers bloom in Spring; the beauty...sweet, pure colors... the fragrances from deep and earthy, to musky and mild, to sweet and pure, to a scent so clean it's almost not there.

    

I Am Circling Around God

"I am circling around God, around the ancient tower, and I have been circling for a thousand years, and I still don't know if I am a falcon, or a storm, or a great song."  (Rilke)

I have to say that I am not satisfied with this piece.  I've always loved this quote.  For me it captures that never ending, timeless search for God and meaning in our lives; the soaring, raging, ragged, dancing, pushing out and going in of seeking Truth.  The worn out exhaustion and sorrow, the wordless joy, the seeking of Self in Spirit.

Maybe the concept is too big for me and the talent I have.  Maybe someday I'll think of a better way to do this. However that may be......In this piece each stone and leaf is individually cut and sewn to the background.  The piece is hand sewn, embroidered and appliqued.

                                               

 


                                 

Wear It Out, Use It Up, Make It Do

I've been noticing some artwork that is based on "wabi sabi", the Japanese art of finding beauty in the natural cycle of birth, growth, decay, and death.   It celebrates the changes and marks that time and use leave behind.  I have really liked the look and feel of these pieces and decided to try it.  I got a few old pieces of muslin and cotton print fabric, some of which was faded and stained.  [SPOILER  ALERT] : Now the theme of this is "transiency" but wanting to make this piece NOW was more important to me than authenticity. I did not want to wait for "real" old pieces and I put unstained fabric in hot water with tea bags to "brown" and fade them.  I dried and ironed them, then layered and stacked them.  I used a running stitch in some soft hues to hold them all together, did a bit of embroidery, and....done.

This type of look really appeals to me.  I grew up on a farm and was reared by parents who lived through the Depression.  "Wear it out, use it up, make it do" was the mantra in our family.  Clothes passed through siblings and cousins.  Lucky was the child who truly fit the clothes of another child who didn't stain or tear her clothes.  We had the "shoe box" where outgrown shoes were put until someone else could wear them; sometimes I helped my mother cut out cardboard to fit inside the uppers if the soles were too "hole-y."   Shoe polish was a NECESSITY!    Towels, linens, furniture, dishware...everything was used until it was gone.  And while I pined for new dresses and shoes, for "modern" and "new", I learned the the material is less important than the immaterial, that new isn't necessarily better, and about what truly lasts.