some things just are

well, i'm up.  hello...

 i love rabbit foot ferns.

pictures come alive, you can dance right through your life!

hub was wondering why Narcy was hiding..

and he realised she has a secret, or two...

lots of Thoughts have been occurring as i've been laid up.  i've been mulling over my Why for a While now..  and there are lots of them, some seem more worthy than others.  this has been a great read.  and it makes sense, for sure, to put ideas before commodities.

but then i think, maybe i'm more inspired by art and less by business.

”To all viewers but yourself, what matters is the product: the finished artwork. To you, and you alone, what matters is the process: the process of shaping that artwork.” Art and Fear, page 5.


i am not someone who believes that all art should be in service of something larger.  i enjoy the occasional activist art or political novel, but mostly i think art - and craft - is an end in itself. i think one of the qualities of great art is that it is complex, there is no clear agenda, no easily decipherable overarching Message.

i'm not really sure how or if this applies to yarn.  maybe i'm just deferring the important questions.  i think i've burnt out a little trying to be a production crafter.  in a way it seemed more straightforward and honest to try to create something useful rather than something meaningful in some other way.  that's how how i felt for a while anyway.  but now i'm faced with these questions involved in making a successful business and they leave me sorta cold.  there must be a meeting ground between artspeak and business-speak.

but what i really want is to be an artist.  i want that extra indefinable that makes me want to create, and keep on creating.
maybe that's all the Why there is.
i am going to apply to art school.  i may not go, but i'm going to apply.

abed

who gets sick for two weeks in the summertime?  

i seem to, the last few years anyway!

at least i've been catching up on my beauty sleep, and dreaming

a few pics from the bed, some with hipstamatic's laser lemon gel flash..

at least there are a few bright spots and always-loyal companions.

summer storm

a big storm rolled in this afternoon - a daily occurrence lately - but this time we lost power for hours.  not much to do but sit on the porch and pick some wool.  hub was bit the other night by a copperhead and has a nasty swollen ankle.  he's hobbling around and it seems like the time for real danger has passed.  the little bugger only got one fang in, thank goodness.  we're so grateful it wasn't much worse.

i kissed it

this is a top-whorl Golding spindle

carved out of Irish bog wood

it's of Blarney castle

gifted to me by a very dear friend, Mother Seraphima..

what a treasure!!  

and it came at such a good time

because i had been feeling fluish and it completely distracted me from that.

you may know of my fondness for Victorian mourning jewelry and sometimes it was made out of this same type of fossilized bog oak.  so i am truly in love with this piece... i even kissed the Blarney stone on a long-ago honeymoon.  i'm not sure it gave me the gift of gab, but this gift is even better.

it's a-live!!

i think most of my readers already know this, but just in case, i have to share that my Craftsy.com spindling class is live!  i've been waiting for the right moment to blog about it, and this is a good one because i'm being interviewed tonight on Namaste Farms blog talk radio!  tune in at 9pm est and hear me gab and giggle with the extremely knowledgeable and funny Natalie Redding and Kimberly McAlindin.  you can also call in and ask us stuff about spindling, critters, whatever!

the Craftsy class has gotten off to an awesome start and i'm so grateful to the early students.  it seems like a lot of people really need some support in learning to spindle - those dern spindles like to drop!  but the Craftsy platform is sooo cool because the videos are hd-detailed and can be viewed over and over and any time, and then i'm able to answer questions and interact directly with the students and help them sort out the issues they are having with their spindles or their fiber.  i love waking up to students' questions, pics and the sharing that's going on... so if you're interested in getting started with a spindle, join us!  

blissful shade

a short respite from these dog days... a summer storm is coming.  the bronze fennel is going to seed. some wool outside mordanting, more being washed.  and some merino on the boobin.  trying hard to Keep Going but catching myself laying around and reading, dreaming about India's workshop in the Fall.

wishing you some relief soon!

the lake and the why

what a lovely, perfect day-before-birthday i had with sarah.  this lake is a short 20 minute walk from her new house and is totally pristine and secluded.  we saw a heron swooping around its nest, watched endless dragon- and damselflies, listened to coyotes, and waded in the muck down into the cool currents of the lake.  i haven't felt so one with nature in ... well, ever, maybe.  i felt so nurtured and healed in that mama of a lake.  it may have to become an every-weekend sort of thing.  

i'm feeling something shifting... i'm back to eating decent, whole foods (and the occasional, beautiful cupcake) and it's making a huge difference in how i'm feeling.  and i've given myself the birthday gift of some creativity coaching with kathy and she's helping me clarify my dreams and goals, gently and encouragingly, going forward with small steps... she is certified in the Kaizen Muse form of creativity coaching and i just love her energy and this process so far.  

the first small step was articulating and bringing together the "why" of my work.  which is actually taking a lot of thought and sorting, but it's enjoyable and something i really need to know (for) myself.  the answer really is that crafting saved me, and continues to save me, and it saves lots of people.  so it's the therapeutic value, although even that doesn't seem to get at it fully... to me, it goes beyond that and into a spiritual thing... that includes the connections with other women and through history... the meditative nature of it... with spinning, the connections with the fiber animals... and the ability to create beauty...  i'm still working on bringing all these together into a coherent why...  

what about you, why do you craft?