Piecing a Way Forward

Final Piece, Terry Jarrard-Dimond Workshop, 2012

Construction Detail

I have been musing a fair amount lately, internally and with my studio surface design friends, about the experience at the Crow Barn with Terry Jarrard-Dimond, a full 5 days of freeing up exercises, creating lightning-fast cloth in the wet studio, and thinking about Map as Metaphor.  

I was at standing at the cusp of a major life change at the time.  AND:  Becoming aware of a prior life of rigidity and structure… always doing the "right" thing; lacking artistic experimentation and the freedom to direct one's own life.  And accepting the WHY of the past - to move forward to openness.

I need to finish quilting this piece… I see it as a reminder, with a 10,000 foot view, that I then directly chose the path to open up, to play, to look forward and not back, and to also see the enormous influence of water on my life.

It's also interesting --> the ocean is now calling me home.

Becoming Aware... of Shapes that Inform

Marblehead, MA, Sept 2012  P Lowe Studio

August 2013  P Lowe Studio

Funny, how months later, an image imprinted on your brain from a great play day on the New England seacoast - decides to show up in your work.  I didn't expect this, today, but I'm going to run with it.

And also - to savor the awareness of it...

Process. Process. Finally.

November through February was rather a fog.  A downer.  Big one.  

Kindled a book, "How Crochet Saved my Life"  by Kathryn Vercillo -- and, interestingly, what was happening to me, as I was coming back up from the depths of this big BIG depression episode, was exactly what the author was talking about.  I found a daily focus, small goals, new friends.  Made stuff.  Lots of stuff.  Obsessive crochet and etc.  Got back to myself.  Big sigh of relief.   A new community.  Fabulous.  OK, now back to work(!)...

This week, when the studio muse finally arose from the depths,  I have been inspired by recent playtime events with our SAQA group (Setacolor painting with Vou) and the myriad of colors and texture of alpaca yarn that my friend Jennifer spins with her portable wheel.

So the process begins:

 Fast painting with sponges, Setacolors; a gorgeous day with SAQA friends in Seguin, Texas

Musing about handspun alpaca yarn scraps from a friend...

Beginning to stitch (and couch some of the yarn)

Detail of stitching - before washing and shrinking  (then the real fun will begin!)

A Hook to Save Your Hand!!

A young man in Austin, Harrison Richards, has started his own company by creating a unique line of hand turned exotic wood crochet hooks that allow your hand muscles to totally relax while you are "hooking".  As a massage therapist concerned with my own hand function, as well as that of many of my carpal tunnel clients, I am just totally taken aback with the elegance, simplicity and form/function design of these beautiful polished hooks.

Using a hook specifically made to rest in the palm of your hand, your hand muscles relax, a far cry from what happens when you try to hold and work with a skinny metal hook for lengths of time.

I received mine this week, and yesterday had a glorious lazy day re-learning my dusty/rusty crochet skills. I have been a long-time knitter, but I also have experienced some repetitive motion issues with that craft... so this idea totally intrigued me when I was recently invited to an event to try them out. Because this hook was so comfortable to use, I started and completed a small basket (pattern on Ravelry) in no time at all.

People that know me well, know that I value things made by hand (as well as the artists who support themselves entirely by their own hand).  A Furls Crochet Hook is a piece of art, and - the BONUS:  a tool to actually preserve and extend hand function for fiber artists.   Amazing.  Check it out!!

Furls Crochet

Compartmentalize. or NOT!

I have recently become aware that I have had a lifetime obsession (fixation??) with making containers.  Useful, or "un-useful" (but touchable, beautiful... textured).  Quilted, knitted... crocheted..

and now, moving on to crochet...

What does it mean?  It's (as usual) about the process, the joy of making them, but it is also about the object.  the vessel, the bag, the basket.  The container.  To contain something.  One thing.  Many little things.... or nothing.

While trying to find my way in the making a living department, and the "living my life" for the first time department, and also the "starting" of a new series on the wall (hello,  procrastination!), what does this container obsession mean about who I am?  It's not a new thing; I have always been drawn to making something... that holds something else.

So I think - Is it that the making of these containers is a way to let the "control" genie out of the box?  I would like to envision that the "making" process... whatever is going on, is an expression of the "controlling" me... and if that part of me can be released each time a container is finished, can the"other", more free side of me, just let go and GET A MOVE ON?

Meanwhile, I watch and wonder at the color in the skies, every day... finding peace, absorbing changing color...

Marblehead, MA, Sept 2012

Pond sky, at home in Austin, November

Coots, Mallards, Austin, December 2012

Peeling, Shredding... shedding...

November 2012 themes:  

Stripping away to the base elements... peeling paint, stripping bark layers... the textured layers on the way to the core...

The studio space is now more spare (yet more furniture giveaways), to allow for a 100 x 100 work wall which is now in place.  I am quite itching to get to a series of larger works again, once the Blanco Holiday Open House this Friday November 23rd concludes.

A note of interest which I should have spread the word about, but haven't:

For another 2 weeks I have work on exhibit at the newly reopened Santa Anita Gallery in McAllen, Texas; Linda Lewis being the new owner/curator.  Lisa Kerpoe's fabulous art is also featured.

Linda Lewis Gallery Santa Anita Gallery Building 1500 Pecan Blvd. McAllen, TX  75201 lewis1997@hotmail.com 956-332-3544 Facebook The show is up through end of November;  Hours:  Tues - Thurs 12 --6pm ; Sat 10 - 5 pm or by appointment

So it's been a while...  But I'm back...

During this past year of many life transitions, I have finished school, opened my business, sold my house and most things I owned, downsized to a 1 Bedroom apartment, traveled to the northeast and midwest for P Lowe Studio Massage Therapy, and followed my nose to some simply beautiful scenery during the fall season.

Had I seen this sign before I arrived in Ohio, I might not have thought so much about its significance - but now, it just makes me smile - and reminds me of all the challenges and highlights - of an extraordinary conversion. To - slowing down my life!  (Hey, if I can do it, you can do it, too...)

Rippling Stream Campground, Baltimore, OH

I will be home in Austin in a few weeks, but right now I am savoring the reflection time; to process what has gone on; living in the NOW in the variable weather conditions; sketchbook time from New England photos; sewing in the van!  Knitting overdue projects for friends and family.  Productive but calm and meditative time.  Yay for that.

I also want to talk about Peru, and the overwhelming and lush textural imagery from that trip - but we will save that for another time....