Welcome to MissouriBendStudio!

This is an online journal of my artistic investigations and a way to communicate about my work, ideas, quandries and queries! I welcome comments and conversation and do hope you enjoy these musings. My artwork is available in my shop MissouriBendStudio on Etsy.com or on my website.

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Monday, January 16, 2012

The Daily Rituals

Welcome to the middle of January! Here in South Dakota, where I sit, tucked away in the southeast corner of the state, I am waiting for the predicted snow showers to start....funny how sunny it is....snow showers? Hmmm. Whatever happens with the rest of this winter, we've certainly had a reprieve here at the beginning....it's bound to be a short one.  The other morning, there was ice flowing down the river, as I mentioned in my last post, and we spotted one the of bald eagles beginning his or her weekend with a leisurely raft trip down the river on a chunk of ice.  We watched the bird coming down the river from a few houses up....pure joy, for eagle and for us!


Wish we had a better close-up lens....this was a zoomed in crop shot of the rafter as he or she passed by the house!

Meanwhile, the slow art making practice continues....with slow, but steady progress. I continue my other little rituals, like the morning drawing pages that I do each day.  I wrote about this some time ago here and thought I show you the stacks of paper I have since I began in early August....some months were not as complete as others....you know how it is, life gets in the way of life!


There are 10 meditative drawings each day....just letting my hand move across the page. I so recognize myself on those pages....it's like looking in the mirror....the first drawing from today below.

This is a cropped view from the center of the page where the drawing sits...

As a balance to the slower work, having these daily practices is a wonderful.  I've just added one thing more to the mix....so now there are the 10 morning page drawings and 2 pages of writing, and am adding back the daily "drawings" on teabags mounted on bristol board that I was doing in Wyoming.  These have to be intuitive and playful, because I don't want them to take too much time from the slow-building work, but I think they'll give me some sense of completion for each day.  We'll see how this goes.  

The first one yesterday started out as more of "found paper" collage on the teabag, but morphed into a teabag on teabag collage. I liked what was happening so did another one for today....they are little still life pieces...just cut out teabag shapes adhered to....teabag!!! 

January 15, 2012

January 16, 2012

Hope you all have a fine week.  Thank you so much for all the supportive comments on my last post....it's great to have friends across the world....we have much to share!


12 comments:

  1. Loving the teabag pieces. At first I thought you had sandwiched leaves between the layers. I like the stitching too.

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    1. Thank you Robyn! I love the subtleties and look forward to exploring this process more!

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  2. Hi P - I think the 10 meditative pages might just be a bit too demanding for me in the long term. Love the way the tea bags have given up such rich rust but images as well. Go well with these. B

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    1. Barry, glad you like the teabag pieces as well....looks like there are some real possibilities to explore there. Those 10 pages only take 5 - 10 minutes....it's just play!!! You are making your own beautiful work....enjoy!

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  3. These teabag pieces are great! I admire your sticking to the meditative pages too. I like the way they constitute structure and routine but actually serve to free up the imagination! Hope your week is going well.

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    1. Gabriella...These teabag pieces seem to be a hit! Yes, the structure of daily rituals helps ground me so I can take off in the imagination....all is well here and hoping the same for you!

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  4. Hmm, these still life peices are great!

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    1. I'm getting lots of good feedback on these teabag pieces....thank you....so glad you like them!!! Cheers!

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  5. Your river looks stunning, the pile of drawings impressive and I love that last drawing - the sticks and squiggles! Its a great discipline - perhaps one day I'll work out how to include it in my life??

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    1. There is a lot of repetition in those drawings....reminders that perhaps these intuitive morning page drawings should find their way to a new life in a different format and medium. Glad you like that last drawing....I'm quite fond of sticks and squiggles!!! Thanks so much Fiona!

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  6. Love how your river brings so much to your life... I grew up in a town with a big river... mythic floods and such... so the river claimed a hold of my childhood imagination and still is with me even though I live elsewhere and have for 30 plus years.

    The wee works are beautiful ... like much that I see when Ivist here!
    Wonderful things to you in 2012 Patti!

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  7. Hi Sophie....I'm sure the river has left it's imprint on you....they flow and change and become a powerful force upon the land and they psyche! Thanks so much for your support and stopping by to comment! Returning the fine wishes for 2012!

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I'm happy to hear from you...comments and questions are welcome!