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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Friday, February 10, 2012

I Just Finished The Best Book

I just finished the best book and I'm so sorry it's all over....The Hare With Amber Eyes, by Edmund De Waal. I know we've all experienced that empty feeling...where to turn, what to do, when the book you've been immersed in has turned its last page. I can't recommend this book enough....beautifully written, a family memoir that is at once about the history of art and of collecting, the lost, the found and the life of the artifact. As many of you who've known me for awhile know, I am particularly drawn to the notion of the life of the material world and how the objects we surround ourselves with...well, they outlive us and they tell our stories long after we're gone....


My hero Proust figures in here....the real Proust and the real people who made their way into his novels are here....so fascinating!  You will cry at some point, I'm quite sure, and maybe when you least expect it. I won't say more....except it will take me a long time to find a book so satisfying.

Thank you to everyone who has sent their good wishes with a visit to MissouriBendMusings this week....it's had a wonderful beginning and I now look forward to shepherding the two shops. I'm all caught up and am now adding the daily drawing on the very day that it is made, so I'm hoping I can keep that up....won't always work of course, but that is my goal.

If you haven't been by lately....here are the daily drawings since my last posting here....stop on over and cruise around!






Hope you have a fine weekend....I plan to stay warm with some cozy reading, tea drinking....oh and making some daily drawings!


8 comments:

  1. I adore your little drawings they are so wonderful. I am also looking for new books to inspire me. I do know that feeling so well ... I hate getting to the last page of a book that becomes a part of my daily life. I like to read a few pages each morning with my first cup of tea ... always eager to find out how my story will end but always sad that it has ... a bereft feeling afterwards ... I find I need some space between books to digest before moving on. Have a wonderful weekend dear ... lots of love ♥ Carolyn

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    1. Thank you Carolyn...so pleased to hear you like these dailies, as I call them! There are so many wonderful books to be read, but sometimes it's just a matter of finding the right one at the right moment....timing is important. I do understand need a bit of breathing space in between....cheers to you!

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  2. Another book for my wish list! Glad you will be making more delightful teabag drawings over the weekend. Enjoy!

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    1. Do let me know if you get to this book....so wonderful! I'm making these drawings on a daily basis, so just finished today's little drawing meditation! A moment of quiet and distillation! Enjoy your weekend!

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  3. I can so relate to the sorrow of finishing a really good book...even as I race towards the end of the latest Murakami (1Q84), I am already in mourning for when I will be finished with it and have to give it back to the library. I know it will echo in my head and my dreams for a long time.

    your little daily drawling are great. I must go check out the new shop!

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    1. Julie...I read your last post and have to check out Murakami, as I've not read him. I know that mourning feeling, even as you are reading the book....what a bittersweet time! So glad you like the dailies....a new one just posted! Have a great weekend!

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  4. i keep a little file with book recommendations for when i come to the end the four i am immersed in at the time. i shall certainly add this one to the list.

    every time i get to feast my eyes and heart on your lovely dailies i get a little heartbroken. and then the light comes in through the cracks.

    it is such a powerful visual reminder of how our days float away like calendar leaves. and then the hope. leaving a testament of creation for each day well lived. a legacy of beauty that transcends the measuring of time. this is hope. and i thank you for it.

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    1. Anca....I think we are kindred souls....the passing of days, each so fleeting, is a kind of lament for me. I suppose, ultimately, that is what lies at the heart of this daily drawing practice....creating a moment of beauty, a commemoration of the days that float away, like calendar leaves, as you phrased it so eloquently. I do hope there is a bittersweet moment of hope that comes through....thank you for the fine compliment. When I come across a work of beauty, I find it heartbreaking....in a good way and, for me, that is the highest compliment I can give to someone, although I'm sure it's often not quite understood!

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