Quiet Meditations

Hello everyone....Thanksgiving is behind us and that means that the Holiday Season is upon us in earnest! There is no snow here yet and the temperatures are fluctuating between rather cold and positively mild, but that's just fine, as I'm sure that when winter really arrives, it will be here quite long enough.

Those quiet, little Navigations pieces I showed you last time are continuing...thank you so much for the positive feedback! But, the name "Navigations" didn't seem quite right and I realized that they are more meditative....so the series is renamed Meditations. Here a couple more of them....but again, very hard to see, unfortunately. The very qualities that I love about them....the quiet lack of contrast and the delicate marks and stitching....make them most difficult to photograph. Let's see how these latest two show up, along with their details for a better view. I will get them onto my website soon, but in the meantime, if you would like to see better views and/or more details, don't hesitate to ask.

Meditation no.3

Meditation no.3 (detail)

Meditation no.4

Meditation  no.4 (detail)

We had a trip to St. Paul, MN to be with some of my husband's family for Thanksgiving....way too much good food, of course! Good to be back home now, getting caught up on laundry, etc. and settling back into a routine. Something about this cold weather makes me want to cozy up with a book and a taste of scotch (my latest interest!) to warm the bones! Hope you are enjoying a fine day!

Craving Simplicity

Hello! It's good to be back after quite a long absence. Thank you all so much for the kind words and warm wishes after the death of my father-in-law. Life becomes very complicated after such a transition....negotiating transitions, trusts, estates, aging parents, etc.  Somehow all this will settle down again, but it's been somewhat overwhelming lately. I'm sure many of you can relate. With life so complicated, I've been craving moments of quiet and the simplicity of open space.

Navigations no.1

Navigations no.1 (detail)

Navigations no.2

Navigations no.2 (detail)

I have some long, narrow pieces of Japanese paper that have been lightly coated with beeswax and I made these two pieces in a time of quiet this morning. They are intentionally quite subtle, which unfortunately makes them very difficult to photograph. The first piece has two vintage buttons in either top corner and a fragment of a book page (also beeswaxed) that captures a bit of text and a blank margin....this little piece is stitched with multiple lines of off-white thread in the margin. That's all....quiet and simplicity. The second piece has a cut bit of old book page attached with horizontal rows of stitching. The shape is somewhat architectural....above it is a free-form shape of random stitches, something like a cloud. It is offset by a tiny pearl to the left. In the left corner another tiny text fragment is stitched....helping to hold it to a backing sheet.  Navigations is a working title for what may become a series. I'll be showing them on my website in the next day or so...

I like these simple, quiet explorations....at a time when I can't seem to feel in control of my life (always an illusion anyway, isn't it?) making these pieces helps me to create the quiet I crave. 

It's good to be back....I have missed the conversation and so value the friendship I've found here! Hope you all have a fine weekend.