Tuesday 31 January 2012

Snow Blushed


It snowed most of the day.
Thick heavy flakes that stick to everything.


The skies began to clear at the end of the day


and the clouds blushed gently.


Monday 30 January 2012

Raw Materials


Neatly stacked
all prim and proper
ready for the kids to arrive.


Nature's soft colours


and subtle markings


and the seductive feel of flowing silk


So much potential
so many ideas
Can't wait to work on them
but first a lovely family week.

Sunday 29 January 2012

X's for You


Made years ago
 I thought of this piece
as a wave of emotion
but today I think of it as kisses on the wind.


 Kisses of every size


and colour.


Today it's my birthday
Boy do they come around faster and faster!
So today I'm blowing you kisses
in thanks for
your friendship
across the windy internet.

Saturday 28 January 2012

House Cleaning


Little chatterbox dangling on my suet ball.


Not much in the way of creativity going on here lately.
Son Mark and his beautiful Donna arrive on Monday
so cobwebs are being swept away
dust bunnies are being shooed out of corners.


All the graffiti I've been able to write with fingers on dusty tabletops
have to be erased.


To me this housework business is a chore to be suffered through.
But some folk express their creativity with housework like that.
Just a different way of being an artist.



Thursday 26 January 2012

Not my |Favourite Things


It rained.
Not cats and dogs but daisy stitches.
Have to say the daisy/chain stitch is my least favourite.


My least favourite sketch so far.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Shadow of the Sun


Stitching row upon row over the sun
the title of this piece revealed itself as
'Shadow of the Sun'.


Wrapped running stitch might do for the rays.
Hopefully that lumpy bumpy thread will behave itself.


Evening grosbeak dining in the crab apple tree.
Looking closely at the photo a small white feather revealed itself
and would have to be included in any stitching.

Monday 23 January 2012

Tracking Transitions


Water on sand from Friday's post
presented a challenge that I decided to try out.
how to stitch it.
Really doesn't look like water
more like a contour map.


But that lead me to think about transitioning from one stitch to another
and decided to try from blanket stitch to straight stitch.
One way


and then another.
More work needed.


The rows of daily scratchings are lining up one after the other.


Snowshoe hares have been laying tracks behind the pond.


and because I've seen one wandering around
I reckon this must be muskrat tracks.
They dig homes into the side of the pond. 


Human and rusty pup prints crossing the stream
which is frozen over
and yet I still seen the heron visiting this spot.

Friday 20 January 2012

Beachy Texture


Grains of Sand gathered on the lee side of
Anything the wind couldn't move.
And some thoughts on stitching
French knots
Bullion knots
slits with threads popping through from underneath.


Nearer the water
looking more like a reptilian skin
or bubbling nuno felting
Smocking perhaps.


The transition from wet sand to water
fascinating from a stitching point of view.
I see blanket stitch transitioning to straight stitches
perhaps on a sheer over a piece of boro mending.


A ruched landscape


or a million little kantha stitches.


Corduroy
tucks and folds
blanket stitch 
Just thinking out loud.

Thursday 19 January 2012

Rhythm


There is a strange rhythm to this particular winter
yesterday was above zero again
Not a day to stay inside, 
so
with a packed lunch in hand
we drove to the beach
heads bobbing
as we grooved to the rhythm of songs from our youth


Row upon row of windswept waves
marched towards the shore.
Boy was it windy.


We walked smooth windblown sand.


Then turning the other way we walked a moonscape
marked by rhythmic tides
Some unpredictable and chaotic


others most organized
even regimental perhaps



Row upon row like a military tattoo.


These two have rhythms all of their own
wagging tails from the joy of life
panting breath
anticipating the next flight of a tennis ball.


Wednesday 18 January 2012

Walking Solid Land or Stitching Above the Surface


We walked the rock bound woods
I love this place


and walked the rocky shore of a frozen lake.
The rusty pups walked on water
well, frozen water that is.
They were following coyote tracks
that disappeared across the ice.
Luckily those pups were happy to return when called.


Stitching on that sun was such hard work on Sunday
decided to explore stitching above the surface
with ladder stitch in a natural silk noil.


Daily sketches are still going on
but I have thoughts about that commitment
that I need to sort out.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

A bright Sunshiny Day


Sunshiny cold
Tracking through the snow
two people and a couple of rusty pups


but someone crossed our path
a porcupine I think
and one pup veered off to follow that delicious scent


Standing beneath echoing walls
wondering who might be watching
from the safety of those cliff tops


a gentle haze of trees
a wall of solid rock


Faster than me
the others stop and wait every now and then.
I drop a glove
and only realize half way down!
But everything's good on a bright sunshiny day.