New Beginnings Times Three

As Stone Pathways and Daily Scratchings rest along one side of the table

awaiting installation at the Mary E Black gallery in July...

...In the little table space left I'm working on new beginnings.

More stones

It seems I am not through with stones yet.

I must have more to discover about them.

Another large piece of silk and linen

has been layered onto felted wool.

I believe this will be tree-like lines of stitch

growing out of.....stones.

And a third new beginning of silk on linen

has been layered onto a thin damask.

Don't yet know how I will treat this one.

I love that piece of natural dyed silk.

It was soaking in my stream so long that it has a few small frayed

holes that I might emphasize or do a little darning over.

The grey linen will of be stitched all over

but have to decide on whether to continue the markings from the silk

onto the linen

or whether I just stitch a simple repetitive mark.

A little bit of green and grey and red.

I have a thing about red flowers nowadays.

Perhaps a little bit of red will start appearing in my work.

You never know

It might be necessary one of these days.

I hope that if you love red...

...or even if you don't love it....

...that you will find a place for it in your studio today!

Touching Life

Touch

for me

is most important.

It connects me to my work

more so than seeing it displayed on a wall.

Touch is memory.

Touch is healing.

In preparing for a show I have to

think of the visual too.

Remind myself that presentation is important.

So, for that reason I am stitching galvanized nails

to the bottom of my long narrow paths.

I am thinking the weight will keep them hanging nicely.

As I stitch I spy a precious rock that I have carried with me for years.

A talisman of sorts

A tactile memory of a difficult time in my life.

Strangely enough I hadn't thought of including it 

as one of my stones for 'Stone Pathways'.

As I stitch I am also musing on what

the next daily stitching journal will be.

Perhaps

drawing outlines of important things

like my tiny piece of whittling

done on the shores of Georgian Bay

when my three boys were oh so young.

Perhaps these would be a part of a project like that.

Small bits and pieces from my life

that are always with me

kept safely in a pouch.

We shall see.

I hope you have a collection of talismans from your life

that might inspire.

Sometimes we ignore the things we see or touch every day.

Butterflies

Daily Scratchings

was a large part of my life for four years.

Recording time passing

Stitching every day.

It will be shown it in it's entirety for the first time this summer,

all 200 feet of it.

I am working on it at the moment

checking it out and adding tabs for the first day of each month.

Sometimes adding to the writing on the back

where I had written about special days and thoughts.

I hope you can visualize the

difficulty I am having in controlling a 200 foot 'snake' on the tables in my studio!

But that is the least of my worries.

Which photos to use for promotions

 invitations

catalogues

cards

and

Which words to use in Bios

artist statements

backs of cards

are decisions that are simply freaking me out!

I have to say that the blue section above

is a favourite of mine.

It includes the day that we received news from our insurance

that my car was a write-off

killed by chewing mice! 

Back when it was a more manageable size

It was easily rolled around a stick

and taken hither and thither.

Another favourite

when I spied a crow flying overhead

with the biggest twig he could manage.

At this moment I might be quietly freaking out

but

I am so looking forward to having this show with my dear friend

Judy Martin

 the Mary E Black gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.