Natural Art

Don't you love it when you find cool stuff in nature? Well, I do. I feel like Mother Nature made it for me to find - to discover - to see it in a new way.  The beach is a great place to find objects. We went to Tillamook Memorial Day weekend and took a hike around Cape Lookout.  A hike that switch backed down a cliff to a quiet beach.  The kids hit the sand and broke out into a full gallop.  I found a worn piece of drift wood and took a rest - I don't quite have the energy level of my kids - fancy that!  I loved sitting there in warm weather - a rare occurrence for the Oregon coast - watching the kids run unselfconsciously all over the beach - arms waving wildly in the air.  My son came running up to me, hands full of beach treasure, and said "This beach is rich!". And he was right. It was rich - our world is rich with treasures - it's just a matter of seeing.  

Positano Postcard

Here is what I gave my mother for Mother's Day.  Last year she took me to Italy and we traveled down the Amalfi coast.  I still think it was a bit of a guilt trip - I just made a funny, aren't mothers always taking us on guilt trips? But what I mean is that SHE was feeling guilty because she helped pay for my brother to go to rehab a couple years ago and I think she felt she had to do something equally big.  I didn't argue and frankly I'd rather do Italy than rehab!

Here's the crazy thing. Just months prior to my mom inviting me on this trip I had watched the video A Good Woman with Helen Hunt (very good) and in the opening she is on a boat heading into Amalfi. It was so gorgeous and breathtakingly beautiful that I had to interrupt the video and take a moment to write down: "Place to visit - Amalfi, Italy."  You can imagine how far down my jaw dropped when my mother invited me to travel with her along the Amalfi coast.  

As it turns out it was a very odd trip - it would take a novel to detail all that happened - but the places I saw were among the most beautiful I've ever seen.  Especially Ravello - I think my heart is still up there on that marbled overlook.

So a year later - almost to the day - I decide a fabric interpretation of Positano would fit the bill for a good Mother's Day gift.  I used one of my photos as inspiration and basically fused fabric down where I wanted it and stitched over the top. Added some beads for some detail and texture to the church dome and viola - my memory of Positano. Enjoy!

Singing my own song

This is my latest creation and I can actually visually share it with you all because my husband finally found the cord for the digital camera - allowing me to download my photos from the camera to the computer. Let me tell you this lost cord was nearly the end of our 20 year relationship.....well, not really, but bloody frustrating because I knew, I just KNEW, it was my husband that misplaced it.  I hate to tell you so (no I don't), but I was right!  This past Saturday I told my husband that the sun would not go down on the day without him finding the cord - don't I sound like a joy to live with?!  But low and behold he found the cord within 30 minutes of cleaning up the den - found in a spot that he promised he had thoroughly searched. Hmm.

So cord found I now suppose I have no excuses for being a better blogger.  

I do like this little piece I made.  It started out as a project for a challenge a local gallery was having, but then I discovered I totally misinterpreted the challenge.  Instead of chucking it I just kept going with it - chanting my mantra to myself, "It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be perfect......"  And it's not. The fact that it's from a misinterpreted challenge is in itself a perfect imperfection.  I messed up the binding. I messed up the words. I accidentally cut through the top fabric and had to glue it down. And it's all o.k.  

The words were an afterthought.  I stood back and looked at it and it just came to me - these two little birds - looking the same but not the same - singing their own tunes in different directions. It feels good to me.

I was excited that I actually followed through on something and got it finished. I was also excited because I was actually going to keep it and put it in my freshly painted art room.  But just an hour ago I realized I can't keep it. I have a friend who I must give it to.  She is struggling in her life and because music speaks to her I want her to have it to remind her it's o.k. to sing her own tune.    

Funny how life works.  I hadn't spoken to this friend for months. I started my little birds a couple of weeks ago and finished Tuesday morning.  Tuesday afternoon this friend walks back into my life and we are now reconnected. I looked at my birds this morning and just knew that this piece was created for her - it all makes sense now.  While I was making it I didn't know where it was all coming from or why, but I kept going with it - determined to finish it. Now I know it was all for her.