11/16/2015

After the storm

21

We recently had a whopper of a gale.  A long night,
then an even longer dark day of sideways rain and rattle-the-rafters wind.
The lull that followed meant only one thing - time for beachcombing - so four-paws and I
headed out to see what we could find.  I wasn't entirely sure there'd even be a shore left.
Predictions had been ominous but living as we do on a tiny rock out in the Pacific Ocean
 we know variables can be extreme island to island.  I needed to see firsthand how our
favorite spot had fared.

Thankfully, it was not so bad really.
Bull kelp was in abundance, having woven itself down the beach in dramatic ropes.  A few
boulders that support the edge of the two lane road had been displaced and
one or two megalithic tree stumps (from Canada perhaps?) had been dredged up & tossed ashore
like toothpicks.

The donations from the sea were plentiful.


I left this red one in place.  Figured a heart rock was better doing its good business under
a big sky, near a Big Puddle, than home with me in my pocket or on my windowsill.

This particular beach is in somewhat protected waters, with San Juan Island directly to 
the east & San Juan Channel in between, so it isn't like beaches that 
face the open ocean where lots of human trash prevails
(I'll pay you five dollars if you can even find a piece of sea glass on this stretch),
but it does hold a motherlode of natural detritus ...
driftwood
stones
shells
some feathers
and lots of seaweed ... especially during storm season.


And there was our "garbage" to collect and treasure.  Hadn't seen this around
for a whole year - a reddish seaweed that makes lovely rose-colored marks when wrapped in 
cloth (especially silk) if one is game to judiciously watch temperatures in the dyepot.

Worth the whole walk, was that.
:::
Have you ever heard of the British artist, Jo Atherton?
She weaves tapestries with the flotsam from her beaches & other coasts of the world
and tells some very interesting stories ...


11/07/2015

Introducing 'Dear Flora' ...

12

To all of you who visit here
and who may also be on Facebook,
I have recently launched an artist page :


I hope you'll visit me there!
Come have a look-see, maybe take part in the conversations
or just say "Hey"...



What's in a name?
Dear Flora  is my open love letter to the world of plants & my relationship with her ...
and it isn't a name only for Facebook
but one I'll be putting with the things I make as well.

Its flight time.  I need to share this evolution that's so astoundingly
taken my heart by storm.


I think I've been kin to that wrapped up, tied tight, bundle above ....

and yet what I really need to do is let loose some.  Sway with those breezes
that do such fine things with silks when they're out in the open air.


Silk -  strong and soft at the same time.

:::

See you soon.