Minding my maps

Merriam-Webster defines  map :

1 a:  a representation usually on a flat surface of the whole or a part of an area

b:  a representation of the celestial sphere or a part of it

2 :  something that represents with a clarity suggestive of a map

~ the Freudian 'map' of the mind -- Harold Bloom

so I got to thinking ....

could photographs act just as easily as maps of a  life?

If I mapped myself, what might that look like?

And if I focused on, say, my creative life, would it be telling?

Could I show the route from back there 

to here?

So I gave it a try & here's where it led me ...

To the convergence of paper and books

to beads on cloth with an uncertain latitude

towards an elusive north star

with an ever present guiding light

and a dear navigator who teaches all the compass points.

Just a small smattering of map pages - old directions & new ...

so yes,  I can see how I got here

but perhaps the more important question is

just where am I going?

[ this is where a hushed voice offers, "Only the cartographer knows for sure..." ]

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Sweet, sweet spring

An explosion of petals everywhere I look!

How I love this time of year ....

purple-leaved plum in the parking lot at the post office

variegated dogwood, 'Blue Muffin' viburnum, 'Midnight Masquerade' clematis, and a

spritely pink volunteer aquilegia in the front garden

a rose and her bud in the back garden

street rose gone wild behind the grocery store in Friday Harbor

and my favorite petal of all, snoozy in the back of the car,

riding with her new cotinus bush ['Royal Purple' all a'bloom]

and baskets from the Thrift

for the new studio digs  ...

More on that wonderful story in the coming month.

HAPPY SPRING

to all my pals in the northern hemisphere

(and a beautiful autumn to you southerlies)

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bead sketches : month one

When I wrote the following on Dear Flora last month,

"Something new for what is feeling like a glorious new year on the horizon.

Thought it might be time to embark on a yearlong adventure ... 52 weeks

of 3-inch squares and the discovery of all the tiny worlds I can create

within them. I have no idea where this is going,

but go I must ... "

what I didn't mention was that I was going on this journey mainly to

play with beads again.  We'd taken a break, my bead family and I.  You know how it is

when you have to step away for a while in order to come back with fresh eyes,

a renewed heart?

I'd been away for so long that many new bead varieties had hit the markets without me

and I'd been growing steadily more curious about how to integrate them

into bead embroidery work.  Compound this with all the hand dyed

cloth I'd been amassing, explorations with paper, metals and all sorts

of sundry textiles and what was building felt nothing short of a crisis of making ...

I needed to dive.

I needed to stop dreaming and start doing.

For the last year or so I've noticed myself being attracted to the projects

of others who'd committed themselves to creating something/anything on a steady schedule.

Committed.  Key word.

Schedule.  Key word.

Be they daily poems or sketches, weekly paintings or mixed media collages, 

even a gorgeous pair of knitted socks per month, folks were dedicating themselves to

show up ... do the work.  Best of it was, they were gaining much from 

this kind of discipline.  They talked about it - they were having breakthroughs.

Their new creative "habit" was renewing confidence &

providing fertile ground for inspiration.

This, to my mind, was a healthy choice of how to invest ones time.

So I had a good long think about what I could stomach doing for the long haul.

Having really blown it in the past was actually helpful for not setting goals

to outrageously out there ... 20/20 hindsight & all that.

Size was going to be critical.  Beads are [mostly] tiny little pretties

and the last thing I wanted was a demanding blank space shouting, "Fill me up!"

So learning from a previous 6-inch disaster I first cut the size in half.

Another extremely important aspect of setting parameters was allowing

for the element of  play  ... I did not want to produce a *finished* square each week.

Instead, how freeing to simply play with ideas & materials

and just see where that took me.

Hence the name, bead sketches - not particularly clever, but to the point.

Without the pressure of having to finish something each week I found

month one an extremely enjoyable enterprise.  As each new week rolled around I

picked up whatever caught my fancy in the moment & started from there.

I wondered what would happen if I paired this with that,

then tried it.  I experimented with edge treatments & extending beyond

the exact space while allowing the materials to dictate the direction.

There were mess-ups - like joining methods, thread issues, fabric limitations -

which sent the beads all wonky-doodle ...

but I sure know a lot more now then if I'd never started.

Little templates to explore some ideas every week.

Slow and steady ... just show up.

Play relentlessly.

I'm really liking how this feels.

:::

It would be immensely enjoyable to hear about your experiences.

If you are someone who's ever [or currently] embarked on a daily, weekly,

even monthly practice, your comments about the process are most welcome here.

If you'd like to share a link where we can come and see what you made during the process,

please do.  I think the sharing could be very advantageous indeed.

Thank you for stopping by.

"I have no idea where this is going, but go I must ..."

: : :

To view all of the  52 Weeks : Bead Sketches  posts, starting with the most recent,

CLICK HERE

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Introducing 'Dear Flora' ...

To all of you who visit here

and who may also be on Facebook,

I have recently launched an artist page :

Dear Flora

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.

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Studying the ways of water ...

A few experiments from my last diving session with paper

[ see previous post ]

These entailed using several varieties of watercolor & printmaker's paper;

frozen and fresh gleanings from the garden & hedgerow;

a steam bath, an onion bath, a mixed willow bath

and another that bordered on sage green;

alum pre-mordanting;

iron dipping & not iron dipping,

wrapping around pipes & layering between tiles.

The language of plants on cloth is certainly related to paper.  But not distantly,

like a 3rd cousin of your brother-in-law ... much closer, like siblings

who just don't live in the same state.

Water seems to me to be their shared vehicle

and I find it utterly fascinating how the exact same leaves can print

one way on cloth and another way altogether on paper.

: : :

"You don't have to be fully formed to get started on your work.  If that were true no one would ever start anything. But we live in a society were everyone wants to be a superstar and often find it difficult to be a beginner.  Think of all the great people and of their amazing journeys to reach the tops of their profession.  They were beginners who took action."

An inspiring quote by Terry Jarrard-Dimond

from her blog post,  Act On Your Ideas

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Seeing thru paper

When the Lopez Island natural dyers gathered for this season's planning meeting

[ however wine-laden or deliciously food-laden the "meeting" may have been ]

there was a unanimous & resounding desire to next delve into experimentation

with paper.

We meet tomorrow for what we are calling

our 'Paper Dyeing Extravaganza'

I've got loads of prepping to do but as I sat at the computer this morning

looking over my past - and very few - experiences with this material,

I came across a bunch of Diana Photo app composites I'd made a while back.

They provided a bit of inspiration.

Admittedly, I feel awkward & hesitant with paper ...

while cloth feels familiar & welcoming, with paper I'm standoff-ish.

I love its qualities but I don't know or  understand  its workings yet.

Well, we all know the only way to get over that.

Dive.

Then keep swimming 

& let nature work her very particular magic.

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Back from the hairdresser

A few weeks ago I wrote  this post  about yearning for a fresh *new* look for this blog,

but never did I imagine ending up with a complete and total makeover ...

haircut, styling, manicure, facial, makeup ... the whole kit & caboodle.

Early on, after trying to tweak and twist and colorize a new template into 

anything that might resemble the word appealing, I realized 

I was just no good at blog design at all and there was no handbook available to help me - 

at least, not one I could decipher.

Sometimes it can be very good to speak up online ...

After apologizing for the mess I was making and confessing my angst

in the Comments section of  this post,  in came an incredibly kind and generous response:

"Extending my hand ... should you wish to take it. xo"

Enter miz Jen

~ photographer unknown, 1940s beauty school lesson ~

who, as it turns out, is a very skilled & excellent teacher in all things web-based.

We "met" years ago in an online photography course but I have only known her

 as an artist and had no idea the extent of her  other skills

as a former Web Design and Marketing maestro.

Well, I grabbed onto that hand and held on tight through this entire wild ride !

~ photographer unknown, hairdryer from the 1920s ~

It's really her fault that I became totally  undone  re-done for she encouraged me

to take a peek at the freebie templates available for Blogger these days ...

just to get design ideas ... and oh my, what a slippery slope was that.

She did warn me that it was gonna make my head spin ...

~ photo by JUCO for Fashion Rogue ~

I saw lots of styles that just weren't me.

And I had lots of separation anxiety about leaving my old, comfy blog space.

My new spot needed to feel welcoming, kinda relaxed ...

~ photographer unknown, open-air beauty salon, Cannes, France 1958 ~

but not too far out there.

~ outdoor hairdressing, Finchley Road, London 1961, photographer unknown ~

Most of all, I wanted it to remain welcoming for all my special friends.

~ boy & dachshund 1920, photographer unknown ~

Never in a million years would I have imagined a day coming when html 

no longer felt like an insurmountable foreign language.

It has been worth the headaches.

I sure hope all of you will feel it was worth the wait.

Heartfelt thanks for your patience and all the feedback you left earlier

as a guide.

Please explore a bit.  Old stuff is in new places.  There are pages up top 

containing a whole bunch of links & swell places to visit ...

my blogroll has moved up there, along with a direct link to my Instagram gallery.

As always, I'd love to hear from you in Comments.

~ Ladies at the Hairdressers, photo by Philip Townsend, London 1960s ~

To my awesomely patient, clear, concise, helpful & fabulous hand-holding teacher ...

Jen,  CHEERS to you, gal.

Couldn't have done it without ya.

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'scuse the mess around here

~ vintage salon, photographer unknown ~

There's more to it than I thought.

Ain't so easy getting a complete re-do !

Thank you for your patience while I'm sorting out the technicalities.

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Unimpeded

Thought it might be fitting to wind down this year of posts

with some thought-provoking verse from Maya Stein.  I've borrowed one of her words

for the title of this one.   "a dream" appeared in this morning's mail with perfect timing,

as her poetry so often does, and not only includes a reference to potholes, but arrived

exactly when I am ripe for the reading.

Unimpeded

yes, this will be a fine word to hold onto for the new year ... a heady reminder

that most blockades I feel are actually the ones I've put up myself.

First though, I owe you kind folks a debt of gratitude for your extremely helpful comments

on my last post about a Sweetpea Path makeover.  You've given me much to consider

and I'm so glad I asked!  It's been very  very  enlightening

and heartwarming

to receive your feedback, both on the blog and via private emails.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do that.

My 'idea hat' is now filled to the brim.

~ Mt. Baker view, while riding the ferry across the Salish sea ~

... so without further ado

a dream

For a moment, it all disappeared: the potholes tripping up your stride,

the broken love story, the difficult decision, the rigor of worry about things

you know you can't possibly fix.  Suddenly, some vacuum sucked it all inside

and you leaned back, unimpeded, innocent, casual with your gaze, the stings

of your life returned to their nascent nettles.  For a moment, you were able

to neutralize your place in the world, find fresh buoyancy in the waves.

For a moment, you saw, even, the geometry of loss, each cradle

that holds our grief so steady, each heartbeat threading through the maze.

But this was no sunny island reverie, some implausible and pointless dream.

It was you, remembering where you've always been.

~ Maya Stein

: : :

from "10-Line Tuesday" poetry series

... a backlog can be viewed   here

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Out to the edge

When I was a little girl,

I had a big crazy dream

about wanting to become the first woman astronaut.

Visions of walking around the outside of a space capsule while

looking back from the edge of the universe towards earth,

were completely captivating

and compelled me to study the sciences

while striving to be the best student possible.

NASA was demanding.  This I knew.

So it was a good thing I found out early

I was too short for space exploration

[then, the minimum height for pilots was 5' 4"]

because I never excelled in the sciences

and was fairly hopeless in math,

two very important subjects for discovering new worlds

in the cosmos.

~ evening view from Iceberg Point, on the far southwest tip of Lopez Island ~

What has never left me after all these years

is my unwavering attraction to the edges of places.

Funny to think of it this way but

when I look back on where I've travelled

and where I've chosen to live,

I see the pattern ...

still that wannabe astronaut, albeit in disguise.

Instead of space boots

it's likely a pair of Keens [or Blunnies when it's cold] these days.

And as often as possible

there's a certain four-pawed companion in tow,

a bit frowned on within intergalactic travel.

~ view from Spencer Spit, eastern side of Lopez Island, Swift's Bay on one side, Lopez Sound on the other ~

No, there may not have been rocket transport to the moon in my history

nor a glimpse of Mars from a capsule window,

but a simple outboard motor can surely be a 

perfect enough shuttle on a fine summer day when

there's an outer island to explore ....

~ passing through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, outer San Juan Islands ~

Not much traffic in the low-season

aside from the odd floating log

or a few seals just offshore.

~ the signal building, Turn Point Light Station, Stuart Island, San Juan Islands ~

My friend Pat & her husband do some caretaking out at Turn Point Light Station

although often, Pat heads over on her own.  In need of an extra pair 

of helping hands for this trip, Pat offered a ride.

Located way out on Stuart Island ... the farthest northwest point in the San Juan Islands ...

it's still only a 40 minute journey from the marina on Fisherman Bay.

The views are breathtaking.

Still, I can barely imagine living life out there - full time - as the keepers of old used to do.

While reading their stories, carefully preserved & documented in the small museum,

I couldn't help but think how  THIS  would be truly

living on the edge.

Many of the keepers didn't last too long in such a remote spot

except for this one ...

~ copy of photo from Turn Point Light Station Museum ~

Louis A. Borchers, keeper & amateur photographer.

I could relate to his propensity for picture-taking

~ copy of photo from Turn Point Light Station Museum ~

and probably would have spent my own time doing

much of the same.

Although, look at that beast of a tripod !

Good, sturdy legs for Borcher's Putnam Marvel,

a beautiful wood 5 x 8 view camera that would have cost

a pretty penny back in the day.

~ cliff at Lover's Leap [left], southwesterly view from Stuart Island ~

~ view to Vancouver Island, Canada from Stuart Island, USA ~

We ate our lunch on the bluff in front of the signal building

where the rushing confluence of tides was pleasant music

on such a peaceful, windless afternoon.

Sitting there in awe of this beautiful world,

right there on the boundary line between the States

and our western neighbor, B.C., Canada,

I pulled out my little pocket camera [phone]

while expressing thanks to all the explorers that came before.

Fortunately, there's no height restriction for this kind of adventuring

and I'm sure some were short just like me.

It was a fine day out.

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