converging skies

“creativity is just

connecting things.”

-steve jobs

bodhi found himself drowning in a sea of frothy shampoo and moisturising conditioner today! the sun was blazing across the sky. the beast was malodorous, so it seemed like a utopian union. he smells delightfully fragrant now!

i’ve been bloodless and world-weary of late. fraught with uncertainty as my unemployment is surreptitiously terminated by sanctimonious politicians who believe we are all simply lazy and need to take one of the thousands of poverty level jobs available in food service and hospitality, a field nowhere near my own which was destroyed not only by the pandemic, but by governmental idiocies in the first place…and pays less than half what i was making…grumble, grumble, piss and moan. ha! a fat lot of good all that grouching just did, eh? tomorrow is another day.

to be more productive, i begin again. forging skies. new fragments. anticipating stories. even snipping and dipping a stacklet of shibori indigo moons! too colossal for these fragments, but ripe for impending journeys in stitch and whisper.

now to settle in and needle chant awhile as the rotund moon shimmers outside my window and gentle night breezes cool the fragrant beast at my feet and the bear sleeps in the next room.

namasté 

glowing against the grey

"only connect!

that was the whole of her sermon.

only connect the prose and the passion,

and both will be exalted...

live in fragments no longer."

-e.m. forster, howard's end

it is strange, how ideas fold in on themselves and re-present themselves. a stray fragment whispered longings for something to make her shine. i gifted her with a star. seeing her joy, i sought to give this gift again. before i knew it, there was a tiny galaxy of stars, just there, glowing against the grey.

soon other celestial bodies whispered into existence.  moons. suns. planets.  these could be any or all, for what is in a name?  tiny echoes of the sunbursts and moonglows that have been manifesting in my studio. celestial fragments.

they look familiar. yet different. new.  ah! but of course! inspiration bathes us in its own celestial glow. jude hill's nine series of indigo moons and stars. pale resist-dyed "threadcrumbs" luminous in their deep indigo sky. jude has ever been a beacon in the star-filled sky of my creativity! so to keep that element, these celestial fragments are grouped in nines as well. to pay homage to the one who seeks "a cross-pollination" which "seeds a larger and exotic garden of delights."

so very different, yet related. these smoldering rust-printed celestial fragments would play quite nicely with jude's mysterious indigo jewels in that garden...

namaste'

like alchemy...

"my work

is like a dialogue

between me and 

unseen powers,

like alchemy.'

-cai gua-qiang

delving into unknown territory today...  first "what if" was to rust dye in layers.  wrapped my salvage fragment around the band from an old whiskey cask to dye a large, summer moon.  once dyed, i dunked the fragment back into the vinegar water and then stretched it out on a plastic sheet and laid the metal tree cut out on it, smoothing the wet cloth gently to remove wrinkles and distortions, then carefully folded the fragment back onto itself to get the second tree image rusted in....all the while, being meticulous in keeping any part of the cloth off of the moon so as not to accidentally transfer the first image back into an unwanted area of the cloth.

i was very happy with my initial results...except that all this carefulness left the image a bit stark for my taste.  what to do? what to do?  okay....here's a thought...grab some of the rust mush from the bottom of the dunk tank and spread it around to create clouds and ground after another dip in the vinegar water!    i'm liking this so much better already.  only thing is...i have no idea how this will turn out.  i've never used rust mush to dye with before.  it's just the rusty flakings from the floorboard of my international that i dumped into the dunk tank to act as a rust starter.  it's black.  i don't know why.  but it is.  i don't know if it'll turn orange and rust like any other rusty metal. or if it will dye the fragment black or grey.  or if it will just sit there stubbornly. sticking its tongue out at me and do nothing to color the cloth.  i shall just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow...  isn't it exciting?!?

namaste'

buddhist moon?

i've been playing around with a minor mixture of free-motion machine embroidery and hand embroidery on some scraps intended to become a greeting card for a friend with wildwood affiliations, and since there is a blue moon mounting in a few days, it seems to have become a focal point in this little dalliance. why the coneflowers decided to join the party in deep indigo frocks is beyond my understanding. ha!

meanwhile, another friend was asking me why i have such a strong affiliation with lunar cycles and with full and new moons in particular. she seemed to be under the misunderstanding that this sort of "stuff" was for pagans and so forth. but to buddhists, there is special "religious" significance especially on full moon days as many important and outstanding events are said to have occurred on these days. the buddha (referring to the gautama buddha) was born on a full moon day. his renunciation took place on a full moon day. his enlightenment, the delivery of his first sermon, his passing into nibbana, and many other important events associated with his 80 year lifespan all took place on full moon days. because of this, buddhists around the world tend to look more intently at their own spirituality and practice on full moon days. in many buddhist countries, full and new moon days were once declared to be public holidays. in some, this practice is gaining popularity once more.

of course, i live in a country with a very diverse spiritual and cultural panorama so i doubt i shall be getting a day off work every 14 days anytime in the near future. ha! but i still enjoy marking the cycles of the moon and the moon has a prominent place in my art and consciousness. perhaps it's time for me to revisit rabbit moon for the next few days...

namaste'

storm clouds rumbling

"i am not afraid of storms,

for i am learning how

to sail my ship."

-louisa may alcott, "little women"

an army of storm clouds are rumbling across the big montana sky tonight after a day of posturing and shouting and spitting at the beartooths and the crazies. i had hoped to take the beast out for a ride today before sending him down for his new coat of paint. but for my need for sleep between night shifts and the chaotic skies, i thought better of it and let the beast slumber on, tucked safely away in his garage.

tonight found my fingers whispering and basting the tumultuous waves and frolicking bunnies beneath the clouds and the quiet rabbit moon while the rest of the cottage slept peacefully. there is much needle chanting to be done next. but, for the moment, my fingers are at peace and the rabbits will jump and play without me...

namaste'

the quiet blush of a hesitant spring

i find myself moving more slowly these days. more deliberately. with a deeper sense of presence. is it the hesitant arrival of spring, gently pulling my awareness out of winter's slumber? whatever the reason, my attention is more closely focused on each breath. each stitch. each moment. there is a connection between my quiet heart and this sleeping rabbit. an anticipation. . .

next to summon the clouds. . .

namaste'

a color whispering smidgeon

this quiet moon has been resting peacefully until this afternoon when she began dreaming of grasses becoming flowers, prancing cat tails, and even a visiting dragonfly. there is still a lot of story to be told here... but the moon is shy still. perhaps after a nap she will have more to say... or even to unveil her face...

at the moment, i am inspired by this. i think i may even still have a little gadget for making these tucked away in the oubliette somewhere!

namaste'

sometimes...

sometimes, we need to just rest.  after my last three insane weeks i spent my last three days doing just that. sleeping, mostly. generally resting totally. unplugged. except for the odd peek into the net on my android....

and then, i began to rouse myself from my lethargy and put needle to fabric again...

this is earl.  well, that is how he introduces himself to folks since he says none of us would ever be able to pronounce his monster name.  besides, ever since he awoke to find that he no longer had the heart for monstering, he figured he should have a normal name...

earl enjoys fine red wines, quiet nights by a crackling fire, and long walks beneath the moon.  he doesn't like to talk much about his shadowy past and prefers to wear his heart on his...chest.  he lives quite contentedly on this book cloth created from various vintage linens, cottons, and handwovens.  his book cloth sports braided tassels adorned with tiny silver belly dance bells which hang over the top of one's book to help mark the reader's resting place, but can be equally effective as ties to hang this small cloth in display.  earl is the first in  the "pity the monsters" series of small cloths.  earl's little world will be available in my new shop shortly and will be ready for immediate shipment.

this week has been an odd one. filled with snow and rain and sun and sleep.  apart from the ache in my fingers the rain always brings, i'm ready to re-enter the world and begin the sisyfusian task of catching up with it all!  but, for tonight, i'm headed back to bed for one last good night's sleep before heading into work in the morning.

namaste'

tusker moon gets his blossoms

it snowed today. unexpectedly. after two weeks of beautiful weather. a sneaky storm just swept through and dropped wet, cloying snow on our heads.  all day. all evening. it doesn't seem to be anywhere near completing itself and moving on...

so, rather than sleep between shifts (as any reasonable person may have done), i sat and worked on tusker moon. he was whispering too loudly for anyone to sleep anyway! 

i decided he needed a bit more definition, so added some chain stitch. did some random seed stitch grass and then began stitching in the flowers.  i don't think i'm quite done with the flowers and grass yet.  but the moon began whispering in my other ear and it tickled. so i finished rounding her out and then stitched in that whispering mouth and observant eyes. she seems somewhat surprised. perhaps she's never seen an elephant dance before...

namaste'

p.s.  updates may be a bit sporadic for a bit.  the evil monster at&t has bought out alltel and is in the process of screwing up everyone's service!  i end up with server errors more often than i get a signal, so i'll be needing to head into town and sit at the local coffeehouse to get a reliable signal. i'd rather sit at home and stitch my elephants and felines and whatever other critters present themselves amongst my fragments...

tusker moon

thoughts about a disappointing moon loomed. perspective interposed.  how on earth could a moon be disappointing?  played with fragments. created the reflection of a silk moon over a cotton, linen and silk landscape.

when i stepped back to examine what had been needled into existence, an overly cheerful little tusker danced through with whispers of promised flowers tossed into the sky and scattering the grassy ground around him!

in the snippets of time i've managed to grab between shifts, i've found a new friend. a happy little friend. with very large tusks and a penchant for dancing in the moonlight!

it will be fun stitching him down and embroidering in the flying flowers...

namaste'

moon hype

"the moon looks upon many night flowers,

the night flowers see but one moon."

- jean ingelow

what i expected to see

perspective.

what i saw instead

it's strange what perspective can do to one's perception of things.  with all of the media hype yesterday, i expected to see a huge, gigantimongous glowing orb bouncing ponderously on the horizon....blotting out the surrounding sky. obscuring millions of stars.  instead, i was presented with a moon like most others. distant. pale. diminutive.

i was disappointed.

perhaps i'll find the moon i was looking for in fragments and cloth when i get home tonight....

namaste'