The Promise of Death

Not morbid to me at all, but a reminder of the preciousness of each moment of life, is death.  As the author of a book on the subject and a passionate speaker on the  topic I have merged my writing once again with my art creating a line of sympathy cards.  Among my favorite quotes on the subject of loss is this, "Grief is yet another song the heart must sing to open the gate of all there is". This is often the verse I use for my handmade cards.  None of us will be spared the song of grief, and we never really get over it.  Instead, we make room for grief and our wounds become a part of who we are. Grief carves deeply into our souls, but that cavern makes a wider place for joy to fill, for pain and happiness come from the same place within us.  While I truly feel great sympathy for any loss another faces, I do believe it is the shared truth that we all must face loss and death that is the heart and soul of our connection to one another. Our certain knowledge that all of this is fleeting is what makes moments so sweet and gives love its greatest power.

Living, Loving, Letting Go

How can so much time go by between posts? I am always busy with art and work, I intend to share more, but such is life- plans are set aside for what really happens.  It is all about letting go of what we think for what is, letting go of plans and expectations and embracing what happens, good and bad, joyous times and life's sadder days, they shape us into who we are.  These past few years have brought me new lessons in letting go of what I thought was to be and have blessed me with the greatest of rewards as I witness life unfold as it was meant to, not as I thought it should be.  This time of tremendous growth has broadened my spirit in ways I could never have foreseen.  Wounds do not really heal, they simply become a part of us and if we are brave enough to live the dark times fully, the brighter days are even more glorious.  These two pieces depict a couple of my greatest losses, but celebrate how they shaped me and how much I rejoice in those relationships I have cherished.

Passionate Love

Happy Valentine's Day - This day and everyday, love with all you've got.  Passion is about being fully committed, fully engaged, fully present - not necessarily about the kind of passion we usually associate physical passion, though that too is wonderful. Passion can and should be a part of all that we do- whether creating, cooking, working, cleaning, exercising, eating, listening, seeing, loving - doing what we do with intention and a sense of purpose can allow for the ordinary moments of life to become sacred, because they are, each one will never come again and marks a passage of time on this incredible journey of life. Here are the Valentine's I made for my children and their partners, each collage holds some symbolism about their lives and the message is the same because each of my children has been enhanced by the partnerships they have formed, each has blossomed more fully with the loves in their lives. We have never been so blessed.

Crafting Life

For all of my life I have been drawn to crafting in one form or another. I come from parents who could work creatively with their hands and some of my richest memories involve working with them on a project, or merely watching them working at one thing or another. Our parents fostered in us a strong desire to work with our hands in creative ways, from supporting my sister’s batik work, to teaching us embroidery, or proudly displaying my massive macramé projects.  There was nothing we weren’t encouraged to try and supported in doing and we are truly blessed by the richness of those memories and the lessons hand crafting brought to our lives.

 

As I was working on a purse recently, having been inspired to create with recycled materials, my shoulders ached with the repetitive, hunched over work of needle nosed pliers and tiny jump rings, and I simply had to stop.  I marveled at how it was developing and with my aching shoulders, granted myself the simple stretching and time away needed to be able to go back to it.  Creating a beautiful hand crafted piece of any kind takes a multitude of little steps, many of them not particularly fun at all, often very repetitive, arduous, tedious steps done with a single purpose and intention. When you are done you have a thing of beauty, sometimes you have a masterpiece.  Creating a beautiful life is done the same way.

It is a wonderful thing to witness the fruits of one’s labor, to behold the things of beauty that can manifest from concentrated effort and attention to detail.  Life is no different. There are hundreds of mundane, arduous, and tedious tasks to living one’s life, but they can be done with an intention, a common purpose and a vision. Those daily mundane, arduous, tedious tasks are your life after all. Like the Buddhist saying, before enlightenment – chop wood, carry water, after enlightenment – chop wood, carry water. Life’s daily tasks still need doing and there is grace in doing them with intention, with gratitude for your abundance, with love and affection for the nurturing spirit you embody.

Best Holiday Wishes to all of You as you craft the life  of your dreams-

Passionate about Repurposing

I have become very passionate about recycling and repurposing artwork - For quite a while now I have used recycled print material for collage cards using images from flyers, catalogs, old magazines etc to create the texture or color I want to create a new image.  Now, I have started to re-imagine some of the art I have at home.  To decorate cheaply, I have often bought pieces at Ross or TJ Maxx that have colors I am using. However, now that I am creating more of our art work, I find my self scavenging around the house for pieces I am tired of or not using and using them as a base for something new.   Here I used two 9" x 20" Tuscan scenes I had gotten for $4.99 apiece and collaged a Klimt inspired duet.  Using the Lynne Perella angels featured on her stamps, I enlarged the stamp images and printed them directly onto decorative papers and of course freely used vintage text, tissue and napkins along with paint and gel medium.  Fun way to get a new look, and to experiment with ideas without a big commitment to supplies or canvases.  In my art as metaphor for life thinking, we take what we have and see its value in a new way, layer on the experiences of our lives and make what once seemed useless or less worthy and see it as the foundation it is in the evolution of our selves.

Life expanding

This year has unfolded in so many beautiful ways.  Not only has my artistic expression exploded in untold directions, our family is growing to include a daughter-in-law.  I have posted a piece I made for our newly engaged son entitled Viva Los Novios to the right. The couple has asked me to create the invitations for their July 7th wedding, and I have featured the chosen design here.

We are thrilled to have Erika in our family and celebrate the peace, joy and fulfillment she has brought to Elias' life.  I will be making the 100+ invitations by hand so each has the textural, unique element we are all wanting - and I am thrilled to do it.  What better way to celebrate life than to joyously contribute to a day to celebrate love and life!!

My First Video

Just had the wonderful opportunity to work with dear friend, Carol Hart, on an instructional video.  Simply click on the link here if you wish to see what we did! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ul_bcLNK1s  My artwork has kept me very busy since my cast came off, inspiration is everywhere and there is always some card or gift to be made.  Made the above set of "wish" cards for my son's 33rd birthday. Using imagery of particular relevance to him, or colors he often uses in his art made for a unique and much appreciated way in which I could share with him my hopes for his birthday and his year.  More to come as I explore expanded methods in working with multiple media - but suffice to say I am having a wonderful time expressing myself in this profoundly varied style!