3 Wishes

My mom recently gave away a piano that was puruchased when I was 7 and has sat in roughly the same spot since then. When she moved it she found two notecards that I had written:

My best guess is that this was a school assignment where we were asked to speculate on what a historical figure or a fictional character might wish for. I recognize the printing as mine but I have no recollection of doing this. It reminds me though that we are not, as we often assume we are, living life in a progressive linear way. We don't continue to build on a foundation that remains intact through the years, but its more like we are constantly selectively erasing our past behind us, trimming the fat, to make space for new memories, new experiences. So it doesn't nessecarily always mean that my present brain knows more than any one of my past brains, as in this example, I currently have no idea who Bruce could possibly be. And I will probably never know again. But I did know that. Once.

Offerings Cover Complete!

More Stitches

The inner crewelwork for the Offerings cover sampler is done! Here it is in colour (its natural state) and Black and White (what it will look like in printed format). I just have to finish the borders and tackle those braids!

Offerings

Lots of stitching happening around these parts. I reckon they'll be a lot more too.
Here's some scans of the Offerings cover progress, to get an idea of what its going to look like:

Sketchbook Excerpts

I try to draw everyday, and I have amassed a little collection of drawings that may never see the light of day again, so here's some highlights for you:

The ink drawing below is a detail of the cross-stitch sampler I am making for the March cover of Offerings. I am stitching it right now, its a thing of beauty I must say!

Mary Blair's 100th Birthday!

One of my favourite ladies of all time was born today, Mary Blair is the artistic genius behind early Disney, from the 1940's through to the 70's. Her style became synonymous with the brand and even if you've never heard of her you have undoubtedly seen and loved her work,(she worked on the concept art for Peter Pan, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland to name a few). She also did illustrations for children's books, magazine ads, and other things. There are many illustrators working today that owe kudos to Mary Blair(whether they realize it or not.)

Forest Fire

I've been working a lot lately- but on things that are so time consuming the progress feels almost imperceptible. I will show you those things next week I promise! I've made more progress on all of my needlework experiments and I had started making these little matchstick birds, each one being very labour intensive, articulating the wood of a match to give it the curve of a bird's body. And once I've finished a decent number of them I plan to burn them for a video (or several I haven't decided yet.)

On top of that stuff I'm trying to take full advantage of the harvest this year and can as much food as possible. Pickles! Red Pepper Jelly! Peach Jam! Onion Thyme Jam! Tomatoes! So I spend a disproportionate amount of time thinking about food. I will be teaching a canning workshop at the Halo Halo Village sometime in October so I will keep you posted about details.

But I'm also thinking about forest fires. I have various projects on the horizon that are in their conception stage right now and if I had to make them tomorrow they'd all born from forest fires. My lovely yoga instructor, (Meichen Waxer) frequently speaks of the idea of burning away that which doesn't serve you and I feel very connected to this idea, whether its carrying around dead weight in our bodies, or emotional burdens, or even behavioral patterns we find ourselves stuck in. Forest Fires, though destructive, are also regenerative and in the wake of the destruction new growth can form. Burning the layer of decomposing matter on the forest floor into pure nutrients actually speeds up the process that occurs naturally quite significantly. Some types of trees only release their seeds in extreme heat as well. And of course cycles have always been of great interest to me.
Plus look how beautiful: