completion

"the little dissatisfaction

which every artist feels

at the completion of a work

forms the germ

of a new work."

-berthold auerbach

when i came across auerbach's quote (above) some quiet self inside whispered "yes". another pondered "hmmmm". though i have always asserted that the reason i have so many unfinished projects going at one time was because i get bored so very easily and it allows me the freedom to change things up a bit, i'm now beginning to wonder if perhaps it is more an avoidance of dissatisfaction? could it really be....ooooh, a puppy! ha!

some stems to plant the flowers firmly on the ground, and leaves giving wings to those in the air and this little spring cloth is completed. in a way. it has no backing as i haven't decided what it will become as yet. perhaps a simple little smile of fiber all on its own to find its way into a frame or a book or some empty space somewhere. though i seem to recall having a couple other bunny cloths hopping about in the studio that may now seek completion and perhaps some unifying force to form a larger cloth of bunnies. only time will answer this small mystery.

in the meantime, little dissatisfaction over completions aside, it feels good to actually finish something for a change. perhaps this year will be one of completions? this is not to say that i won't start new journeys in cloth and thread, but rather that interspersed between the emergence of new cloths i shall begin to see more completions than in the past.  i rather like this feeling of completion.

namaste'

flowers, stargazing, snow

so begins the task of planting a gazillion blossoms (okay, well, maybe not really a gazillion...but a whole pile of them in any case) for the happy little bunny to be dancing in...

the big sky was filled with stars tonight, though the air was chilly and crisp enough to freeze your breath at a moment's notice.

after teasing us with a few days of warmer weather reaching up into the low 50's, winter descended again with some surprise snow for the past couple of days. good thing i have all those flowers to stitch to keep my mind off of how cold and snowy it is outside!

namaste'

rabbits and folk

a false spring settled in around us here in montana. a few hesitant days of relative warmth and melting snows. the rabbits have been out celebrating. seeking tender greens peeking through the top soil. the community of folk seem to have been doing the same. open windows and the odd door could be spied. folk tentatively meandering about in yards, poking at forgotten implements revealed by the retreating ice.

a little ink sketch on cloth. some tacked bits of scrap to suggest highlight, shade, color, and motion. then a retreat from my perch on the porch as ice showers appeared and pelted winter down the back of my neck. and a realization...where did i put that basket of threads?

time to scurry about in search of color and thread to add...

while i'm searching for the errant threads, take a look at what captured my attention this morning here.

namaste'

turning to the sunlight

"you can cut all the flowers

but you cannot keep spring from coming."

-pablo neruda

it's been a long winter here in montana. who knows? it may prove longer still. but we are finally getting the odd day of sunlight and warmer weather (if you call the 40's "warm"...but still, it is indeed warmer than the minus numbers of last week). in spite of it all, brave seedlings here and there are daring to turn their heads to the sunlight and push through the vestiges of snow.

grow you little bastards! grow! i'm tired of winter snows!

these past couple of weeks i've been feeling rather like these stoic little wonders. pushing my head up through the gathered "snow" of too muchness.  pushing aside over-abundances of cloth. salvage and otherwise. finding new homes for some. new spaces for others. or just combing through still more and arranging them in some semblance of order. it's amazing what chaos creativity can make of what was once an orderly studio!

perhaps i'll find some new friends whispering their stories amongst this slowly ordered chaos?

namaste'

right under our noses

it's amazing what people are doing right under our noses and we are never aware...until one day we are.  actor and artist, greg lauren (ralph lauren's nephew) has quietly entered the couture market with what one might call a frankenstein-esque style and daring.  when asked in an interview about his rather unassuming journey into fashion, greg replied by saying, "i'm still looking for my story to grow organically at its own pace, even if it is a bit beyond the beaten path."  his resources are generally military surplus (army tents, duffle bags, wool blankets, etc., with the odd bit of purposefully weathered cashmere and leather tossed in for good measure). i first stumbled across this work in an old article here where you can see many more examples of his inventive style of men's wear (he does women's wear as well, though for myself, being a man who has often complained that there just isn't enough interesting clothing being made for men, i'm much more interested in his men's wear).

granted, the article (and most likely his designs) are a few years out dated at this point, i can see i may have make a journey or two downtown to scope out the local military supply shops cuz i would love to fashion a jacket not unlike the one above for myself...outdated or no!

namaste'