at home with fragments

“every experience, 

no matter how bad it seems, 

holds within a blessing 

of some kind. 

the goal is to find it.“

-buddha

i got laid off today. the corona virus and the oil price war between russia and saudi arabia have all but shut down the oil industry in the states. of a sudden, i have a lot of time on my hands, so this is happening. a bit of fragment exploration in three dimensions. playing with unusual forms to create old favourites. where will this all lead? i do not know, but it should be fun figuring it out!

namasté

ephalumps a'stompin' 'round

"i'm truly surprised

that we seem to get by

without polka dotted elephants,

serving us pie!"

-marc johns

this past month has been a struggle at best. between another lay-off, job search, training, bodhi having health issues, piper growing older by the minute, and the ephalump of depression stomping about in my brain, it's no wonder i've managed so little stitching!  today, however, was an ephalump of another color: no, i still haven't managed to find a polka dotted ephalump to serve me pie, but i did manage a little needle chanting beneath a shady tree this afternoon.  a little romp through a cloth fragment stash and a little playing about with sharp objects.  not sure where i'm going with him from this point.  perhaps i'll work him into a little pocket. a zippered vessel for bits and bobs. a keeping pouch.  i recently salvaged some lovely old metal zippers that i should be able to harvest one from. there seems to be a little story there, somewhere. whispering quietly in the background...

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'

elephants on the brain

i swear i must have elephants on the brain! not only have i been sketching elephants. stitching elephants. painting elephants. but today, i went in for my appointment with my ink artist and got an elephant inked on my right forearm!  hmmmm....are those nice young men in the clean white coats coming for me??

actually, oddly enough, i designed this ages ago...long before i began thinking about the elephant festivals! the elephant here is ganesh (a.k.a., ganesha) and is the hindu god of compassion and remover of obstacles.  even though he is a hindu deity, devotion to him is broad, including amongst the janes, buddhists and beyond!  being that the cornerstone of my faith is compassion, he has always been a favorite of mine along with avalokitesvara, kuan yin, and others.

the red lotus above his head is also very important.  this symbolizes the original nature of the heart (hrdaya). it is the lotus of love, compassion, passion, activity and all the qualities of the heart. it is the lotus of avalokitesvara.

the sanskrit calligraphy that i added below ganesh is "sankalp" which means "ceremonious offer."  in this case, referring to my own personal ceremonious offer of myself in service to others.  together with the mani prayer in sanskrit on my other arm, makes for a strong personal statement of compassion and devotion to others.

this sits well with my spirit. i am pleased....

now to go play with kavi and see how many more flowers i can "paint" on him before heading home.

namaste'

and so the festival painting commences

i don't read the paper

and i don't watch tv and

people ask me how i

stay up with what's

going on and i tell them

breathing seems to

help and since i haven't

done serious damage

to anyone yet, they

usually leave me alone.

- brian andreas

i got to play a bit with kavi tonight. not only did he get a name (kavi means "poet", and if his whisperings are any indication, he is aptly named), but he also found himself stitched down to the background, a few gold coins added to his saddle cloth, some flowered ground to walk upon, and the beginnings of his festival paints!  these flowers are only the beginning.  there are so many more to add...and some beading, too, if kavi has his way.  he is a very flashy elephant...

being an elephant of no small means, he is bigger than i anticipated.  this ponderous pachyderm is not going to be for the faint of heart.  nor will he be for the dime-store novel reader.  however, being an afficianado of first editions, hard-cover releases, coffee table volumes, and over-sized children's books as i am, i don't think this tusker will present any problems in finding a tome worthy of his magnitude when the time comes...

but for the moment, he will need to climb back into my pocket.  i have a lot of work to do before my next shift begins and this one ends...  besides, it looks like today may turn out to be a rather rainy one and kavi doesn't like getting wet.

namaste'

elephant in the room

it's begun...

sketches litter my design desk.  piles and puddles of fragments and old garments fill any available space.  the elephants are preparing for a parade. ..

i decided to start with a few smaller cloths. book cloths, to be exact.  try out a few ideas. play with some embroidery and embellishment.  maybe move on to a pillow or two. before attacking some of the larger ideas that have been whispering in the back of my mind.

first up is the rudimentary fragments of  my first little elephant book cloth:

i thought a book cloth would be a worthy genesis for the venerable elephant, given that his memory is reknowned.  who better to remember where one left off reading?

the colors here are a bit off, i'm quite certain (at least, they are on my monitor).  the elephant himself is free cut from an old grey cotton luncheon napkin.  his head is cut separate from his body to allow overlapping for dimension and depth.  his tusks are free cut from an old off-white cotton dinner napkin.  his skull cap (which may be changed) is from the pocket flap of an old shirt.  his saddle blanket is from the end of a handwoven belt off of a vintage handwoven skirt.  his eye was cut from the same belt and is the center of a woven design.  his wine-colored background is torn from another vintage cotton dinner napkin.  the striped plum shirt will be the next layer. it is full of texture and detail that is lost in this photo, and is butter soft!  the cream dotted flower linen fabric behind that will be the backing cloth and is from a vintage summer jacket.

this little elephant  is as yet unpainted.  i'm thinking most of his "painting" will be done in thread with embroidery. tons of tiny lazy daisies and stars and swirls are at the forefront of my thoughts. filling my mind with their fervent whispers. perhaps some thin tassels or twists in the four corners...much like a magic carpet.

i'll be working a triple at the cottages over the next couple of days, so won't have a lot of time to play in my studio...but may have to tuck this little guy into my pocket and see what kind of mischief we can get into in our down time...

namaste'

seeing elephants

we are nearing the annual jaipur elephant festival in rajasthan and it has got me seeing painted elephants!

okay, so that isn't what a "normal" person might spend his afternoons thinking about...but who ever said that i was anything close to "normal"? ha!

i've always wanted to go to rajasthan this time of year and see the painted elephants in person. walk the streets where elephant owners spend weeks decorating their prized pachyderms for the occasion.  but, so far, i've had to content myself with a more vicarious viewing over the past several years. (sigh)

so, in honor of one of the most wonderful festivals of the year (well...that title is purely conjectural since i've yet to be able to actually attend one), i'll be whipping up a pack of pachyderms in cloth this week...

will they be fragments and cloths? pillows? stuffed critters? who knows? i'm not even sure...but i'm rummaging through my fibers and bits and pieces and pulling some wonderful things together to play with!  i'll post some pics tomorrow as they start to take shape...

namaste'