Winter is a great time to see texture. and line. These grasses inspire me. Must stitch soon.
Slowing down to think and listen
As I was stitching last night I thought about the documentary Alive Inside, a 2014 Sundance film festival award winner about the effect of music on Alzheimers patients. The film is stunning, heart warming and inspirational. I highly recommend it to all. Order it now. Watch it today. Contribute to their efforts.
Really. Do it now.
We all have a soundtrack in our lives. Music that motivates, energizes and memorializes our lives.
What would my soundtrack include? Led Zeppelin, Mozart, Frank Sinatra, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills Nash and Young, especially Young. And Ray Charles, Erik Satie, Tom Waits, Edith Piaf, Jami Sieber and Jaco Pastorius. Sophie Hunger, Wax Tailer, Beethoven and Florence and the Machine. And how could I omit Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Sweet Honey and the Rock? Miles Davis, Utah Phillips, Leonard Cohen, Nat King Cole, Ana Brun, Ludovico Elnaudi, Gustav Mahler, John Lee Hooker, Al Green and Marvin Gaye. Of course it would also have to include Damien Rice, David Bowie, the Beatles, Phillip Glass, Peter Gabriel, Patsy Cline and Luciano Pavarotti.
Sunstitched, Paula Kovarik, part of a quilt challenge for my local guild.
OK, so the list is endless. It's comforting to think that for all the times we struggle with memory, become lost in life's challenges, or just want to find what the next step might be … all we have to do is listen. The inspiration is there. In the music.
What is on your soundtrack?
moving on
That rock and reflection in the middle of this photo reminds me of a four square patch.
Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas is a magical place. It harbors family memories, exposes changes in nature to our wondering eyes and instills a sense of miracles and beauty every time we visit. This year was no exception. Though the weather was cold and wet we were able to hike our favorite waterfall trail, one we have hiked many times. My children grew up exploring these woods and climbing these rocks. Now my grandchildren do the same. Every four years our friends join us there in an election year pilgrimage to share food, tell stories of our lives, lick our wounds if our candidates lost and rejoice with hope if our candidates win the opportunity to make our government work. I hope the tradition lingers into old age.
The photo below is a composite of the same trees taken 10 years apart. The tree on the left (shown in the middle image at the far left) has a healed over hollow and some new sprouts. The tree on the right still carries the heart shaped rock I admired ten years ago. I love the stubbornness of nature … the slow build that growth and adversity uses to form life.
Two trees, ten years apart.
momentum
Holidays break the momentum of projects. I hate to stop working on something while I have a clear focus of the direction it is going in. It just takes so long to get back on the road. This poor abused cactus in the studio reminded me of that. Sometimes you go strong in one direction only to drop and weaken as the piece grows. Then you have to put your thoughts in order, reach into a new support system and try again. Check out those little feet this guy has created to forge ahead!
Last week, while spending time with the family, I found new textures to imitate…
I had some time to practice hand stitching…
and found inspiring things to think about…
The road back to the studio is filled with new energy.
The Solstice
Happy end of year everyone.
This beautiful poem warms my heart.
Winter Solstice
by Rebecca Parker
Perhaps for a moment the typewriters will stop clicking,
the wheels stop rolling,
the computers desist computing,
and a hush will fall over the city.
For an instant in the stillness,
the chiming of the celestial spheres will be heard
as earth hangs poised in the crystalline darkness, and then gracefully tilts.
Let this be a season when holiness is heard and the splendor of living is revealed.
Stunned to stillness by beauty
we remember who we are and why we are here.
There are inexplicable mysteries.
We are not alone.
In the universe there moves a Wild One whose gestures alter earth's axis toward love.
In the immense darkness everything spins with joy.
The cosmos enfolds us.
We are caught in a web of stars, cradled in a swaying embrace, rocked by the holy night, babes of the universe.
Let this be the time we wake to life, like spring wakes,
in the moment of winter solstice.