The first color field to change. The first turnings are the best because the summer color is still there and I feel the process of in between as a kind of broadening of spectrum.
I changed a few things here, (continued from here) stitched it to a base. Now it is a path through. Something. Anything. And I thought there was something missing. I will mend the moon with this patch. To complete the spectrum which always comforts me. Brings the palette to peace. I believe that all the colors are always there in nature, sometimes it just takes a while to adjust your eyes.
It was a glorious fall day yesterday. I restacked some wood under the porch. And dyed a bit of thread. Heated up the old walnut pom pot and coaxed a bit of blue from a few indigo leaves. This is a beautiful cotton/silk thread that I get from Nancy. All her threads are beautiful. I'm dyeing with some weaving in mind. And silk, even as a blend is so nice to work with.
It was a long noisy process but it went well. The large white oak was tall and had split into multiple trunks, maybe 5 or 6. They came with a bucket truck and wove in and out of the power lines, slowly snipping the branches, dropping them carefully until the danger was past. The tree had been most likely damaged by gypsy moths, I have been though that before. But the wood was mostly good, so maybe not that long ago. We might had left it standing had it not been so close to the wires and the house. They also cut a lot of the fallen trees here outside the kitchen window. More good wood and now clearing the way to the layered stone rimmed ridges that go back to the stone walls. There is real wild garden potential here. That cedar which was hardly visible before will be much happier. There is more air and light and open paths to walk.
I was talking about the lion quilt yesterday. Remembering how it came together. And then not so much why I made it but why it seems important and what it became and then what it has become.
I got interrupted yesterday, which has me on a side trip this morning. After Henrietta asked if I had the drawings of the lions. So I will just talk for a moment.
And just now, rewriting history I guess, a new loose page, overwritten, to make it useful in the moment. Now motivated to tear up the past and use it to patch the present, make way for the future. Regenerate.
I will start with noting A Field of Color. As a start. As a Base. Considering A full Spectrum of them. I can use them to explain. And they can be used as blankets for little people. Ok. Which color should I begin with. Green?
May 07, 2019
Just a reminder of how it might happen and thoughts about infinite vision.
She had a little health scare and a little surgery, and she is home resting. I wish her well here, for all of us. With a little wishing star that has a path through... woven right in.
They stay. Change with the wind and intermittent flurries.
The leaves fall. The thorns are beautifully there. I am inspired by this image. I'll do some sketches later.
I've been stitching on this one. Through the fast. It was a color study/sampler. A noticing how one color might lean into another. It was about color AS change. And so may things have happened. I cannot speak about all of them right now. I just added the star, this morning, at 3AM. Maybe because some wishing came true. Or maybe just because I lean on tradition and like to honor that. I am almost done but I want to extend the cross-like shadow into the frame somehow. Into space. To make it hold 9 Forever. And vibrate outward.
I have a stack of unfinished work here.
One by one they are coming into my hands.
I feel very good today. Clear.
Apple cider vinegar cure was always present in my childhood.
And the stippling style from my old illustrations has obvious use here. Maybe even more now, since I have been unrolling, noticing how this drawing style crept in. I think Thread Beads grew from this habit.
So to continue...
Some of the stitching I began when the class was running,below....
I did quite a few of these. The stippling was a combination of thread beads and tiny random back stitches.
I am making new ones now. I want to stay with this for a while. Below, a few of the originals.
I also brought back an old photo of one of the first spirit cloths I made as a gift for a newborn baby, because I have fond memories making it . And because it is very sun moon stars. And because I used the above drawing as inspiration for all the little things that were floating in space. The rays of the sun gave them some purpose and order. But I did not use the stipple here. Mostly because by the time I would have been getting to it, the baby was being born. Now that I have a bit of time on my hands, I am looking again, thinking that all the little things themselves are a kind of stippling , yes?
This is the center of the quilt. I did not take the photo. Around the sun it says: With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown. Which is a Chinese proverb.
***
Another reference, the shirt I made for my son. 1978. Before I named them thread beads and wrap stitch.
So today again considering little things floating in space. Some Galaxy Storming for later.
With the return of heat and damp stink, it's been hard to feel the turning.
But there is turning. And this morning I noticed it, as I do over and over again. Season unrolling.
Color caught in between. I never get enough of this deck and how it catches season. And the many eyes.
Wood eyes. Looking along with me.
You might remember this one. If you recently ran through the Whispering Color Series available though Feel FreeOnline Classes. Or if you were actually there when I ran it originally. It was #11 in the Journeyinto color. You might review the videos there. I did.
So I unrolled it and renamed it Autumn Eyes. To update it. So I might sit with it. Bring it back into focus.
But now that Feel Free is open, and many outdoor chores have been completed, I think I can finally roll back into going at a more normal pace.
We spent time mulching through the summer's ivy overgrowth and made paths all over the place. So we could wander in between and still let the wild grow. Soul-o is in heaven.
The reaction to my new open teaching has been warm and welcoming. Thank you. I will just do it all openly, including building the resource, not knowing exactly how it will go but trusting it will become. You, as users, might alert me to anything that is not working over there. WE might make it all OK.
With the season's color change beginning I pulled out a few colored moons I made way back, inspired by the shaped resist I learned from Glennis. These are cotton. I use an over-dye technique, the fabric clamped between two quarters to keep the dye from penetrating, leaving the original color of the fabric in the circle part. Dipped in indigo. The reason this is so good for me is because I have so much small colored commercial scrap here. From working in the textile industry. Some of which I like a lot better when there is just a little bit of it showing. And when I made these I was growing my own indigo. So over-dyeing like this, it makes sense for me. If you start with white cloth, you need to dye twice to achieve this. (Not to mention you might have to go buy cloth). I always like the possibility of having a full spectrum to work with.
I have added a COLOR page to Feel Free. And I have begun to gather some of the audios and videos that relate to that. The RAINBOW has always been part of my reasoning when composing with color. There is a category here on the blog for spectrum/rainbow as well.
So there are walnuts and pomegranates soaking, patchwork waiting to be stitched and color on my mind. And I'll roll into it.It seems, really, to me, that this blog is about to become the never ending Diaries series. And passwords have become a thing of the past. One place. One purpose. What a relief.
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