Just Around the Corner

I can hardly believe how quickly the moments are
passing, as February comes to an end. Soon the
Winter winds, snow, and ice will only be memories,
and we will once again find ourselves enveloped in
the Summer season enjoying the warmth, fun, and frolick.

Thinking about Summer definitely has me dreaming
of the journey I will be making to New Hampshire in
the early part of June. I am so excited and quite giddy
to be teaching at the first ever Squam Art Workshops -
Fiber Retreat.

I am offering a BRAND NEW! workshop designed
especially for Squam, that I am completely over the
moon about!

The Painted Fiber Prayer Flag Banner is a one
day class that is available during all three sessions
of the retreat.

I will be sharing some very unique techniques for
painting on fabric with acrylics, which is quite
similar to painting with watercolors on paper. I
especially love working in the acrylic medium
because it is easy to correct mistakes. Also
because fabric is such a versatile canvas,
painted subjects can be easily removed from
their original background and attached to
other surfaces.

Sometimes, students are concerned that
they will not be able to render nature
subjects with the same amount of detail
as my samples, so I thought I share some
examples from a past nature painting workshop.
These pieces are truly BREATHTAKING!!!!
and over 80% of the class had never tried
painting any sort of nature subject
before this.

In addition to painting, we will be exploring dyeing
and distressing fabrics to create backgrounds
that resemble patina metals like rust and weathered
vertigris copper, as well as weaving both paper and
fiber together into a cohesive artwork and discussing
design principles to use for collage art compositions

Come join me for one, two, or even all three days of
creating your own inspiring prayer banner art! IT IS
DEFINITELY A DON'T MISS EVENT!

There is an INCREDIBLE interview of the Squam
coordinator/director, Elizabeth MacCrellish on
the Decor8blog. Check IT OUT HERE!

The Coming of Spring

A flock of 15 Robins graced me with a visited late
last week. I stood so very still, dazzled by their presence,
while I lingered near the tree where they perched.

They took my breath away. Wave upon wave of awe
continued to resonate through me, as I watched them.

I was truly witnessing the coming of Spring.








This precious gift also inspired me to write a bit
of verse for my contribution to the
Winter Poetry Postcard Exchange.

February 20th:

Harken the coming of all things
hale to those that usher in Spring
sent to proclaim via gentle wing
a message of hope eternal it would be

Gifts from the Sea

I have always enjoyed the act of reading...
curling up in a cozy chair or on the bed,
snuggling beneath a blanket with a good
book in hand, finding myself lost among
the pages, transported to another time or
place through the carefully woven words
of a story.

So you can see how easy it might be,
that a familiar manuscript began as the
foundation for my February Nature
Gathered artwork. A classic piece of
literature filled with wisdom that is still
as meaningful, maybe even more so today,
as it was the very first time I opened the cover.

Gifts from the Sea was merely a passing
fancy or impulse purchase, something
that I had bought off of the discount
shelves of a local bookstore over ten
years ago. I don't know what I really
expected from Mrs. Lindbergh's prose,
but I definitely got more than I bargained
for. What the thin paperback was lacking
in girth, it made up for in content.

I have never been much of one to read and
re-read the same tale twice. And honestly,
I had absolutely no intentions of re-reading
this book when I decided to pull it down from
the shelf, at the end of January. I was just
hoping to maybe, find a passage or two that
might spark in me, a starting point from which
to base this latest piece of art.

But it only took a few sentences to find myself
mesmerized once again by the thoughtful
observations emanating from its pages.

All of a sudden, I had not only re-read the entire
book but I had actually read it twice. It was
inspiration magnified.


Carefully I stitched quotes from the book onto my
canvas, to represent the ocean waves washing
their wisdom upon the sandy shores of my being.


And in the midst of our day to day, we discover
treasures, just like finding beautiful shells along
the beach. Such priceless gems for us to hold,
to keep, to help guide us along life's path.
Reminders of who we are and where we have
been, urging us to be still and listen to the
rhythms of our own heart and soul, to follow
our dreams, to reach out and be
a light in this sometimes dark world.


I invite you to visit the Nature Gathered Blog
to see my finished work of art, along with other
interpretations of this February theme, The Sea.

How Can Life Get Any Sweeter?

I am a hopeless romantic, always believing in the fairy tale...
breathlessly waiting for the storybook ending.

Even though life can be tumultuous, I continue to gaze
through rose colored glasses, off into the happily ever
after sunset.

Such feelings color my world, and jade my views. Love
clouds my vision, and make me believe in the power it
has to fill a world with hope.

These thoughts are only magnified by the fact that I am
lucky enough to be spending my days with a man I
completely adore. A person that would give me a whole
box of Princess Valentine Cards inscribed on the back
with his beautiful words, sharing all the reasons why
he loves me.

So, how can life get any sweeter than this?


Happy Valentine's Day!

Divine Rhetoric

I have felt for quite some time that particular events
occur in each and everyone's life that lead them on
a journey, perhaps even a pilgrimage... where in the
beginning we may be totally unaware of the significance
of the scenario playing out right before eyes.

For it is not until little pieces of a puzzle start to stack
up, one by one, that we finally become aware of
these happenings, and allow ourselves to believe, to
see the whole of what fate has in store.

It is in these moments that such epiphanies present a path,
and we must choose whether to walk that path, to take the
opportunity, to reach, and to grow in new directions.

One such journey began with an invitation from L.K. Ludwig,
back in November, to participate in a Day of Sharing Words
blog post by writing an ode to our favorite pieces of poetry.

I greatly admire and am utterly inspired by so many
poetic works. A poet's vivid, lyrical visions, carefully
laid out upon the page, have comforted my soul,
time and time again.

One of my very favorite poets is Ted Kooser.
Just like myself, he lives on the Plains of the Midwest,
and his words are influenced by his experiences in Nature.

Mr. Kooser has published over 8 poetry books, but
"Winter Morning Walks" is one I cherish.
In it, Mr. Kooser shares daily poems that he penned
upon postcards and mailed away to his friend
during a 100 day period.

Revisiting his idea of daily writings and sharing
those bits of insight with a friend via the post,
set my mind whirling, feeling that a similar task
might be an INCREDIBLE way to celebrate
the Winter season.

So, I decided to host my own Winter Poetry
Postcard Exchange by gathering a very small
group of artist friends to join me. We, too,
would write our own poetic offerings, filling
a daily card with beautiful words during the
Winter Solstice.

Never would have I suspected or even tried to
guess, what these daily injections of pure bliss,
both in the writing and receiving, would do for
my spirit. And as we are draw close to the half
way mark of our journey with words, I continue
to find myself going back over the cards received,
re-reading each one, soaking it all in as a whole...
especially when new postcards arrive.

And always waiting anxiously for more divine rhetoric
to be delivered.



Below are just a few of my own writings... to share
with you.

"December 22:
to thee...
I impart what lies beyond words,
such truths lead the heart upon a path
wrapped in silken splendor or winter's keeping,
and a road heavy laden with snow."


"January 1:
We both revere and fear firsts
often striving to be just that,
other times scared to take the chance.
Yet always hoping it will save us
from our past."


"January 12:
such melancholy sounds of morning
tearing us from slumber, as the moments
usher in the day with a pageantry of fiery
colors and brilliant trumpets."


"January 15th:
reality returns to blanket the ground
with its reminder that all is not lost,
all is not forgotten... I promised you
the stars, the moon,
and a world of white."

A Cabinet of Curiosity

I have been wrestling with a rather weighty
subject these past several weeks, as I worked
toward completing my January artwork for
the Nature Gathered Collaborative that I am
participating in.

The monthly theme was Cabinet of Curiosities
and instead of translating this in a literal way,
I decided to tackle the matter metaphorically.
I thought it might be interesting to choose a
concept that we, as human beings, find very
curious. A topic containing a well spring of
unanswered questions.

As I sifted and sorted through different
possibilities, the idea of life and death was
something that kept presenting itself, over
and over again. And although there is plenty
of medical information regarding both of
these occurrences, they are still, in many ways,
quite a mystery.









To see my finished work of art along with
other interpretations of this Cabinet of
Curiosites theme, I invite you to visit
the Nature Gathered Blog.