Trying something new

  Here I am sharing a work in progress.  That's not easy for me to do. But I hadn't touched base in a while and wanted to share what I've been up to, other than the Flash Sales I've been flooding my social media sites with, my alternative to art shows right now. I'm sharing something I don't anticipate ever taking the place of my ultimate creative expression, my photography, but something that is sparking my interest none the less. "Painting". I need to keep reminding myself that its ok to try something new that you aren't good at yet. That experimenting helps you grow in all areas of your life. So, here's a couple of images of my work in progress. Yes, I do have a real life easel ordered to make it easier. I'm curious to see where we'll end up. I'm using some old, textured glass saved from my window projects in place of a canvas or board. I'll try to be brave and share the finished results, warts and all. Hope with me that I make it through with both ears intact. (tortured artist joke) Wish me luck!

Be Well,

Quilts and Metaphors

     I found a quilt top in my fabric stash. It had made it through several "destashings" but I have no memory of buying it. It must have been an estate sale years ago. It has been pieced by hand and some by machine and it is all together charming. It does need a few repairs though as you can see from above. A perfect opportunity for me to indulge my visible mending habit.  

         Here's some images of the old quilt pieces I plan to use to get the fabric patches from.  

They are bits and pieces of old quilts I've picked up over the years and managed to keep.  In fact one little bit is a pieced top tacked onto at least two older quilts. Look at what I found in the very center of the wooly mess.

That once cherished quilt made with the tiniest stitches buried deep but still there at the center. 

Stay with me. I will, I think, get to the metaphor part I hope.

As I work to separate the layers of the quilt I was going to use to patch the "new" old quilt, I thought about how it seemed to reflect so much of what was going on around me in the world. The layers of history. The damaged and useless bits. The mistakes stitched in and buried deep. Instead of fixing the surface and attaching it to a damaged and disintegrating core, I will do the work and find the pieces that were worth keeping. The pieces that would serve the new quilt well. They would reflect what I value. The new quilt would be stitched with the best bits of the old. The bits that are wrong, broken, and no longer part of a quilt of beautiful different pieces joining and coming together as a whole, with a common purpose of comfort, art and honor? They aren't welcome in my life.

There are good things to keep but much more that no longer works and no parts of that need to be kept. 

I hope you and yours are keeping well. Wear your masks. Wash your hands. Make sure you're keeping the good parts of your quilt and getting rid of the rotten bits.

Thank you friend,

Don't Fence Me In

  It happened again.  I've described in the past how I will stop and be focused on something that caught my eye.  I'll take several photos, get just the right angle or wait for the light, only to turn and find what I was supposed to be looking at in the first place looking back at me.  That's what happened with this lady.  I was looking at the birds on my right only to turn around and burst out laughing at the Black Baldy checking me out.  Lesson reinforced. Pay attention.  Look for what you may have missed.

Be Well friend,

Window Gifts

     I took a break from my Spring.  I took a break from what I thought was going to be my Spring.  I was forced to take a break from what I thought my Spring was going to be.  We pretty much all did.  I didn't want to focus on promoting my work and sharing pieces that were for sale.  I felt kinda bad about it.  Like, I "should" be doing that, this is how I support myself,  but couldn't make myself.  So I allowed myself to not do that and let that part go until I was ready to take that up again.  It took about three weeks.  Then I got the opportunity to participate in a virtual art show Art Gone Viral and I replied Yes without thinking.  Afterward was when all the doubt three weeks of inactivity allowed to materialized.  But you know what?  By my saying Yes I sent a signal out there.  I was contacted by lovely folks that had purchased pieces from me in the past and were ready for more, generous friends determined they would spend some of their stimulus money on supporting artists they know, people found my work on my Etsy sites and started buying again.  And one lovely woman who had bought a large #WindowFramed piece from me a couple years ago thought of me when she was replacing the windows in her historic home (see the image above).  She contacted me to see if I would have a use for them.  She wanted me to have them and she wanted to commission a piece from one of them for their home, as a remembrance.  This generous gift touched me very deeply.  It affirmed that opening myself and my business back up, literally and figurately was the right thing to do and at the right time.  I WAS going to need more windows.  Everything is going to be ok.  Thank you Francesca for sharing the window gifts.  I promise to find them good homes with good people like you.  I'm ready to get back to work.

Be Well my friends,

     

Farm Stand

     We got out in our self contained, rolling, quarantine, KIA bubble yesterday.  It felt good to run the roads and see things we didn't remember.  It was surprising how good it felt to find this simple vegetable stand at the roadside in front of a farm.  While we are well into garden season here it is a bit early for this much lush abundance from a home grown garden but still, the same Pavlovian response was sparked.  When removed from the packaged, industrialized feel of the mega grocery store the vegetables felt like real treasures.  Vitamin jewels of healthiness. Wholesomeness even.  No doubt as our garden comes on I will be sharing each vegetable victory with you all.  Cheering someone else's growth is almost as health giving and growing yourself.  Wow, how about that veggie metaphor.  Lean into nostalgia folks it feels good.  

Be Well,

      

Cross Stitch

     A couple of years ago I went through the KonMari Method of decluttering.  I can't recommend it highly enough.  That being said, one of the results of the process is letting go of things that don't "spark joy" for you.  A lot of what wasn't sparking joy was unfinished craft or handwork projects.  I had several started but never finished cross stitch pieces that I released.  The piece pictured above is one of them.  This little jewel, even in the unfinished state still made me happy so I kept it.  The image of cottage roses in an antique, blue transferware pitcher spoke to my love of vintage and cottage décor.  So, gentle reader, I kept it.  I didn't work on it.  I left it unfinished and waiting for completion.  In an effort to add variety to my "stay busy" handwork this unfinished project is getting a chance to be all that it can be.  I'm going to finish it up, create a frame for it out of pieces left over from #WindowFramed series.  I'll share a pic once completed of course.  The ultimate completion of a project isn't the only time I get satisfaction from a piece.  Sometimes the potential, the savoring of the idea of how it will look eventually, is enough to have me keep a piece waiting.  The stored energy of creative beauty builds until we both agree its time to finish up.  Time to allow it to be what it was meant to be.  Time to fill the space it once held with more creative potential.  This patiently waiting loveliness is a battery fueling my imagination when the space around me seems dark and uninspiring.  

Be Well,

  

Dewberry Discovery

     The other evening my sister and I discovered there is a Great Horned Owl in the countryside near us.  We've been watching him watch us from a dead branch in the top of a big old pecan tree.  He's just far enough to be out of reach of our longest lenses but close enough to hear his hoot clearly as he softly inquires about our day.  While lurking on the road side watching him we discovered a patch of dewberries that had been growing for who knows how long just inside of the fence line and along the irrigation ditch of the field east of the house.  We vowed to return in daylight and investigate.  Above you see the results.  What you don't see are my purple, juice stained fingers from the picking process.  What you don't see, thank goodness, is our "go away snakey snakey" stomp dance we performed as we made our way through the overgrown field to the even more overgrown brambles.  What you don't see is the silly grin on my face at the joy of eating the berries straight off the vines.  The enforced quietude has brought many small blessing.  The owl, the berries, gardens growing, extra time spent with my favorite sister.  They color my experience of this quiet slow time like the sweet, sharp dewberries stain my picking fingers.  Making everything better.

Be well friends,

Kim  

     

                                            

Crochet/Knitting

     I warned you I'd be back.  Also I'm reclaiming my obsolete training and spacing twice at the end of sentences.  We all need our spaces now.  Above is a photo of my current project I'm calling the "pandemic shawl".  I wanted to mark the time in a tangible way.  I've got a sort of theory.  Most folks are generally either detailed oriented or big picture focused.  You either revel in getting the tiny details perfect or you don't.  Here's the thing about me and stitching projects of just about any kind.  Most tend to be better viewed from a distance.  I always say its because of my early theatre training and how everything looks good from ten feet away.  So imagine my joy when I discovered fulling or felting if you prefer.  I can stitch away happily/sloppily, squeezing the therapy out of the handwork and tossing away the pattern following anxiety.  I throw it in hot water a couple of times and all the dropped stitches and oh craps blend into a harmonious pelt of wooly comfort. That's my intention with this shawl if my inconsistency in stitches and fumbled turnings are too painful to leave undisguised.  This is a terrific opportunity to finally use up some of my yarn stash as well.  I started with a lovely variegated periwinkle wool from Brooks Farm Yarn in Lancaster, TX and am now onto a warm carmelly alpaca yarn from Cibolo Creek Alpacas for which I don't have a link.  I picked these up several years ago and have finally stopped saving them for something special.  This is special! Comfort in a scary time.  I hope you are finding comfort where you can.

Be Well Friends,

Kim

Mending

Let's touch base-

     It's been a minute since I posted or shared anything on the blog so I'm taking this down time to try to be more connected with you here. Nothing real profound, just feeling the need to reach out since I'm not getting to see you all at the art shows this Spring and Summer. I'm also practicing not spacing twice at the end of sentences ;). ignore it if you see it happen please. I haven't felt inspired to work on any #WindowFramed pieces as of yet but I'm trying to keep my hands busy.  Above are my much loved and patched jeans that are needing an over haul thanks to my Keto lifestyle.  If you'd told me last year that I'd handle this world wide pandemic without a bowl of pasta as my wingman I'd have laughed out loud but that's just what I'm doing. Hence the need for jean alteration. So I'm using what I have and not buying more until it feels appropriate. I'm mending and making do. Visible mending feels like a signal to me and others that I care for what I have. To stop the disposable lifestyle. Reduce/Reuse/Recycle is a hashtag I often use online when referring to my art work. Even truer now in the whole of my life. Slowing down, paying attention, paying tribute to the people, places and things that support me in this life.

Be Well,

Kim  

2020 Art Show Schedule