Spring and Life and Loss

 On the 18th of March I lost one of my very best friends. It was a very long hard day. I am doing my best to remember all the goodness she brought me. Her name was Misty. I loved her much more than I realized. She was very smart and always had great love and compassion. She played with her toys with great joy and I was always amazed at how carefully she played with her squeak toys never tearing them up or injuring them. They would last for years and years.  She stayed near me always by my feet. No matter where I was she wanted to be there. She was happiest sitting on the front porch as in the photo of her older. I miss her so much it hurts to even type this. I find it hard to imagine that it has been nearly a month. I look for her. I try to just let myself have my grief. She is buried in front yard so I talk to her sometimes. Mostly I still just cry at the thought of her. I do still have another dog Molly and I know that she has also been grieving. She has helped me tremendously and I have had to transition from loss to acceptance so that Molly will not be as sad as I am. Seems silly to say that but I have noticed this makes a big difference in how she is when I am less grieved. Amazing animals and how they teach us to love with our whole heart. She was 14 but I always told her that she never really showed her age. The photo below was taken last summer.


So .. finally spring has taken hold here and there is new growth. Rain has caused an eruption of life. I am enjoying seeing the buds and the flowers and blooming of leaves. I am grateful for the warmer weather and glad to turn off the heat. I don't like the cold. So I am hopeful to keep coming back and posting. Here are some photos that I've enjoyed of spring. I love love love the fuzzy leaves.

 I really love these leaves. They look like hairy leaves but the hairs are soft. They grow big as big as 12 -15 inches wide. They are amazing. You can click on any of the photos to seem them larger.

 I am still working on being artist creator believing that I can sustain my life doing what I most love. I seem to always enjoy the times when I sit down and stitch. I find the repetition of straight stitches to be very soothing and I never seem to run out of things to create with this process. Below are some photos of a few things I have made. One is a necklace and the other is a bracelet. The bracelet doesn't seem to show up as pretty as it is in person.

 Then there is always a pot of rust or walnuts brewing in the yard. I find that I am still very much addicted to rust and walnut and anything fiber. I may just have to explore this area much much more. And there I am in a bucket of walnuts with fabric bathing in the rich browness of them. I like the slow ways more and more.

 These last two photos are what I consider composted fabric. I have left some of my fabrics outside and there is something really appealing to seeing what happens to fabric as it breaks down. Sometimes it makes me go back to my original intent of starting this blog with photo of broken glass. There is some measure of beauty in things that age naturally .. as naturally as they can when they are left to the elements even when they are man made fabrics or materials a variety of materials. I find that worthy of exploring. Hope you've enjoyed the ride along with me today. Thanks for stopping over.

A Message to Connie

Recently, I happened onto a website http://www.dirtyfootprints-studio.com/ . This is Connie's website. I found it at a time when I was beginning that usual experience of self doubt and fear of what ever it is that seems to come up while I am trying to be artist and living my passion. I looked over the site and liked what I was reading and found that she offered a free workshop called Total Alignment. I decided to try what she was doing in the series. I don't generally have trouble tapping into my creativity so I wasn't feeling stuck I was just feeling a bit down. What it did was give me permission to just paint what ever I felt like painting. I loved the whole premise that it's not the painting that's important but that I am painting what ever comes up. I enjoyed the whole process and I loved her sweet and caring disposition. If you need a lift stop over to her site and try the free series or any of her workshops. They all look like fun! She's really got something going on over there. I LOVE the whole idea of being a fearless painter. So here's my message to you Connie after reading your blog today. Keep doing what you're doing lots of people need to hear what you have to say. Here are some of the works that I did in this workshop. These will show the progression of the work. First there was My open Heart.














Next there was something on Balance and this was my balance painting. Looks a little chaotic but it is colorful and there were many fun swirls and circles which I am drawn too.

As a result of doing this one on balance I observed some parts of this painting that I really liked and decided to create another painting for one of the other lessons.                               Next came this. -------->
 This made me very happy.





I continued and did this
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Days later I did a meditation and decided that I would paint a part of it and this is what came from that. Below.

I decided to do the open heart painting again and from that was the painting below. Thank you for stopping over and check out the Dirty footprints I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Time for me to sleep now.

New Year and Stitching Hope

 Happy New Year!!! I always love this time of year because I feel like the slate is cleared and I can start over. I know that I can start over every day if I want but there is something about the end of something and beginning of another. I'm grateful for all my experiences in 2012 and looking for more of them this year. I didn't spend a lot of time blogging last year but I do miss that. I thought about doing it every day but .. aaacccckkkk here it is the 11th already!!! So .. i'm going to start now and see what I can muster.
I love having creativity in my life every day. I still enjoy so many different things. I wonder if this makes you less if you don't focus on just one thing. I find it keeps me from ever being tired of creating. I think the biggest thing is feeling like I have so much to make ... how will I ever get it all done? I'm just going to keep going. Stitching, drawing, painting, sewing...
Hopefully, the new year will bring more structure and I will have the means to continue doing what brings me joy.

                                                                              
I love the feeling of stitching silk onto a blanket remnant I just love the texture it creates. The red above is a silk dress that I dyed .. it's never recommended to dye fabric that has commercial color because there is no way to know if there is something toxic in those chemicals but heck, we wear it don't we? I'm still committed to using recycled material to create with. As time goes on my mind is flooded with possibilities. I just loved the red color. It's going to be a small bag. I love making different bags. I have two started to share with you here. The second bag is all recycled material along with some over dyed fabrics. I guess the photos show the detail .. these make me happy. Thanks for stopping over and sharing my joy. I hope your year is filled with the same!!!

Rusting Right Along

I haven't blogged in a while so thought I'd share some things I've been doing. Besides loving so many different media I am still compelled to create new and different things. I still love love love creating rusted fabrics. I've found some interesting ways to use them. I have some in a gallery near where I live. Here are some photos of work that I recently took into the shop. The shop is Art&Light gallery in Greenville, Sc not far from where I live. These pieces are for sale. Everything here except the photo of the sunset.
It's always a challenge trying to make art for a living. So when I'm not sewing and selling clothes I'm busy rusting, walnut dyeing and painting. I want to get an online shop going as well ...hopefully that will be soon.

I'm always open for words of wisdom if any of you would care to share how your able to live as an artist and make ends meet if you happen to do that.

The sunset .. I love the way that the sun seems to roll under the clouds like a mist of light rolling in.

And here is the link to the gallery i am in: http://artandlightgallery.com/uncategorized/tammy-millers-sustainable-forrest-art/#more-1072

Functional Art

WEll even though I haven't been posting I have been so busy creating. I have now been creating garments that I am trying to sell. I have been reconstructing some gently worn clothes into new and fun styles that I love. I have mixed them with fabrics that I have altered with dye or reverse dye if you will. I finally spent a little time photographing a few of them. I was able to use the dress form that I created a few years ago and used my front yard as a backdrop. The yard looks so beautifully green and lush. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get outside as much as I have in years past. I have had so many bug incidents that I am inclined not to go outside and even though I love taking photos of bugs, I am not happy about being stung three times by wood scorpions and one yellow jacket sting on the bottom of my foot. And no I wasn't walking outside barefoot. :) I have been sewing like crazy though.

As I go on I am hopeful that I will be able post my garments in an online shop. If you are interested in these items .. let me know!!! THanks for stopping over and as always I love hearing your comments.