Concoctions and Contemplation

This is a photo of my first attempt at walnut ink concoction. You can see on a previous blog post the bottle of walnut ink that resulted. I have found this whole idea of using natural material to create dyes and color and using the fabrics that I have collected/purchased/wanted to discard to make something else with it. I have always just wanted to make these items into something else that I would love or enjoy.I realize that any work that has stitches on it that has been touched by human hands means so much to me. So I sit outside and listen to the birds sing a chorus of beautiful songs and I think about how blessed I am. It seems like a great contrast to recognize a  reality of no job and yet I am so grateful to have this time to create and experiment and make things. I have several ideas floating around in my head while deconstructing a pair of jean shorts. I am intrigued by the pockets and was thinking about how much I enjoy being a grandmother and love my grand daughters and childhood and childlike play and such things just really take me back to that time and so I want to make dolls and pockets with dolls in them that you can take out and put in. My little grand daughter loves to put diapers on her dolls and snuggle them and put them in wraps and take them out and do it all over again. Child like creativity is truely a gift. I see how she loves to pretend. I hope that she will just be a little girl while she is a little girl .. I celebrate her little girlness. And love going back to my little girlness. :)

I love that the floor of my studio is outside. I have so enjoyed being outside creating and plan to take advantage of the weather while I can.

This was just hilarious. I was sad to find this black beetle dead but I loved the shape of it and its shiny shell so I decided to take some photos of it on top of this rock that I have used to crack open some black walnuts. I was totally focused on the beetle and never saw the little bug creeping up behind like it's about to make a sneek attack... haha.... ? A katydid sneeking up on a dead beetle. I thought it was funny. I totally love the nature that I encounter while sitting outside.