Like No One's Watching

You are never too old to dance around like an utter fool.
Also,
I'm feeling back to life!  Hooray!

Down and Out

So THIS is that super flu I've been hearing about.  Our house is officially a quarantine zone and I've been laid out lower than I have felt in years.  

That to say, I'm behind in all forms of correspondence and only have plans of crawling back beneath the blankets and chain-drinking echinacea tea.  Please forgive the delays and I'll see you all next week.  Stay HEALTHY friends!

Down the Rabbit Hole

Down the Rabbit Hole Clutch
(vintage rabbit fur, textured hide, buttery suede, rivets and a loop closure in hand-drawn and enameled copper)

One part tribute, one part nature, and about thirty parts boho rock and roll.  A little bit of dream, a lot a bit of wonder, a dash of song-singing and a whole scoop of rump shakin'.  It's one of those pieces that just feels good, like a streak of wildfire in the soul and the bass beat of the heart.  Ba-boom baby.  
(and naturally, she's in the shop right now!)

Under the Freeze

Under the Freeze [there is green]

(sterling silver, blue chalcedony and prehnite)

In the dead of winter, on the days my lips grow numb and my fingertips bright, I listen hard for green.  For growth.  For the churning of cellular multiplication, for the hum of photosynthesis, for the rhythm of sleep, for the good work of life turning within the solar system of pods and twigs and trunks, for the beating heart of it all.  

* * *

(in the shop now)

I woke up this morning mind churning.  I've love the dawn, the first bite of morning, the blueness, the hope.  I would be up with the first light every day if not for my sleepy-brain which seduces me with a great woolen cloud draped over my eyes.  But not today.  Not today sleepy brain!  I know exactly what I want to create with my hours on this gorgeous frozen Monday.  

Wahooooo!

Also.  There has been much coffee.

Tra-la-la-la folks!

Bits

I've become extra picky and discerning regarding the nests I bring home this winter - a far cry from the enthusiastic collecting frenzy I embarked upon last year. But this one... she's a beaut.  I may need to do up a quick watercolor.  Or a series.  Watercolor nests?  Sounds good.

* * *

I'm listening hard to my own truths, those tracks that lead you ever farther off the broad path and into the deepest woods with the richest loam and most fertile detritus.  On that and other virtues of introversion, this TED speech by Susan Cain was one of the most inspired things I've heard all week.  I love TED speeches.  It's been around for a while, but one of my very favorite ones is Elizabeth Gilbert speaking on the muse.  If you've not heard either, well, load them up stat.

* * *

It was cold, so cold in the shadow of the Ridge that my lips were too numb to whistle at the pups. I should have worn mittens.  I really need a manicure.  Luckily for me, as I crunched through frozen mud and hardened grasslands, I bought these for my feet a few weeks back and have hardly worn anything else since.  Thank the boot gods!

* * *

I keep trying to deep clean the studio, really shake out the dust and wax on a fine polish, but there are just too many ideas.  I clear off the desk and feel immediately called to roll out fresh paper, spread out the paints.  I categorize the cabochons and chains and then immediately realize I need them all back out again.  In the meantime, I'm collecting my lusty dream studio spaces right here.

* * *

This week, like so many others, has held the full tide of creative highs and lows: I burned the holy shit out of a gorgeous ring (a large, large, multi layered thing) and then created one of the most sacred tribute pieces that has ever passed through my hands.  There is so much capacity for fullness in any given day, week, year.  So much capacity for listening, for seeing, for seeking.  I'm just learning so much these days.
* * *
I'd love to hear one bit from your week, just a little something, if you feel compeled to share!  Either way, I wish you a weekend full of woolen mittens and robins gifts!

A Tribute Piece

This: 

This was a lesson in slowing.  The push and pull of sinew, the animal warmth, scent rising as heavenly incense.  The tactile delight of mortals.

This was breath.  Rhythm.  Wisps of song sliding upward.  Bits of prayer tumbling forth.  A quiet.  A roar.  A quivering in the sleek tide of night.
This was homage to cellular souls long melded with stardust.  Tribute to the spark and the small feet that carried it.  A paean of gratitude, life for life in the cyclical dance.
* * *

(vintage rabbit fur, tanned deer skin, sterling silver, ocean jasper.  A absolute labor of love and meditation)