Tag: upcycledart

Posted on

no time to read?

No Direction Known – Mixed media/collage/acrylic

I miss blogging and mentioned it to someone the other day. They said no one wants to read blogs anymore. I am pretty sure that isn’t true. Authors still write books and people read them and they even make it to the best sellers list and have them adapted to film at times. Not everyone is completely addicted to TikTok or Insta. My friend Claudia has been blogging and I have been a subscriber for years–since I moved to the UK 3 years I have gotten emails of her blog posts and enjoyed them. It made me feel great to see her working and all the thoughts she had about the process and the art.

Making a commitment to blog has happened–I will do it. Soon I will have consistent wifi for the first time in 3 years. I am really looking forward to it and finding new friends that read, write and make art. Live and blogging is a beautiful thing!

The art above is made from old magazines and paper that I alter and collage and then paint. It is one of the processes I love and helps me offset some of my carbon footprint. It helps keep the magazines out of the landfill. I started it about 3-4 years ago and haven’t shared much of the work. I was waiting for the right time, this must be the right time.

Posted on

Roundhouse Blues

Red is not a color I typically wear or decorate with, but it is making a big splash in my stitched art. The first pieces where red started was the vintage linen tiles with vintage silk scraps and perle cotton thread keeping it all in place.

The red feels like a crisp contrast to the creamy linen with its slightly coarse texture. Slow stitching gives me a place to meditate, hands working gently to snip and stitch, it is soothing and methodical. Mudita is my 2018 meditation. Sharing the joy of others, mudita, is so vital for us as a collective. We build strength together by shouting in resounding joy–even if its silent in our meditations–like the Grinch our hearts grow and grow.

It can easily come to us to feel left out, neglected, slighted, emotionally bereft and ignored with so much clamoring for attention in the world of unease and war. How do we find a path of peace and the gift of kindness? 2017 was my year for Metta meditation–sending loving kindness to all the sentient beings of the world. Sending love isn’t too difficult until one thinks of sending it to someone who deeply hurt us. Then Metta takes on new meanings. Mudita, sharing in others joy is similar. We might be happy for those we already like or feel good about. But what about when we are confronted with the good news of competitors or those who harmed us?

To open one’s heart for others good news is not so simple when we feel badly. But changing our meditation to open ourselves to hear others good news and feel genuinely happy for them is critical for personal growth and to further peacefulness. Sharing in others Joy is my goal for this year–to stitch, paint and meditate on joy for all sentient beings.

Each of the red works are about 7 or 8 inches and will be appliquéd onto a larger cloth and then machine quilted. I am a fan of combining several techniques and am open to what might happen yet. As this piece progresses or is completed I will share it. The name filtered to me as I was deep in stitching and with mind open, it seems it wanted to be called Roundhouse Blues.

IMG_2885

%d bloggers like this: