I trained as a jeweler. While making
this mosaic - like frame I could see my training has
kept me involved in making a setting with a focal point in a field..
The halo in this ancient cave painting fascinated me....
very much like a beautiful gem stone.
When I saw this photo it hit me - My training had locked
me into one way of design. Symmetry is OK but
I've discovered the power in lack of balance thru cloth making. Huh.
My favorite cloths aren't balanced but off kilter a bit. A little unbalanced.
Winter is dropping on us like a cold, wet anvil.
Good thing I have my puppy to remind me that fun
and mischief come in all seasons.
My new pre-wash cycle.
New bark alarm for reflected dogs.
What I see when I look down...fun and love.
Stay warm; sleep with a dog.
"the power in lack of balance" ... I can relate, having once been a student of 18th-century handwork and a lover of precision ... now I like to color outside the lines
ReplyDeleteand what a little character you have ... good for many, many smiles I'm sure
Jude mentioned in a class that when we're unsure of the
ReplyDeletenext step, a photo can show the way forward. This
has worked for me several times. I've also started writing
down the process, undoing more often and changing.
Mr pup is learning daily. And you're right, the smiles are constant.
i actually have always like that about your work...
ReplyDeleteits ease to the eye, a resting place and also
the balance lets the eye and heart rest in the central
image...lets it speak, uninterrupted. I hope you
continue in this way sometimes
Thank you, Grace. I'll always have that lean towards symmetry
ReplyDeleteeven when trying to see differently. The world doesn't arrange
itself in symmetry. Or maybe it does if we look at what's invisible to our physical eyes. What would be the seventh sense organ do you think? I've been told it's the mind.
maybe what Eugene Gendlin refers to as Felt Sense.
ReplyDeleteWow, Grace, thank you for that reference. I'd never heard of him but he makes wondrous good sense from what little I just read online. 3,000 miles go poof and I learn big from our conversation. Felt Sense, who knew?
Deletethe book...Focusing. I read it the year it came
Deleteout, 1982 and it has proven true again and
again as a TOOL to open out so much.
When i worked at the U of M phych hospital,
i would use the process with the patients there..
an acute admitting ward and even under those
extreme situations, it worked.
It becomes second nature after a while.
I a so happy you find it interesting...and ye
and yes...poof. Yup.
DeleteI ordered Focusing by Eugene Gendlin and The Power of Focusing by Ann Weiser Cornell (she was his student).
DeleteIt's connected with Family Systems Therapy which I
highly respect.Thank you for telling me of his
work.
This piece reminds me of Buddhist hangings. Thangkas. Not sure symmetry is necessary for the sense of the sacred but it seems to matter here.
ReplyDeleteI love Thangka so this is high praise from you-thank you! There is a DVD, Creating Buddhas, about a woman who makes Buddha images out of silk. Once only men painted
DeleteThangka, now I think it may be time for all of us to
create whatever Mandala or Intention of Peace we can
in the way we can.