Twelve Months In The Making

It's been a year since we moved out of suburbia to a more quiet area and can I admit I've never felt better.  Moving houses every year or two since I left my maternal nest has been physically and emotionally taxing, so much so the residual feeling of being displaced and not belonging has been a hard one to shift.  It's almost like we're waiting for that moment we'll need to move again making only very short-term plans.  Knowing that I don't need to start the process of planning the next move just as we're settling in has been one that is hard to put into words, but I'm so excited to continue with our plans as we head towards Spring.  I feel my own roots are settling and I can exhale.  

As I said in my last post, I've been enjoying weaving by the fire in my down time and I find it so poignant that this piece of fabric is my last project completed in my first year living here.  

See, I started weaving these straps whilst we waited for settlement, sitting in our lounge room surrounded by boxes.  It kept my mind balanced through the mountain of to dos.  And once we settled in, I made a conscious decision to make a note of my completed projects, at the same time giving a voice to my pieces by writing about them here.  This has enabled me to track my progress as an artist whilst remembering each piece's inspiration whilst the project is fresh.

Here's a small collage I made for myself of the last 12 months of creating.  

I'm so thrilled with what I've achieved and learnt during this time and proud of myself that I've let go and created freely.  I'm almost through my WIP pile and have new ideas flowing for the next 12 months of projects.  There's so much I would like to learn and projects I'd like to do, but half the fun is the planning and stealing snippets of time just for me.  

Hope you have a great weekend!

New Singular OOAK Piece

I love this time of year where the ground is covered in a smattering of autumnal hues after the leaves have danced from their limbs and the morning dew so prominent, everything around us appears to twinkle.  The garden is slowing down as we head into the early part of winter and the brisk mornings make getting out of bed that little bit harder.  We're having to start a fire as soon as we get home as the daylight promptly turns to night with the chill seeping in through the large amount of glass windows.  This time of year, my most favourite part of the evening is when all around us quietens and all is finally done for the night.  We sit down for a brief time before bed in front of the fire, winding down with our cat at my feet whilst I weave.  I've slowly been working on some weaving - a project I had started before we moved house which will be a year ago in a couple of weeks.  I look forward to sharing it with you once the fabric is complete.  I find weaving to be something which allows me to shut off my busy mind once the loom has been warped and each thread is deliberately pulled and beaten in place to create straps, which are then hand sewn together, emitting the true essence of handmade.  It's an enormous task, but one which I enjoy immensely all cosy mosy in front of the fire.  

Studio time has been quite limited as we've been getting home quite late over the past few weeks.  I've very slowly been able to work on a piece, again embodying my love of nature in my artistic statement type style.  I made the callistemon flower bead awhile back.  Creating the cup part where the stamens normally grow from was a lesson of supreme patience as I would tend to squish a few.  It was inspired by the Australian native callistemon for its silky stamens in deep, rich and vibrant colours, for its nectar-filled cups attracting Wattle birds and New Hollands to feed upon, for the beauty of its seed pods and ever changing foliage.  This bead in turn inspired this piece "Nature's Way - 2".  

I used my handpainted focal bead to represent the Callistemon flower pod; handmade beaded leaves to represent the ever changing leaf colour in Autumn; a Tagua nut, wood and ceramics as earth elements; and Dupioni silk to represent the fact that the plant looks rough from afar, but the foliage and flowers are silken to the touch.  All components are bound together by my favourite vintage bronze wire and measures 52cms around the neck, with the pendant being a further 15cms.  

Wishing you a great week ahead!