Saturday, June 30, 2012

colo(u)red shifu

a simple suggestion
from india has 
i think
solved my record keeping nightmares.
it's what i love about friends
their eyes.

Friday, June 29, 2012

delicious colo(u)r

 somehow the u added in
makes color richer.
here at beautiful silks,
colour enhances even the metal
grates covering the windows
 so i went shopping
looking for some goodies for my students:
pigment perhaps, or other papers--
and a couple of drop spindles.
 and i found this place:
it has the rarefied atmosphere
of serious, quality art supplies,
and paper
and pigment
 aukje's sample books
 when a teacher takes the time 
to put her samples into an original
and beautiful format
her students have a 
haptic object to explore
and 
 a way to begin
discovery
this idea
seedpod stitched
is terribly exciting 
the structurue is simple, elegant 
and totally appropriate 
class supply collage
outside in the alley
natural green 
aukje put six shifu squares
into dyebaths
the vats ate two
but spewed forth these.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

nature's colours

what a wonderful ride it has been!
(though backwards!)
australia is a marvel. 
wednesday marion took
phil and me to visit george
who had wool and alpaca jersey
and i got out into the countryside a little.
i was disoriented by the dry brownness
but was told it was very green!
i thought resembled the land around denver, a bit.
but the trees not at all. 
george's homestead was full of food, his gardens lush in winter, 
and we came away with food as well as jersey.
i saw emus but no kangaroos.
tonight i had an informal show and tell session
which i shared with aukja boonstra.
 aukje, a former potter, 
has explored natural dyeing
with the gums, and uses sea water
in a lively response to environmental 
responsibility and her dyepot.
aukje's dyebook
and wednesday
janet de boer launched the symposium
 and i spoke about, well, i spoke about my work.
janet had a blast being a "girl in a cake"
sort of--(you had to be there). 
 this large baby was spooky
 hanging up in fitzroy
 certain things please me no end
 
and others are just good signage
huge hearts here in fitzroy
elephant and marion,
my hosts.
come by nature's colours in the city!
the retail shop alone is worth a looksee.
superb! 
oh, my! 
lovely hand 
color and words 
and i must say i have also received invaluable feedback
~~~
there will be more!
 ~~~


Tuesday, June 26, 2012

l.a. to melbourne

goodbye hacienda hotel and marvelous trees
hello australia!
i first saw...eucalyptus
but the camera was elsewhere.
 and hello australia
and beautiful silks
 first impressions
 things that move me
 beautiful, beautiful and so wonderful 
 i just want to burrow into these lovelies and go to sleep
but i instead got to sleep 
in a stack of comfort
marion and her elephant have made me happily at home
and there's a wonderful lift
that i took a ride in.
more to come--

Sunday, June 24, 2012

traveling, interlude

 on my way to melbourne
but the plane had already left before i got there
here
 so i had a day to pass in an hotel
with a courtyard
 so after a long sleep,
a late breakfast,
i spent a couple of hours
in the courtyard.
 strange seed pods in the trees
 and this delightful fountain
 all a facade, but i really enjoyed it.
 these are from the book i'm relishing
a different kind of luxury
japanese lessons in simple living and inner abundance
by andy couturier
that jean blogged about.
a fine book.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

walk and a morality tale

 last night 
 a hole in the sky appeared
 and three kittens and their mom
fell through
 the sunset kept to itself
 as usual,
but performed a magnificent dance
and a doe observed
this is how it went:
"i don't like to kill a cat" he said
gesturing toward his standardbred
"my horse might die."
a profoundly buddhist statement by a young amish man
who dumped a mama cat and her babes
in the meadow near the roadside.
with apologetic smile he tried to explain:
"the farmer i work for don't like cats"
i was angry, left with a dilemma not of my making 
what to do with four cats?
i mean, i'm going to australia tomorrow!
he had dumped them, pulled off, and came back, to explain to me. 
"i don't like to kill a cat"
his employer, 
a man i can't respect
put this young man in this position. 
the farmer could have taken these cats to the shelter
(he knows about shelters, the amish man doesn't) 
or tried to find homes.
"i don't like to kill a cat" he said
but he picked them back up 
and drove off, 
to find an ethical solution.


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