process is the rock beneath my feet

this is the last piece i finished, ‘torrent’, it is actually a macquette for a much larger piece, but graces the living room and reminds me that the blue/buff/brass combination is still nagging at me, there is a painting waiting to come…i nearly bought a pack of tinted charcoal pencils yesterday, but the super-realist illustration on it put me right off…i am not very comfortable working in a designed/ fixed intention style, i love to allow plenty of the random suggestions of the universe in…following rigorous intuitive process is the common bedrock of the art i make, however disparate the media…

yes, these are all made in the last 3 years, a boyfriend once told me during an argument that i was like a 70s disco mirror ball – to which i replied, why yes, i am!

“IT WAS AN INSULT!”

wasted on me, i still relish that insight 😉

apart from the photograph each piece is made by letting my hands choose what needs to come next and keeping my critic in the corner while i play! the photograph was made by playing with settings on picasa, it’s a piece of bleached fence panel, but reminds me of the lovely ripples in the sand that shine blue at dusk…mmm…

but being multifarious really helps with staying creative in spite of pain, fatigue and diminished strength, there’s always another way to try…

busy hands, quiet mind

i like to follow daoist practice for contemplation,  rather than meditation, sages may indeed empty their minds, the rest of us have a troop of monkeys that start chattering the minute they get the chance…no, better for me is to make meditation pieces, as my hands make art, my mind stills and becomes quiet in a very simple way, i feel very aligned to the natural world again when i use elements salvaged from walks on beaches (my favourite! so looking forward to being on a beach again in 3 weeks!) or through woods…though if you keep your eyes and mind open, anywhere will do, i once walked through a backstreet in truro and a handful of white feathers floated down out of a clear blue sky, no sign of birds, no sound of pillows being shaken, just feathers reminding me to take life lightly…

another quietener is to sky-watch, sit comfortably and watch the clouds shift, the sun come and go, the stars move, it’s all happening and most of our troubles are better faced with a quiet centre, attuned to the conditions around us, starting macro and returning to a our personal space refreshed by knowing we are 1/7,000,000,000 of human life on earth, most mistakes we make can really only be quite small against that scale….

cassia bark smells lovely and makes beautiful shapes, it’s available at any large asian foodstores, and much cheaper than cinnamon, a cousin…star anise and cloves are aromatic and very pleasing to use, the piece to the left is a strengthener for winter, the piece to the right for missing the sea…i work mindfully as i assemble the pieces, but by following intuition, not intellect…afterwards i use the pieces as gifts or for further reflection – but usually people cross my path who i realise they are meant for, so they make their way into the world by serendipity, hopefully carrying a little of the peace i found while making them…

some quotes i’m working on

fibromyalgia would be a great opportunity to learn this, if i didn’t pound my puny fists and squall at fate…

whatever life throws, is the best thing to work on, d’oh!

ah well…

i love mary oliver, she is so inspiring, this is the perfect guideline for making sure your friendships sparkle with laughter and delight, be interested and the world becomes very interesting, particularly if you can share that with your clan…

tatsuo miyajima makes amazing art, but this quote is helping me as i continue life after my husband’s death, he has changed, he does continue, by connecting with the universe through contemplation, it is easier to carry on the life after him, not without him… and the other quote is from dogen, one of his pithy invitations to zen enlightenment…

btw, the  buddha is not at a temple, but from the welsh ‘village’ where ‘the prisoner’ was filmed, i was not having a fun time on that holiday, and coming across a giant golden buddha did me the world of good! laughter is the key to handling stress for me, it gives me back a sense of proportion 😉

i am still embellishing these pages, painstakingly slow progress, but still moving faster than a glacier!

hello world!

this will be an intermittent blog, as this winter fibromyalgia  is knocking seven bells out of me, but i hope to share the several small happinesses i enjoy, that make life worth living…art, poetry, daoist thought, random pleasures…

my favourite chinese proverb:

if you keep a green tree in your heart, maybe the singing bird will come

– i love that they say maybe, no promises, very honest, but put like that who wouldn’t want to keep a green tree in their heart?