Thursday, April 21, 2016

time passes over the earth

time passes over the earth detail 2015 Judith e Martin  plant dyed velvet, hand pieced, hand quilted
 
I seem to be taking on many diverse projects again.  I am teaching in Australia next April and tell myself that everything I am doing prepares me for those workshops.  Yet I feel scattered.
One of my best friends turned 80 this year.  Life seems shorter all of a sudden.
I've been working.
I've been walking.
On my walk I discovered that my daily path is like the watery spring ditch.  A reflective line.
I discovered anew that willows grow in that ditch
and that the golden winter grass is trampled down around that ditch.
I noticed the beautiful textures surrounding me
and realized that the colour of April in my corner of the world is gray.
I love gray.
Nature IS the medium and we can learn so much from the cycles and rhythms of growth and decay.
"Part of the terror is to take back our own listening."  
To use our own voice.  
To see our own light." 
Hildegarde von Bingen

17 comments:

Sue McQ said...

I love the color gray as well! So intense, serene, earthy, comforting.

Mo Crow said...

Love your work & the way the haptic sense of touch comes through your photography so clearly, our world would be a much diminished place if the artists poets musicians etc didn't interpret their points of view for the rest of us!

Karen Thiessen said...

Congratulations on teaching in Australia! It's a lovely place (but teeming with deadly things).

As for scattered, yup, I hear you! Be gentle with yourself. xxoo

Velma Bolyard said...

isn't the gray amazing and wonderful and beautiful? i love this time, before the colors heat up and green takes over. i love that velvet stitching, too.

Ms. said...

It's not precisely gray here but still...Spring seems to be always a time of deep contemplation, and realization that one more season is approaching and will also be gone before I blink. Your patient stitches help me see.

Helen Percy Lystra said...

One needs to learn to love grey in order to live in my corner of the world. But soon we will have beautiful color -- it's a short season but I believe we appreciate it more because it is so short.

Debbie said...

Beautiful work love the velvet and wonderful colours.

Roxanne said...

There is so much color in gray. Thank you for looking and reporting so beautifully.

grace Forrest~Maestas said...

how your hand knows your land scape so well

Nifty Quilts said...

The texture, the soft palate, all so intriguing. I could run my fingers over it all day.

apiecefullife said...

There is beauty in every season if you look for it. That velvet looks so sensuous.

Penny Berens said...

Love this post, Judy. And soon that beautiful grey will show a feint pale green halo around the tops of trees. I always look for that too and then all of a sudden everything turns green, green, green! Love the cold wax paintings. As I write I am waiting to leave for my weekend of learning how to use basic oils!

Els said...

"Time passes over Earth"... what a wonderful work Judy !
That gorgeous velvet : would LOVE to touch it !!!!!

Ha, looks a bit like my own wrinkles in the morning ...
(and sometimes the rest of the day ...)

Judy Martin said...

Thank you for all comments. So lovely to hear from you each one.
Els - your idea about the wrinkles made me laugh out loud. xo

t r a c y f o x said...

Absolutely beautiful :)

Sandra Reford said...

Teaching in Australia sounds amazing, Judy. I sent that info to a few Australian textile artists I know. Which city will you be in?

Judy Martin said...

Near Melbourne. april 2017. Also going to New Zealand later the same month.
x