Wednesday, May 23, 2012

intense simplicity

2011 in stitch
one skein of embroidery floss each day
a handmade nervousness

16 comments:

Lynn Cohen said...

I love your stitches. What a lot of joy in them. colors too. I'd imagine it is soothing and calming to do...why "nervousness"?

Jennifer said...

Like Lynn, I wonder about the nervousness for it is not what comes to mind when viewing your most wondrous stitched journals. High art. Exquisite. Intense simplicity, as you said. And so many more words come to mind. I so want to see these in person one day.

mansuetude said...

cascading energy!

pressing light and time like flower petals... beautiful undulating color fall.

henrietta (aka ani aka zani) said...

agree on the nervousness...i see more devotion and commitment. contemplation and focus. but most of all the simple beauty

Judy Martin said...

re: the nervousness word

Don't you think that from the back when all the frayed edges of the canvas, and the crossing of the threads where I hide the knots under the fabric in the front - don't you think that looks rather shaky?

Also - the obsessiveness of it is a bit psychotic.

However, it is very meditative and relaxing to actually stitch - so I love that you are able to see beyond the appearance and consider what it FEELS like to make this piece.

xx

Ms. said...

Really dear Judy--when is a meditative practice truly psychotic--I mean, you're not banging your head against the wall, or pacing the cage of time, or dovening till you drop. No, no--this so called "nervousness" is a practice, and a most beautiful and worthy one at that. maybe it's time to lighten up-- bake a pie, or watch a funny movie. Remember you are appreciated and loved for your self.

ronnie said...

"nervousness'? or 'meditative'?..... I think its more the second..... (its also very very beautiful)

Velma Bolyard said...

not sure about the nervousness. seems instead like a defense against nervousness. and energetic meditation. a story, in fact, tracking a year.

Jennifer said...

If the last photo is of the back...well, I actually like the back best. The crossed threads, the snippets of knots, the slanted stitching...sublime.

You asked if it looks shaky...no, not at all. It looks alive with the story of your day, with the musings of your hands as they stitched, with your creativity...

Shall I continue?

grace Forrest~Maestas said...

Perfection
appears in many forms

Sandra Reford said...

It looks like you painted the panels with water colours! It's beautiful. The beauty makes me forget TIME passing.

jude said...

i think that to be able to appreciate the nervousness is a form of calm. it is just that simple.

Micaela Fitzsimmons said...

a beautiful, distant, peaceful landscape. much more than the sum of its parts.

Doris said...

Meditativ to look at. Wonderful.....

blandina said...

The repetition looks like a mantra to me, or a gregorian chant, soothing in their obsessiveness.
Intense simplicity...and intense beauty.

handstories said...

whenever you share this, i inhale a deep breath & feel stillness. the back is just as wonderful.