Home from England

It's easy to say - trust in yourself.

It's easy to say - just do one thing that you're sure of and as you do that, you will start to know what to do next.

It's easy to say - plunge in, and then go slowly.

It's easy to say -  not to know but to go on.

Working intuitively.

I think that this kind of approach seems mysterious and a little scary, 

but it really is very much like life itself. 

we went to a family wedding in Newcastle on Tyne in the UK..  There were peeling church bells

We don't know what will happen each day.

It helps to follow routines.  It gives a sense that we do know.  

For example I always sleep on the same side of the bed.

But many things happen over the course of a day that you cannot plan for.

You just have to react.  

A typical example is a conversation.

You cannot predict what the grandson will tell you or what your old friend will ask you, but you will reply.  And it will be a good reply.

The conversation will continue.  Something worthwhile will happen.

You didn't know that this would happen.  You didn't plan for it. 

Same with my stitching. 

When I begin, I have a general idea inspired by the materials.

For the torso piece in this post, I was triggered by the faded indigo silk.  

I took the faded cloth with me to England along with a wool backing cloth and some pinkish toned threads.

I honestly did not know what would happen with it. 

I started at the edges and with couching.    

I liked how they became strong and also lively.

I drew the piece into my journal,

Then I looked at some photos of pre-history Newgrange 

and put some dots and zigzags into my journal drawing. 

The British Rail system is really good.  Ned and I spent quite a bit of time on trains moving back and forth between the north of England and the south west region of Cornwall.

Couching is one of my signature techniques.

As I was doing it, I thought about another favourite technique, the reverse applique dot.

I could reveal the white backing cloth using that technique. 

We visited the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield to see the Sheila Hick's retrospective.  

While in England I stitched when I needed to. 

In the middle of night sometimes and also on trains and planes.  

Doing one thing and then another thing

Liking something and repeating it 

Not liking something and not repeating it.  

This is the way I work.

Our elder daughter and her teen boys and our son and his wife went to the wedding too.

Sometimes 'mistakes' happen, 

and I have to cut things up or in half and start again. 

I keep going.

I don't know but I keep going. 

different perspectives

The view from a moving train is different from that on a platform, although the two viewers may be within meters of each other.  The experience is different in so many more ways than vantage point.

The noise, the speed, the shaking, the momentum, the humidity, the voices of fellow passengers, the smell, the temperature, the path traveled prior to that point, swamp the  experience of the train traveler.  Glancing at the person on the platform, how can we begin to see through their eyes?

Cultural clashes are like that.  but this relativism is a truth for all humans.  Even those who share the same culture, the same house, the same family, have starkly different experiences.  We are each on our own train and our views are peculiar to our own experiences.

But we crave understanding.  We need it for our survival.  As social beings we collaborate to solve problems that confront us all.  Wherever we are born and whatever language we speak there is a field of inherent questions that arises as a natural outcome of life.

What are we?
What should we do?
What of birth and death?
And no matter the diverse social constructs that form our reality, the answers from one lone traveler can always intrigue and be of use to another.

This is the spore that art can carry.  At the same time that we are never able to truly empathize with another human being, we can share at a deep level around the absolute pillars of existence that are not socially determined:  We are born.  We may love.  We will die.

At a time that even gravity is not a constant, our shared biological and neurological truths are common and infinitely unchanging.

The amazing text in this post is by Will Stubbs and is from his essay,  "art of the artless"  about the artist Nyapanyapa Yunupingu in the book Marking The Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia, catalogue for the exhibition curated by Henry F Skerritt.

The images are of  my new piece, Noble Tenderness, a different perspective of my Awakened Heart.  I packed it up gently and brought it to Toronto last week to deliver to Karen from Guildworks gallery, Prince Edward County Ontario.

There is also an image of a walk in the park near where my grand children live in the city.

how I spent Canada Day

At the cottage.
for Canada Day - July 1

Our son and his family visited.

 We made a cake for Canada's birthday and blew out the candles.

 We made two more flags for our expanding family.

 I didn't stitch.
(much)

The kids page was updated a couple of weeks ago, for those interested.  

storing April's art work

moon 2010  by April Martin plasma cut steel 

This post will tell a little news about two of our grown children, Grace and April.  

Grace moved to Ottawa in September and has a really sweet apartment on a tree lined street.

above three images, details of  Body Builders - digital embroidery on artist canvas  April Martin

April is still living in the States but has a storage unit in Montreal.  It was full of her art and she needed help cleaning it out, so Ned and Grace and I met up with her in Montreal last week.

Soft Tongue - tambour work cotton jersey 2013 April Martin

Some of April's artwork ended up at Grace's place while other pieces (not shown) came home with us.

these two details of Smell multi-colour wood block print inspired by the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries that illustrate the  six senses, sight, taste, smell, hearing, touch and desire 2014 April Martin

These pieces are from April's Concordia days and are evidence of just a few of the many techniques she learned during her BFA there.

Ned installs April's moon in Grace's apartment

 Grace has some of my artwork in her apartment too.  (full view of quilt shown below here)

moisture and greeness  2006  Judy Martin

Then we visited Jay and Erika in Toronto for a few days.  They have news too - a second child coming early 2017!

Sparkles checking out her tail 

All in all, Ned and I had a full week with our kids and one grand child, Sparkles the baby dragon,

 

 We are missing Halloween adventures with Wolf Knight and Thor because they are now back in Alaska .  (p.s.  Oona and Matt have news too.  Puppy!)

hoop by hoop

 one thing at a time

slowing down
hoop by hoop.
I don't need much really.
This enforced quiet time is just what I've been wanting.
hoop by hoop

I use the hoop as a design tool
I stay within its boundary
not planning but trusting
I'm not sure it will be OK

 "living is a form of not being sure,
not knowing what next or how
the moment you know how
you begin to die a little"  agnes de mille

an emergence
an unfolding
hoop by hoop
like nature does
hoop by hoop

the creative act is miraculous
it is defined by its situation

we are defined by our situation

studied simplicity
the world's fragility
the connection of textiles and healing
hoop by hoop

this piece is very large  (nearly 9 feet square)
the size means that it is part of my life for years
three years just for the stitching

hoop by hoop

this cloth is physical evidence
of hours of labour
of silence
of stillness
of healing for body and soul

 "the repetitive motion of a line
the caress of it
the licking of wounds
the back and forth
the endless repetition of waves
the rocking a person to sleep
an endless gesture of love"  Louise Bourgeois

hoop by hoop
made with the body
not the mind
with the heart and the empty quiet

you never know what's going to happen
please let me be myself and love me for it
hoop by hoop

stitched in the car again

 We drove to Toronto last weekend - that's six hours each way.  Lot's of stitching time.

 I've returned to this piece that I started years ago. (glimpse here)  I think it is worth finishing.

 This is the back of the quilt.  It's silk fabric with a yellow cotton section at the bottom.

It was Aili's first birthday party.