Wabi Sabi

I am reading a book called Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers by Lawrence Koren and trying to grasp the concept of wabi-sabi. I am not sure why other than I love the term. The author says it is a concept derived from the Buddhist assertion of the Three Marks of Existance "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". Andrew Juniper claims, "if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi.".  Richard Powell summarizes by saying "It (wabi-sabi) nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.". If that doesn't sound like life itself.

I am altering some cloth that I need to use in a piece of fiber art. I fondly refer to it's beginnings as a "bad dye job". The colors were flat mostly sort of solid browns and greens. I would like to add some interest and complexity to them. The first layer was the solid colored dyes. The second layer was the removal of some of the first layer with discharge paste. I used a variety of household items that had texture to them as the understory and a window screen as my silk screen wannabe. It was pretty slick because the window screen held everything in place and kept it all fairly stable. Do you think this is wabi-sabi. It just might be. I showed them to a group of fellow fiber artists today and they all loved them. Wait until they see where they are going.

 I promise to add some photos to this post tomorrow showing some of the results. So do come back then.

How Green Is My Garden

I believe the highlight for Week 4 is simply how nice it
is in Portland. Not the usual rain and many sunny days
which translates into warmer temperatures. So this week,
I decided to walk around my garden and see if anything
green was showing its face. Low and behold, some of my
flowers are raising their heads and hands. Check out the
Autumn Sedum and the Cranesbill geranium. My all time
favorite is the rosemary, which is like an evergreen here
in Portland.

I love my yard art. My sister is responsible for starting
me on all of these rusty elements but now I am hooked.
Don't you just love them. They get better every year.

Destination St Louis

St Louis is my home town. I haven't lived there for 12 years
and do like to claim Portland as my new home town. My definition
of a native is "deciding to stay" and I have. I don't get back
to St Louis much since my dad died and I have no other family
there. Well no other blood relatives but plenty of family. You
know the saying "friends are the family you choose for yourself".

Week 3 took me to St Louis and my work that week was connecting
with old friends, not to be confused with friends that are old.
Weelllllll maybe....

 

Anyway, here we are. Well most of us.
Week 3 was fabulous!