red thread

i'm sitting in a chair at the hair salon, laptop in lap, looking a whole lot like a character from the addams family.  you wouldn't want to see this; i don't want to see, and am doing my best to keep my head tucked down from the enormous mirror that takes up the wall directly in front of me.  i forgot my phone.  the house has new jewelry pieces scattered helter skelter across the desktop surface, a scarf is hanging off the edge, my camera resting to one side with lens uncapped.  there is a jelly roll pan of cooked rice on top of the stove, cooling; the plan is to make thai shrimp fried rice for dinner, when darkness falls.  we may, or may not get snow tonight; there has been nothing but rain for five long days.  how you folks in the great northwest get through so many months of rain, rain, rain, i do not know.  we've had much fog, a rainbow, lots of mud, very limited walks.  walter is bored.  i am out of sorts.  welcome to the very heart of winter.

i've been back in the studio, finally, tinkering away at things i've seen in the back of my mind while away.  this is a time of contemplating my next move, a queen waiting on the back of the chess board looking quietly out across the checkered squares.  in which direction do i move?  the forward one.  one step at a time.  go.  stop.  go.  i think that for right now, i'm working in shades of cream and white and sepia, a little bit of grey; i'm working with numbers, those old familiars we've all known since we were small.  inches.  centimeters.  bit by bit.  round and round.  a ball of twine, unrolled.  i'd love to carry a ball of red twine out into the woods, leaving a trail of thin red fiber everywhere i go.  i'd climb up into a many branched tree, loop the threads around the places i've sat, i'd climb back down and go around a rock, down to the water, back into the woods again, my path a narrow red line.  maybe i'd leave a jar with treasure in it, tucked into a hollow tree trunk; maybe i'd fashion a bracelet for some stranger, the one who is curious enough to follow the trail, to peek into the rabbit hole.  i might do that, someday. xo

Comments

[kim]

love love and love!
xox

[Sue]

Do the red thread-thing! Do it tomorrow and post us a picture.

Go on, I dare you ;-)

xo

[Tina in McLeansville]

snow? mmmm, yes please....much improved over rain, fog, more rain and more fog.
and here i thought the whole "feeling out of sorts" thing was something only i was bearing. i feel unsettled...i've made no move rather than a wrong one....only staying put isn't working too well either. so today i began a class, learning to quilt, with lunch out after.....very therapeutic.
the red thread idea is too cool. if i found it, i would most certainly follow it. but with my luck, the next thing we'd hear on the news is of some poor elk found racing through the woods with a mile of red thread wrapped around his antlers!
hugs to you...xo

[ninabagley]

if I had some red thread I would!!!!! xx

Sent from my iPhone

[sandra]

welcome to winter... Love your summation. Beauty salons can really put you in a funk when you first sit down in the chair. But boy do you feel better when its over(if they've done a good job)
Thank you for this post. I really love the bracelets-so creative .... Subconsciously or consciously, I think you still have that tape measure on your mind. Did you ever get it back in the mail?

[Nancy M]

I think "red thread" has some significance in China too. My friend adopted a little girl from China and I remember something about a red thread and it binding them together (or something like that). I like your visual picture of the thread through the woods.

[Folk Heart]

Trail Magic...very appropos for your neck of the woods. Makes me want to hike the AT!Your thoughts are so good for my soul.

[herhimnbryn]

Hallo You!
Red thread trail Sounds magic.
So, did the unkown person return your tape measures?

Love the braclets. This year is a time to go forward, inch by inch!

[Tracey]

It doesn't have to be red, but you should do it. No I shoulds for 2012, just I am going to's !!

[Cindy Dean]

I love your winter work! So very beautiful...as usual. So gifted you are.

[Amy]

Nina, Nina, Nina....your post, as always, a fireworks display for my mind's eye!!! I have to admit, however, that upon reaching the photograph, I madly scrolled to jump to your Etsy shop as I had to have one and I feared others had come before me and gobbled them up! Nope...shop still shows on vacation:). Lucky me....the use of the old measuring tape is brilliant! As always, your ability to think outside the box is fabulous! You are a true artist. Did not have time (or maybe the energy, I cannot remember which!) to comment at the time of your post, but please know that the memory of your Father lives on in as much as I have now begun to leave random notes for my "Little Minnow" with the hope that they bring my daughter solice, a smile, a warm moment of quiet reflection and love...just as your Daddy's notes have brought you! Happy New Year, Nina

[beth]

i love the red twine idea....

i might have to steal it. but it be will orange. with inspiration notes attached. i think i just might do this. now my mind is on fire.

thank you for that. a fiery mind is a good thing !

[Lori Burek]

Great I love to hear that you have work in your studio going.... Love the photo....

[Jeannie]

Snow is in our forcast also for the weekend and into next week. I have projects lined up. Some will incorporate bits from the treasure boxes I bought from you. I think of you each time I handle a piece from the box. You are thought of often. Just think how beautiful the red string would look in the forest covered with snow. I'd do it!

[kathy dorfer]

great post ... i can see a story in the making.
xxoo

[mansuetude]

you sort of do that,
and we sorta follow
when you write and we read the blogs.

[jan]

Ahhh dear Nina, I can see it now ... that thin red twine winding through the forest, perhaps changing colors as it makes its' way across not only this continent but those beyond the pond and down under ... connecting one artist to another and yet another. Yes, you will have inspired others to weave fibers thru their surroundings and thus create a rainbow trail across this entire planet. Can you imagine the beauty that these trails will encompass?! All because of one solitary blog post proving that ONE person CAN make a difference!
(and how I would love to be the one to find that rabbit hole!!!)

[dorylyn]

I am new to your blog and not sure how I clicked upon it but I am here. My son did the thread thing in his room once. He was 8. It was quite amazing...the way he connected the whole room together with the thread. He finally took it down when he got tired of not being able to just walk into his room.

For you Nina, you could take a piece of red thread, mail it to a friend who connects his/her own piece of thread then mailing it to another and so on with somehow the entire piece returning to you. Just a thought. Love your blog!

[Molly Vollmer]

I live in the PNW and we've had a mild winter so far, which is bad. The rain and snow pack provides water and power and recreation which provides revenue. How's that for the circle of life:))) Now if only we could do something about February depression. The photos of your work inspire me to turn off the laptop and go to the worktable.

[Mara]

Beautiful and inspiring post.
For the most part I love the rain and fog, oh the deep colors from the rain and the quietness of fog.

[robin dudley howes]

no one but you Nina could weave a story of red thread, compelling, can't stop reading. like your art. compelling.