thoughts

  my mind has been flying all over the map this morning and afternoon - i'm not sure why, am not sure what i can do to reel it in and bring back into a grounded place for the rest of this day.  it could be the weather - blustery, indecisive, raining one minute, milky sunshine the next, all the while with great gusts of wind that make the rain drops come in at horizontal angles, that make the clouds roll in and out up over the mountain ridge across the road with frequency and speed.  i'm so very fortunate that i've been able to carve out a little living right here in the heart of my home, where i am my own manager - a good thing, and on days like this, a bad one, too.  there is no true focus in work right now, at least not one that i can claim; there are all sorts of ideas for new designs percolating, all manner of things i'd like to begin to incorporate into the things i make.  but where to start?  just behind the laptop screen here on the table before the windows rests a cluttered collection of items that were gathered one at a time in the course of this week:  one of my favorite heart rocks, flat on top and flatter on bottom, very very thick and very full of memories (found years and years and years ago on mother's day when hiking with my boys in a favorite spot, called graveyard fields, at the edge of the stream that winds through the meadow there); the worn branch i found at the side of the river a couple of weeks ago; jewelry i've completed, still wrapped 'round the branch, still on top of the table at the window here; the little journal from yesteryear, waiting and waiting for a new page to begin.  i look at the photograph i absentmindly snapped this morning while waiting for motivation to strike (has it already struck?  am i thick in the midst of something beginning, here?) and am drawn, so strongly drawn, to the things held within one very small, square photographic image:  worn wood.  worn rock, in the shape of a heart.  antique buttons in mother of pearls, and buttons i've had cast from antique buttons, in a tarnished sterling silver; old ribbons, hand dyed, tattered and frayed, threadbare.  the word threadbare.  the worn covers of a book.  old thread.  red thread.  antique sew-ons with mirrored backs in the shapes of flowers.  my handwriting on a tea-stained metal rimmed tag.  my stitches in fabric, holding antique metallic seed beads, my stitches knotted and tangled, a corner of a book worn and tattered as well.  maybe somehow all of these things will pull together into some sort of artistic vision that seems new to me, that seems fresh and lovely and channeled from magic and wisdom and from somewhere deep within that begins, like spring water, somewhere deep deep deep inside where the heart taps the visions, where the things bubble forth, and rise up to the surface, and out into the light, for me to see.  for me to summon, to harness, to make and then to set free...xo

Comments

[Tina in McLeansville]

and here as well....three tables full of various and sundry parts and pieces of this and that in assorted states of unfinished-ness....and what do i do? take the day to myself and try to find MORE...?! however...
this post resonates with plans and vision of what may be....so, onward! hugs to you...xo

[susan]

It's all about how we find our way from point A to point B, isn't it? - and the journey inbetween.
I,too, am scattered every which way - restless, like the weather. Somehow things always fall perfectly into place in the end, though.
But, you know that.

xo dusan

[Denise S.]

I have a small table overflowing with beads and leather cord and needles and line for jewelry making. Must work on a bracelet for my daughters friend now that all supplies have arrived.
Soon though must get ready and go pick up Ernest and enjoy some alone time with him for a belated birthday dinner for me.
Just enjoy your thoughts and that wonderful pup of yours for the now and the rset will follow.xxxooo

[sandra]

it's like the ornaments just come to you for arranging...you're a magnet for the beautiful.

[Donna Joy]

Ironic-i was catching up on blog posts and started thinking back to when we first "saw" you-your book art and wondering if you ever do art like that anymore of if you concentrate on jewelry. Obviously you make a living w/your work so that would take front seat. Then i scroll down to read the older posts and there you mention a journal and working in it~enjoy!

[Mary G.]

That is a beautiful photograph. Something is beginning, finding its way to fruition.

[Vickie]

stirred not shaken, cheers (refering to the objects in the photo LOL)

[hol]

Oh Ya, I get the movement! XOXOXOXO

[Sophie]

It is good sometimes to let things go out of focus a little, give them time to grow and expand in the silence of the mind, amidst the thousand thoughts that are fleeting through. Thank you for sharing this with us, for reminding us that pregnant moments like this are worth enjoying to the full. You paint beautiful pictures with words, Nina, and make awesome photos too. Your post is a real gift.

[dorylyn]

I must agree with Sophie...you are a real gift. Thank you again for sharing.

[tracey]

I read a quote at the Mint museum in Charlotte yesterday that seems appropriate for this post:
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Piccasso

[vickie]

When I read this, for some reason the Celtic Woman song, "I am the Sky and the Dawn and the Sun" popped into my mind. It is lovely and full of life and makes me think of you!
vickie in kc

[Robin Nowak]

the kittens are wrestling in the background--one will travel to her new home this evening and the other will mourn her leaving in between wrestling with the other calico in our home...
this week I finished several projects that have been on my table in disarray. It was freeing not having them sitting there looking at me as I worked on other, more exciting pieces.
it seems I find myself in these projects, if only a discovery of a new color that calms... lots of distress and dis-ease in the world today that I am having a hard time shaking off. I hate that I get caught up in the tide, it's never pretty.
But my projects always are. So I will roll with that--the beauty in creating.
So I will now finish the book I began making yesterday. A gift for a friend. A gift made with love. Beauty at it's finest!!!

[Loretta]

You are a pot ready to boil. I can't wait to see the results when you are "done". When I think of your pieces, the word "dreamy" comes to mind.

[Jennifer]

"a magnet for the beautiful"....so true....so they say; like attracts like....
xo