Pink Cactus

pink cactus against an adobe wall

Tucson cactus at twilight

There is a variety of the prickly pear cactus, that actually has lavender/pink leaf pads.  It is particularly abundant in Southern Arizona.  I took some pictures on a very warm Tucson eve.  For me, it is a quintessential image of the southwest.  I think of this fruit that some of us harvest, to make juice or jam.  Being very careful to pick it with prongs so as not to get numerous nearly invisible little prickly hairs in your fingers.  The fruit/flower is eaten by a little beetle called cochineal, this creature has been traditionally harvested, ground up and used to make a pink/magenta dye for cloth.  As I look at these pictures, I think also of the native bird life that evening, so different from my mountain home.  Here quail are much more abundant, and there was the call of an evening bird, almost like a night hawk, which we do not have in the high mountains.  Do you like the pictures? 

Tucson

Some of us have gathered in Tucson this week to participate in a felting workshop.  Martien van Zuilen from Perth is here; her last week of a 3 month teaching trip in the States.  The first 3 day class was on making felted jewelry, now a day off before the felted mandala class begins.  Pictures will come soon.  I'm improving my felting skills, primarily learning to make felt much denser than I am accustomed to doing.   Sometimes one takes such an intensive workshop, and your own artwork takes on a whole new and unexpected direction.  A direction not necessarily parallel to what you have just learned.  Ever have that happen? 

We're at Spirited Hands Studio - a felting studio run by Sally Hall and Susan Thompson, the whole studio is filled with hand felted items, their style is wild with color and a nice loose design that fits this hot desert city.  It has been 110 or higher nearly every day.... There is a different species of prickly pear cactus that grows here, the leaf flaps are a dusty rose-pink-lavender, against the grey-green - desert green. Particularly at dusk so beautiful, pics of that soon too. And so unusual to see chains of East-West  mountains in the U.S. but in Tucson, the Catalina Mountains on the north edge of the city, grace the horizon in this direction, changes how light falls upon the city. 
Here's a link to the felting studio, check it out. http://www.spiritedhandsstudio.com/

Santa Fe Adventure Begins



Collage of images from Santa Fe

 So after re-modeling my studio this summer (bigger and more interesting space to do my art projects and to teach workshops) an opportunity came to move to Santa Fe and to work full time at a job I love.  It is a 2 year commitment, an adventure, placing my dear house in good hands, I'm preparing to move to the oldest city in North America.  Exciting, scary, exhilarating all at the same time.  Know that feeling?  But first sorting through the stuff of life, what to take, what to store, what to give away.  Wondering if I will ever live in this dear house and wonderful town again.

Three Swans Felted Tapestry



Three Swans Felted Tapestry



Three Swans, are they past, present and future?  They swim along a channel of Willow Lake, in my imagination, near them is a tree filled with nesting cormorants and deeper into the channel are a group of cottonwood trees filled with nesting great blue heron.  It is a place of incredible activity that generates alive peace.  

Isis felted tapestry and more

There are two images here. One a felted tapestry of Isis.  The other image is the tapestry taken through the wizardry of photoshop; I developed the image in camera raw then used a levels adjustment, underpainting, finding edges, glowing edges and some blending modes. 

The felted tapestry was inspired by an image on Dennis Klocek's web site when he was offering a workshop on Isis.  I was drawn to the image and made a copy of it as a felted tapestry. The image helped lead me to finding a way to be able to enroll and participate in a class Dennis offers at Rudolf Steiner College called 'Consciousness Studies'.  The class is held every autumn for about 14 weeks.  The class and group effort planted many seeds for change and personal integration.  

For me in this image, Isis is transforming from a being of the earth and water,  alchemically gathering facts and noting changes, then as her wings expand and are filled with golden light, she readies for flight in the air and through fire.  It is an alchemical image of transformation, of working through all that reverses and then is able to go through the eye of the needle.  Dennis is a fine teacher of new Alchemy working with the principles of Biodynamic farming, Goethean observation, and the Rosicrucian path all referencing the work of Rudolf Steiner.  A link to Dennis's site is: http://dennisklocek.com/home 



Original Felted Tapestry of Isis




Felted Tapestry modified with Photoshop filters



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C -   champions cycles of creative craft
  O -   onlookers open their optical observations
     M -    measures the magic of mercurial moments
        M -     moves melodious mythic memory
      E -      energizes emerging eddys
     N -   nourishes nuances now
  T -   treks and trails of trembling treasure
S -   spirals serendipity's stellar song

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo hand felted tapestry

I've just finished a felted tapestry of Frida Kahlo.  This effort took some time, I had worked on it months ago and then needed to put it down for awhile.  Now her portrait has reached a level of completion. She has become an iconic figure,  there are moments when I strongly relate to her story, her artistic journey, her challenges.