After months of constant travel, felting, dyeing and a stitching marathon I finally crashed. I don't know if it was the days of ironing right before Artistic License, the 2 day schmooze fest or all that load and unloading of my beautiful booth that wore the wheels on my butt down. I hit the wall. Maybe it was the 300 violas I just planted before my show. Maybe it was the trips in between my work trips these past few months; Sleeping Bear Dunes national park, Mi. Shake Rag workshop in Sawanee, Tn. Burning Man art festival, Black Rock City, Nv. The Wool and Sheep festival, Taos, Nm. Not to mention all my trips to Memphis for work. I did a lot this summer and these new experiences and tools are fueling my creative drive wildly. I used to have balance in my life; yoga, cooking, hikes, biking and art. These past months I was eating sleeping and breathing ecoprint dyeing, stitching and felting all day every day.
After the success of my fall show, I rested (forced by that wall I hit) and started spinning. My husband Chris was so thrilled to see me spin. Normalcy. Calm energy. Slow flowing meditation. I felt like slipping into my comfy old shoes after a marathon in Jimmy Choos. Really its just the turn of the Wheel. Now it's November and when it gets dark so early I am forced to come in from the dye pot and the garden to where spinning, knitting and stitching begins. I welcome the long dark hours, relaxing yoga, cooking. My winter bear sleeping habits unfurl. I will relax into this state of being till Winter Solstice lights the spark of summer plans; workshops to attend, camping trips (now a ruse to gather wind falls for dyeing), playdates for co-creating with Lori from Capistrano Fiber Arts. The wheels on my butt really start to turn in January when burning Man tickets go on sale. It is the starting flag waving a promise of summer adventures to come. Start...get ready...here I come!
But for now, I am relaxing in my favorite mountains with my dog. Balancing the biking, hiking, camp fire and stars with the wind falls of oak leaves and dried misletoe I gathered. Relaxing and reading but wondering about the dyepot I get to open tomorrow when I get home. In balance again and grateful for it all!
Earthships, Chillies and Wool...oh my!
I just got back from my first adventure in Taos New Mexico. I am still having vivid dreams of crickets, sunsets, and the Rio Grande. I went with Lori Lawson from Capistrano Fiber Arts. She and I have been collaborating a lot this past year and what fun we had. Even when the yellow blooming New Mexico Chamise tried to tried to take me out with a nasty sinus infection, we just crafted two days out in the sun. The weather was warm, and my fondest memory will be the Magpie singing to us a we stitched under an old pine tree looking out on landscape from our Old Taos B&B.
Meandering up from Sante Fe to Taos, we stopped at the Espanloa Fiber Arts studio and a few traditional weaving shops. We picked up some native plants to dye with but mostly admired the local weavers handywork. Right as we made it up to Taos, I spotted two native Woman selling their famous Hatch chillies out of their rusted old ford pick up truck. I screamed as Lori pulled over. My husband has RAVED about their chillies and thought I wouldn't find any outside of Hatch. Law of Attraction helped me on my quest, I was sated with fresh HOT chilli powder, fresh green chillies and my favorite, hot dried green ones.
I loved the shops, artsy people and all the friendly dogs around this unique town. Not to mention its landscapes and naturel beauty. We were treated to a quick thunderstorm with a double rainbow and dramatic lightning. Not enough to dampen our day but just enough to get a glimpse of New Mexico's stunning ever-changing beauty.
We found the Wool festival a buzz with friendly eclectic people, more varieties of dogs than a dog show and LOTS of fun wool bits. Sunny weather, real Pygoras, alpacas, music, yummy pastured lamb kabobs and wool is all I could want in a festival! Taos locals clapped as Lori and I hauled our overfilled bags of fleeces and mohair across town to our car.
The trip was topped off by our journey across the Rio Grande. I had told Lori about my life long fascination with Earthships and there is a whole community of them outside Taos. She indulged me as we stumbled on to them. I was totally freaking out at our Earhthship discovery, unfortunanly we only had 30 minutes to tour one but the experience and feeling of being in an artistic womb is imbedded in my bones. The marriage of creativity and eco-friendly building practices makes my heart sing. Now if I could just add a fiber studio and roast my chillies in it while a few pygoras and my vizsla play in a garden outback....whoa! a girl has to dream!
