A retired educator with past studies in creative arts, biology, ecology and education. Now pursuing a passion for fibre arts and outdoor activities.
I am inspired by the everyday beauty I see in the natural environment. When not outdoors, I can usually be found in my home studio where I play with photography, print making, fabric dyeing, hand sewing and free-motion stitching. I use these varied techniques in concert to interpret the magnificence of nature into tangible fibre art.
Finally, I have time. Oodles and oodles of glorious time.
Into my second year of retirement, I have freedom to do exactly as I like, whenever I like, and for as long as I like. I’m finding no end to enjoyable pursuits. I’m rediscovering creative activities that I’d put aside while busy with the frenzy of my work years. Design, drawing, photography, watercolor painting, and creative hand work including sewing, quilting, embroidery, and needle work now fill my days.
I’m also attending workshops, reading, and experimenting to discover new interests: indigo dying, soap making, block printing….
These things all take time, focus, and concentration. My new lifestyle, free of deadlines and schedules, gives me all of this.
Sometimes, I pick up embroidery hoops early in the morning
and work on a piece until hours have passed. Or, at times, I build
larger projects one step at a time resting and reflecting,
sometimes for days at a time, between steps. Other times, I have two or three projects on the go at once and I jump from one to the next as interest and inspiration move me.
If I delight in creating, then how will I stop long enough to blog? Well, I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I need purpose and focus to set the words in motion. Writing a blog will give me structure, purpose, and a format to commit to writing on a regular basis.
In part, the impetus for blogging has been the current global situation of COVID/lockdowns and isolation. Although I am an introvert by nature, total lack of connection is a challenge. As I create, I like to talk to other creators, share my ideas, and see others’ ideas and works. Recently, as I’ve been working on a piece, I’ve sent quick pics and updates of progress to close friends—I admit I do enjoy a certain amount of ‘oohing and awing’. After sending one set
of pics, my sister texted the reply, ‘why don’t you start a blog?’. Hmm…why don’t I? Well, you can see where that has led.
I’m also spurred on by the possibility of spreading the joy of being inspired by everyday beauty, focusing on positivity and the hope to counterbalance the negativity plastered throughout current news and social media. I prefer to focus on the beauty that I see everyday, and hope that you do too!
I find inspiration in nature: the scent of drying maple leaves crunching on a trail; the first blanket of snow glittering in winter sunshine; the relief in the first humid scent of a wet puddle in spring thaw; the flicker of a blue wing as jays dart through the
yard…
For me, that is the inspiration that leads to creating: sewing,
embroidering, quilting, knitting–fiber arts of all kinds!
If you are going to be inspired by anything, the first thing you need to do is notice.
It is so easy to move through life on autopilot, going about our daily activities and business without paying much attention to our surroundings. Or, even worse, trudging along purposefully ignoring our surroundings just to get on with what we are doing, or to get to where we are going.
In order to be inspired by everyday beauty, you first have to notice it. The good news is that it is everywhere! It only takes a conscious moment to stop and notice. It might be the scent of your first sip of morning coffee, or the sound of rain splattering on the window while you are in your warm house, or the sight of a toddler’s rosy cheeks. If you stop for a minute to notice and think about the beauty you will at the very least have one pleasurable moment. Best case scenario, you will start to notice and then take a few minutes to think more deeply. What memory does it stir? How does it make you feel? Breath it in and enjoy. Enjoy it fully in the moment, or maybe, make a conscious note of it for use later. Once you take time to think about the beauty, you never know what it will lead you to create.
I almost posted a picture of my lunch today, but I’ll save that for another day. I think you’ll like my Backyard Moon shot better.
A couple of days ago, after spending the whole afternoon at the computer, figuring out how to blog, I packed it in and stumbled bleary-eyed toward the dark kitchen. It had been a wet, drizzly day and our backyard was a soggy, drab, winter mess. But, on my way up the stairs, I looked up and out the backdoor window. There was the most beautiful moonscape. I snapped the picture below on my phone.
A little cropping and look what it has revealed! The gorgeous, inky clouds in the background with a hazy moon peeking through to illuminate the black lace of naked trees.
Backyard Moon on a soggy February evening
I’m thinking this one may inspire me to experiment with fiber collage. I’m going to try a wooly textured background with overlay of gauze and needlework—-at least that is the plan at the moment.
