‘Til we’re burnt by love - like a Moth and Flame?' Ella Veyes

Do you remember the beautiful silk moth in "The Fellowship of the Ring" that carries messages between Gandalf and Gwaihir?   The name of that moth is Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) and it is a North American member of the giant silk moths.
I have been watching a cocoon of the polyphemus moth that is on our house and today it emerged:

This is an image from Wickipedia:

Another beautiful moth that appears is a Tiger moth, apantesis:

What amazing colors and patterns, what a mystery, moths and butterflies.

The Presence of Trees

I am moved by and very grateful to trees.  They oxygenate our planet, often provide food, and definitely inspire contemplation.
I have been making tree prayer flags, each stitch in the flag holds a prayer for the blessing, health, and increase of all trees on our planet:

The Presence of Trees

by Michael S. Glaser

I have always felt the living presence
of trees
the forest that calls to me as deeply
as I breathe,
as though the woods were marrow of my bone
as though
I myself were tree, a breathing, reaching
arc of the larger canopy
beside a brook bubbling to foam
like the one
deep in these woods,
that calls
that whispers home

Those Who Dwell Among the Beauties and Mysteries of the Earth Are Never Alone or Weary of Life - Rachel Carson

This is an art quilt I just finished.  It was inspired by a Saw Whet Owl.  These are very small owls (about the size of an American robin) who come out at dusk to hunt where I live.  They are frequently on the ground along side of the road waiting for mice to come out.  Driving home one evening recently, I came upon one of these amazing little beings waiting in the middle of the road.  I pulled over to encourage this owl to leave the middle of the road but s/he was so intent on hunting that I got right up to it before it flew off.  I am grateful for the encounter.

One of the things I have learned over the years is to pick my teachers, to the best of my ability, from my experience of what I feel their art 'transmits'.  I look for teachers who transmit, love, joy, depthfulness and heart.  The teacher I have learned about sewing, quilting and cloth from (and am still taking classes with her) is Jude Hill .  If you are interested in learning about working with cloth from a Master I highly recommend taking one or more of her classes.

My Studio Helper

Today I have been working on an art quilt with my ever present studio helper, Raven.

Here is Raven:

Here is what a spool of my favorite thread looks like:

Here is what my favorite spools of thread look like after receiving Raven's help:

Even so, I cannot imagine being in my studio with out her!

In the Light of Love We are Home

I don't know who originally said, "In the Light of Love We are Home", but I was very moved by those words.   I created this mixed media piece out of my response.  I really do find my home to be where I love, and since I could truly love anywhere, my home could thus be anywhere.  However I am not that loving...yet!

Our Life is a Faint Tracing on the Surface of Mystery - Annie Dillard

I have learned that no matter how I feel what counts is that I continue to draw and paint.  There are ALWAYS reasons I can come up with not to do this.  All those reasons are just mind chatter that really amount to nothing.  If I do not paint then I will be one more painter who doesn't paint and must bear the grief of an unlived life within me.

Search, struggle, trial and error

“The best painters have arrived at their art after long search and struggle, trial and error, and considerable thought and introspection----- and, incidentally after having painted hundreds of pictures.” 

Edward Betts

I have been struggling lately to continue doing any art.  This is a familiar struggle, I revisit it at least once a year!  Usually it involves, as it currently does, a questioning of meaning.  For example, 'what is meaningful about art?, why create it?'  All important questions to ask myself I find.  I know enough to not let any of this struggle stop me from continuing to draw.  I also know that eventually I will get back to experiencing that I do art simply and totally for the love of art.....not to get love.  I do art for the happiness and discipline it brings.  For the continued heart opening that comes with persistence.