Personal Vocabulary

Sometimes I run across people I have known from years ago. Their work and life seems so much bigger and better then mine. I have to remind myself that I took a different path then they did. My work and my choices are not any more valid or invalid then theirs are. I am just not very political with my work. I am not avant garde and I definitely am socially awkward. Some would find that hard to believe, yet it is true. It comes down to searching for and trying to find my voice and vision and valuing that. It is a hard process. Sometimes it feels downright impossible. However I do think that when I look at my current work it is much stronger then it was a year ago.

The process speaks to me in a much more personal way. It is not just about techniques. It is about my own creative vocabulary. What shapes seem to be reappearing now. What forms for these pieces are about the history layers I have been speaking about. What connects these forms to my life and to others lives? Leaves, birds, flowers, cotton, green, and all sorts of things go through my brain and come out of my fingertips.

This is a start of some new fabric paper. I have been thinking of spirals and mandalas. The circle of life and all that jazz. I have to go back into it with some contrast and vary the tone a bit more.




My work is about my connection with my surroundings and my history. All are about things that are slipping away naturally or not so naturally. How to keep them safe from the world as it changes? How to inspire people to view their connection with their immediate and not so immediate surroundings. Dreams, visions and other areas that connect humankind.

Maine Summer Challenge -Etsy Maine Team

The Etsy Maine Team to help each other promote and get our butts in gear does a themed challenge on a regular basis. Since I have not been really with it for the past six months I have no idea what the ones in the past have been. Sorry guys! But in order for me to ease my way back into the swing of things the Maine Summer Challenge sounded perfect.

These are my current Maine Summer Challenge offerings. True they have been done for awhile but I think the chickadee (what could be more Maine then that?!) and the bird bobbing, in the previous post, on a branch spell outdoors and nature which to me is Maine at its best. These are perfect home accent pieces to bring the indoors inside.

Either can be found in my etsy shop or ask for something special I do custom orders all the time! Look for others participating in the challenge by typing in MaineSummer in the search box.

Beauty in My Eye

Unparrelled Beauty in My Eye
Originally uploaded by backwoods creations

What a week it has been! I am officially home and everything seems to be healing up quite nicely. A big yeahhhhh! on that note. I have spent the morning poking around flickr to see what I have missed. I love some of the new favorites I have found. Organic forms in rich colors and textures.

Now I am off to take a nap. Don't want to overdo!

Bobolinks and Red Winged Blackbirds

I think anyone who follows my work knows that I love birds. I have started doing these table top birds. The redwing blackbirds and the bobolinks out back of my home was the inspiration.



I love how it looks and that there is some slight movement capable from a breeze. It is sturdy and not tippy at all. I have a couple of versions that I want to do. Right now they are just on paper. The fabric on this bird is vintage check with an overlay print of cherries. It is from a dress of my mother's. She made it when she was in her late teens, possibly early twenties. She would be 79 now.

The fabric collage used in these pieces gives them their underlying layers of meaning. Fabric, paper, words, paint, images and all of that is tied up with an internal personal history. Manmade pieces that incorporate natural forms and shapes and images. I live rurally and sometimes crave things that I associate with the city such as gold and fancy fabrics. Layers of history, layers of meaning, layers of texture is all about life. It really does mix and peek through here and there.
Fabric and mixed media really caught my interest because it has all of those elements.

The fabric bowl has started the wheels turning and given me lots of ideas. I did try being more structured with the bowl. I am not sure if "structured" is the right word. Less freeform is perhaps what I am looking for. I started and it just didn't feel right. It didn't move me. I wanted the ripples and waves of a nonconformity. So I am stitching and collaging other pieces of fabric to see if I can get more control without showing it.