Monday, January 14, 2013

Peppers, lemons and spring dirt!



My week featured pieces I finished and new projects started.  The pepper commission piece is finally hanging on the wall in its new home, being enjoyed by its new owner.  Commission pieces always have a little higher level of stress associated with their construction, because I’m trying to create a concept for a specific person, not just me.  I was delighted to see the peppers with a smiling owner on Facebook!  It makes the many hours of poking at peppers all the more rewarding.  My needle felting projects haven’t stopped, though.  I’m plugging ahead on the next commission, which features lemons.  
 I calculated that I needed to make two lemons a day to meet my deadline of having the piece done by the end of the month.  Right now I’m on track with thirteen lemons and six slices literally in the bag.  Of course I always need something new and creative going on, so I was inspired to begin weaving a new piece featuring forgotten treasures buried underground.  Perhaps the melting snow and appearing gardens helped prompt the project. 


 The weaving really represents a lot of what my life can be like—it’s pretty chaotic under the surface with lots going on.  On top it all looks calm and serene.  I’ve incorporated a lot of objects into the piece that are emblematic of my life right now, such as an old scrabble tile, a wooden spool, a fishing bobber, wrenches, pulleys, old plastic toys, and old coins. 
  I even have one of the pressed pennies with the Wonderlab logo from an adventure when the boys were younger.  I think the surface will feature three emerging crocuses—something happy and spring-like.  Jim likes to have them in the lawn for the color, but I wonder if he just doesn’t want to cut the grass until Grandma visits in the spring. 
 She just turned eighty, and she seems to delight in cutting the lawn in any season.  When she came for Christmas, she was out mowing leaves and frightening the grass so we’d have a nice spring crocus show.  Of course then we got a foot of snow and she was cabin-bound for the rest of the visit.

Much of the rest of the news is more like that of the underground section of my weaving.  I woke up yesterday morning to drips coming through the living room ceiling and onto the sofa and carpet.  The roof fellow is coming by today to have a look—I hope this won’t be another big repair!  On the other hand, I had a nice drive with Susan Snyder to Indianapolis on Monday last week.   
She drove while I poked at lemons, then she went off to shop for ceramic supplies while I watched three boys at the trampoline park.  I think a good and productive time was had by everyone involved.  That reminds me, Susan made one of the presents I purchased for Jim at Christmas.  Our big serving bowl developed a scary crack, so Susan made us a big and very pretty klusky bowl.  I appreciate the idea of supporting the local artists, and Susan didn’t disappoint us!  We’ll serve many nice meals from that bowl in the years to come. 

Until next week,

Martina Celerin

No comments:

Post a Comment