Nellie McKay sings "The Dog Song" | Video on TED.com

Delightful, creative, silly!

Nellie McKay sings "The Dog Song" | Video on TED.com

British Tea at the Westgate Hotel

I not only found a better job, I found work that parallels my desire to provide more holistic care. I LOVE being an RN. My blog here is not about my work so I will move on however just wanted to share that I have good changes happening in my work and I am happy and grateful.

Happy and grateful = motivated to be be creative
so maybe I will get moving on my beadwork projects soon... soon...

I gardened tonight in my front yard after meeting my friend Chaana and her friends at the Westgate Hotel for a full-on British Tea complete with finger sandwiches and scones and creme. Should have taken some pictures. It was fun!

Gathering bones

Here I am halfway into February and I have yet to get January's Bead Journal piece finished. This is typical of my procrastination. I am looking at perhaps another couple of hours of beading to finish it and there it sits. Partly because I have a lot going on - looking for a place and moving - and partly because I am not in love with this month's project, and yet also because it is such a personal statement that putting it out there feels a tad bit humbling. I shall finish.

It is with art and beads that I am starting to collect bones, to collect stories. I love how the author Clarissa Estes Pinkola emphasizes our stories in such mythical ways drawn from a medley of indigenous tubers. We are each our own gatherer of bones. The word "bones" is my word of the year. Or perhaps a lifetime.




Now on a macabre note:

This is a bit morbid. This is a cemetery in Hallstatt, Austria. Its not like any other… it’s really small. When they run out of room, they simply dig you up, paint your name on your skull and stack it with the rest of the overcrowded population. Now, I did hear if you have the money to pay for the spot, your bones will not be moved, well, until you can no longer pay the bill that is.

Chicano art and my Irish bones

"Art is a record , a document, that you leave behind showing what you saw and felt when you were alive, that's all."
Carlos Almaraz, sketchbook entry
March 4, 1969

I fell in love with Chicano art about 5 years ago when I went to an exhibit in the midwest of Cheech Marins personal collection. I loved the dualistic documentary aspect of much of the art. I love the idea of just putting it out there! For all the world to see! The dark, and very real everyday tragedy, and the lightness of joy and beauty that is peristantly intertwined, both given their rightful place.

That probably explains more of why I chose to begin January with such a piece. This Chicano influence, especially with living in socal near the border now, is seeping into my Irish bones.

Patssi Valdez's use of symbolism has lured me to explore my own desire for visual imagery as expression.

Culturally I fell in love with this art that reveals the deeply instilled love for Catholic iconry and story mixed in with ancient indigenous wisdom. It speaks to my Irish heritage.





PatssiValdezTheDream2000


patssi-valdez-room-on-the-verge


Almarezsunset_crash


Almarezgreed1989


Almaraz-GrowingCity1988

January's 'Legacy of Sorrow' project is about compassion

Here is the start of my January bead journal page. I begin with a very personal piece of myself, a looming ghost of a memory that exists from before I even had a vocabulary. This has been buried in my psyche all these years and living stubbornly nestled in my soul, annoyingly comfortable, a persistent shadow. It made sense several years ago at age 45 when my mother decided to tell me a story. A really tragic story. I cried for a week. It was like the missing puzzle piece snapped into place and I could finally see and make sense of the ethereal feelings I had been carrying with me all my life. I will share it later when (and even if) I finish. Who knows. It might be getting too heavy for my mood this winter... ...awww, it's not too much. It is bittersweet, and real, and it is mine. When I pay attention things reveal themselves.

This piece is about the legacy of sorrow my father left me, and how that sorrow has transformed into compassion.

I focus on this not at all in woe is me or self-pity or wallowing. I prefer to see it as awake, a humble visionary searching for... and finding... compassion... and not even searching but rather being, in my reality, in my story, my truth...

Speaking of awake, ha! I have been up for over 24 hours (15 hours at work) and I am so outta here. The hospital where I work has been washed away in a wonderfully hot shower and I am ready for bed in the middle of the day.

Bracelet

Here is the bracelet I made that was designed by Melanie Dorman. It is so intricate and detailed. Most people gasp when they see it and comment on how incrediblly beautiful it is. I say this as a tribute in admiration to Melanie, not to brag. Although it did take skill to make it (here's my brag). Definately not for a beginning beader.

Patssi Valdez

Another favorite artist
Patssi Valdez
I love her use of color and symbolism.