Rock. Paper. Scissors.

This month has been full of adventure, learning and happiness.  If we could all begin all our blog posts just like that, what a wonderful world this would be, yes??  I spent a month in Colorado in 2013 and ten days of it were in October. A cause for happiness indeed! And the ROCK in my title…

I went to Art Camp for Women. I dreamed of it for several years and took the plunge this fall. They will no longer be leading these awesome retreats so it was a particularly good gift! I was so thankful to get to participate in the last one! We had three great artists come teach sessions too.

Carla Sonheim and her drawing instruction, loosening us up with silly animals and many excellent exercises infused with joy, account for PAPER.  Becky Nunn showed us all sorts of tricks and techniques for jewelry and Sara Rockinger taught us Theromfax silk screening. SCISSORS used here.

For me, it was a slice of the New Earth!  Time for art with like-minded women eating delicious food looking out at fall in the Rockies, with a little snow thrown in. For me and my sensibilities, it does not get any better than that!  No high heels necessary… no excuses allowed… walking in between classes encouraged… photos all around. It was grand!

I would not have been able to fully engage in an event like this in the past.  Having a new cochlear implant made all the difference. How?  Stay tuned….

A New Era

“Welcome back, Andi.”  “Thanks, Andi…”  It’s been two years since I have updated this blog. I have no ideal intentions as far as the regularity of my postings, but I’m writing again and feel the need to make some of my musings public. The main catalyst behind NOW? The cochlear implant that was just installed on the right side of my head.  I was a candidate for getting one of these four long years ago, but I needed to wait. I expected the Process to be intense and potentially draining and I needed my energy to be focused on my mom who was battling ALS.  She’s dancing again with her family and friends in heaven, so now was the time for me.  I was ‘free’ (are we ever ‘free’ emotionally to attend to the hard work that needs to be done in our lives??!) to focus on surgery and relearning how to hear.

Apparently I am also ‘free’ to write and draw and take a pottery class and needlefelt and sew and travel and read the New York Times on Sundays.  I’ve also been a Creative Memories consultant for 16 years and our company has recently met its demise… the same time as my needs to focus on hearing have risen. Coincidences are God appointments in my book, and this timing is one such appointment.  I’m showing up. Creative Memories is changing names and foci and so am I. I’m an empty nester too.  I wasn’t four years ago.  Big change.  Big ‘FREE.’

I changed my header, still pretty clueless about how to make this blog look interesting. I updated a few things, but in one’s fifties, one doesn’t change a whole lot from year to year, other than random surgeries and moves and losses and… well… OK some things DO change. Regardless. My interests remain the same, though emphases shift around. Right now, it’s Learning To Hear and quietly do art inbetween conversations with others and the world.

Rather than bore my “Andi Fan Club” with more direct emails about my Bionic Hearing Journey, I’d rather just share a link to my blog so anyone can gleefully!! come on over and read my journey if they feel like it.  I try not to be dry and boring as there is enough of that in the world.  I also avoid technicalities which may present a problem for me as I adjust to the abundant technicalities of this new device I am wearing. But, I can be smart when I want to. Fortunately I can develop my want to one day at a time.  Join me? 

Felt

I have had a long term love affair with all things felt. I'm not exactly sure what it is about the earthly connection between my heart, my eyes and my hands when I see, touch and feel felt, but it is strong. It is no doubt about the 'natural.' True wool is utterly natural. It is soft. It is real and it pulls one into creation, rather than alienating one from creation. It sparks my imagination and my longings. For what I cannot quite articulate, but I don't need an answer to dive in and love all things felt.

I finally took a welt felting class this weekend. What fun! It was a class taught by Sharon Costello, here in Ohio from her digs in NY. She knows her stuff and brought all sorts of delicious merino wool, silk and assorted fibers for us to incorporate into our scarves. One day = One scarf. REALLY?

This is the finished baby, without the true colors since it was on the kitchen floor. Outside looked more like the real thing, but I was not patient enough to find a spot in the wet grass for a decent photo!


Nuno felting involves water, soap, time and strength as well as the right fibers. Keep the soap coming!

Here is my scarf laid out before the felting process. Highly tactile, it was a joy to play with the merino roving as I contemplated the design, not quite knowing WHAT in the world I would end up with. So, I experimented.

This kind of arts suits me. Planning ahead for the final product is not my style and stretches me a lot harder than simply taking materials and playing around to see what ends up developing. I am quite pleased with my first project. In fact, I collected some additional roving for another Nuno piece at some point. I love that the materials to actually DO the felting are mostly laying around my house or cheap to pick up. The only exception, of course, is the wool, but a little goes a long way.

Keep eating, oh happy sheep! We love what you naturally produce!