And Into November

I am thoroughly enjoying the shift that is the end of Autumn, as it transitions to a time of inner creativity. The garden is long put to bed. The yard is cleaned up. The summer screens are out and the windows are washed clean to let the low winter sunshine flood into the rooms. Literally putting away summer and bringing out winter preparations like warmer clothing, extra bedding, scented oils and candles, feels like settling down to stay in and write, cook, brew, bake, paint, and SEW AGAIN! Summer is just way to hot in my sewing room. For a while, it felt like I was never going to sew again.

It has begun! The CREATION portion of my Research and Creation grant is in full swing. Here are some samplings of works in progress.

Northern Bedstraw almost complete

To the Bedstraw piece, I'm adding wild roses and buds within it that were a pale soft pink. I have *beautiful* plans for this that I hope I can pull off in terms of how I dream of this being displayed. At the moment, it's a combination of free motion and hand stitching. It has taken 4 weeks (I don't work on it every day, and I don't sit for 8 hrs when I do stitch, but it has been worked on nearly 7 days a week for a month.)

The next pieces were gessoed woven cotton canvas that I painted a background onto. No, I am not left handed. But - here I am, doing it. So many artists I admire are left handed. I felt left out. So, I began sketching with my left hand this summer to 'conjure the talents of my mentors.'  Oddly, I decided that my left hand art looked more natural than my right handed work, and so I just keep with it. 

All my sketches, drawings and paintings during this grant
are done with my non-dominant hand.

If you go back one blog post, you will see the source photo of this Creeping Juniper crescent I found. I'll be adding threads soon to embellish this and bring a three dimensional texture quality to the plants. My plan is to wrap the completed canvas onto stretcher bars.

Below is a triptych background I painted. Each panel is approximately 12x14 inches. Now I'm stitching the Prairie Sage and Blue Grama Grasses onto it with 12 weight thread.

three backgrounds ready to embellish

I'm so grateful to Wonderfil Thread in Canada for shipping these thick 12 weight threads to me SO quickly. Look how gorgeous they are, sitting on top of the canvas!

drawing Sage with thread, just the beginning...

All the practicing and sketching and continuous line drawing through the summer of the plants over and over was such a good plan. It made this part of the process so much smoother because drawing them out under the needle was already a memory. I could recognize the plants because I grew up with them and have been photographing them for much of my adult life. However, I didn't know how to draw them. I had never inspected them like that before. I hadn't followed all the stages of their life cycles in such detail. 

I knew many, but not all the names, and I knew nothing about the Cree names. I've already made a firm decision not to bother with Latin names at all for the plants that are indigenous to this area.

   again, THANK YOU so much CCA

I haven't taken photos in *forever* but I hear the geese in droves above. It's mid November. The ground is clean still, and the temperatures are so mild: single digits above zero Celcius. I think I will venture out to visit the creeping Juniper one more time. Maybe I will be able to bid farewell to the Sandhill Cranes as they leave.

Have a good weekend,

xo

Monika