colo(u)red shifu

a simple suggestion

from india has 

i think

solved my record keeping nightmares.

it's what i love about friends

their eyes.

delicious colo(u)r

 somehow the u added in

makes color richer.

here at beautiful silks,

colour enhances even the metal

grates covering the windows

 so i went shopping

looking for some goodies for my students:

pigment perhaps, or other papers--

and a couple of drop spindles.

 and i found this place:

melbourne etching supply

it has the rarefied atmosphere

of serious, quality art supplies,

and paper

and pigment

 aukje's sample books

 when a teacher takes the time 

to put her samples into an original

and beautiful format

her students have a 

haptic object to explore

and 

 a way to begin

discovery

this idea

seedpod stitched

is terribly exciting 

the structurue is simple, elegant 

and totally appropriate 

class supply collage

outside in the alley

natural green 

aukje put six shifu squares

into dyebaths

the vats ate two

but spewed forth these.

nature's colours

what a wonderful ride it has been!
(though backwards!)

australia is a marvel. 

wednesday marion took

phil and me to visit george

who had wool and alpaca jersey

and i got out into the countryside a little.

i was disoriented by the dry brownness

but was told it was very green!

i thought resembled the land around denver, a bit.
but the trees not at all. 

george's homestead was full of food, his gardens lush in winter, 

and we came away with food as well as jersey.

i saw emus but no kangaroos.

tonight i had an informal show and tell session

which i shared with aukja boonstra.

 aukje, a former potter, 

has explored natural dyeing

with the gums, and uses sea water

in a lively response to environmental 

responsibility and her dyepot.

aukje's dyebook

and wednesday

janet de boer launched the symposium

 and i spoke about, well, i spoke about my work.

janet had a blast being a "girl in a cake"

sort of--(you had to be there). 

 this large baby was spooky

 hanging up in fitzroy

 certain things please me no end

 

and others are just good signage

huge hearts here in fitzroy

elephant and marion,

my hosts.
come by nature's colours in the city!
the retail shop alone is worth a looksee.

superb! 

oh, my! 

lovely hand 

color and words 
and i must say i have also received invaluable feedback
~~~
there will be more!

 ~~~

l.a. to melbourne

goodbye hacienda hotel and marvelous trees

hello australia!

i first saw...eucalyptus

but the camera was elsewhere.

 and hello australia

and beautiful silks

 first impressions

 things that move me

 beautiful, beautiful and so wonderful 

 i just want to burrow into these lovelies and go to sleep

but i instead got to sleep 

in a stack of comfort

marion and her elephant have made me happily at home

and there's a wonderful lift

that i took a ride in.

more to come--

traveling, interlude

 on my way to melbourne

but the plane had already left before i got there

here

 so i had a day to pass in an hotel

with a courtyard

 so after a long sleep,

a late breakfast,

i spent a couple of hours

in the courtyard.

 strange seed pods in the trees

 and this delightful fountain

 all a facade, but i really enjoyed it.

 these are from the book i'm relishing

a different kind of luxury

japanese lessons in simple living and inner abundance

by andy couturier

that jean blogged about.

a fine book.

walk and a morality tale

 last night 

 a hole in the sky appeared

 and three kittens and their mom

fell through

 the sunset kept to itself

 as usual,

but performed a magnificent dance

and a doe observed

this is how it went:

"i don't like to kill a cat" he said

gesturing toward his standardbred

"my horse might die."

a profoundly buddhist statement by a young amish man

who dumped a mama cat and her babes

in the meadow near the roadside.

with apologetic smile he tried to explain:

"the farmer i work for don't like cats"

i was angry, left with a dilemma not of my making 

what to do with four cats?

i mean, i'm going to australia tomorrow!

he had dumped them, pulled off, and came back, to explain to me. 

"i don't like to kill a cat"

his employer, 

a man i can't respect

put this young man in this position. 

the farmer could have taken these cats to the shelter

(he knows about shelters, the amish man doesn't) 

or tried to find homes.

"i don't like to kill a cat" he said

but he picked them back up 

and drove off, 

to find an ethical solution.