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what i thought was a mistake

turns out to be ….  something different….and i don't know yet, but no longer feels like a mistake.

002
i did one more line of stitch through the thick stems in the center with that neutral silk weaving thread that i'd found in the waste basket at Martha the weavers house that i clean.  it's very very thin.  and then, those stems that seperate and lean to the right in a "clump" that i thought was wrong, is not.  this is the part i don't know yet.  they lean to the right of that awkward blue square.  i began stitching more stems over the blue square but, no.  will wait.  i don't know what it's for.  and i am being drawn to the eye a lot. 

003
it's late.  these two pics are with the flash so the color is distorted but i wanted to see what they looked like anyway: seeing

and it's funny,  it seems like a long time since i looked at the Cloth as a whole….have been intent on the grasses.  this feather grass, really.  it needs to be as right as i can get it.    and to that end, what i noticed tonight is that the stitching there is really really thick.  i look around the rest of the Cloth and don't see anywhere else that this might happen.   ?

 

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17 responses to “what i thought was a mistake”

  1. Eva Ucgatwork Avatar
    Eva Ucgatwork

    Hi Grace,
    This is a stunning piece! I love it!
    I love the colours, the idea of the grass, the eye…everything.
    I realize that my approach to the whole idea of the Magic Cloth is wrong…I should be as brave as you and go for the “story”… I am too obsessed with matching colours and composition. It doesn’t work! I recently started a piece with a beast/ dragon (it does look like a friendly piggy actually)…and I started thinking of a possible story that might develope from here. And ideas started coming…
    You seem to have done the same, focussed on nature.
    Wow, and I can’t stop admiring the result.
    Have a great weekend,
    eva

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  2. ;uie Avatar
    ;uie

    The feather grass stitching is thicker than others because you have said, “it needs to be as right as I can get it” Perhaps because you possibly love them the most, they must be represented to the very best of your ability.
    Asking the question of purpose and meaning is also right. This seeking by questioning I call a periodic check in because it keeps us focused on bearing witness about how we live our lives, whether large or small and by that I mean whether we contribute in an over arching way or by a moment of kindness and giving in an ordinary day. Both in my mind, hold equal importance. As I walk the path of my daily life, year after year, it has become so clear to me that it all matters: the questioning, the introspection, the knowing, the wonder, every bit of connection, every hand held out in comfort, giving and joy, every moment of wondering if it was enough, the moment of satisfaction that says, today, it was enough, whatever it was that I tried and failed at or succeeded, whatever creativity manifested itself to fruition, what matters is that I tried to be in the moment and live it fully and honestly. One of the best quotes regarding all of this is by Joan Erickson: “A good life is like a weaving. Energy is created in the tension. The struggle, the pull and tug are everything.”

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  3. jude Avatar
    jude

    i am just looking with you grace.

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  4. judy martin Avatar
    judy martin

    It’s good to stand back from your work.
    See what it looks like as a whole.
    So often we look at our feet when we need to look at the sky.
    I love your simple grass stitching.

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  5. Mo Crow Avatar
    Mo Crow

    Your process with this piece brings to mind my favourite artist working with the planet today- John Wolseley. He maps his way through the landscape by releasing the paper to the wind allowing nature to make her marks then retrieving it and recording the details of the spirit of place with sonograms of the birdsong, finely detailed watercolours & drawings of the plants & wildlife and mapping of the geography both in time and space.
    You can see his work here-
    http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/1/John_Wolseley/
    & in his website, this is a good place to start-
    http://www.johnwolseley.net/exhibitions/travellingwest/twnotes
    and in this interview-
    http://moirarothsgleanings.tumblr.com/post/16334896772/gleanings-11-john-wolseley
    here’s some quotes that may pique your interest-
    ‘I am hoping to invert the classical order of things – rather than a view of the artist as agent, affecting objects in a world seen as separate and other, the traditional subject becomes the agent. A kind of listening to a landscape and trying to hear what it says… probably in a language difficult to understand.’
    ‘I suppose we all sometimes wonder whether there has been a common thread in the way we make our work. In my case I know it’s been about trying to describe ways of relating to land. The thread which joins it altogether in my case perhaps has been about ‘threading my way’ across the landscape in as subtle and gentle a way as I can.’

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  6. Vicky Avatar
    Vicky

    the grass must be right because i can see the wind blowing through it….and the blue spot…just keep grassing it, let the grass be looking in a window for a change.

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  7. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    a Beast!….friendly would be good…any kind, i think.
    i think there are so many different ways to making, but
    for sure, matching wouldn’t work for me…it i guess
    needs to feel congruent, but that’s it…
    i hope you have some good time just putting some pieces
    together..or near…
    i think we will all find more inspiration when the
    weather warms? can be outside? taking walks? i know
    you live in a city, but there would be parks….
    xoxo to you

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  8. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    yes. and well, it is just something that comes naturally,
    this looking closely at Everything, my place in it All.
    i’ve started thinking (again) that it’s really, wanting
    some kind of Once and For All understanding that’s the
    problem. so…that Joan Erickson quote is correct.
    i worked outside this afternoon and that was so good…
    readying the vegetable beds. and everywhere, tiny Feather
    Grasses are appearing.

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  9. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    this might come up twice..??? i wrote/clicked and nada…
    but anyway…
    this felt good to read…i imagined you there, looking with me…pulled you up a chair.
    we were happy.

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  10. ali Avatar
    ali

    I, too, am drawn to the eye. and to the flower, too-it moves, like the grass. I like the powerful stitches. They have a solid, strong presence – prairie grass waving in a fierce wind.

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  11. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    that grass stitching…oh that grass stitching…
    Thank you. i love it too, but will be glad to
    move to another part of the cloth.

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  12. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    Mo..you find the greatest things…
    and yes…his words are so much It…
    THANK YOU for sending these……..

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  13. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    Vicky…you have the greatest thoughts…maybe that’s it?
    a window?
    love,

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  14. grace Forrest~Maestas Avatar
    grace Forrest~Maestas

    then it is good…that’s what is here. strong grass
    strong Wind

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  15. ali Avatar
    ali

    strong feet, strong hands, strong stitches — strength… of heart?

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  16. sewing susan Avatar
    sewing susan

    I think the feather grass grounds the flower above it. Since the flower is strong there needs to be strong grass to hold it. So for me it is not too heavy and I fact you might want more. I look forward to see how your cloth goes

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  17. sandra Avatar
    sandra

    Grace, there is another eye looking through the grass. I love what you are doing here.

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