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it began like this.   and right about this time, actually, probably is what brought me to the window, was GOATS making noises.  such an amazing display of vocalizations, i so wish i had a way to record them.  there were the In Heat muffled expressions punctuated by really awful bleats that remind me of the Exorcist.  and then the responses in more normal Goatly voices,  trying to accomodate those in heat.  then the pushing and shoving,  on the porch/off the porch  and it was COLD.  like really really COLD out there.   i had to go to work away today so was doing what i need to do and suddenly turned around and SAW what i'd put on the back of the couch the eve before.

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this is Marti's cloth.  you have seen it.  it's been on the Wall for a while…Vertical.  covering, actually, the crack between two drywall panels.   she gave it to me because she was not particularly pleased with how it had come out  and i had loved it because of it's moodiness, it's grays.  it's large.  a little over 4ft long x 9 inches.   Vertically, it was very soothing to me,  i loved it there on the Wall with small things pinned to it.    but, this morning, when i turned,  i saw something else entirely.

 

IMG_7588marti's cloth

 

IMG_7587 Marti's cloth

i see 

Winter.  How it is an Altered State, i think, for all of us.  Mostly, for the Beings that remain Out Side.  Wild things and the domesticated Wild.   how they might experience the Phenomenon of Winter.  Those cranes that i talked about know this landscape.  it's their Place for months until they Return.  Every evening and then morning until SunRise,  this is their world.  i love that  it is divided in the center.  Above  …..almost…. mirroring Below but not quite.   it is just so incredibly beautiful to me.  Just as it is.  It talks to me about becoming quiet in the night.  Waiting.  Still.  Waiting for the Sun.  that genetic codeing that says just wait.  be still.  Light will come.  it always has.

so there is the absolute fascination with this change from Vertical to Horizontal.  How Amazing.

but then,  there is a lesson here for me about dyeing cloth.  even before this, i could not have cut that cloth.  it was too strong in its softness, its subtlty to     cut.  it needed to be just as it was.  and now, even more.  and what then does one DO?  when you find yourself given such a gift?

i can see maybe a few, maybe some  single stitched cranes flying left to right.  easy.  but then, this is not my work of art…it's Marti's.   because she didn't see it doesn't change a thing.  it came from her pot.  the Whole of it, even with some birds, would be from her hand.  from her Pot.  her cauldron, as she lovingly calls it.  

so i am going to leave it at that for now.  keep looking.  Waiting.

 

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and inbetween taking care of Goat Things and bringing in wood,  i stuck the cloth in the Walnut pot on the Wood Stove, but it was too shallow,  so i dribbled my way outside and plunged it into the big pot out there and went off to feed.  came back and it is just so Cold…so i dribbled it back in to the shallow pot on the wood stove…and fed the dogs and cat.  Darker.  so back out to the cloth line and within maybe 15 minutes…it was frozen stiff.  this pic was hard to take..i have short arms, i guess but it was STIFF.  now is pinned, hanging to dry in the Room.  We'll see.

 

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this is Later…7:23 pm….it thawed.  it's almost dry.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in

34 responses to “284 a very big day in so many ways”

  1. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    You raise a fascinating question grace and I lovingly agree to disagree with you: I may have dyed the cloth in my cauldron but had no vision for it, could not see it for what it could be. You saw, you see, so who is the true creator here? Whose cloth is this? My answer simply is that this is your cloth. Anyone can dye cloth, you can buy cloth from others for your work. It is the cloth work itself, the vision that you bring to it that speaks and it is your sense of this cloth that is telling its story. I had no sense of it at all and that is why in terms of creating, this belongs to you.

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  2. grace Avatar
    grace

    well, my dearest and best Marti…i disagree.
    when the WHOLE of the cloth IS the cloth, it is then
    an Entity unto Itself.
    and this is what we have here. Maybe it is neither of
    us. Maybe it belongs to the cauldron that held the
    dye, the walnuts that gave. Gave.

    Like

  3. dee Avatar

    maybe it becomes your cloth, Grace, through the quality of attention and appreciation you bring to it.

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  4. grace Avatar
    grace

    well…this bring us to the Point i never got to. about
    dyeing cloth.
    dyeing cloth is not just a uhhh, small thing. it’s
    creating in what i think,is the highest Order. it’s a
    ummmmm, almost ritual exchange between plant beings and the pot and the human being. if we dye, sometimes something will appear like this. It’s Own Self. not something small, that we can use say in collage, which is what i do. but someThing else entirely. in between writing this post and answering
    these two comments, i have sat and looked at it, there,
    on the living room wall. i don’t know What to think., really,

    Like

  5. Judith of N. CA Avatar
    Judith of N. CA

    here’s another way to perceive the cloth..when we purchase, dye or alter it, it’s like the birth of a child…we raise it, we send it out into the world (sometimes not knowing for sure what the hell is going to happen to it but that’s our job)…and then a friend or partner comes along, takes that adult child into it’s arms and things change..it is it’s own person or there’s a new personality being developed, whatever and so maybe they now belong more to that person and that’s okay.
    Okay so that’s a romantic way to look at it…but sometimes…it is what it is…it’s a cloth that just didn’t “happen” for it’s creator and they will willingly, perhaps even with relief, just get rid of the darn thing and, luckily for you, it had a message for you. It talked so Loud to You, that you chose to Share it with Us and how great is that.

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  6. grace Avatar
    grace

    YES! all of that. all of it. and You, as a dyer, well, this
    must have happened to you? When you got more than you had been
    looking for………….
    i am looking at dyeing….what it is. what it IS.
    Thank You for these words, LOVE,

    Like

  7. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Of course that first shot…THAT would sure get me up and looking in a hurry. I think about the out of door critters too, and all us animals weathering the weather. Changing tone and mood with the light and temperature. Oh, the image of you reaching up for that frozen cloth…brrrrr//// But, such a fine cloth. Naturally I have no opinion about the ethical decisions you and Marti are wrangling with, except to say, I think the conclusion of the pot, or the black walnuts owning the cloth comes closer to the universal truth of all matter. All of it just a vessel, a channel direct from the creative nature of reality. It can’t help itself.

    Like

  8. handstories Avatar

    I love that you SAW this beautiful cloth. I think whatever you bring to the cloth will honor Marti’s work, making the original cloth more and more in the hands of both of you. I imagine it gives her joy to have you SEE into her creation.

    Like

  9. ² Avatar
    ²

    and it starts with a part of a big piece of woven material some( wind) thread , that will be used and pleat and dyeing … the thread had trusted wath going on and let go who she was … just a piece of spit ( ? ) woven material a part of a bigger wholenes to become larger
    thanks for this morning conversation
    i greet you al

    Like

  10. ² Avatar
    ²

    i love that picture the light at the horizon
    even the cloth it show me ( i try to translate it )
    even under and above are the same … for me a spirituel way of seeing how are live going on even the inner as also the out side
    so in … so out
    so under … so above

    Like

  11. jude Avatar

    maybe it doesn’t matter, but that it is cloth and that it has been honored with attention. that it has been a gift, that it is being considered, given a use. I like how the bottom piece is like an envelope, how darkness is now held bu light.

    Like

  12. Judith of N. CA Avatar
    Judith of N. CA

    what it IS..hmmm, most of the time, it’s Magic..but like life, sometimes it’s not. I never realized until all these wonderful comments, how much dyeing is a metaphor for our lives (I shall be thinking about this today, too..brewing on it..pun intended). And I forgot to mention last night how much I love the morning night sky photo..Wow..and the goat drama. And it looks like you’ve got your own magic coming out of the dye pots.

    Like

  13. dee Avatar

    to elevate your quality of attention to something ritual and of Highest Order is not to denigrate the dyeing or dyer. not one bit.

    Like

  14. beth Avatar

    A collaboration then? And you both love what the other does/will do. So this seems very fine.

    Like

  15. Patricia Avatar

    read the post. came back. read it again. was going to comment on goats and sky and black walnut bread crumbs dribbled across the floor–of which i have so many. then read the comments and thought about cotton fields. or flax. but no, it was cotton. thought about planting cotton — and the picking thought about the processing of it, to thread to cloth. to all the places in between from where it started to Marti’s cauldron. and now to you. maybe it just goes on like this, changing, little and big alterations. maybe all of the steps are gifts and we just pay it forward with what we do with the gift.

    Like

  16. Mo Crow Avatar

    the alchemy of the dye pot holds the magical integrity of a good stick or a good stone or a good feather, beautiful in itself but it’s the mark of the hand seen through the eye of the artist that transforms it to become art.

    Like

  17. kim Avatar
    kim

    waiting
    still
    waiting for the Sun
    just wait
    be still
    Light will come
    it always has…
    your words spoke to me as a poem and a ray of hope that I needed today. Thank you for that gift.

    Like

  18. grace Avatar
    grace

    Mo…Wait!…let’s settle here for a minute.
    What if…let’s just Entertain a thought….What if
    Spirit, that same Spirit that we talk about all the time,
    What if Spirit sometimes uses occurances of a dye pot
    or whatever else, to try to speak. that it might
    be an entire language of it’s own that we constantly
    feel the need to translate into human?

    Like

  19. grace Avatar
    grace

    kim…then we receive that ray together. Thank YOU.

    Like

  20. Mo Crow Avatar

    that’s “it” Grace! and it’s that recognition & honouring of the Spirit of the thing that is the beginning of making art!

    Like

  21. Mo Crow Avatar

    Grace that’s “it”! That recognition of Spirit and the attempt to honour It, is the beginning of making Art.

    Like

  22. Mo Crow Avatar

    That’s it Grace! The recognition of Spirit in a dream, out of the corner of the eye, in the outcome of an alchemical dye pot, in a stick that looks like a crow foot, and then honouring that recognition is the beginning of making art!

    Like

  23. grace Forrest Avatar

    my dyeing, again, is so Random. not like yours and Marti’s.
    but the pot forgives and does the best it can for me.

    Like

  24. grace Forrest Avatar

    Michelle…i wrote your words down. i have them here,
    next to me. “I think the conclusion of the pot, or the black walnuts owning the cloth comes closer to the universal truth of all matter. All of it just a vessel, a channel direct from the creative nature of reality. It can’t help itself.”
    oh, jeez…..

    Like

  25. grace Forrest Avatar

    she does love it. yes. Her hands, my eye. the Cloth
    presents in both ways

    Like

  26. grace Forrest Avatar

    Maria, i am going to have to learn some words of Belgium and
    Flanders to speak. your way with words is very fine.
    i love it that the thread had trusted and let go who she was.
    this is very BeautyFull.
    love,

    Like

  27. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. that’s what i’m seeing

    Like

  28. grace Forrest Avatar

    this cloth is Giving. all these imagegs to us. the
    Cloth and dye only.
    “darkness is now held by light”

    Like

  29. grace Forrest Avatar

    in most cases no. in this case i think tho that the
    Cloth itself with the mark of the plant is what is of
    Highest Order.
    and really, neither Marti or i have more to do

    Like

  30. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. and i think it’s Enough.

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  31. grace Forrest Avatar

    well, here we are again. more really incredible thought.
    the cotton cloth that Received.
    this is oh, yes….”we just pay it forward”

    Like

  32. grace Forrest Avatar

    recognition
    Recognition

    Like

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