+ Her Barefoot Heart

Tag: in her own language (Page 1 of 16)

mirrors

Intheclouds2

The body is a sensing instrument of consciousness.
Without the body and the mind, the trees couldn’t see themselves.

Intheclouds7

Usually we think that we are looking at a tree,
but the tree is looking at itself through us.

Intheclouds8

Without this instrument,
the tree doesn’t get to see itself.

Intheclouds4

We are the sensing instruments of the Divine.

– Adyashanti

IOOL4 24

In Our Own Language 4:24
Nancy, my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, draws.

Ioo 4 24

I, the woman who flat-out loves her, stitch.

if at first you don’t succeed . . .

Nancy

Mistakes were made, forms were lost, deadlines came and went, but today – finally – Nancy is at the new place where she will spend weekdays in the presence of Penny, a woman Nancy deeply loves, a woman who deeply loves Nancy in return.

MerryMe4

Tenacious follow-up is what got Nancy on the van this morning, and it’s what landed these hankies in my studio. Merry Me (you know here as Envoy #113) hadn’t heard from me about a couple of envelopes she sent, so she asked if I’d received them. They’d fallen beside the seat – so glad she asked. Who knows when we would’ve happened upon them?

“The white handkerchief with the pink daisies came from my mom’s dresser drawer. It may have belonged to one of my grandmothers as I do not remember Mom using them. Although I have a faint memory of one always being neatly folded in her sequined cocktail purse. It may not go with your project, but if you can use it, I’d be thrilled to be a part of it,” she writes. I am quite touched and more than a little thrilled to include the three hankies Merry Me went in search of at an antique store and the white hankie passed down through her matriarchal lineage. Thank you, Sugar.

MerryMe6

In a separate (also previously lost between the seats, along with a couple of bills and holiday cards) envelope were three skeins of purple floss Merry Me found, fruits from her pre-holiday organizational efforts. They’re all color #550 – the very color I use for this project. She also included an article on the delights of disorganization. That woman is funny. Merry Me, I mean.

~~~~~~~~~
She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning.

puzzles

Set1a

Set1b

Set1c

set 1 begins to come together. it’s fun, putting them together like a puzzle. nancy is quite good with puzzles, you know. holding fistfuls of pieces in her hand, thumping each piece three times when she finds where it goes.

Happy New Year.

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning.

just ask

SusanLenz

Several months ago, I came across the blog of an artist named Susan Lenz. We swapped the occasional comments back and forth, and I quickly became inspired with her deep well of creativity, her impressive productivity, her resourcefulness, and her generosity. When I found myself in need of more hankies, I emailed her asking if she knew where a girl like me might be able to get her hands on some vintage ladies hankies. Susan got right back to me and offered to put an “artist in need” blurb in the sidebar of her newsletter, and she went one step further and posted about this project on one of her blogs.

In addition to the comments left on her blog post, I’ve received several emails and envelopes filled with supportive notes and hankies.

Like this beauty from Janett Rice:

JanettRice2

and these delights from Carole Rothstein:

CaroleRothstein22

They all make me smile, and this one from Carole makes me chortle right out loud:

CaroleRothstein13

I only have snail mail and email addresses for Carole and Janett, and you can bet I’ll be emailing soon to see if they have blogs that I can link to. Stay tuned. I’ve added a sidebar category called Bearers to give credit and appreciation to those who bring hankies and other shades of support to the project. Thank you Susan and Janett and Carole.

And hey, if y’all have some vintage ladies hankies you’d like to contribute, please send then on to Jeanne Hewell-Chambers/POB 994/Cashiers, NC 28717. I need the pretty soon, though. Will explain later.

Christmas Eve Eve (Sunday, 12/23) we trekked to nearby Asheville for a walk about. The Grovewood Gallery was our last stop before supper, and after an afternoon of visiting the Asheville Art Museum and three other galleries, I was tired and opted to stay downstairs while my son, Kipp, went upstairs for a lookabout. He hadn’t been up there a nano before he texted me saying “Come hither and come quickly. I’ve found something you’re going to love.” He was right, as usual: upstairs there were three walls filled with some of my favorite pieces of Susan’s work.

May we all go forward into a new year in agreement that we’ll ask when we need help, receive requests with grace and cheerfulness, and offer assistance in any way possible when we have a chance to help another artist create her visions.

Happy, happy New Year, y’all.

~~~~~~~~~
She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning.

98

other projects (cloth and non-cloth) have demanded full use of my clock lately, but today, we hear from envoy marnie gloor . . . who happens to be in the next room as i write this. she’s the OSM (other special woman) in my son kipp’s life, and they are here to spend the holidays with us. what a treat that is.

i first heard of marnie via phone calls from kipp seeking advice and suggestions on how to ask her out. they’d been together in groups, and he wanted to move it to the next level. i first met marnie in july of 2011 when kipp brought her home for a visit. marnie has a beautiful, non-stop smile and an openness and love for kipp that makes her a kindred spirit. she loves art and is quite knowledgeable (which is most enjoyable for someone like me who’s unschooled in such things).

i love what marnie did with #98. love it. her accompanying quote is from yoko ono:

“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”

Marnie  Nancy

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning.

next

1

soon i will begin to pull together the set 1 stitched renderings.

All4

right now, there are three different sizes. initially, i wanted to be true to the size of the paper and the size of the drawing. now i realize the larger cloths need to be reduced in size else i wind up with a cloth that could swaddle the entire world.

All2

even then, this promises to be a cloth of substantial proportions. i ordered the backing cloth today. i hope i ordered enough.

it’s exciting to think about the cloth in its finished form.

it’s scary thinking about stitching something so large.

167

6 167 2 erased

Perhaps Albert Einstein put it best:
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift,
and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant
and has forgotten the gift.”

167

I am reading a book about drawing
(and finding it very interesting).
Today I took my sketchbook and pencils
and I meant to sketch out a few things,
but I couldn’t because
the blues (yet another shade, mind you)
held me hostage.

DSC08375

DSC08379

StThomas28Nov12a

DSC08411

(Taken from a rapidly moving taxi.
As my daughter said,
“We may not have gone to Six Flags over anything this year,
but we did have a ride in a taxi in St. Thomas.”

DSC08413

(Okay, maybe it’s more green than blue,
but it was a part of today.)

DSC08431

DSC08463

DSC08467

DSC08478

DSC08490

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning.

166

6 166 1 erased

Today looked like:

DSC08318

and

DSC08329

and

DSC08343

and

DSC08349

and

DSC08353

and

DSC08360

and

DSC08367

and*

166

* My daughter, Alison,
spent too much time
on her broken foot yesterday,
so I brought her a party today
so she could stay in bed.


~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning.

164

6 164 1 erased

DSC08275

For as long as I can remember,
blue has been my favorite color,
the color I can count on to catch my eye
and attract my attention
and hold my heart in bated breath.

 

DSC08279

Today was full of blues
that left me downright gobsmacked.

 

DSC08287

Mesmerized.
Lifted.

 

DSC08282a

I stitched on my new cloth today.
It seemed fitting.
Right.
I just can’t get the hang of
using a hoop,
and I bought some big clips
from the office supply store,
but they made it unbelievably heavy
and it clinked and clanked all the time.
So I went back to my original plan.
I fold it a certain way,
spread it across my lap and over the arms
of the chair,
and I slide an old clipboard
under it
to bounce the needle off off
as I stitch.
It works just fine.

 

DSC08287

We’re almost to the end of Nancy’s Drawings, Set 1.

 

164

What will I do then?
Bring them together in a cloth
Then start stitching Set 2,
of course.

 

DSC08298

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning.

163

6 163 1 erased

Sunday

a day filled with
tai chi
and a movie.
stitching.
napping,

 

Dancing

and dancing with
new friends,
wise women
who are no longer willing
to wait on a man
before taking the
dance floor.
oh the fun we had.
i think women were made
for dancing.
i really do.

 

Moon

the moon treated us
to an earlier-than-usual
appearance.

 

162

and today’s drawing

(taken in the most awful lighting you can imagine)
that looks
for all the world
like a rose to me.

all in all,
i’d say that today
came out smelling like a rose.

 

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning.

« Older posts