have been having lots of fun drawing all summer long, below a peek in motion…
I love these little ones, the one on the right is ready to be mounted on a 5″x7″ black card stock for (almost) final presentation.
stay tuned!
inspiration
anything that influences me or my work
into the new
drawing, inspiration, new work, other workhave been drawing a lot these past few month into the year, a way to release the tension of the world.
it helped.
these below from a first intense series in July…they have not title, for now.
pretty much the finished state…but it will matting and framing in due time!
new drawings
drawing, inspiration, other work, studio talespicked up drawing again, healing the scattered idle time of being in-between things…
new drawings
so parked a few tables upstairs under the aging skylight and have been climbing the stairs at night to a carved out space of non-thinking.
for some reason, the lines on paper, the filling-in of color, the randomness of process (but sometimes not…) or maybe simple contrast from another side of making…
and then it’s up from there.
the plants that come visit
inspiration, plants and animalsand so it happens again.
the back yard is small, a little wild spot at the back of the industrial building that holds my studio, my tools, all the (still) scattered-about books i treasure and a spot of quiet respite despite the city.
i want to bring plants into this little heaven.
new growth in my little wild backyard
the vine that gives me grapes and needs uplifting to the left, a proud datura to the right, second largest in the yard and a couple more growing inside and along the not-so-raised planting bed…
another beautiful datura
on my daily walks with my dog kara out on the mesas, the desert is in bloom again and just a few weeks ago i stopped on the trail in awe for the first prickly pear cactus flowers of the season: beautiful yellows shining in the hot sun.
we chatted a while, i told them how beautiful they were, i told them i wished them in my garden…
and a baby prickly pear cactus!
and so it happens again. I noticed this little one just the other day…
the plants that come visit.
the plants i invite into my garden.
the inspiration they bring me, in myriads of imperceptible ways and sooth my work with simplicity.
(of) woodstoves, bathtubs and jimson weed
events, inspiration, studio offers, studio tales
and so it’s happening again.
i am moving the studio.
a rough ride these past 3 years, relocating in and out of unsuitable places, strewing bits and pieces of my beloved studio across mesas, steep and rocky dirt roads and not-so-shallow rivers…. yes, there are still rivers to cross in new mexico.
but this time is different.
recurring themes in all these past wanderings keep circling back to me, like the bathtub.
the bathtub in the middle of the room, sitting there, mockingly. just like one of my last recent places. and just like in Diva (a beautiful movie i once had a tape of) …must be a good sign.
got the bathtub… and even the aquarium, aka the fish tank and 2 golden fish!
and in the backyard, just like this past spring and still in winter clothes, there is an old friend waiting…it must be a very good sign indeed!
‘celebrations’ then.
but this time is different.
this time there are 2 doors opening at the end of the tunnel: stepping into a new studio this month! a new space at last and special gift from the universe for my birthday…
this too is happening and just in time, at the very end of this month!
‘celebrations’ then will also be a very special STUDIO SALE – feb 25-27.
‘celebrations’
3 days only of unique and one-of-a-kind statement jewelry pieces at ‘birthday gift’ bonus prices, just for my studio subscribers and a few other aficionados!
(hint..) i will need a refrigerator at my new place and a couple of good work tables for all my trays with work-in-progress i’ve been holding onto for so long…can’t hardly wait.
so stay tuned and keep in touch for updates, more are definitely to come!
in celebrations.
i wished myself a plant
inspiration, studio talesi love plants. outdoor plants, indoor plants… there is a relationship with a plant, subtle, unnoticed.
like anything ‘different’ than oneself, it is another language, a different way of relating, an unfamiliar, at times, way of perceiving.
having been now here, miraculously put, in my cozy 400 sqf of space, i began noticing several months ago that a specific plant was missing from my outdoor surroundings… a beautiful plant that had been around all of my past places for the last 15 years, a plant with a presence.
a neighbor had one growing by a ditch down the road, a big one, all bright and white in its big flowers.
but they were nowhere else to be seen, and not on the piece of land my current studio is on.
i asked my landlady about them but she said she had not seen them around her house for the past several years, as long as she could remember…
i began to long for this plant to be in my front yard, right outside my door, so i could look at it everyday and see if blooming at night… i threw my silent wish out there, in my mind, in my heart.
i wished myself this plant.
and one day, looking down on the dirt outside the door i spotted it: a couple of small ‘suspicious-looking’ tender green leaves, quivering in the dust.
the one on the left was the first one to pop up
wasn’t really sure at first, kept an eye on it and put a couple of stones around to mark the spot; then a few more showed up the following days and i piled more little rocks around them.
all this makes me go back to stephen buhner’s books and to his very intriguing writings about the intelligence of plants…..fascinating.
they are sturdy plants, they survive harsh winters if you respect them and let them be…
i just can’t wait to see the flowers next season, i am simply grateful.
emanuela aureli / art 