13 November 2013

lush ...

... colors, smells, light, tastes.

Deliciously fragrant beeswax candles have been burning all day along with intermittent sticks of nag champa.  A fresh batch of eco-dyed lengths of silk hang along my studio shelving unit, the colors deep and rich, punctuated by dark marks from rusty bits and blushes of pink and orange from onion skins and copper pipe. 

These lengths were all overdyed.  I started with yellows from a natural dyeing workshop back in the spring and olive to celery from last years not particularly successful evergreens experiment.  So I really had no idea what the finished colors would be ... not that I ever have any idea what the colors will do.  This time it was even more unpredictable ... which I dearly love.

I'm trying to decide if I'll list them on Etsy.  There's a couple I might be hard-pressed to part with.  I just like looking at them hanging all in a row ...


This one's kind of subtle ...

as is this one ...
 
this one's got some lovely flashes of yellows, greens, magenta and orange and nice marks from rusted wire ...
 
this one's not really colors that I wear, yellows and oranges ... but I'm tempted to keep it
 
and this one's my favorite ... it's got some really exceptional marks from rusted bits of bailing straps and the colors are, in a word, lush ...
 
I think I'll leave them hanging for a bit longer and then we'll see ....
 
The day was full of lush tastes ... a tall jar of fresh green juice, homemade scones - vegan spelt, blueberries, oats, sunflower seeds, flax seed meal and maple syrup, lunch of basmati rice topped with nuts and dried fruit, cinnamon and soy milk (a splurge instead of my usual almond), an afternoon snack of toasted almonds and Earl Grey tea.
 
It's been the coldest day of the season, brilliant sunshine but frigid with blustery winds, so I've been hunkered down ... clad in a toasty warm ochre lambswool sweater and fleece pants, thick socks and slippers.  I fired the kiln this morning, which, along with the afternoon sun pouring in, warmed the upstairs nicely. 
 
I've been reading E Squared by Pam Grout. and today's experiment was about seeing what we don't normally see ... today I was supposed to be on the lookout for yellow butterflies.  Considering I wasn't planning on going outside much and even if I did, it's butt cold and there aren't any butterflies around, she assured me there are other ways of seeing butterflies.  Okay, I decided to give it a shot.  But I decided that I'd be open to any color butterfly.  First one I saw this morning was deep blue on a book cover by my side of the bed ... good start.  But after that, I couldn't imagine where I'd see any more. 
 
After morning tea and a bit of web surfing (no butterflies), I headed to my table to start work for the day.  I got the urge to do a bit of cleaning and de-cluttering and as I was putting things away and dusting, there on my table was a whole flock of butterflies ...
 
 
I completely forgot that I had all these lovely little hand-painted silk butterflies in my desktop potted plants ... and for the most part, they're yellow.  Needless to say, this brought a large smile to my face and pretty much set the tone for the rest of my day .... lovely. 
 
Planning on the evening being just as nice ... hoping yours is as well.
 
l i g a - kvk
 


1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a lovely day! I hunkered down on this cold day, myself, with tea and a good book.

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