Orphan

When my Dad died several years ago, his sister cried that now she was an orphan. My Aunt was in her 80's when she said this, and it occurred to me every one of us has our own very personal relationship with someone who has died, whether it be a parent, child, sibling or friend. We have experiences unique to that relationship that no one else can share.

When someone close to us dies, a connection is lost. We are the only one left with those memories, the jokes we shared, the not so funny times we got through.

The thing is, we all have gone through similar experiences, we've all felt loss, grief, pain.

There's a golden thread running through this work, connecting our individual grief with the rest of the world

Multi tasking

I always work better when I have a few projects going on at the same time. It puts me in my zone, which is my favorite place to be. Right now I'm stitching on some of the A View Within work, and this kind stitching is pretty mindless.

Up on my design wall is an idea for the "Loss" series, with a few samples of what I want to do right where I can see them when I glance up.

Over on the window are some x-rays a friend gave us of a family member, taken in 1958.  We are thinking about a miniseries, and when I take a break from stitching, I make some sketches,

and work on some color samples.

I work so much better when I take my time and ponder my ideas.  I'm usually not happy with work that I rush through.  I don't have any deadlines right now, so I'm just doodling along, in my happy place