A winter’s work

Hello from snowed in Madeline Island! The maple sap should be running, bare ground should be seen, but here we are, with over 6 feet of snow everywhere, winter temperatures, and nothing too promising on the horizon. The weather IS. We can do with it whatever we want…cope and endure, enjoy it, go into hermitage, which I have been doing to an extent! My new website is ready and I have dedicated my life to it for several months (with excellent help from Kate Bortell, website designer in Bayfield). I never would have guessed how long it takes to write up courses, photograph lessons, create new work, and put it all together in an artistic and meaningful way. Marketing it is another road I need to travel, and it can feel daunting to think about all of that. Still, it feels very satisfying, and working on this has helped me to create new art as well, to think about what skills and perspective I can bring to people, and share all of the knowledge I have accumulated.

I am so looking forward to sharing my thoughts on Art and Life. It is because an artist’s life necessarily requires alone time to create. One of the most satisfying things for me as an artist is to share my work with people who respond to it, tell the stories of my thoughts while creating it…which usually spiral into all of the interests, what I am reading, and daily surprises I encounter outdoors. It is an interesting mix of a rich inner life, and longing to share the results and stories with other humans. It is so wonderful when another person talks with me about a piece they have purchased, and tells me how much it speaks to them in their daily life.

This image is of a new felt making tutorial I developed over the winter. and have for sale on my new site. One might think I am imagining Spring with the colors!!!