I'm in Love....

(or rather besotted)

with

Grayson Perry

(who makes pots, among other things)

today I stumbled upon this video...

a studio visit

and then watched this lively interview with Grayson and
sociologist/arts writer Sarah Thornton....

It's a long one, but funny, informative and validating....

Be still my heart...

with dirty fingernails....

still running the marathon....

xx

Residuals.....

And then,

as I was so enamored with my walnut dye experiment....

my gaze

turned to the marks

 

 on the drop cloth below

and

on

 

 the weight that held the fabric deep in the pot 

XX

Still pecking away....

I am thrilled to say I've had some success in the dye bucket...

With walnuts bubbling on my stove to make ink for collage bits...

I could not help mySelf but to over dye my indigo experiments .

I was convinced I would not wear the pale blue tops I had dyed, as beautiful as they seemed, 

so a dip in an inky brown concoction of 

Walnuts, Iron and a dash of Logwood....

(praying for some kind of taupe)

seemed like a good idea.

I had fallen in love with some over dyed indigo wool yarn a few years ago and wondered how that would translate to garment dyed cotton...

 

The color rendition is not the best here, as the blue dyed pieces seemed paler to me, 

and the taupe pieces are actually a bit darker, richer and more complex. 

The over dye is subtly evident. 

I'm quite happy with them as I'm more of a taupe girl than a blue one. 

This Blue seemed a little too 'pretty'. 

and on another note...and another obsession

I'm doubly happy I was able to squeak in that bit of messing around as I was quite consumed with

 

taking down

(since my friend Mick convinced me it would be EASY) 

my STAIR RAILING that looked like a picket fence,

and repairing the skirt, then repainting it, 

 

since I thought I had a 'guy' who seemed to be the 'one'

 who would replace it with

something like 

 

This.

Of course that didn't happen....yet

finding the right 'guy' or 'gal' who is willing to tackle this project

 is proving tricky

Now time is consumed getting ready for our next bit of travel....

California bound 

fingers crossed

XX

By the way,  I've been quite liking Fridays HERE

take it.....

ONE DAY

AT A TIME....

A very good thing about living so close to Santa Fe, is that I have friends who drop by here (Albuquerque) on their way to there.....

And that makes me SO happy, because I get to show them some of my favorite places, before they go off to discover their own....

And one of my very favorite places to visit is Abiquiu, NM, about 2 hours northwest of Albuquerque, the home to Ghost Ranch, and Georgia O'Keeffe's home and studio, among other cool things to see and do out that way.

My perfect day is to head out in the morning, take the whip route (ring road around Santa Fe) and head up to Tesuque where my favorite breakfast stop is waiting for me....

The Tesuque Village Market

a cool little village market with good food, drinks, bakery, deli, coffee & local vibe

The atmosphere is great, and on this day, we stopped there two times...
for coffee and a sweet on our way in the morning
and for dinner and drinks on our way home.

We were lucky this day. First, because of the calm warm weather, and second, because even though we booked our tour of Georgia's home and studio late (the week prior), we were still able to see it at the perfect time for us.
Be sure, if you are going, to book your spot well before you plan to visit.

The tour begins at their office next to The Abiquiu Inn. The Inn is a nice place to stop before or after the tour for a bite to eat, with a well stocked gift shop. We had a lovely lunch there after our tour.

There are many rules to follow on the tour, and when I first visited almost 20 years ago now (yikes) they were very strict....
no photos, no sketching, no, no, no, nothing...
just quiet observation and respect.
Which is the very best way to be Present in such a sacred (to me) place.
On this visit we were able to photograph outside of the dwelling....

This was my third visit to Georgia's Abiquiu house.
I always see it with fresh eyes and learn something new every time.

Recently I received a gift of the book Georgia O'Keeffe and Her Houses......

and finally reading it, instead of looking at it's beautiful photographs,
gave me new and deep insight into the building history of her homes.

On this visit our docent pointed out that Georgia was a millionaire before she came to
New Mexico to live...

A sobering fact to this person, who sometimes dreams of living an even more enchanted life...

and then, after pooting out to Ghost Ranch,

we adventured out down a washboard dirt road to Plaza Blanca, Georgia's 'White Place'....

 

Plaza Blanca rests on private land, owned by Dar al Islam, and is accessible from the road which leads to their Mosque.

Right now, there is a TV pilot (Scalped) being shot on the premises, which was a bit disconcerting. The fact is that many movies have been shot here and at Ghost Ranch.

Movie set aside, to wander the canyon is a mystical experience.

I've posted these photos on Instagram, where I mostly hang out these days.

@marianna_overtherainbow

Energy flows.....

where attention goes....

Today, as I was perusing Instagram and blogs I follow,

 I was troubled.

I was disturbed more by what I read in some few cases, than of the political events of the day.

For the last many years I have become acutely aware of the significance of acknowledging the part energy plays in our life, mostly in it's healing and manifestation properties.

These are the words that played over and over in my head, 

as I saw many focus on darkness and dread.

'Energy flows where attention goes.'

So I Googled it. 

and I found

an article on the 7 principles of Huna life which seemed to clearly explain this concept.

Huna is a Hawaiian tradition.

This article focuses on the the third principle:

"Energy Flows where attention goes"

This is the first part of the article:

3. MAKIA - Energy Flows Where Attention Goes

Whatever you spend most of your conscious and unconscious time thinking of, will grow in your reality.

This works on the positive as well as on the negative side. If you focus the majority of your attention on why things are not working out the way you want them to, then your struggles will grow and become more concrete through time. If you aren't clear about your goals and direction, then the fuzziness will grow within your life.

Therefore becoming clear of what you want (and not on what you want to avoid) is essential for creating things in this world.

This entire post can be found HERE 

 I took this photo after many days of gloomy weather.

 

For me in that moment I was struck by the shadows and their Beauty, lines and shapes.

I found the light in contrast to the dark, to be uplifting and intriguing. 

And focused on that.

Both the darkness and the light. 

And the Beauty of all that.