Friday 24 April 2015

Of Note

Happy Friday y'all! This week I've had my nose to the grindstone finishing a series of mixed media tags that I started early this year. By tonight I should have at least 75 completed and by Monday I should have all 122 resolved tags finished. The challenge of working with multiples is the completion part––the scut work of applying backs, labels, and then final coats of varnish. It feels good to finally tackle this. 

Here are some things that inspire me:

• Lindsay Cameron Wilson's essay about finding voice. I'm not a food person. I don't read cookbooks or restaurant reviews. The only things that I enjoy making begin with the letter "S": soup stocks, salads, smoothies, and salad dressing. But, I do make an exception for Lindsay Cameron Wilson's food writing. Man, can she tell a story and tell it well. As I have been finding my own voice in the writing of this blog, I've had Lindsay Cameron Wilson, Anne Lamott, and Rebecca Solnit in my head. They've proved to be fine company.

• Writer, avid knitter, and die-hard cyclist Claudia Manley from Proper Tension's Centerpiece: a short story on discontent. It's brilliant and has stayed with me since I read it several weeks ago. How she "materializes" an emotion is making me think sideways about what some of my own emotions could look like in material form. As I said, it's brilliant and it makes me think.

• On the fibre front, Rieko Koga's stitched work gets my creative juices flowing. Check out her website or her Facebook page.

2 comments:

Claudia said...

You're too kind. I'm glad my story resonated with you and that it's inspiring work. What more could I ask for?

Unknown said...

I'm speechless. What a compliment Karen, and timely encouragement to keep writing, and writing, every day. I'm reading Ann Patchett's collection of essays- THIS IS THE STORY OF A HAPPY MARRIAGE (suggested by Sandra Brownlee ) and wow, she is so good... Beautiful, efficient sentences. Economy of thought. I'm striving for that.
Thank you!