Saturday, October 20, 2012

Belonging

A few days ago I was tinkering around in the shop doing some petty work (shipping adjustments, price changes, photo swapping etc) when suddenly I found myself working on my About page.


I'm very proud of it! It was amazing too, for me to write all that out and suddenly see common threads, to see ideas I knew I had rambling around somewhere in there but hadn't quite realised how solid they were. But- explaining that takes a post that's very deep and long thought about, and I've not time or mental capacity for that right now- I need dinner! I wanted to blog quickly though, partly to separate the long stretches of shop updates.


Here's a pair of earrings I made for Star Tribe this morning. I had no intention of working on ST stuff today, or even this week- but as it's habit is, I usually find myself making things for that project at times I least expected to, What i wanted to do this morning was list supplies in Fagin's! Managed both, as it happened, but these were a surprise none the less. 

Thoughts of henges invaded my mind while I made them. The idea of wood and stone; crystal as a memory storage device... something vague in there about my own memories of England being mostly metaphysical. The driftwood is from English beaches- that was important.

 
 While all that was going on, I was also trying to use colours of the landscape here, more specifically the creek in my own backyard (literally- our house backs on to crown land and the fence line is ambiguous). 


 I had thought about painting some white and gold petraglyphs on them, to make them look more ancient alien like, cause I'm a bit mental like that...but it didn't feel right, it's not an element of the story. Then I got distracted photographing them, how aligned they were to the little collection of coloured eucalyptus leaves I've gathered this week while thinking about ways to connect my Australian presence with my English spirit. 


 And just as I finished writing that sentence, the local Kookaburra gang perked up with a good session of laughing. Yeah yeah I know- me connecting to Australia, what a laugh!

8 comments:

Alice said...

I love how your mind works. The end result is always beautiful, not matter how it started. I love the wood/crystal earrings!

Anvil Artifacts said...

Wonderful post. You have a lovely way with words. Not to mention what you do with found stuff. Especially love the sticks and crystals also. Great design!

darlene said...

visual feast. so much talent.is that your home in the first photo? blessings.looks like my dream home.xoxo

Annette Tait said...

your work is so beautiful Penny! it is more than just of the earth, it speaks of galaxies and intrinsic energy.
I hope you get to come to England/Scotland the UK soon, so that you can refresh your spirit. A thought will take you there in an instant, though, that's good to know.

Unknown said...

I love those earrings, they are inspired. And I can see how it led to playing around with the eucalyptus leaves as they have such beautiful shapes and colours.

Lucie Tales said...

Wonderful post! and your "about page" of your etsy shop is to me so sincere, so true, so generous, I have tears in my eyes, you succeed completely to make the "visitor" feeling a real connection with you and your work, at least for me, coming from a different background. (sorry if I'm not clear, my english isn't fluent).

Lela said...

I like your 'about' page...loved reading it.

And I like the earrings as well....

It's always a joy to visit your blog.

fanciful devices said...

ugh- what is it about your photos? so good they make my stomach hurt.