2021 saw me traveling quite a bit, and the unsteadiness made it difficult to gather myself enough to create elaborate compositions. I did meet a few wonderful people, and kept them in ink portraits alongside the ones of my oldest and best friends. It was definitely a year to find gratitude.
Spring found me digging in my handspun yarn storage to create my first serious tapestries. These are 100% handspun wool and 90% plant/natural dyed on my wood stove, with onion peels, indigo, and cochineal.
Summer found me in California for a bit, taking in the scenery. I had never quite experienced the state in its profound abundance before.
In between the travel, I managed to fit in some craft projects that made me proud.
… and a little art.
Summer brought the fires, of course. There was smoke everywhere, up and down the western seaboard. Outside was not safe to breathe, and the night horizon was ablaze across the lake at home. I fell in love in California and I was considering how to find a way to settle there. It inspired this composition:
Looking to Land – pen and ink, color pencil, silkscreen prints, woodcut.
The it was back to California for a little time by the water.
New friends were documented in ink as previously stated. These people made my life better in significant ways.
Fall came, but one cannot really notice in Berkeley, where the flowers never stop blooming, not even in winter. It’s as if they paved over Paradise and even the cracks in the pavement bring forth their bounty. Just like in the song.
Ending the year, I finally found some stability. Little did I know it was to be short lived. But it lasted enough time to create two new compositions.
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