Ugh… the other night I had a horrible dream in which I got lost and couldn’t find my way home. I got more and more upset, and then, whew, a gentle guide showed up and reminded me that when a dream has gone wrong, for goodness sake, WAKE UP!
So, I did and I felt really comforted by going and gazing at this Woven Woman from my mixed media series: Oracle of Stillness. She is “The Guide Who is Just Where She is Needed”.
There are times when we are dreaming and also times when we are awake when we feel lost and distressed. Thank goodness for the Guides who show up to clear the path for us!
Cherishing is one of those ‘And’ experiences, isn’t it?
We love AND we cherish.
We hold someone or something close in our hearts
AND we are delicate in that holding close… not crushing or extinguishing, just the lightest touch or not touching at all….
AND then… a blessing
AND, sometimes, but not always, a release.
Like joy, cherishing is a bridge of paradoxes that brings the breath and the spaces between to life.
This mixed media Woven Woman for the Oracle of Stillness series is “Cherishing”.
She is one of 3 of my mixed media tapestries from the “Oracle of Stillness” series that are part of the fundraising Christmas/Celebration of Joy show at Harcourt House: Artorama
The turbulence, drama, trauma and din is like standing in front of a huge screen that has the shock waves slamming across it.
When those harsh shocklines threaten to overwhelm,
it’s time to hit the pause button and take a deep breath….
Listen for a gentle whisper that slides in and starts softening and smoothing those sharp peaks and valleys
into curves and waves that lift and carry us,
one breath, one pause, another breath, another pause-
a gift from the Heart of Stillness that bring moments of clarity, calm and coherence.
That’s what this mixed media Woven Woman for the Oracle of Stillness series is all about.
She is: “Calm Unfolds in a Whisper”.
She is one of 3 of my mixed media tapestries from the “Oracle of Stillness” series that are part of the fundraising Christmas/Celebration of Joy show at Harcourt House: Artorama
We have brought all the mixed media Woven Women tapestries of the “Oracle of Stillness” series home from #harcourthousegallery and our house feels like home again.
Not that it is easy to hang 50 tapestries in one small living room!
But it is lovely to be among all of them again.
My husband and I missed them when they were off in the gallery.
Today’s Woven Woman is “Sanctuary”.
I hope that your home is a sacred sanctuary that brings you healing, joy, respite, renewal and all good things.
Today is the final day of the exhibition of ‘Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos’ at Harcourt House Gallery in Edmonton, AB. If you are in YEG, do step over to the gallery, as they have done such an exquisite job of lighting the show that the Woven Women fairly dance on the walls.
I offer my most enormous gratitude to Darren Kooyman, Jacek Malec, Marija Nikolajev and the Board members of Harcourt House- it is such an honor to have been invited to exhibit at Harcourt House and I am eternally grateful for all the hard work that you have done to create and sustain such a wonderful centre for the arts in Edmonton!
The last Woven Woman that I wove for the series of the Oracle of Stillness is: “The Mysterious and the Magical Have a Way of Waiting Patiently to Reveal the Astonishing”.
She announced herself in a dream and I had to wake up to be sure to write down the correct words in the right order, as she was very clear that that was essential.
And, it was fascinating to feel that she was the final piece- the 50th one…. I knew that I would be weaving 50 Oracles of Stillness, and was intrigued by how that unfolded.
She was very clear about exactly what I needed to do to make her fully true and accurate to her raison d’etre.
There wasn’t enough room in the gallery for all 50 of the mixed media Woven Women Oracles of Stillness to be in the exhibition, but I will get all 50 of them uploaded here on: www.tottietalkscrafts.com
I love our 5 year old next door neighbour so much!
The doorbell just rang- He needed to tell us that he had shot his Nerf into the air and hit our roof and was sorry and could he have the nerf bullets back next spring when we clean the gutters?
And, he was freezing and could he please stay in the studio for awhile to warm up?
His Mum said ‘No… we can warm up at home’.
‘But I like it here’. (Aww)
We chatted a bit and then I gave our neighbor/friend back a plant that she had given me when it was tiny and it has now gotten too big for the shelf.
We laughed about trying to get rid of clutter, and the wee boy announced solemnly that Miss Noreen has a LOT OF CLUTTER.
Which I agreed to and then folded up with laughter as his Mum tried to shush his discussion of too much clutter and herd him out the door at the same time.
It was wonderful and I am still laughing. (But Mum, you SAID we have to get rid of our clutter!)
Which brings me to today’s mixed media Woven Woman from the Oracle of Stillness:
“The Songs of Motherhood: Love, Celebration, Laments, Loss, Learning, Essence” and how on earth did I forget to add “LAUGHTER” to her naming?
She hereby will be blessed with the addition of one of life’s greatest gifts: “LAUGHTER”.
The questions: “What would happen if I did this? How can I make this/that work?” are, for me, the key to living a fascinating, intriguing life that is stuffed full of creativity.
This mixed media Woven Woman from my Oracle of Stillness series, is named: “Curiosity as a Healing Art”.
I wove her face and the narrow bands, made some lace, beaded her body, fused some glass and painted some images, and my husband welded her steel armature to embody these questions about living with curiosity and imagination and how they heal all manner of things in wholeness and harmony.
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