I live on a farm …

We are makers of things

Hello.

I have been away … at home.  Enjoying life, working out of doors on flowers and vegetables; working in doors on many new things including books (writing, as well as making actual physical books), making pendant necklaces using prints from my photography and paintings, clearing out and rearranging various rooms in our home in search of a new studio space to create for my creative endeavors, cooking, baking,  organizing and participating in our annual Art Trail Festival, resting, reading, studying, … living.

I received an email a while back from Martha Stewart with this as the subject line, “Are you a Maker?”

You know, there is a huge explosion of creativity going on across the globe and Makers of Things are finding themselves, finding each other, and finding a vast assortment of materials, techniques, and inspiration in their quests to make, create, design, build, and grow.

Sometimes I struggle with my intense desire to create because I can tend to over collect materials for so many different types of creativity that I become too over burdened with materials things that are difficult to keep organized.  Over the past year I have been going through a process of choosing which avenues of creativity I will hold onto and build on and which I will let go of.

I am at heart, at the root of all things, a writer … a teller of tales and a creator of universes.

I am a painter of fine things, using oils, watercolors, colored pencils and oil pastels.

I am a photographer of life and experiences.

I am a fiber artist, with knitting being at the top of my list of fiber arts I am passionate about but needle felting is also included in there along with a bit of sewing and some crochet.

My fiber love extends also to the fibers used in making paper and books, and making paper and books ties back in with that which is at my core … writing.

This is my circle of creativity.

Simplifying down to this point has been an adventure all in itself but it has made it possible for me to simplify my materials and my studio space needs so that I can define and establish a new creative space to work in without our home that doesn't fill up too many spaces that I really need to share with others.

Well Martha … yes, I am a Maker.

I come from a long line of Makers, and a big family of Makers and I am happy to be living in a world where making things is growing and expanding and exploding in new and even more beautiful ways.

And, speaking of making things … for the Art Festival I made some fine art photography print resin pendants/charms featuring tiny photographic prints of some of my fine art paintings as well as my fine art photography.  They were quite popular, so I decided to add them to my Etsy shop.  This one uses a portion of the photograph I shot back in 2006 when I was knitting on the Lavender Hat & Scarf, back when I was fairly new to blogging.  It is the photograph I use as the header here (see top of page), and I think it makes a lovely pendant for a knitter.

I hope you had a beautiful summer, and that you have been having fun making many things of your own.  With fall beginning and the holidays not so very far away we all move into that happiest, busiest time of creativity in the making of holiday gifts, decorations, and foods.

What fun.

~firefly