hello and goodbye.

well, people. it's time to move on.

this is the last post on mightier than any sword. i'm keeping the blog up but comments will be closed shortly.

please visit me at my brand new blog, the dreadful quaker.



three years.



three years ago i arrived at the house of some friends for the weekend and discovered i'd forgotten my hairbrush and comb.

three years ago i discovered it felt good to not fuss with my hair.

three years ago a little voice in my head whispered, why don't you stop fussing with your hair?

three years ago i listened to that voice.

three years ago my hair began separating, forming tiny knots.

three years ago i had no idea of the patience that would be required, the acceptance i would need to learn, the frustrations i would go through with my forming dreads.

three years ago i had no idea i'd still, even now, be waiting for my dreads to grow! [although look how much they've grown since the two-and-a-half-year mark.]

three years ago i could not see the changes in my life - new relationships, new loves, a new faith - that my dreads would be witness to.

three years ago i had no idea just how awesome it would feel to have ropes of knotted hair swinging about my head [especially in the mornings when my hair requires ZERO attention!].

three years ago i didn't realise that i'd come to know each of my 33 dreads individually, that my fingers would learn to recognise each one by its shape and texture.

i wonder where my dreads and i will be in another three years?

[just so you know, this is a big deal.]

sunset over the mouth of the whanganui river.

* * * *

Dear Judith and Peter,

I am writing to you as co-clerks of the Whanganui-Taranaki monthly meeting to request membership. 

I have been an attender at the Whanganui local meeting since December 2010. Over the past year, I've attended meeting as often I can and have given ministry twice. I took part in a workshop at the Quaker Settlement in March, and in May I went to Yearly Meeting, both of which I enjoyed. I've also formed some links with the Palmerston North local meeting, which I attend when I visit family there.

I am not making this request lightly. After much prayer and reflection, I believe I am being called to make a commitment to Quakers. I have been searching for my spiritual home all my adult life and I feel that I have at last found it among Quakers. The hour of silence we share each Sunday is deeply satisfying to me and allows me to actively listen for the voice of God. I have gained a lot of insight from reading Quaker books - I particularly love the wisdom to be found in Quaker Faith & Practice. I agree whole-heartedly with the Quaker testimonies and am starting to incorporate them in to my daily life. I also enjoy the company of most Quakers I’ve met.

I would like to become a part of the meeting, and to contribute and take responsibility in what ever ways I can.

I'm willing to take what ever guidance you feel is appropriate for my next step, such as a meeting for clearness or a visit from Friends.

I look forward to hearing back from you.

Blessings,
Anne-Marie

* * * *

Hi Anne-Marie

Great to receive your letter.

The process is that we will take this to the next meeting for business, people will be appointed to visit you and then we will take it back to a subsequent meeting for business.

The purpose of the visit is not to assess your worthiness but to give you an opportunity to ask questions etc.

Regards

Judith

the practice of jealousy.

my first attempt at an alisa burke-style flower painting
+ + + +

i've fallen in love with a painter i've discovered online, a san diego-based artist named alisa burke. i have an artsy crush on alisa and stalk her blog every day. when she posts new pages from her sketchbook i feel sick with jealousy, because if i had unlimited artistic talent and could paint what ever i want, alisa's tropical flowers, complex paisley patterns and sea shell studies - rendered in brilliant watercolours - are exactly what i'd paint.

alisa also happens to be stunningly gorgeous, has a handsome husband and a darling newborn daughter, and an enviable sense of style. plenty to be jealous about there [although i myself have a handsome boyfriend and i don't really want a baby] but it's alisa's art that makes me chew my nails.

she isn't even stingy about her sharing her talent! she runs an online watercolour painting course, and once the whole crazy christmas thing is over i'm going to sign up for it.

meanwhile, i've decided i can use my jealousy in a positive way - as a source of motivation. alisa is always emphasising the need to practise, practise, practise in order to improve your painting ... and that's what i'm doing. i try to paint a little every day, even if it's just a single collage paper. every time i do i learn a little more.

i've also been attempting to paint flowers in her style [see pictures above]. my paintings are nowhere near as good as hers but of course she's been painting for years while i've been painting for a couple of months. i keep reminding myself of that when ever i'm tempted to yell FAIL! at some thing i've painted.

i don't want to be a carbon copy of alisa burke, but i do hope that one day i can paint some thing i love as much as her paintings. better get practising ...

alisa's shop can be found here.
her blog can be found here.
and her incredible sketchbook can be found here.


the scent of paint.

art journal pages
watercolour, ink

+ + + +

i pulled one of the little tubes out of the bag, unscrewed the lid, and watched cerulean blue ooze out the top. i took a deep breath and the smell of the paint reached my nose.

instantly, i was eight years old again, digging around in my drawer for the stack of paper dad had bought me from work and that yellow metal box of watercolour paints. i could see it as clearly as if it was sitting on the desk in front of me.

how had i forgotten this? that i used to paint a lot when i was a kid, just for the fun of it, just to revel in the glorious colours? it must have been at least 25 years, probably more, since i last painted with watercolours. it took the scent of paint to fire memories i didn't even know i had.

i came back to watercolours recently after several abortive attempts at using acrylic paints. i decided i wanted to move beyond collaging with decorative paper, and make my own designs. john gave me his stash of acrylics but i could not make friends with them. even when watered down the paint was too heavy, the colours too flat and garish for me. also, i can be clumsy, and i got that paint every where.

so john suggested i try watercolours, and now i am blissed out in love. i could sit and paint all day long.

i'm also crazy about texture these days. i love finding different ways to put paint on the paper; every thing is a potential paint brush to me. my current method is to slap on the paint with a traditional brush and smooth it all down with my foam brush [oh, how i love that foam brush!].

then comes the fun part - making textured patterns in my paint with what ever takes my fancy today. so far these are the things i've used to make texture, some successfully and some not-so-successfully:

*sponge
*rag
*steel wool
*fly swat
*scrubbing brush

*jar opener

*lemon peel
*lemon leaf

*flannel washcloth
*seed pod

*bubble wrap

*sand

*silver chain

*jars
*glue stick lids

*stamp pad lids
*my fingers

 [any more suggestions welcomed!]

as you can imagine trips to the hardware store with john have taken on a whole new meaning. while he sighs over whiteware and power tools, i'm busy looking for things to make texture with. i've also started using crayons, vintage books and maps, chocolate wrappers, labels and stickers in my painting, and they're fun too.

guess what i spend most of my spare time doing these days?

art journal pages
watercolour, pearlescent watercolour, oil pastel, gouache



a beltane list.

today is beltane.

all saints day.

season of greenness.

season of elderflower.

season of energy gathering, deep within my bones.

season of tomato and basil planting.

season of first ti kouka flowers.

season of puanga [rigel] appearing in the evening sky and rehua [antares] disappearing.

season of yay-summer-is-just-around-the-corner ...

happy beltane to you.

settling in.

i'm settling in. i wish i could show you some photos of how i'm turning this blokey bachelor pad in to a cosy family home, but photos will have to wait until i have an internet connection.

 

i still have a huge pile of boxes in the spare room but i'm giving myself permission to take my time unpacking them. obviously, all the necessary things - clothes, books, art supplies - are unpacked. but the rest can be done when ever.

 

john is happy for me to do what i want to the place - within reason, of course. "i'd prefer you talk to me before you paint the lounge turquoise," he says. and i probably will.

 

i've installed a big bookcase that my parents gave us in a corner of the lounge and now john's chess books [with titles like "how to beat the sicilian opening, volume 3"] are happily coexisting with my quaker books. on top of it is john's gorgeous lava lamp which i found in a cupboard. i've also hung up my silver mirror ball and sona reckons we need to throw a disco party just to celebrate the mirror ball. my cookbooks have found a home on a shelf in the kitchen, as have my spice jars.

 

i've claimed the vestibule at the end of the hall as my art space. i'll have to show you this space some time because it has been transformed from the junk zone to the loveliest spot in the house. this is MY peaceful corner of the house. sona and john may visit me there [and they do] but every thing there is mine and they're certainly not allowed to play their loud music in the art space.

 

last weekend i had a serious attack of gardening. ripped out a whole bunch of weeds and planted a herb garden. my herbs have been waiting patiently in pots to one day be planted in the ground [i've had one rosemary plant in a pot for the past 15 years!]. the next day, i ripped out more weeds, a giant daisy and a hibiscus [very hard work, that hibiscus] and planted a vegetable garden. tomatoes, basil, carrots and potatoes went in the vegetable garden. again, i've never grown veggies in the ground so i wanted to start off small. it's mid-spring here in new zealand and i am really excited to see how my plants get on over the summer.

 

it's nearly the weekend and i'm looking forward to doing more settling in during my two days off.