Sequin Meditation + Wintery Works

I was delighted to see one of my silly wintery works, "Snow Shoe Hares" featured on KaylaCoo's blog! How fun!Thank you! (Be sure to visit her—the work is stunningl!) http://kaylacoo.blogspot.com/2008/11/shopping-list-saturday-sunday_23.html

I sleep better when it snows—for some reason a fresh blanket of snow is like a little baptism. I woke up during the wee hours of the morning for a drink and there was that exquisite lavender glow that happens when clouds murmur close to the city. Perfectly still. The fresh air felt extraordinarily good. Little flakes of snow were wandering down and I admired bright berries clinging to branches frosted with ice. My brain was a flip book all afternoon; I kept getting ideas while riding on the bus and frantically scribbling them down on the back of receipts. So much to do, so little time! The last few days I’ve been flitting around in my studio finishing up odds and ends, completing holiday orders, and making progress on my metal smithing work while I listen to big band records.I love listening to old jazz records. I have such an embarrassingly slight knowledge of the art, but I find the music to be sumptuous and comforting especially as the temperature plummets. The vinyl has a constant hiss and crackle that takes the place of the fireplace I don’t have. Ella is The Queen. My favorite Fitzgerald track of all time is her singing Mack The Knife to a screaming crowd in Berlin and forgetting the words. It is a performer’s worst nightmare, and of course being the remarkable talent she is, she brushes it off-- the skat is perfect. Such grace!

Perhaps I’ll make a Peggy Lee to match?? It was delish dancing to tunes and pushing around purple paint. I had a tacky fever and the only cure was hi-fi trumpets and sequins—and lots of them! I’m not sure whether it is a skill that has been ingrained into my system via endless girl scout craft dates or an obsession I was born with, but there is nothing quite as tactilely satisfying as slathering a surface with adhesive and assaulting it with sequins. Picking out the perfect color and placing them one at a time.

It’s so meditative, like stirring sugar cubes into tea or chipping off cheap nail polish one finger at a time.

What is your meditative minutiae?

"Ella" by Molly. Acrylc, ink & sequins on wood. Available at www.dollmachinegallery.etsy.com