Snow Covered Branches

All Heaven and Earth

Flowered white obliterate...
Snow...unceasing snow
― Hashin

Taken the morning of 02-20-12 after our 1st Winter Storm of the season.

Winter Wildflower

About the image: Taken with my iPhone and Olloclip lens on the same day I captured the snowflake.

Snowflake Macro with the Olloclip

No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.

~Zen

My very first snowflake macro - captured with the Olloclip lens for my iPhone.

The more I use it - the more I LOVE it!

Lisa hosts MACRO MONDAY -HERE

Vesta: Top 5 Tips for Home MAKING

Vesta is the Pioneer Domestic Goddess: the Roman deity of hearth and home. As the patron of creature comforts she is the warm gooey center of our havens. With the weather growing colder and the days dimming earlier it's the perfect time to give our dens and heartspace little boost by connecting with Vesta.

I am no June Cleaver--I'm known to serve guests take out while sitting on the floor and leaving my laundry strewn about for the world to see. Homemaking-manual-magazines make my eyes roll. However, there is a gentle pride and comfort that comes with creating a welcoming crib. Here are a few tips to get you in touch with your divine homemaker:

Scrub Scrub Here: If you're distracted or anxious in your roost, put on your favorite tunes and pull out the feather duster. Stir up the staleness, breathe life back into your space! Your home is your sanctuary. Caring for your home is a way to nurture yourself--it's sacred work.

Hostess with The Mostest: Parties don't have to be elaborate affairs to be fun. Invite your neighbors over for tea and cookies, have a hot dish party on a week night. All parties require are a few friends and a place to meet. A little casual connection time in your home goes a long way: you and your friends will be glad you did.

Light a fire: If you are fortunate enough to have an actual fireplace in your home, put some wood on! Snuggle up with a friend, a cat or a good book. I love falling asleep to the crackling of my fireplace DVD. :}

Home MAKER: Make something that makes you happy--a box cake with blue frosting, a recycled wreathe for the door, a silly painting for your washroom. The creative beauty of your casa begins with you.

Adore your abode: You mean your house doesn't look like Martha's? Guess what--no ones does. We don't live in vacuums: we have jobs, roommates, pets, and kids. Love your space--the evidence of your life and your family. Dirty dishes mean people eat here. Unmade beds mean someone dreams here.

How do you connect with your inner Vesta?

[Artwork by Molly Roberts]

Fort Nacho: A Survival Guide

Hello, my Hot Tamales! This week required serious silliness to counteract the serious business. The following photographic essay is packed with survival tips for the urban nomad. You can play along at home: The only requirements for this adventure are bed sheets and friends as dumb as you are:

Solid construction is of utmost importance--the elements of an apartment can be brutal: unpredictable weather patterns, dust buffalo and drafty windows. It's wild out there.

These pennants serve two purposes: they provide essential pinks and structural stability.

Garland will improve your fortress' integrity and deflect most birds of prey.

He is not napping--he's trancing. All proper caravans must have a medium.

Choose supplies carefully. The winter is long.

Blinking Christmas lights allow you to communicate effectively with other forts in your vicinity.

The Boyfriend Bartender is an essential member of the the caravan
even if he only knows one recipe: hooch & rocks.

Do not rule out knit equipment: Crocheted bedspreads provide proper ventilation
and an excellent view of the ceiling sky.

VOILA INTRUDER!

almost that time of year...

I've been seeing tinges of red, orange, and yellow on the leaves here in the Midwest. You know what that means... it's almost time to put on some nice warm coats, hats, scarves, gloves, and the like. I'm looking forward to a little cooler weather. --Not that it has been sweltering lately, or anything like that. I just like the way autumn makes you want to cozy up a bit, layer your clothes, make favorite comfort foods, and put an extra blanket on the bed.

Friday Feathers - Watching the Snow

Carolina Wren watching the snow fall.

The million little things that drop into our hands, the small opportunities each day brings He leaves us free to use or abuse and goes unchanging along His silent way. ~Helen Keller

Goldie in the Snow

The birds were out in full force yesterday during our first snowfall. This goldfinch sheltered in the pine trees while waiting for a turn at the feeders.

Wishing you a Happy Sunday!

Happy Yule: Joy to You!

Warm Yule Wishes of Comfort
and Joy to You and Yours.~*

Solo Soulstice Party:

Happy Solstice, Gumdrops!*

There are a few stray snow flakes m e a n d e r i n g down and I am having a solstice party for one: hot coffee in my favorite lumpy mug, spicy cinnamon candles burning, noshing on chocolate almonds my sweetie sister gave me as a "semester survival" gift and savoring the quiet that has finally settled in the apartment.

my closet altar.

Won't you join me in a deeply refreshing

and audible sigh of relief?



A h h h h h h....

Whew!

Now that I've had a few moments to marinate and a good night's sleep, I feel pretty good about what I managed to accomplish this semester and this year really. Pretty DARN good come to think of it. I was initially a bit bummed that I fell out of my routine of regular meditation, personal ritual, smart eating and Dream sleeping which as a result has left me feeling a little dried out and off kilter. But then I decided that really, this semester and the series of goddess works were a different kind of devotion-- Energy as Offering. Here's what's been cooking:

Bast: The Slayer 30"x40" Oil on Canvas

Click for larger image

Bast is finished! Well, mostly finished. Finished until I decide I need to rework parts of her face. I'm also debating how I'd like to house her as a shrine. I'd like to make reference to her bizarre dualities as a ruthless slayer of men and deity of perfumes and other prettiness. Any thoughts, blogosphere? I am open to suggestions!

Aphrodite 22"x40" Mixed Media

The Aphrodite Shrine is complete--8 zillion sequins, bottle caps, pearls and glittered bits later! She suffered a little damage in transit, however it's an easy fix. She's going to become a night light in the parlor...

Ophelia 18"x24" Oil on canvas

Here's Ophelia in her present state--completed her just in time! (She was still wet for critique. Eep!) I'd like to apply a few more layers of green to intensify the depth of the water/mystery liquid she's steeping in. More pictures to come--I'll be sure to post new works as I document them. :)



And now, sugar plums, it's time to hibernate, enjoy winter, visit my long lost gal pals, drink homemade wine with the family and let the creative juices replenish and ***percolate***. What are you doing to treat your creative juices these days, my dears?

Until Next Time--

Much Joy and Merry Solstice!~*

winter mood board 1

sitting by the fire...

Wishing You A Blessed Yule

***HerSpeak Wishes you the Happiest of Yules!***

May you find a moment to know the Magick of the Season-
May where ever you are be Home-
May the New Year bring you Many Blissings.

Blessed Be, Friends!~*

A Love Note to Winter

I'm anxiously anticipating the snow. As I type this I'm looking out of my third story window at the dove greyness waiting for it to start. (Was that a flake?! No.) I know for lots of people, winter is a hellish time of year--that it is some sort of seasonal punishment or penance. The traffic, the holi-daze, the sludge, the salt to sub zero temperatures, but...

I love winter.
There, I've admitted it. I love winter.

Something about the quality of the air or the way snow absorbs colors and light sparks my imagination. Maybe in another life I was a great snowy owl, or maybe I'm simply a hopeless romantic. It conjures epic images of vast tundras and white mares with wild manes, crowns constructed of opals and icicles as well as stillness and secrets and groves of naked birches. The movement of falling snow has such a dramatic cinematic essence and yet a quietness that makes you conscious of your breath, like you're watching a prayer. It's like an incredible blue dream that I get to waltz through. And every little flake that falls is it's own piece of elaborate microscopic origami--an infinitesimally small cosmos made of chandeliers, and it's right there, right there on the lapel of my pea coat. Amazing.

"Crow Keeper" by Molly Roberts 2008

And winter nights--even more brilliant. The sky is not just black, but a deep clear onyx. Or when snow is falling in the dark, the sky becomes a beautiful mix of something like lavender down and mourning dove feathers. I like to squint at stars and pretend I could pluck them, one at at time and put them in a little parchment envelope to save for later--for something secret. And the moon, She is always the most radiant on bitter nights. Her halo stretches out in sapphire rings, casting long inky shadows over both skyscraper and field mouse house alike.

When I walk outside and the wind cuts at my face and I see the skeletons of trees, I don't think that everything is Dead. When I see branches draped with snow or icicles clinging tightly to tall grasses, it's like hearing someone whisper in a gentle and barely audible voice:

"Shhhh...go to sleep."

It's as if everything around me is resting, everything is breathing deeper, everything is dreaming. When I'm outside, I'm tempted to speak quietly as not to wake anything, step lightly as not to disturb anyone. The last thing I want is to to upset the dirts dreaming. Yes, winter comes with it's challenges, but what season doesn't? In spring there are fleshy tulip buds, as well as mold blooms and basement flooding. In summer there are trips to the beach and endless nights of no sleep because the air conditioning in your unit doesn't work and you can't stop sticking to your furniture. Fall brings an amazing pallet and pumpkin harvests as well as endless mountains of yard work and buckets of frigid rain. It's part of the cycle-- just like spring, summer and fall. By resisting it, by fighting it tooth and nail, we separate ourselves from it. And when we severe ourselves from it, we miss out on the phantasm, the stunning work that is winter.

It's now starting to flurry here, and I couldn't be more happy. I'm off to my studio to sketch Snow Queens, great cakes with frost frosting and arctic atmospheres! But first, a little hot chocolate...

What are you going to make?

Wondrous Winter Wishes and Many Blissings!~*

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

Nesting: Comfort Seekin Missle

The first few flakes of November Snow are meandering down. The squirrels are darting around, the sparrows puffing up on the curb. The cats were curled up like hedgehogs at the foot of the bed this morning, I know what that means. Here it comes: all six months of Wisconsin winter. I was watching Milo and Marney bask in the window, letting their little cat feet curl up, wheezing a little cat snore. I laughed. Comfort Seeking Missiles, I thought. I shivered looking at the bare bones trees from my third floor window; the pavement is spotted with rain and oil slicks. Comfort Seeking Missile…

That’s it! That sounds like an excellent idea! That’s what I’m going to do!

This winter, I refuse to be eaten by the sludge. I refuse to be driven into a lonely salty hibernation. I am not falling into the awful desperate slump that sinks in further the colder it gets.

Instead, I will be a Comfort Seeking Missile.

It’s Nest building time.

It’s time to start stocking up on paints, turpenoid and sandpaper to avoid long treks to the hardware store.

It's time to start stashing away ingredients for cinnamon rolls, sweet tea and vanilla candles in the pantry.

It’s time to put the slippers in their permanent posts near the edge of the bed to avoid the morning interpretive dance I call the “oh-goodness-that-bare-wood-floor-is-chilly-ballet”.

It is time to start stacking up that mountain of long-put-off readables and plushy fort building supplies near my tangerine love seat.

It’s time to sew up the windows to keep the drafts away and sweep out lurking negativity.

It’s time to sit up late in the big red sweater my mom made while sketching up new phantasms.

It’s time to put away martini fixin’s and shuffle my bar so I can sling a hot toddy to any soul who comes to visit apartment #5.

No—my pad is no classy chateau, no prim and polished bastion of Fine Living but it is comfortable. It’s mine and it’s enough. This winter it won’t be solitude, it’s going to be Sanctuary.

I can’t wait! How are you going to be a Comfort Seeking Missile?

"NEST" by Molly Roberts