Knitted Seaweed and other Oddities

Clark is modeling a fabulous cloak knitted entirely out of surf grass and adorned with shells all collected off Northern California’s Clam Beach. He will be showing his Cloak next month for the Arts In Motion Exhibition in Eureka, Ca. Stay tuned for more details.

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This is a thing that I made out of paper I found on the emergency room floor, while I was waiting for my son to recover from his allergy attack. In my haste to get to the ER I did not think to bring anything to do or read. Fortunately boredom is the mother of invention. I found a paper wrapper for surgical gloves and began tearing it into one long strip. Than I twisted the strip and used two pencils to knit this little swatch. This is a true oddity.

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I am sure I am the only who cares at all about this but the seaweed that I have been annoying for the last three years is not seaweed at all. It’s common name is surf grass and its scientific name is the unpronounceable title of this post.

Guess I need to change the name of my blog, knitted phyllospadix scauleri just does not have the same ring to it.

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Here are a few of my flower paintings that I did several years ago. I have been lazy with the paintings as of late, mostly because I was in Thailand for two weeks and then catching up to California time last week. And then of course busy making cards. I collected lots of leaves, ticket stubs and trash while I traveled around South Asia.

The daisy I painted as a thank you to a friend who helped with our daughter’s wedding, the poppies were my first commission, the sunflower was a gift to a good friend, the fuschia was just because and so was the daffodil.

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I was busy this weekend and made myself a purse out of leftover Irish linen. I used the scraps I have accumulated from doing piece work for a local company that makes fancy shirts. I am still stuck in my leaf phase which explains this design.

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I moved my paintings this week from the Humboldt Area Foundation to Humboldt Orthopedics. Including these two new paintings. Which do not have names.

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I’ve looked at leaves from both sides now….

Not long ago I was sitting in a darkened theater watching a play. My eyes were drawn to the beam of light that the spotlight made. I watched the little specks of dust floating through space. Suddenly I was deep in the vastness of our insignificance. There are over six billion people on this planet — a number I can’t get my head around. I do know that it makes me pretty ordinary.

I think, to an American, being ordinary is an insult; we must be unique and individual. We are raised on this mantra, though I now doubt it. I am just like everyone else on my street, my block, my town.

Then it struck me. This is why I paint leaves. At first glance all leaves look the same. We can’t see the leaves for the tree. When they are on the tree they are rather uniform, there is very little distinction from one leaf to the next. It is only when they begin to change colors and fall off the tree that they become unique. Much like people, the truly interesting ones are flawed, broken, and changing colors.

So these paintings are my cry into the great well of insignificance. I am unique, rare and not like other leaves.

On the other hand, leaves symbolize shame. Adam and Eve used them to cover themselves in the garden and to hide from their Creator who loved them with an all inclusive, overwhelming, unconditional love. My paintings highlight that shame and our freedom from it. When we recognize and acknowledge the shame, only then can we get out from under it.

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The leaf that modeled for this painting came from Tombstone Arizona. Once I finished the painting it reminded me of the hills around Tombstone, thus its name. I painted this to replace Autumn Way, which was up at the Humboldt Area Foundation but is now safely back in my bedroom where it belongs. So if you want to see Tombstone you can stop by the Humboldt Area Foundation.

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Here are photos of my paintings hanging at the Humboldt Area Foundation. They will be there for the next two months.

I had to take the paintings off my bedroom wall to fill the spaces at the Foundation, now my room looks so bare and sad. I purposely priced those paintings really high, so they will not sell.

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I saw this ladybug on a calla lily leaf on my front porch. It is 26.5″ x 21.5″ acrylic on plywood. The title is after the children’s nursery rhyme about the ladybug.

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