lions

I have been shooting look-books and catalogs for companies here all week. Among the companies making women's and children's clothes is a lovely woman who makes blankets. These are the kind of blankets you think to yourself "when I am a real grown up I will have a blanket like that"...they feel like heaven and make you dream of naps in a room cold enough for a blanket with just the right amount of sun streaming through the window.

Of course when I brought one of these grown up blankets home after my last trip where did it end up? On my bed? Draped luxuriously over a chair? Nope. It has been taken hostage by a lion tamer. In fact it is now a lion...who lives on the couch, who will not let anyone else sit on the couch because he gets sad if you crush him.

I am bringing back a lion this time. A stuffed one, made from felted alpaca...I am crossing my fingers that the lion tamer will see this as a far superior species and sell the old one off for a song.

wednesday

My lovely translator/model...more of her to come.



On a very strange side note...I found out that they are experimenting with making yarn out of milk?????What? A milk/Alpaca blend.

monday, tuesday

sunday

I found a place full of silence...





...an old monastery with secret rooms and walls the color of sky.

crossing between worlds

Back to Peru.....

sweetheart

My son has started calling me sweet heart. He separates the two words with the emphasis on heart.


He is like one of those people they send in to diffuse a bomb. Just as my frustration level reaches a boiling over point he casually inserts the words into the situation and pouf it's gone.

DVD player is freezing the movie for the 900th time...
"don't throw the motor( remote control) sweet heart, its only frozen not broken"


It's 10:30, I have hours of work to do and he is still not going to bed..
"only one more book sweet heart"

Can only find one shoe in the very messy closet and I am very very late...
"can't find your shoes sweet heart, maybe the bees or a lion ate them"
....AMAZING!

Oh hello sunshine

Spring, you are officially invited to come in and stay awhile.

I had a date a few days ago to see the butterflies and get hot chocolate. I rode my bike for the first time in a long time. I wore a sweater and a coat and I was too warm. We found crocus poking up in little pockets everywhere. My little guy actually said "oh hello sunshine".

back in the saddle

I spent some time in the studio on Sunday...


When I was ten I visited my aunt in the mountains of Colorado. We went horse back riding, my absolute favorite thing in the world at the time. I saddled Povy, my Appaloosa, in her gear and set off amongst the peaks and sagebrush. A snake teased us with it's tail and sent Povy leaping into the air. I went flying and landed kidney up on a sage bush and had to walk almost a mile back to the ranch where I was rushed to the ER. I was white as a ghost and my Aunt made me get back in the saddle for a moment before I went to the hospital. She said if I didn't do it then I might never ride again.
I think this happens creatively sometimes as well...it feels good to ride again.

snow hearts

Where did the last two weeks go? You don't realize just how much of your time and energy you give to a young child until you are removed from it. I had such long days in Peru and I still manged to find time to take, process and post photos...coming back in is another story. I have a lot of wonderful images and posts to share with you but I have to finish a report...a never ending report first....and make dinner...and make a puzzle on the floor (my boss is demanding that right now :)
In the mean time this was the beautiful view from my window a few days ago. Do you see the heart in the snow...that's why I grabbed my camara in the first place....reminded me of this project

Spring tapped on my shoulder yesterday. I swear she was there for a moment and just when I turned around she disappeared around the corner...but she is close.

Homeward bound...

Arequipa, I will miss your colors.

This has been such a heart opening experience. The embrace of new friends, the honor of being invited into someone's world, someone who really believes you can help them...the saturation of color....


I spent two weeks gently encouraging people to consider more neutral colors in order to appeal to western tastes....but I will return form this trip infused by color. Bring on the reds and purples...give me the bright and the vibrant...


maybe I can drag this sky behind me and brighten the grey skies I am headed towards.

Looms

This weekend....

In the blood

Thursday...


I met a woman today who explained to me that knitting was passed down from generation to generation so seamlessly that she didn't even remember formally being taught...it was just always there for her. When she was 6 she began to cut the hair off her family's alpaca and weave it into yarn. Resourcefully, she cut the needles off a cactus and began to knit small sweaters for her dolls. She believes the knowledge was already inside her before she ever knit her first garment...it was in her blood.
The tool you see here is the needle used for a very old hand-loom technique. The woman with knitting in her blood is learning how to use it. I have a scarf/shawl now, woven on said loom, and it turns my eyes very very green. It was a good day.
Buenas noches

spinning tales...

tuesday...

As you can see I am a day behind. I would love to write you a big, long post about my experience here...and I may at some point. Right now I am too tired to think in words. This is really inspiring work I am doing but also really exhausting. At the end of a 10-12 hour day I can only think in images. This spindle came from a woman who demonstrated how Alpaca fiber was spun by hand into yarn. I would like to dream of this spindle, spinning tales of ladders, passion fruit, opening windows and colorful horses through the night.
...good night to you (and good morning to you too if you are elsewhere in the world)

Monday...

I am learning a lot about alpaca fibers here, I really love the natural shades...as you can see they come in many colors.

palette inspiration-Arequipa

Sunday...

Friday

Day 1, Peru

Up in the air

I am in Peru for two weeks for a really exciting new job. I will be working with alpaca, organic cotton and some really amazing women. I will reveal more as I can. I traveled to the US over the holidays to see family and friends, which is always a wonderful treat. I returned to Amsterdam last Monday and flew to Peru on Thursday. I can't tell if I even have jet lag because I never really transitioned from US to Amsterdam time and now I am back on North/South American time.
It's been a while since I posted...but that's about to change. Stay with me, I will be back with some inspiring stuff very soon.

woven light

I am beginning some interesting new work that will have me traveling in the next couple months.


I love the images that the words yarn, thread and weave conjure....I think less of garments and more of storytelling.

winter wonderland

Happy New Year!