AshesToArt

FINALLY!!!! After two weeks of beading, having a complete meltdown, chopping up the piece I had been working on all that time, I used the parts and pieces and finished the necklace that was going to be a collar, but turned too big and ugly. I am so happy that my Muse clubbed me down and made me re-think what I was doing. The center piece of this necklace is a piece of burnt wood from the forest fires in Colorado." In June 2012, Photographer Tim and Photo Stylist Lori were working just east of the fires in Fort Collins. They could see, smell and taste the smoke from the raging fires. Embracing the idea, when something bad happens we can make good of it, they got the idea to have artists utilize the charcoal and sell the artwork to raise money for the Volunteer Poudre Canyon Fire District." Their hope is that the artist will consider the land; it's people and how we are all connected.
My original piece was going to convey the idea that new life would soon emerge from the fire and ash, but as I was working on it, the piece became all about the fire, the hotspots and embers.  So in the end, after my "meltdown" my feeling was that beauty can be found everywhere and set about making something beautiful out of my disaster. I'm happy with the results, which is a good thing because I have to get it in the mail tomorrow to make the deadline. I am titling the piece "Embers".

I thought it was funny (sort of) that while I was working on the beaded piece, I was also working on the Burning Basket project here. I was "Consumed" with fire......ok, that was weak, but it was an odd coincidence, or rather serendipitous if you like. At any rate, after feeling that I had completely failed, I gathered myself up and got it done. 

The Burning

Well, after a one day delay, the basket finally burned tonight. We weren't certain that we would get our usual crowd of 100+ people, but they did come out after all. It threatened rain, but only a few drops fell, and the wind stayed at just a breeze. Another year done. Where does the time go? The Cranes will be leaving soon, one more sign of Winter. Rather a depressing thought, oh well, more time to bead I guess. Now that the Basket has burned, I can work full time on my AshesToArt project. I sure hope I finish in time, I have to mail it off by next Tuesday....BEAD BEAD BEAD!!! So much for now.......

Another Beautiful Basket..will it Burn?

Well they are predicting wild winds for tonight and tomorrow. I had to work today, so I don't know what if any decision was made about burning the basket tomorrow. So far the wind hasn't been as bad as they said we should expect, but then its only midnight, so who knows when or if the winds will hit. We were supposed to have our last and final Cruise ship today, but because of the impending storm, they turned back. For some reason the cruise line decided earlier this year that they would no longer be coming to this part of Alaska. Their loss. Well, I will be going out to the Basket tomorrow morning to see what the plans are, of course, you can't know the weather for sure in advance, and the last storms passed us by, well, all but one last week, so we may be able to go ahead as planned...time will tell. I am including a photo of what the basket looked like today, it was taken by a young friend who has been taking some really great photos this summer. Maybe she should re-think her occupation. ( So Today is Sunday and the wind is howling, so the burning has been postponed until tomorrow. Weather permitting. I have to work tomorrow, but should get off and get out to the Spit just in time. We shall see.)

"Inspire" Basket 2012

Its Burning Basket time again. The weather has been its usual self..nice, rain, wind, nice, etc etc etc. However, we have managed to catch up and its now going extremely well, thanks to a beautiful day today which brought out more helpers, so the work went very well. This year the basket is named "Inspire". I have heard that word used several times today, people saying that they are inspired to work harder at their individual art. I think that's what I love most about this project, every year I hear such interesting stories from the different folks who stop by to help. And you never know who is going to stop by......for instance today, a Tibetan Monk stopped by and wanted to help for awhile and also left his message behind. So his message is the first to be added this year. Well, why not...after all its Homer, the "Cosmic Hamlet By the Sea".
Homer is such a mix of people, you just have to come here and experience it for yourself to really understand what I mean by that. Hopefully tomorrow will be another nice day, but the weatherman is not predicting that exactly. And the burning is Sunday, which is supposed to be a really ugly day, ..... but we can hope. We are all trying to put a lot of good vibes out to the universe, so we shall see.....