Laughing Dog Arts

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Lovely in her Bones

12"x15"
I enjoyed making this piece. The woman is my great great great grandmother. Lovely, isn't she? I was inspired to use the poem by Theodore Roethke,
"I knew a woman,
lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed,
she would sigh back at them;
Ah, when she moved,
she moved more ways than one."
It is rather a potpourri of items gathered from here and there in my studio. Feathers, lace, copper washers, beads, some beautiful trim, and other bits and bobs. I rather like this piece.

Today, listening to the Swell Season. I love that Glen Hansard's voice, he is such a passionate singer. Also I want to welcome my newest follower. Welcome Mary! Mary has 2 blogs, one is our creativity group blog, http://foxontherunarts.blogspot.com/ and the other is one she maintains for garage sale hints: http://kmgaragesaleshints.blogspot.com/

Be well.
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14 comments:

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

This is so beautiful Jan. I remember a photo of it before but seeing it bigger on the blog post with thoughts also makes it even more special.
What a delightful collage of items; and the color is luscious---like the waters off Rimini, Italy.
Lovely, indeed!

XXOO!!
Anne

Jan said...

Thanks, Anne. It is rather hodge podge but I like it. It was a good excuse to finally use some of that braid at the bottom. I think I got that out of the "box of crap" the fiber pirates passed around.

Bunny said...

This is so beautiful. I love the colour it is my favourite anyway. I love the fact that is your gr gr gr grandmother and you have added things you love that are around you. I too did one of these of my grandmother it is posted on my blog a while ago.

Jan said...

Thanks, Bunny. I will have to look for your grandmother post on your blog.

Anonymous said...

Oh I love that. I am going to do that with my mom's old pictures. I am assuming they are wall hangings. I have some of her jewelry I want to use too. Thanks for the nudge.
QMM

Jan said...

QMM, I will anticipate seeing what you come up with. Glad to be a nudge:-)

Mary Fox of Fox On The Run said...

I meant to tell you how wonderful this piece is, Jan. To know that is your great great grandmother makes it even more special. It is just beautiful...

Jan said...

Thank you Mary. I will likely be using that image again some day, she is kind of famous in our family, being the Maori princess.

Martha Bright said...

Is she really a Maori princess??

Anonymous said...

Maori princess? wow!..I really like this, Jan...and, of course the color is delicious!..I think you are inspiring me to try another...i bought all this trim
and stuff, thinking i would keep making them...then, got off onto something different!...
A beautiful job here...
xoxo, gypsy

Anonymous said...

oooops..meant to say...
I love the title you gave it!

Jan said...

Thanks for your comments, Gypsy. Glad you like it. I'll watch for your new work on your blog.

Jan said...

Oh, regarding my Maori princess ancestor, yes she really was a Maori princess. The story is well documented. My far back male ancestor was a sea captain and took as his "season wife" a beautiful Maori princess. He left her in New Zealand and sailed back home to his American wife, only to find he could not forget the Maori girl. He returned 10 years later, in 1856 to try and find her but found instead that he had a daughter, so he brought the daughter back to America with him since he had no other children. She was named Alice Henrietta Handy, daughter of Captain Ichabod Handy. She only lived to be 29 years old, succumbing to consumption, leaving behind a husband, a daughter and a son. The daughter grew up and married a Brattain.

Unknown said...

I've always loved this so much Jan - you better not ever sell it to anyone but ME!
Karen BRATTAIN-Metzger!
(your favorite cuz!)