Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Down the Rabbit Hole


A little pile of bronze potential, the first studio work I've done in I don't know how long. Seriously, I feel a bit like Alice (the wonderland one, not my dog). I've slipped into the rabbit hole and everything is different. Life here could not be more different than night and day. For one thing, it is summer and it is green and it rains. Six years in West Texas and I got used to thinking that summer was brown and dry.

view from my perch on the back stoop 

I am finding a rythm to the day now. I've been getting up just before dawn. (This is a total surprise to me. I love to sleep late.)  But there is just something so nice about witnessing the world come to life with the new day. I sit out on my back stoop with a cup of coffee and wait for the cicadas to sing and the owls to call good night to each other.  Yes, we have owls here. I love hearing the soft voice of the owls.


There are so many distractions. When the day gets light I pad around my garden in my bare feet, feeling the dew on the grass squish between my toes. A little bit of heaven. I inspect all of my garden beds. Yesterday I found this one little tomato.  This morning I found a beet just beginning to push its red stem out of the soil. Who knows what wonders tomorrow will bring. Carrots?

Growing vegies makes me feel connected. Not just to the food we eat or even to the earth. But to my past. Some of my earliest memories are of my family's vegie gardens. We grew most of our own food. Everyone did. I didn't know until I moved away that tomatos came in tins from the supermarket. Truth.

Sweet memories of sitting on the back porch shelling peas with my grandmother. Oma was one the very best things in my childhood. I think next spring I will grow peas.

It's starting to spill over into my studio work. There are all sorts of doodles of sprouts and buds on scraps of paper. Those doodles are waiting to come to life. I'm patient. Those designs will happen when they are ready.


This beautiful necklace by Patty Lakensmith pretty much sums up my experience of the garden. You can read her inspiration for this necklace here on Love My Art Jewelry. While we're on the garden theme, you should check out the nature inspired Art Spark theme for this month. Izzy will tell you all about it here on LMAJ.

The thunder is cracking and it's starting to rain. I think I'll go out on the front porch and watch the storm roll in. It's another thing on my long list of distractions.

20 comments:

TesoriTrovati said...

Beautiful! I can't wait to see how this new space and this new place will inform you work, LeAnn!
Enjoy the day!
Erin

windrock studio said...

LeAnn, I sure know what a lovely distraction a front porch can be! I bet you are in heaven there in your new home this time of the year ... a garden and a studio plus porches! Keep having fun and being inspired.

Rose said...

I am jealous of your little slice of heaven. I'm finding myself becoming more and more inspired by nature as well. Something about the beautiful green trees around me and the promise of yummy fruit. My sketchbook is also full of plant and nature doodles. Lots of dragonflies and flowers.

Can't wait to see what comes from your studio!

Laura Twiford said...

LeAnn, you sound so content there already! I can hardly believe with all the moving and unpacking and settling in that you had time to even plant a garden this first year!Enjoy all that the sweet summer has to offer!

Barbara Lewis said...

LeAnn, I'm just getting caught up on some of my favorite blogs and I love reading the Chronicles of My Life in the Green State of North Carolina! I love your studio, the bronze pieces, your view from the perch ... I even want a cup of coffee now! I'm so happy for you ... you deserve every good thing that comes your way. Hugs, Barbara

Unknown said...

I love how your life has transformed with this move. Glad you're feeling more like Alice in Wonderland and not your dog Alice. Although that might not be a bad thing...I get the impression she well loved and just a wee spoiled. :)

Anonymous said...

Welcome to NC sweet lady!

lunedreams said...

Isn't greenness wonderful? It looks luscious! Sounds like your inner and outer world are experiencing some lushness together! )Gorgeous necklace.) It takes a lot of well being to get a non-lark out bed in the early AM--you're having good energy! I've always enjoyed those periods of having morning energy.

Your new home sounds wonderful!

Anna Lear said...

I'm so glad you're having such a good summer (now that the move is over)! And that you're in a green place again... I miss it (I grew up in Pennsylvania), especially when the rains are late as they are this year, and I think someday I'll move to a greener place, too. Keep enjoying your distractions; they're filling the well....

Marsha of Marsha Neal Studio said...

Sounds like you are getting comfy now… How wonderful!!! Love those summer thunderstorms with a nice cool breeze and rolling noises (rain, thunder, rain).
I grow tomatoes in my garden purely for the deer - or so they think. Luckily they leave the cucumbers alone for the most part (which is probably due to where they are planted draping along the retaining wall). Can't wait to see what you get into next...

sharon said...

I couldn't think of a better list of distractions than yours....all wonderful, and I would call them something different..."serene"!
I have similar serene times here, and I cherish every minute of it that I can. Glad to see you are enjoying!

stregata said...

Aren't those early morning moments magical? I wish I could sit on your back stoop with you, coffee in hand and just look in the garden...

Patty said...

LeAnn, thanks for sharing your new daily routine with us - it sounds like my kind of place. I think I would be surprised by summer rain too, since were we live now in Northern California is dry all summer. How beautiful and tender that memories of your family are making their way into your work. I think you've inspired me to greet the dawn one day soon.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh. LeAnn, it sounds like heaven. As everyone has already said, you deserve all the wonderful distractions and good times in the studio.

Judy said...

LeAnn, it all sounds so wonderful! I am not an early riser either but when I am up early I marvel at how lovely the mornings are. Your words walked me around your yard and the dew is still wet on my feet. Enjoy my friend!

My Life Under the Bus said...

I cannot imagine a brown summer! Although we have the reverse - ridiculously green summers and grey colorless winters! I saw this necklace the other day and fell in love with it. We had sooooo much rain we didn't gtet to plant this years as it would have washed away : (. I too love getting up early when it quiet and peaceful and just enjoy it. Enjoy your creative time!

Marcie Abney Carroll said...

This is one of the reasons I like living in NC even when it's face-melting hot out there. At least it's a GREEN face-melting hot! I'm so glad you're loving your (our) state!

Anonymous said...

How beautiful- the seamless artistic life! I've just discovered your corner here, and enjoy your writing and observations very much. ;)
tara

http://taralinda.wordpress.com/

Kathy Van Kleeck said...

It's such a joy to watch one's work evolve as it gets acquainted with new surroundings... and great vicarious good fun to ride along with you here.
l i g a - kvk

CharmN Jewelry said...

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