A Little Spring in my step

Well today felt a little bit more like winter, manageable but snowy. I can't really complain about the snow too much though it is the end of January and we usually have a heck of a lot more then this dusting so far. I thought a bird was a great piece to share on this cold, cold, day. So here you have my little goldfinch, she brings a little bit of heat, a little bit of cheery yellow and a little bit of bird love when there are far too few birds to be seen. I hope whereever you are you have a little spring in your step and I'll see you soon!

Moody Blues

This piece is called Moody Blues. It currently resides at Valley Artisans Market in beautiful Cambridge, NY. I was fortunate enough to work there today. I really love being there, from the drive through the countryside, to the view of the mountains, to the beautiful energy of the other artists and Hubbard Hall, to all the beautiful work I get to look at and the lovely artistic patrons. And I toned down my enthusiasm a little.

Today was no exception. Being so soon after the holidays it was a little slow but I had several lovely customers and browsers. One of the people I met today was a lovely young painter who was thankfully killing some time and making my day a little less quiet. She was taking a painting class but arrived early so as not to be late so we had a lovely conversation about art. I told her we are always looking for artists but her husband is in construction and she moves around a lot. Her next destination is Ireland, which to be honest is a destination I have never been to but would love to see. We talked about her painting and about my embroidery and she made the time go so much faster. She also found the word love in Moody Blues, which I did not put there purposely but was rather excited to find. Sometimes the universe gives us surprises when we aren't looking for them. It was a lovely conversation and she happens to read this I want her to keep following her dream as a painter, find lots of beautiful places in Ireland to paint and then somehow shares them with me so I can imagine myself in the lush greenness.

I also had a wonderful time embroidering and Caroline came in to relieve me. I shared how much I loved a certain piece of hers(it really is beautiful) and she decided to keep it there after considering replacing it. I hope someone else sees the beauty and she still has to replace it. Cecily came in too with some beautiful new cards. She is a wonderful paper artist and will be having a show with Cheryl in May. Can't wait to go the opening and see all the splendor these talented ladies will show.

I hope you enjoy Moody Blues and will go visit Valley Artisans Market next time you are up that way. Gordon Ramsey will be filming a segment of his new show soon so perhaps that will be the time to see somebody famous gallivanting around the beautiful town of Cambridge. Or perhaps just visit the beautiful town of Cambridge, eat some cheesecake made by the monastery of New Skete nuns, listen to a concert at Hubbard hall and visit the Valley Artisans Market and see the beautiful work that resides there. And if you notice the wonderful energy that I feel in the place, please let me know. Keep stitchin.

Reframing Transformation

Transformation sometimes takes a long time. This piece was originally made in February of 2007. It was my second art piece and probably one of my favorites. It has resided on my living room wall since November of that year. It is used as one of my permanent blog photographs. And because I am now starting a Facebook Page using this picture as my hand embroidery calling card I looked at the original photo and realized that it must be reframed. I've learned so much about framing since then. I've learned so much about art since then and I've learned so much about hand embroidery since then. So let me tell you as I took it off the foam board I had mounted it on, I was appalled. Behind the awful puckering(which has been miraculously reduced by hard work) was the most ungodly mess of tangled threads which cast shadows against my beautiful piece.

That last sentence kind of wraps up my early years as an artist, tangled threads which cast shadows on my beautiful work. It was all about the hand embroidery, nothing else really mattered except the beautiful embroidery which was a gift from god. At that point I think I was a talented hand embroiderer but not so much a talented hand embroidery artist. God(or whoever you worship in your universe)is the only being that can create perfection so why even try? I kind of thought that way about myself too. And the answer has finally come(although I started transforming most of the last year), we are entrusted with God's wish to create and it is our most important job to reflect his creation the best we can. It's not so much about looks it is about finding the best fit for anything we create in God's name. It is about making our beautiful work express our beautiful selves. And our beautiful selves no matter how we look or act or feel are all God's creation. He put us here for a reason, whatever that reason is and that is our mission. Some people create song, some people create masterpieces, some people hand embroider. But things start to fall into place when we do what we love, because let's face it, God is the ideal he wouldn't make us a hand embroidery artist if we hated the idea of threading a needle a hundred times a day. That being said he would make me a hand embroidery artist who had to figure out that the hard part of framing is just as important as the beautiful, effortless stitch.

So there we are. It took a couple of hours to get rid of that ungodly mess of tangled thread, take the time to find a better mounting board, mount it painstakingly on that mounting board and hang it up. I took 10 pictures of the piece and this is the one that I think reflects the piece to it's best advantage to sit on my wall. It's not perfect but it never really will be.

And I am not perfect nor will I ever be until I have evolved enough to either spend eternity with God or come back as my soul in someone else's body to start all over again. But you know what I am ok with my chubby cheeks and my double chin and my compensity to talk too much(or write too much). This is how I am supposed to be and my beauty is from my soul which is much happier expressing through hand embroidery. I've thought a lot about souls lately.

When I think about my soul it comes back to music. My favorite thing in the world right now after embroidery is the Black Keys. Somehow they sing to my soul. They make me remember my younger days when I used to dance with abandon(and sometimes still do), their words seem to hit just the right note at the moment. They've had to perservere and keep going when it all seemed like that they should just give up. Perhaps that has something to do with it, years ago I would have enjoyed their music and moved on to the next cd in my collection. But this is a soul thing. Something I'm supposed to do that gives me joy and reminds me of my important lessons like not giving up and putting myself in the happiest mood possible before doing god's work. They also have taught me about the hard work of appearance. It is not what you look like, as the Black Keys have not necessarily taken the easiest route to be noticed as a musical inspiration. Justin Bieber they are not. But it is their voices from a young man singing the blues and playing guitar to the perfection of a drum beat, to a slightly older man moving forward(again with that perfect drum beat) and perservering when all seems lost, to a successful band that looks as good as it sounds. I'll be honest I look their videos up on you tube and when I share them I share the good looking ones because frankly a good looking pair is easier to listen to then a motley looking one. But my favorite Youtube video is from that middle period where they looked like hell, were probably at their lowest point where their tortured souls looked like they were possessed by their music. It is a concert at Melkweg in 2006. It is not a pretty video or even a pretty picture but it is a beautiful soulful performance which kind of explains why they are so fascinating to me. You really have to be possessed by something to keep going when all looks lost. It's the hardest time in an artist's life when they have to decide whether all the sacrifices are worth it to be true to your soul. I think they along with myself have realized that it is worth it.

They may not be the perfect messengers for you, but they seem to have been the perfect messenger for my soul. It's not exactly a midlife crisis because I am much too happy for it to be a crisis but it is the feeling that my soul and my art are further along on reframing my transformation.

Every so often someone or anyone will say they do not understand why I am so open on my blog. So I stop blogging. Or I read a really wonderful blog like the Artful Vagabond and I find myself comparing myself to them and I stop blogging. But I kind of look at my life as an open book with many experiences both happy and sad that God has given me and if I can perhaps make one person a little less alone or perhaps persuade one person to find some modicum of happiness somewhere in their soul then I have done God's work. He wouldn't have given me all these experiences if he meant for me to keep them to myself as he gave me this big mouth to spill all my secrets with too. Keep stitching. Find your embroidery and your version of the black keys and be happy, I don't know much in this world but I do know that is what we all have to strive for.

Very important, I have started a Facebook Fan Page under my name DebraAnn Salat, hand embroidery artist. I would love it if you would like to fan me but if not I'll still be here anyway! And if you already read my blog you can just friend me, myself and I on Facebook and for that pleasure I will hook you up with the good looking Black Keys videos. I'm not kidding, I'm obsessed.

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Well maybe not San Francisco, but I have been sooooo busy making hearts for all the wonderful shop owners I am fortunate enough to make them for. I have some brand new designs, some new color combinations, and some new outlets. It's been so much fun coming up with all this newness year round and of course visiting all the wonderful shop owners too.

But now I'm ready to hunker down and really get down to the business that makes my heart sing. My real heart not the little fabric ones. It has been a really artistic time and somewhere in the last year I finally made that shift to being a working artist, so now it is time to work. I love to work and I have set some goals for myself and for that work and so far so good.

I keep waiting for the moment that I wake up from this dream and so far it just is not happening. I am still embroidering more than I'm not. I am still listening to my mood changing Black Keys(really heartbreak is so much more attractive with a beat to it). I've tried to stop indoctrinating others with the Black Keys but I still love to embroider(and everything else) to them so I'm just going with the flow and the beat and the drums(I really do think I want to take drum lessons, and guitar lessons and voice lessons) or perhaps I will just continue to use them as my muse for embroidery since they make me happy.

I've finally made that connection that doing what you love, finding inspiration from whereever it may come, and once again just basically doing what you love is the answer. I've read that sentence in many, many books. Just follow your bliss and everything good will flow from it. But reading those words and living them are two different things. It requires a commitment to your vision and to your medium. It requires risk taking and a tough skin. It requires perseverance and most of all it requires marching to your own drummer. Walking out to the tip of your limb just before falling and living there for a while. So many self sabotaging habits happen trying to stay on that tip. Can I do the hard thing and wear my heart on my sleeve or on my hand embroidery or should I just stay here nice and warm and play on the computer or play solitaire or any other of the number of things that keep me in my safe place. I've had to walk out on that limb and I've started to make a little hand embroidered cocoon to keep me safe. For many years I played it safe. I hid my own light under the biggest bushel I could find and basically camped out there probably with a donut or a bag of chips. Unfortunately the bag of chips is still in there somewhere but it's a smaller bag.

So many artists try and fail. They give up just when the breakthrough comes. It happened to me a few years ago. Luckily I have tremendous friends who support me through this journey. They wouldn't let me give up. And finally that light under the bushel is not at the end of the tunnel. It is kept safe and secure on a piece of fabric somewhere waiting to be beckoned.

Once again a reminder, find something you love that you do that gives you joy. Find something enjoyable that can be the background for your joy. Find the time in your life to do it. Find the right people to support your dreams and work really hard and then fly off that limb into wonderfulness. God has a dream for all of us and I think the most important thing in the world is for each and every one of us to find it. Look under the bushel for your light.

A little preachy, but when I was struggling at the beginning of this post, this is the way it came out. Blessings.

PS I Left My Heart in San Francisco is a wonderful song by the sublime Tony Bennett(as if you didn't know but just in case you don't give it a listen, I love Tony Bennett)

Taking a Risk

Sometimes in life an opportunity comes along that makes you look at what you want or what you need that requires a risk or maybe a leap of faith. As I'm sure anybody who has read my blog since the beginning knows that I had a couple of setbacks in my artistic life. I shared those setbacks until I stopped sharing them and then thankfully a few really great buds got me to thinking about what my hand embroidery means in a different way.

Emily who got me to realize that it's really about my love of the stitch not so much what happens after the stitchery. It's not about the price tag it's about the stitch. She knows me so well, I guess we're kind of sisters of Panerahood where we meet every Tuesday morning. Doing something because you love it not because you can make money at it really makes all the difference. The saying about doing what you love and the money will come is really kind of true.

Kathy who got me to look at everything I do, right down to the littlest piece, as a piece of art. She also was the person who told me when people looked at my hand embroidered work they wondered how the hell I did it? I myself love to look at art that makes me wonder about that too, like my friend Judy's photographed turtle which I swear she must have been laying in the sand to take and Chung Ah's beautiful gourd doll houses which once again I have no idea how she does it.

And then there is Cheryl, my artist and life guru. She has encouraged me to do so many wonderful things. I am so thankful that she has traveled with me all over upstate NY giving me the confidence I didn't have when we started traveling. She is also married to the wonderful Jules who is her partner in crime and art. They love to make glass together and I love to watch them do it. She is also a wiz at everything artist business related which I am not, so I'm hoping she rubs off on me.
It was Cheryl who convinced me to send in pieces to the Garden show last January at Valley Artisans Market and it was Cheryl who convinced me to try again to become a member there now that I had found my artistic focus(one of those earlier artistic setbacks). Through her and Valley Artisans Market I have met wonderful artists and accepted that I too am a working artist.

Which brings me to tonight. Full circle moment. Tonight was the Valley Artisans Market artist invitational opening and the piece up above is Serenity, my piece for the show called Reflection. Reflecting on the last year it has really changed my life. Serenity is an example of the serenity I find when I hand embroider. That quiet serious focused part that I don't let out into the light of day too often. The DebraAnn in Debbie. I was struck at how wonderful it was to see people acknowledged for their vision and for taking the risk to put their work out into the universe. It really does take a leap of faith to be an artist. It's an even longer leap to take that art and put it into a show. I hope that each and every one of them realizes this night for the important moment it is and that they use this wonderful night as inspiration to take a few more leaps and maybe even become a coop member.

So in closing, if you have an inner artist and you are just waiting till the time is right, take that leap, it could end up changing your life in so many fabulous ways. I think 2012 is the year of the artist so make it your year and share the visions you carry in your head. Blessings.

Baby I'm a Want You

This beautiful little heart is available at Samantha's Cafe in Glens Falls. I went up there yesterday to bring some brand new Valentine Hearts for the Valentine season. This heart is a wreath with pretty bunches of various purple french knots. I love purple and love french knots so it was loads of fun and fancy to make.

Baby I'm a Want You is a song from my childhood by the band Bread. Now I know you are asking yourself what the heck does this have to do with Valentine hearts. Well it was a song about love and it is a great segway for the most sublime bread pudding I have ever tasted. Now mind you I had never eaten bread pudding before going up to Samanthas, but that is irrelevant when it comes to sublime bread pudding. And they make their own bread which goes into this deliciousness.

Lately, I find myself saying that I love what I do and I love where I do it, but it really seems to all come together in this wonderful little cafe. Make art, sell art, eat delicious food and see wonderful creative artist chefs cook their work. It's a wonderful place with wonderful food and wonderful people so if you are ever up in Glens Falls, please go visit! And I also enjoy the ride listening to Bread(nah, it was the Black Keys, the saga continues). Keep stitchin and eating and loving what you do!

The Land of Hopes and Dreams

Hope, a photo by DebraAnn813 on Flickr.

Where exactly is the land of Hopes and Dreams? New Jersey. Really, New Jersey. This is the title of a song by Bruce Springsteen one of our more famous residents. But he's not really alone. The list is endless including Frank Sinatra, Tom Cruise, Sharon Stone, Bon Jovi, and Samuel Alito, a current supreme court judge. It is amazing just how many famous people call the Garden State home(and as far as those current Jersey residents I think only one or two of them actually grew up there). Maybe it's the gardens, maybe it's the stick to itness or perhaps it's just that we have to try so much harder to rise above all the stereotypes. Being so close to NY it was really a wonderful place to grow up, I mean how many people can hop in a car and within 45 minutes be looking down on the world from the Empire State Building. There are beautiful beaches, lots of sports venues, zillions of restaurants and really good pizza. That being said I grew up a half a block away from a toxic waste dump although to be fair, when I lived there it was a functioning factory spewing chemicals in the air.

Hope and Dreams seem like such a faraway concept some time. The name of this hand embroidered piece is called Hope. It signifies a black hole with a hand coming out of it. It was the first art piece that I made. It came from a place of healing and it is one of my favorite pieces. I think you can survive anything if you remain hopeful.

When I was a kid in New Jersey I never in my wildest dreams could consider that I would be an artist and that people would be moved to actually buy my work. I loved to needlecraft as a hobby, but I never would have thought I'd end up here. But then again, look at the company I kept. I'm sure some of the people I mentioned earlier, did not believe their dreams would come true either. Dreams kind of happen to other people. The only thing that keeps you striving toward a dream is hope and persistence and hard work. I think New Jersey was fertile ground for that kind of thinking. Perhaps something was in the water or perhaps we became used to the concept of hard work.

I could really go on and on about the Land of Hope and Dreams, but in closing I will not answer the question with what exit, because to me New Jersey is an entrance not an exit. And if so inclined the song The Land of Hopes and Dreams is a really beautiful song. Give it a listen.