April has been a very busy month around the Taylor house. Actually, we have not been spending much time in the house. Our hours have been happily full between the Arts Pastors retreat out at the beautiful Laity Lodge, visiting my parents in Houston, Q conferencing, Wedding Showers, Engagement parties, Blessing ceremony evenings, and a wonderful Artists retreat with the good folks of various villages in upstate New York. We are happy to be home now for a few weeks. Catching up on laundry, sleep and conversation with each other!
In between all this movement I have been stealing moments in the studio. Some days 30 minutes has been all I can spare. I find it is good for me to build the muscle of creating in small moments as I am quite sure that life will only get more full of good things as we go on. Uninterrupted hours in the studio are probably not going to be a reality for me in every season of life. Getting right down to business with out long hours of piddling is something I am happy to be learning.
This is a piece from the new body of work I am making. The images come from a photograph of myself and my brother. We drank a lot of tea growing up.
I have a few more new pieces that I want to share with you but the day is very cloudy and all my pictures are dark and damp looking. In the next few days of sunny weather I should have more to show you.
In the mean time here are a few shots from my first attempt at creating a Japanese dinner. Going to the Asian grocery story is one of my favorite activities. My visual self is very satisfied by all the magical looking dried things in colorful packages. My odoriferous self is overwhelmed by the smell of sea creatures, some dead, some still alive. My global self is inspired by trying to pronounce the names of things in Japanese to the kind people working who are from Latin America. Hearing Japanese with an Mexican accent is quite a delightful experience. It made my day.
Miso Soup, Kim chi, Chopsticks.
6 comments:
Someday when we visit again (Heaven if not Durham or Austin)you will have to teach me the following things:
1. how to grow stuff
2. how to cook stuff
3. how to draw stuff
I could not be any less like you in these ways so THANK YOU for allowing me to enjoy it vicariously through your blog! (i do have two little pepper plants now but there was a frost last night so nothing is planted yet)
phaedra dear,
your second work with you & your brother drinking tea back-to-back is so beautifully poignant to me.
in march, my youngest brother & i took a road trip/pilgrimage to christ in the desert monastery. we spent a week there praying with the earthy monks and romping in the redrock canyons. 'twas our first trip as adult siblings--he 16 months into his journey of sobriety and me just wanting to get to know him. each morn would begin with vigils at 4am, followed by a strong cup of coffee-- where we realized we both hold our coffee cup the same way our mother does!
your painting reminds me of this sweet part of our journey.
thank you.
peace.
back2back
Tea-drinkin' homies
word
G
T- Oh! how fun would it be to get to do all that stuff with you. Perhaps we will have a chance some day. I will only teach you things if you promise to teach me back!
A- Thank you so much for sharing the story about your brother. It was lovely to read. I read somewhere an artist talking about creating work that was not about memory itself but reminisent of the fragility of memories. I have always wanted to kind of do the same thing. You have encouraged me that it is perhaps happening. Thank you.
C - Word up T-dog. All we need are some digestives!
And finally, to all readers:
It seems that some comments need to be "moderated", whatever that means. I just figured this out so my apologies to you if I neglected to publish a previous comment of yours. It should not happen again. :)
Kim chi is Korean.
Anon,
I realize Kim Chi is Korean. I was adding it to the mix to encourage good digestion. I make Kim Chi for its wonderful fermented properties, not its heritage. :)
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