Great Leap of Faith

  It's only a little more than a week now until the big move.  I think we are all just barely breathing.  As announced in my past post, Sonja and her family took a great leap of faith recently in deciding to move to Virginia before either Sonja or her husband had a job.  Today's good news is that as of yesterday, both have jobs--good ones.  They have also found a house to rent.  The house details are not finalized yet, but things are looking fairly certain.   We will all breathe a little easier when that is definite too.

I am especially happy because the house they found is only a little more than 20 minutes from ours, but is still a reasonable commute to their jobs.  It should mean that Sonja and I should be able to share our art work on a much more regular basis again.  I know I'm jumping the gun a bit, but I've already begun sending her links to show opportunities down here.  I'm so excited about this, I just can't help myself.  I try to put my energy into my own artworks, but sometimes it just spills over.

One of the places I've been putting my euphoria is "My Heart Took Flight," the piece I showed you last month.  It is nearing completion.  It's at that stage where you stare at trying to decide what else, if anything, it needs besides edge finishing.

As I reflect on this piece, I realize that several aspects of our current situation have found their way into it.  I took a leap of faith when I started stitching that central hot pink background piece.  I layered sheer silks over a printed cotton and just began stitching - to see what kind of result I would get.  I had no idea of a use for it, I just trusted that it would find a home eventually.  Similarly when I bought that beautiful "paper" made from silk cocoons in Vancouver last summer.   I had no idea how I would use it; it was just too cool to pass up. I knew it would inspire something.  The butterfly motifs for me are a symbol of mother/daughter sharing and love.  My mother loved butterflies and my father's gifts to her often had butterfly motifs.  I didn't set out to include this symbolism in the work, but life definitely works its way into our art.