December
Ah December - my most creative month of the year. It sure seems like she took her time getting here this time around!
As a kid, when winter break arrived and I found myself free from school for a glorious two weeks, I’d hole up with paintbrushes and yarn and big dreams and fly into January without a square inch of clean floor in my room. In college, similarly, without art homework to do, I’d just use whatever odds and ends I had laying around at the end of the semester and create till the supplies were gone. And when I started this business, we were living in California and traveling home for the holidays. “Work creativity” had to stop (I doubt very much that I would have been allowed to bring my saw and hammers on a plane!) but there was still plenty of room for any number of other travel friendly mediums.
So now, basically, when I flip to the last page of the calendar my brain tells me it’s time to do some serious introverting and get to play (not work!) in the studio. This December, there were so many catch-up things to do after the last restock, things like laundry and finances and organizing the myriad of home projects we’ve had going this fall, that it took me a little longer to find peaceful, creative zen - but over the last few days I’ve finally been able to dig in.
Here were the spoils of this morning - a fresh pan of cornbread and several jars (that have since been frozen for later use!) of pureed pumpkin, made using one of the Galeux d’Eysines grown out in the garden last summer. To spend a whole morning in the kitchen? And the next few days and weeks chowing down on these treats? What luxury!
Then I sat down to knit (just knit - how decadent!) for awhile on the new cowl that will keep me toasty warm at the barn as winter finally sets in. I could get lost in these colors…seriously, they might be my perfect palette. But more than just the colors, I’m more than a little obsessed with the soft fluffiness of this wool, too - if you’re needing a little something for your next knit, consider this a hint-hint!
And then? Just in time to snap a few pictures before I lost the light? I finished a necklace, just for me.
I don’t really wear a lot of jewelry - which is maybe a little strange, seeing as how I spend so much of my life making it. I’m always going from inside to outside, from dog walks to the barn to the trail to the studio and for the most part, jewelry kind of gets in my way. So, if a piece is fussy or big or anything that can’t be “put it on and forget it for the next six months,” it probably won’t get a whole lot of wear outside special occasions.
I also just don’t make many things for myself. For the most part, after I’m done crafting something I feel like it’s supposed to help someone else tell their story. I feel like my job is done and I had best get out of the way so it can find its person.
Every now and then, though, a stone or an idea just feels RIGHT and I can’t let go the thought (much less the piece, once it’s finished). Such was the case with this little dendritic agate, purchased for $10 in Tucson nearly two years ago. It’s been sitting on my bench for months and months and months now, just waiting for me to have a free minute - and finally I did. Now, I may never take it off.
There’s a lot of things wrapped up in this piece - the relinquishing of doubt, my hopes for the road ahead, the culmination of lessons learned while spending so much time holding steady as the wind tried to blow me off course. It’s just a little stone that looks like rabbitbrush, wrapped in gold and hung above my heart - but to me, it means the world.