Collaging ~ Soul Therapy

And when I am thinking with a pair of scissors and glue and a pen in hand, this is what happens ~

I am an emotional creature. I am a soul who loves, who fears, who falls and stumbles without knowing the whys at times. To assist myself in uncovering the beauty of my own experiences in life, even the sharp edged ones, I write, I cut and paste, and I release. 

I  know artistic works are typically about the paths I walk along as I heal my wounded soul. When I receive a blow to my heart I write and draw and color about the traumatic heartbreak until the pressure from the pain begins to ease. I need to look at the brighter side of the abyss so I force myself see light and hope.

I love discovering imagery in magazines that helps me visually convey my story. Color with a few words and arranged pictures can assist me in expressing my heart and soul. My extroversion needs a voice and often my need to verbalize is cloaked in the silence of paper.

We can never heal our hearts by staying at the crime scene. As I walk between worlds within myself seeking my escape through understanding I find my task is to walk the precarious pathway between pillars of my personal truths.

Leaving crime scenes is difficult because of the emotional attachment. I admit to the weakness within me, the weakness that kept me tethered to places that only caused me pain. Funny how we can let our hearts be ripped out and willingly show up to go through he same trauma again. It was a big big decision to move away from Colorado to Texas. A move that I believe no one I know thought I would ever do. Texas is giving me new life, new breath, new hope new dreams, new skin, and a new heart. 

Celebration of life happens every minute of every day ... It is my job to take that step forward, to raise my arms in glory exalting my God. My experience with God is very personal. My connection to God is why I am still here. I am nothing without God. I am nothing without the love of My Master. Through the Lord all things are possible and I am living testimony to that. 

The layering of imagery expressing my journey is so therapeutic. The language of our universe is metaphor and it is in metaphor that I find myself connecting the dots within myself and coming to understand this process called life. Every second of my existence is necessary to the eventual tapestry that I am creating. My tapestry is a fundamental addition to the whole of this universe. My tapestry is a part of God for I am a child of God and I am created by God. 

Our hands are powerful, our hearts amazing, our spirits move within us leading us toward understanding what matters most in life. What matters most in life? Love. Love is the water that brings to life generosity, hope, compassion, peace and the ability to be happy with this moment of now even if in this moment there is pain from being confined in a space too small for our greatness of being. 

A journey beneath the waters of my soul reveals  how I move within my being. How I move about internally dictates how I move about externally. Do I have peace of mind and sow those seeds or do I move in chaos and disrupt my path?

"Reeling in The Years" is about my life of course and how at times I feel as if I have been picked to the bone but need to keep up the show out of fear. Fears that haunt me. Fears of disapproval and fears of being misunderstood and loved. 

I was in a place of darkness, not trusting anyone in my life, especially family. This image represents me, sitting in a vulnerable, peaceful place with no concerns other than creating and expressing my truths. I am harmless, non-confrontational, peace loving, and caring. I am being me. Without warning life comes down on my like knives threatening to pierce my heart, threatening to destroy me, threatening to cause me to bleed out all my faith in people. The knives never connect with my body for they are suspended in the space -  a space I control. There are a lot of decisions made in the space between intentions, in the space between harm and hope -  it is up to me whether to let those knives pierce me. I refer to this image as "potential collateral damage - blades of judgments". 

Peace and Hugs,
Maryanne Mesple
April 2015
60 years young


all imagery copyrighted and not to be reproduced or used without my consent.

Great Gourd Giveaway ~ Gourd # 5

I made a promise to five people to commit my time, my energy, and a portion of my life to giving them something homemade - by me.  Those five people did not know what I would make for them when they participated on my Facebook post declaring I would give away something homemade to the first five people to leave a comment.
I am a semi-crafty person, so for all the five people knew I would be sending them a purse/bag crocheted from plastic grocery sacks. Or, I could be sending them a bracelet or necklace made from hand crafted paper beads. I enjoy crocheting with unusual materials and throwing a magazine away is like throwing away a jewelry box filled with beautiful bracelets and necklaces! But, I decided to artistically use and give away 5 gourds. In addition to crocheting and making paper beads, I am a gourd artist and I am a bit crazy. I have blogged about the gourds I worked upon and gave away, and this little photo enhanced blog post is of gourd number 5, the last gourd that fulfills my promise and brings and end to this particular journey in creativity.

The gourd in the photo above is the only one that will remain locally. Of the 5 gourds  I gave away in the Great Gourd Giveaway 2 are now in California, 2 in Oregon and this one will remain in Colorado where I live. When I begin to work with a gourd I may think I have an idea but I never really know what I will end up doing. The gourd in the photo is cleaned and awaiting its new look. I take into account the texture and the patterns and the gourds thickness. There are times when a gourd can fool me and I do not see its imperfections until I have committed too much time and I then need to draw upon my problem solving ability and make the gourd submit to being a beautiful piece of art in spite of itself! Lucky for me and for gourd number 5 there were no flaws to work with or around.

When I first began to use gourds creatively I made what I called Fairy Houses. But now, I am more drawn toward making gourd bowls. Sometimes I will make the bowl lidded, but most often not. I get a lot of my inspiration from Art Nouveau. I love natural form and structure of our organic world and my love is often reflected in my gourd art. In the image above I am drawing onto the gourd intertwining vines with very few leaves. This style of vine I use often, and have done so since my very first gourd. Sometimes the leaves are larger, sometimes more prolific and sometime I omit leaves all together.

I was remiss in documenting how I burn the design I create into the gourds body. If you read my older blogs you can see my process using pyrography as part of the overall visual aesthetics of my designs. In the photo above you can see that I have cut the top of the gourd off. Removing the top makes the gourd into a bowl. Gourds are hollow and very easy to clean out. You can also see that I have begun painting this gourd a beautiful red. The bowls I craft are not for food. My bowls are ornamental and should never be placed outside for decorative purposes for they will breakdown. Gourds are by design seed pods and when a gourd is repeatedly exposed to water and direct sun it will split developing cracks and the paint will peel off too. I have had someone "forget" and when I saw the gourd a few years later, which they had hung outside, it was unrecognizable!

Gourd number 5 done! I was thrilled when I was able to report to the gourd's new owner that they could drive over at anytime and pick up their gift. My promise fulfilled! I admit this gourd bowl is one of my favorites. Not only is this gourd beautiful it is one of a kind. It is impossible to recreate because the design is out of my head, spontaneous at the time of drawing in addition to the fact that no two gourds are alike!

Looking down into gourd number 5 you can see how deciding to paint the inside black really enhanced the overall appearance of this bowl. As I mentioned, I cannot make two gourds alike but I can use similar techniques. I am thinking I will make more in this style.

While I was making the five artsy gourd pieces for those who responded to my offer, I also made four other gourds for customers. I have been busy and very thankful for this adventure that I signed myself up for. I loved having to produce. I loved having to be creative. I loved getting back into doing what I love to do most and that is expressing my creative side.

I will be blogging about my gourds more and more. I enjoy documenting my process and sharing the end results too! I have people ask me how much my gourds cost and that is hard to answer because each gourd is unique. The price of my gourds is governed by my design and the size of the gourd itself. My gourds start at $100 and go up from there, my most expensive so far being $700.
I do take orders and will use personal information as a way to get to know my customer's likes but I do not let my customers tell me what to do with the gourd.

Until my next creative adventure take care,

M

Great Gourd Giveaway ~ Gourd # 4

When someone smiles at me I am no longer the master of my face because my heart takes control and I smile back without even thinking! I believe smiles are the currency of the heart and I always feel blessed when I receive those beautiful heartfelt deposits. When I began the journey of creating 5 gourd vessels to be given away I never anticipated that I would be the recipient of so much joy and as the photo below shows, my heart's bank account is overflowing because of beautiful souls and their gifts to me. Gifts of smiles.

Unfortunately gourds don't clean themselves. As gourds cure over months and months of drying time mold grows on their skin before the gourd dries out and it is the dried mold on the gourds skin that needs to be removed. How I clean my gourds today is so different from when I first started working with gourds. All I will say is that I made a huge chore out of a very simple process. Thank goodness I came to my senses and let myself discover that a little water, a stainless steel scrubby, and some elbow grease can clean up a medium sized gourd in a very short amount of time.

What a difference in the gourd's appearance once all the mold is scrubbed off! While I am scrubbing on the gourd I get acquainted with the gourds surface. Each gourd is unique and out of the same crop no two will ever be alike in size, thickness, texture, etc. I have been working with gourds since 2000 and over the course of 13 years I have developed what I call gourd sense. My gourd sense tells me a lot about the gourd including that I can pretty much predict how thick the shell will be. Also during the cleaning process it is a time of discovery. I discover cracks, pits, warts, and stains all of which impact the design, the burning, and the paint.

 Gourds are so crazy wonderful! In the above picture gourd # 4 is receiving its design. I have decided to make a bowl which is not unique. What makes my gourd bowls unique is that no two are ever alike because I create a new composition for each gourd I work with. When I first touched this gourd I thought that I would be channeling Lalique because I kept seeing Lalique style patterns in my mind's eye. When it came time to actually draw on the gourd everything changed! Still inspired by Art Nouveau the design I began to see was less Lalique and more me! My husband had recently gifted me with a beautiful Art Nouveau stylized tray with the most beautiful leaves and those leaves came to life in my head and just would not stop dancing around until I transferred them onto the gourd.

Cutting the top off a gourd can be tricky, and even more tricky when the path the jigsaw is to follow is a curvy one! Before any jigsawing can begin it is necessary to pierce the gourd's body with an awl. The size of the awl is important because the hole created by the awl needs to accommodate my micro jigsaw blade. Once the blade is inserted then the fun begins! The challenge is to retrace the drawn design with an oscillating saw and not accidentally lop off a leaves lobe! With the top successfully removed the gourd can then be cleaned out. Cleaning the inside of a gourd involves the removal of the seeds and the ribs that hold the seeds. Once that is done then I scrape out the gourds remaining contents until I reach the inner wall and then the inner walls need to be scraped until they are as smooth as possible. For detailing the edges I use metal files. Cleaning the inside of a gourd is a very messy job but with the right music playing it is an enjoyable experience!

 In the photo above you can see the irregular cut that follows the flow of the leaves and also you can see just how thick a gourd can be! The thicker the gourd's shell is the better.

If you have not noticed, I love working on my gourds! I love creating unique pieces and if I can create something that makes the bowl uniquely a particular person's it makes the process all the more enjoyable. On this bowl, I have part of a poem partially hidden by the bowl's leaves. The poem I borrowed a line from is one by Rumi and the stanza behind the leaves reads; The garden of love is green without limit. I felt the verse went well with the leaf design and reflected the bowl's future owner's heart.

Sometimes I enlist the assistance of my husband to help me with my gourds. When I do ask for his help it is only when I have other obligations that take me away from my work on my gourds. My husband is always happy to help me and how lucky am I that my husband just happens to be an Art Professor! So, after I completed all the burns on this gourd my husband lent his expertise and helped with the painting ... while I chased a 3 year old grandson around the yard!

Another view showing the words of Rumi peeking out from under the leaves. The gourd is now ready for the inside to be painted and then to be sealed. This particular gourd has a 1000 + mile journey ahead. I believe this gourd bowl turned out beautifully! Yes, I am proud of this gourd and as the first picture in this blog showed, the recipient was very pleased with the gourd bowl too.

One last picture before packing up the bowl for its trip across country to its new home. One last gourd to do, and the Great Gourd Giveaway will be fulfilled and my heart bank will be full of smiles. How lucky am I? Very lucky.

Now, for gourd # 5.

M

all photos in this blog were taken by and owned by Maryanne Mesplé 

Great Gourd Giveaway ~ gourd # 3

     For my third gourd gifting adventure I did not have to look far for a particular gourd that was to embody my creativity. Nope, I did not need to look far because when I cut the top off the gourd I used for my second gourd gifting I set that gourd's neck next to my violets waiting to be planted. That is when I saw a flower vase gourd! So, I picked up the gourd top, spun it around trying to figure out just how to craft it into a flower holding vessel when the thought came to me to drill a hole and make a vase that would hang from twine or copper wire! I drilled the hole and my vision was confirmed! 

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd

      I recreated the accidental and perhaps subconsciously intentional setting that inspired me so you can see how it was actually hard to not see the next gourd project!  I kept my little gourd top near me as I finished the moon bowl; mentally working on an image that would grace the gourd vessel. Once I was officially done with the moon I paused for a day to clean up my work area. I am happier and more productive in a clean and organized work space. All refreshed and with a clean environment around me I then picked up a pencil and the gourd top. Taking in a deep breath I then let the new design flow like water from my fingers onto the vase and within 20 minutes I was already ready to burn! I love it when stuff just happens! Once I  began the physical transformation of the gourd top I already knew what this piece was going to look like when done.

     

 Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd

     I have a passion for drawing intricately woven branches and vines and sometimes just unending pathways of intersecting lines. For this gourd piece my starting place was the top of the gourd neck that is now the bottom of the container :-) I then let my pencil just go and weave lines under and over and through  creating a network of vines weaving themselves around the gourd.

 

 Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd

     In my enthusiasm on the day that I drew out the design and burned it into the gourd I completely forgot to capture the burning process via photographs! Oh darn, but then that is perfectly natural to get all caught up in fun.

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd

     This image and the the images below show the gourd vase completed. Painted, and sealed, the gourd is ready to ship! I tested the inside of the gourd for its ability to hold water and the vase passed the test! I hope that as time goes by having water on the inside does not make the paint on the outside bubble and peel off but that is what I cannot know before creating something like this vase. The only way I will know if the paint on the outside of the vase is adversely impacted by water from the inside is if the new owner reports on the life of their new object :-) Below is a series of photos showing the completed gourd and the differing sides of the vase.

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd

 

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd

     I have to admit that the placement of the gourd vase is visually funny! If you will look at the vessels mouth you will see that it appears as if the woman in the piece of art on the wall is perched atop the gourd and pointing or reaching inside! How funny! I liked it so much I left it!

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé EW gourd

     I love looking at my finished pieces. I do. I love the thought that my gourds will make someone happy and that makes the whole adventure so worth every minute. And now, you already know if you have been following my Great Gourd Giveaway that I have already been working in my head on gourd number 4 .. yep, I have!

M 

The Great Gourd Giveaway ~ Gourd # 2

     Outside of art classes in high school I've never faced a deadline for completion of any of my artsy or crafty adventures. Like many artist (dare I call myself an artist?), but anyway, like many artist I  work at my own pace which can at times be no pace at all for long periods of time. Obligating myself to 5 people with a promise to create something homemade for them was the best creative boost I've ever experienced! I unleashed my creative bug and before finishing the first gourd in the Great Gourd Giveaway I was already working on the next gourd in my head!

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé JB gourd

      Working on a gourd in my head first involves staring at the gourd. Yep, I fill up my eyes with long stares of the gourd in waiting. I also get a physical feel for the gourd. Each gourd has a unique texture and thickness which will influence all the work done on it so I run my fingers all around the gourd getting to know its texture. As I put the last dabs of paint and sealer onto the gourd I am finishing, the next gourd is close by whispering images into the air that I breathe in and digest. The gourd in the photo above is cleaned up and now awaits my next encounter with it which will involve a pencil.

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé JB gourd

      When I know a little bit about the gourd's soon to be owner I use that information in guiding my ideas. I will ask about favorite colors and plants and places and poets to open up a path of communication. It is in the communication that I often get my inspiration but that inspiration is not from knowing someone's favorite color is purple or green but rather the inspiration flows in how the information exchange happens. You can get to know a lot about a person in how they talk about themselves more than what they say about themselves. The photo above shows the image that was persistent in my head each time I touched the gourd and or talked with JB. The gourd was to be a moon gourd! I love the moon :-) The moon is an iconic symbol that is loved by many people, revered by many cultures, and our Earth's moon is loved and honored by the owner of this beauty, so I was not surprised when I kept seeing a moon when I touched the gourd and hearing the words La Luna.

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé  JB gourd

     You can see where I have sketched out the basic moon shape and will do more detailed work once I have cut the top off the gourd.

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé JB gourd

     

      In this photo you see where I have used a jigsaw to top the gourd creating a bowl! With the gourd cut I scrape out the insides which are comprised of seeds and gourd fluff that is somewhat like styrofoam and flaky skin! Drawing the design in more detail is very relaxing for me. Although I am relaxed while drawing I have to be very cautious that my fingers to not erase what I draw! I discovered the hard way that graphite rubs off the gourd's body easily if I am not careful.

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé JB gourd

     I love the smell of the burning tool searing the gourds shell! In the photo above you can see I have begun to burn in the moon. This is when the design is set and cannot be changed because burn lines cannot be erased or rubbed out and even if painted over there is still the depression from the burn line. Burn is burn and there is no such thing (or word!) as un-burning! Part of the thrill, for me, while working with my gourds is knowing I have to be accepting of my work for there is no changing it once I begin using the pyrography tools.

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé JB gourd

     The recipient of this gourd is a beautiful soul who is a visual artist and poet. I had noticed in one of JB's blogs a beautiful poem they wrote so I used the poem as part of the gourds expression.

Photo by Maryanne Mesplé JB gourd

    Done! La Luna completed and sealed. Like all my gourds I let them air out a small while before shipping them to their new home. La Luna is now living in the Pacific North West and hopefully creating smiles upon all the hearts that touch her. I was very happy making La Luna and before finishing, of course I already had another gourd in waiting :-) 

Now, for gourd # 3

The Great Gourd Giveaway ~ Gourd # 1

     I shocked myself when I read the date on my last blog post; February 2012! Whoa! 11 months slipped by without me writing one sentence for my blog. In my defense to myself about myself  I was not slacking off and snoozing overtime! The months flew by unnoticed as I drew and burned and jigsawed and painted gourds. The gourds I devoted my time to were offered up as part of a giveaway to the first 5 people to respond to my "come and get yours!"  post on Facebook in 2011!. I did not think I would have any takers because I did not say I would be giving away gourd art. My post simply stated I would be giving the first 5 lucky people something hand made by me. The people who responded did so not knowing what I would be making, for all the knew I could have been thinking of knitting them up some lime green dish clothes! I love lime green dish clothes and I love knitting them for myself, so it would have been easy and fun to just make 5 dish cloths but I knew I would be making gourd art to give away. Within an hour of my pressing the enter key on my computer's keyboard I was blessed with 5 Facebooking friends who were willing to be surprised with a hand made creation by little ol' moi!  When I realized that I had to gift 5 people with something I make I knew I needed to get busy because I am not that fast with my gourd creations! That should be obvious since it has taken me almost 2 years to fulfill my offer!
 
  

Photo by M.Mesplé JC Gourd 2011

     Gourd number 1 was to become a resident of Oregon. I never know what design I will use when I begin to play with a gourd. It is when I am holding and turning the gourd round and round in my hands that I begin to get a feel for and a vision of how the gourd will look. In addition to getting a feel for a design that may grace the gourd I also toy with the thought of  whether the gourd will be left intact or if I will top it creating a bowl. The Oregon gourd was fated to be a bowl as are many of my gourds. I love bowls and it shows in my art.

 Photo by M.Mesplé 2011 JC Gourd

     I begin by drawing what I visualize onto the gourd using a pencil and then I go over the pencil with a burning tool burning the design into the gourd's skin. Burning the gourd can be a bit tricky because the surface of a gourd can vary so much from spot to spot. I can be burning the design on one spot and it will take several seconds to make a mark and within 2 seconds and an 1/8th of an inch later and the searing hot tool can burn right through the skin into the pulp! It takes practice to develop a feel for burning gourds. In the image above I am doing what I call the second burn. The first burn barely scorches the gourd while the second and third burnings take the design deeper.

Photo by M.Mesplé JC gourd

     I love the smell of burning gourds but the smoke can be a bit toxic so I control myself in wanting to breathe in the wonderful smell of burnt gourd! As I burn I blow onto the gourd continuously keeping the stream of smoke away from my face. I look like I am trying to whistle with never any tunes coming from my mouth. The image above shows the gourd burnt and ready for paint. 

Photo by M.Mespl´JC gourd

     Deciding on color is very hard and also I always have to keep in mind that the natural color of the gourd changes the color of the paint I choose! I can pick out a nice blue paint and if I put it on like a glaze it will look more green than blue. Here, in the image above, I have decided to color the gourd using leather dye. One of the fun aspects about working with gourds is you are not pinned to using only traditional paints to dress your gourds up. I use leather dye, acrylics, alkyds, permanent markers and even beet juice. 

Photo by M.Mesplé JC gourd

     Oregon bound gourd bowl complete! The inside is dyed with leather dye also and although it looks purple the bottle said it was blue! Always a surprise with color so one needs to have an open creative mind and be accepting. When I choose to use very opaque paints the natural color of the gourd is not that much of a factor in the outcome but still, I do find I need to do several coats. Also, once I have completed a piece of gourd art I seal it with a lacquer to protect the paint and hopefully prolong the life of the artwork. Gourds are big seed pods and respond to nature like they were created to do. If you put a gourd outside it will crack open so, it is never a good idea to keep gourd art outside. 

Next up ~ gourd number 2 in the great gourd give away!

M :-) 

 

 

 

 

Time and Creativity and Completion

I push myself.  I guilt trip myself when I run from my pushing of myself. 

 (Running Fingers. Photo by M. Mesplé. 7/2011)

      I get out my game of Guilt Tripping and play against moi when I am feeling creative and life serves stagnation via detours away from my studio. Bad bad girl! Not giving myself time to do my little artsy adventures creates within me a feeling of not functioning properly. I do know however, that I will return to my studio and I will once again breathe deeply and let my imagination manifest. When I find my way back to myself and get off those detours involving other people, I embrace my unfinished work and try to re-discover the energy needed to get in that particular zone of manifesting. It is important to me (am I an odd duck here?) that I tap into the feelings, the imagery, the ambiance within that I was surfing on before getting derailed.

(photo discovered here:http://www.thedailydl.com/microsoft-sues-dhl-for-2m-for-train-derailment)

     What am I trying to say here? I am trying to say that even with derailment of my intended, well planned out time allotted to myself in my studio I can eventually reclaim or rediscover what it was I thought I was channeling and finish what I started ... usually.

In January of 2011 (this is now February 2012) I began the exciting process of creating a prayer bowl using a gourd and I just now completed the bowl. Really? Yes, really. (Where is my guilt? oh yes, right here, inside my mind!).

(Guilt Screams. Photo by M. Mesplé. 2008)

     Okay, the screaming is done and so is the beautiful prayer bowl that I made from a gourd! It's not the fault of the gourd that the journey from selection, to first cut, to burning, to painting took so long. Well, the truth is this; part of the time it took to complete the project was the gourd's fault. If that gourd had revealed it's flaws to me sooner than later I would have selected a different gourd. BUT ... had I selected a different gourd I would have missed out on amazing creative problem solving journey.

(Gourd In Waiting. Photo by M.Mesplé. 7/2010)

     This journey, with THIS gourd involved cracks in the gourd that were well hidden. This journey involved a gourd that felt "thick" before cutting, and then that thickness became thick inner fluff with a thin, brittle outer shell.

(photo by M.Mesplé, 2011)

      This journey involved two major hospitalizations of my aging mother; one hospitalization lasted 45 days. This journey involved running out of my selected color dye half way through staining the gourd!

(photo by M.Mesplé, 2011)

     This journey derailed because of my own medical adventure that involved surgery and a recovery that lasted for two months!

(photo by M.Mesplé, 2011)

     This journey involved emotional hardships involving people who should not matter but do. This journey involved emotional hardships involving people I love who broke my heart (or I let break my heart). This gourd has been a journey involving a lot of time, a lot of creativity beyond just design and execution of design ... creative problem solving to the max! This journey has been a circuitous path towards completion. Completion of a PRAYER bowl.

(photo by M.Mesplé, 2011)

      What? Yes, a prayer bowl. In retrospect, I see how all those little distractions that I thought robbed me of time and robbed my creative juices were distractions held in prayer. For each obstacle I encountered I would use prayer as a means of discovering strength (without thinking of the fact that I was creating a prayer bowl).

(photo by M.Mesplé, 2012)

      I prayed for understanding. I prayed for healing. I prayed for tolerance. The day I packed up the completed prayer bowl it hit me. I had received all I placed my intentions upon. All my little prayers I offered up were manifested. I held within me an understanding of life from a new perspective; a perspective I had not used before. I was healed in more ways than just on the physical plane ... my heart had healed in a way I never believed was possible. And tolerance is now a way of life without question.

(photo by M.Mesplé, 2012)

     Without the thought of the fact that I was making a prayer bowl for another soul, I used the energy of this vessel to assist me with my own needs. As I stood holding this beautiful manifestation in my hands, preparing to send it off to its new home I became so aware of the eventuality of our intentions and that with time, and creativity, and a willingness to let go of the need to feel in control, all things come to completion. It is the "letting go of" combined with faith that took me back to my original path but that path is now paved a bit differently .... at least for a little while.

(photo by M.Mesplé, 2012)

Namasté