Saturday, November 13, 2010

It must be love

I was going to give her away but I can't. She lifted me out of the shit in August and I feel we are in it for life!
Sometimes it pours. At the moment I have some personal stuff to wade through, and it doesn't help that when I look out the window all I can see is crooks and corruption. Its not easy living in Greece sometimes. Sometimes I fantasize about fleeing. Then I think 'where would I go?' I'd be so homesick. Thats the trouble with being Greek: you're pissed off if you live here, but you're missing it so much when you don't. So my yoga girl takes me back to the moment and the things here that I love.
I feel I can really relate to our foremothers who stitched their way through wars and dictatorships. 'Oh but they only did it because they had nothing else to do!' People tell me and I beg to differ. They loved it! It gave them immense pleasure and satisfaction. I know of a lady who made beautiful crochet lace who pressed her stitching kit into her granddaughters hands before she died, begging her to carry on the tradition. My own sweet grandmama took great joy in making stunning rugs, stitching, crochet, knitting just about anything. Everyone that knew her well knew how much she loved making things, and how these things gave her comfort in the toughest of times.


I like to look at my yoga girl. She is not a work of art, but I made her, and she and I have a history:)


Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Going to California

I didn't want to do this as a wedding present. I actually didn't want to do this at all! What I did want to do was a portrait of Anna and Panos, two of the most talented and stylish people I know. When I say stylish I don't mean like VOGUE. I mean that these two are so unique and charming in a way that I wanted to capture, somehow. Capture and hang on my wall! Not possible it seems. It wasn't happening.


I stalked the We Govern We and Anna's Facebook page to find the right photo. It wasn't there. She emailed it to me! It wasn't right. All I could see was her big gothy eyes from the We Govern We poster. And I wanted to stick them into the face of a big sunflower. And the sunflower made me think of the lyrics from their beautiful song 'Fields' so I stitched 'In my dreams glittering gold' under the small leaf. So a gothic sunflower, if you please.


What I find captivating about Anna's artwork and We Govern We's lyrics is this fine balance between darkness and light. She says it quite well herself in this interview: http://www.society805.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=51:wav-artist-anna-kararkalos&Itemid=32&lang=


Do click on the gigantic link and go look at her artwork! I apologise for being a computer moron and not knowing how to make a word a link. You mustn't hold that against her! Also do go to http://www.myspace.com/wegovernwe and listen to the music from their new album, produced by Daniel Ash (the Bauhaus and Love and Rockets guy). My favourite song is Come Atlantis. It makes me cry, in a good way.

It also makes me cry that I won't be able to make their wedding this month. So I will send this sunflower. Its my favourite flower. My Dad sent me a massive one when I left for Uni. I held a bunch of them when I got married. I unwittingly stitched one to send to California to ABC and the Bear:)