su blackwell

i am a book nerd. so when my google reader introduced me to su blackwell, i wasn't the least surprised that i would fall in love with her work. i would give up a limb to own one of her pieces. just the other day, my dear friend meredith was discussing the art of making sculptures, and her current projects in the making. i became obsessed with the concept of making something so extraordinary out of practically anything. i look forward to seeing more of her works. here is her statement from her website (http://www.sublackwell.co.uk)

Paper has been used for communication since its invention; either between humans or in an attempt to communicate with the spirit world. I employ this delicate, accessible medium and use irreversible, destructive processes to reflect on the precariousness of the world we inhabit and the fragility of our life, dreams and ambitions.

It is the delicacy, the slight feeling of claustrophobia, as if these characters, the landscape have been trapped inside the book all this time and are now suddenly released. A number of the compositions have an urgency about them, the choices made for the cut-out people from the illustrations seem to lean towards people on their way somewhere, about to discover something, or perhaps escaping from something. And the landscapes speak of a bleak mystery, a rising, an awareness of the air.

if this doesn't make you want to go to prague.

so after talking about the wonders of traveling and the desire to go to prague, my wonderful annie showed me this. not only do i love the song, but do you see that gorgeous dress with the ruffles? it is worth the cost of your ticket there. but aint it beautiful, and almost worth it a little. and it would go perfect with one of these new lovely creations from chelsea at her blog: http://ohmydeerhandmades.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-for-you.html

and she keeps singing...

i have a current new love at the moment, its this wonderful little paperback called , "letters to my son." i do realize this particular book is addressed as advice to a young man, but it has these little gems that i can't get enough of. i really just wish that if i would've had a father growing up, these are things that i would have liked him to say to me...

"To be a real traveler you must be willing to give yourself over to you must believe totally in the lives of the people and the places where you find yourself, even if it causes you to lose faith in the life you left behind. you need to share with them, participate with them. sit at their tables, go to their streets. struggle with their language. tell them stories of your life and hear the stories of theirs. watch how they love each other, how they fight each other. see what they value and what they fear. feel the spaces they keep in their lives. become part of the fabric of their everyday lives and you will get a sense of what it means to live in their world. give yourself over to them-embrace them rather than judge them- and you will find that the beauty i their lives and their world will become part of yours. when you move on, you will have grown.
...Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance, and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun. Care for those around you. Look past your differences. Their dreams are no less than yours, their choices in life no more easily made.
And give. Give in any way you can, of whatever you possess. To give is to love. To withhold is to wither. Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared, and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.”

i feel like such a selfish person these days. i am so demanding, and i always want more. and when i get what i want, i realize that i never wanted it in the first place. i feel like the lord is telling me over and over again, what are you doing for me? i feel so small and yet he used the ordinary to do extraordinary things. it was so easy being in a place where you had nothing but your heart to give. i had no desire for anything else but to love him and his children. today i want to protect my heart, i want to run away from anything that could potentially break me and hide. by doing that, i am not allowing the lord to fill me when i am broken...and those are the times i grow the most. i am in no way living the life he has called me to live, and yet i am going to try.

and seriously....read this book. it will inspire you!!