Tag: poetry

Paper Rice Bowl

A beautiful Autumn morning – the sky was deep pink ahead of the sun rising.  It is not cold but a nip touches my cheeks.  

I am experimenting outside where the crows are crawing, with Japanese Kimono silk that I bought from the flea market in Kyoto on Christmas day 2023.  

The kimono is of brown silk with plumb blossom flowers, lined in scarlet silk with cranes and chrysanthemum in the weave.

It is 7:45am.  A man, over the road, is sweeping leaves from around his house with a yard brush.  The sound of brushing takes me back to when I lived in China and all I could hear every early morning, was the sound of sturdy bristles sweeping – sweeping rubbish, or dust, or leaves or anything before the honking sound of horns started.   Brushing in the hutongs, is a sound that is so deep inside me that I had forgotten it. But here it is, resurrected over the road – not a leaf blower to be heard.

Sometimes, my life in China returns to me in the most unexpected ways.   Here is where I lived in China – for a year.

This morning, I am working on my piece called ‘ Between Paper and Silk, and I have again become excited about the kimono fabrics that I bought in Kyoto.  It is a pure joy to look at the patterns in the fabric, like water marks of cranes in scarlet.

But, when I apply the glue and water to the scarlet fabric, I think it will wash away the cranes but they are still visible so the fabric is woven.   I am learning the materials and how they react to water and shifting light.    When I was in Kyoto, Maki San, said that you cannot wash the old kimonos which is why people don’t really want them.    I now see 2 reasons why you wouldn’t was a kimono.  1. The colours do run.  They are not moder dyes that are set and 2. The pattern that you see dancing in the fabric may be water marks and not weave.  Having said all that, the scarlet silk is holding its cranes and chrysanthemums inside.

Here is my progress.  Paper Rice bowl. And Cyanotype flower tea pot.

I’m bringing together all of the tools of my crafts

Peaceful ness

For some time now, when I wake around sunrise, I look at my wall.

This is my wall this morning, as the sun was rising higher, around 6am. I have an old hand sewn cut work lace panel in the window. It doesn’t fit properly, it is pinned into place and it looks a little scruffy, but on the whole, the overall effect is that it casts a shadow across my wall every early morning. Without thinking, I turn to look at the wall, or my cat and I feel at peace. Something I realise, I did not feel many mornings when I lived in my beautiful croft house in Shetland.

the thing is, I no longer live in my dream house but I feel calm and peaceful and can live with autonomy in this city. I can also leap, when the time is right.

Here are some of my first sights in the mornings

And, if I look the other way, this is often my first sight. The one of Alfie was taken at 6am the morning before the day he died, and there he was just purring and looking at me.

Tiggy hears me wake and throws his upside down head at me wanting to be loved. And this is peace, and love.

I saw a Japanese word this morning :- UKIYU – it means, Floating World – describing the fleeting beauty of life and the art of living in the moment.

I find that just looking at the shadow of the cut work fabric, falling across my wall is such fleeting beauty that I have looked at it over many viewings totalling many hours. It is peace.

Thank you for your continued support. Happy summer, Tracey 🙂