The Collective: purple feather & wholeness

Dear Tina,

How are you? I too am enjoying the handwritten letters we are writing to each other in our journal. Seeing your handwriting makes me feel closer to you when I read it like you are keeping me company in my studio.

The wild turkey feather you drew for your last piece in The Collective looks so different than the feathers I found.

It always fascinates me how every bit of nature is so beautifully unique. I like how you drew on top of the map and used that as the starting point for my painting. I collaged a small piece of it onto the paper and muted it with buff-colored paint to give it somewhat of an aged look. I then stenciled the text on top and layered the feather painting on top of that. I liked how the circular text softened the hard edges of the paper. Circles always make me think of wholeness and the circle of life.

"There is an old Indian belief that everyone is a house of four rooms: a physical, a mental, an emotional, and a spiritual room. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room, every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not complete."

~Rumer Godden

In your last letter, you asked me if I ever used grommets in my work and I have, but usually just in my Altered Books. I was going to add them here but because the painting was so small the grommets looked a little too big, so I decided to add these little fascinators instead.

Here is the finished piece. Hoping things are swell in your world!

Can't wait to see what you come up with for the next piece to inspire me!

xo