An Artist’s Body; Just Another Canvas

I consider my body just another canvas.  Here’s a good example. Sorry for the poor lighting, I look rather like a mannequin.  Ah, well.

Also, what I wear is an extension of my personality and each piece is telling.  First, the dress.  I’ve had it for a long time.  I don’t know why I first bought it, and have called it my ugly dress all this time.  Yet I continue to wear it and it’s always been a favorite.

The long amber strand is about 40” and I usually loop it around a couple times.  It was my mother’s, so it holds special meaning.

The velvet scarf which is a rich brown on one end and a deep red on the other was a find somewhere in the South of England in a little coffee shop.  Wanting coffee, I walked in and this Texas girl found two people, a clerk and a customer, discussing Texas food! It was a warm and welcoming shop with walnut cake, pea soup and a pile of sketchpads on a table into which anyone that had the desire could make an artistic entry.  Enjoying the atmosphere and conversation, I walked around to find the shop was also a kind of second-hand garage sale of sorts.  Draped over who knows what, I found this scarf for a mere four pounds, which I think was about six American dollars at the time.

You can see I’m wearing two scarves; the crazy black one with the dangling shapes I adore! Gary and I went to Florida a couple years ago and I scooped this up on one of the days he had to work all day and, oh, woe is me, I HAD to go shopping.  This scarf fits the weird bill and suits me just right.

The brass bracelet is honey comb shaped, and I bought it to remember the great times I have with my friend who has hives, our honey gathering and bee sting experience, of which we hope to have many more. ❤️ 

The wooden bead bracelet is actually a necklace that was my mother’s.  It’s olive wood from Israel and is also a symbol of her intrepid, adventurous personality.  She traveled internationally twice before dad realized she was having all the fun and decided to join her in her overseas voyages. This bracelet is very precious to me.

I purchased the ruby ring when I was maybe 23.  It’s been my friend all these years.

The gold band is a ring my dad found metal detecting.  It all began for him when we lived in Illinois and the county drained the community lake.  One of our friends had a metal detector and moved right in to the swimming beach finding probably 1,000 rings.  Some were cheap but being the first one to the beach he made a score of a whole lot of precious gems and metals.  Right there the metal detecting bug bit my dad.  He had an awful lot of fun doing this, always drew a crowd, and sometimes found some pretty nice stuff! All this to say, the jewelry from my parents is the most special of anything I’ve mentioned.

Oh yeah, the necklace with the big, glittery hunk o’ glass? True Value Hardware Store.  Where else? :)

An Artist’s Self Portrait

As an artist, I consider my body another canvas upon which to work, and what I wear often reflects who I am.  A self portrait. Because it’s easy for me to get a little crazy, I sometimes wear black to tame it down a bit. 

Here my leather and pearl necklace remind me of the nice time Noah and I had at the science museum. The crazy leaf scarf came from a great trip Gary and I took to Florida. My Packman earring I got at the Mall of America in St. Paul (biggest mall in the States) and the feather earring connects me to our daughter, who wears its mate. The gold band is from my dad who found it metal detecting - very special. My black bracelet was at a dollar bin at Goodwill, where we love to kick around for good deals. You would notice the many-stoned ring - that’s my paternal grandma’s mother’s ring.  She had NINE kids!! The mother’s ring has may purple and green stones; I got the topaz (the big one) because it has purple and green and blue in it and matches my grandma’s ring so beautifully.  Plus, I love anything big and sparkly.

If you look closely, you will see the big gouge in my left arm - a reminder of my melanoma and how precious life is - a gift from God. I don’t mind the scar as it reminds me of this. One more detail in this self-portrait - I got caught in the rain today, so I cut off the top so you wouldn’t see my frizzy wet hair! 

Does what you wear reflect you?

Oh... and... here’s more of my self portrait - I do my best to surround myself with flowers inside and outside the house.

And the best flowers of all, peonies.  Yummy!

Now my self-portrait is much more complete. :)