White Feather

If you've been reading my blog on a regular basis you'll recall the Black Feather mask I made last week. This week I've finished the companion mask, White Feather. A few months ago I awoke from a dream early one morning and sketched the idea for two masks on a scrap piece of paper. The white feathers on this mask completely cover the mouth and partially obscure the eyes. Sometimes I'm not able (too stressed out) to speak or don't want (will stick my foot in my mouth) to say what is on my mind. Sometimes I see the truth, but don't want to admit, even to myself, what the truth is. And then sometimes I want to hide from the truth. Or, as sometimes is the case, I don't want to confront the bullshit. Can I say bullshit on my blog? Heck, why not it's my blog.


I mostly see the world as black or white, good or bad, nice or mean, friend or foe, etc. Unfortunately, life is oftentimes full of bullshit and frankly I've never had much patience for bullshit. The trick for me is to see if the bullshitter is full of bullshit or if there is something worthwhile behind the bullshit. I know you're probably thinking, where in the hell did all this come from. Well it came from the depths of me, but it's been there all along. You're probably also wondering what prompted these thoughts, it isn't any one thing, but many things.


So as time goes by you'll be seeing my explorations in black and white clay as a way of coping with a world that's got a lot of bullshit I have to put up with on a daily basis, the price of gas, food, utilities, lack of jobs, reduced income, the cost of health care, car, and house insurance, etc. Not to mention our taxes in California just went up. Sales tax increased one percent, vehicle license tax increased half a percent and on and on.

What this one percent tax increase means is a decrease in income, we pay more for everything we purchase and have more taken out of our paychecks. It amounts to a pay raise for the state, but a huge pay cut for everyone living here. I lump all this crap into one category - bullshit. Unfortunately it's bullshit I have little control over. For now all I can do is buy less and cut costs. As time goes by, though, I'm thinking and planning.

Now that I've gotten today's tangent of bullshit out of the way (well at least pushed it aside for the time being), how about a couple of beautiful and a sweet smelling flowers from my garden to clear the air. Life is not all bullshit there is a lot of sweetness surrounding us. Above is my rose arbor which is in full bloom, and if you happen to be in the neighborhood, my cat, Binky, and I will welcome you to my garden and studio. The arbor is planted with Cecile Brunner roses, called the sweetheart rose, and also pink jasmine, Jasminum polyanthum, growing on the back side (ha ha - no pun there) of the arbor.