REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

SoulCollage® Card: The Extinction of Honeybees

This is a SoulCollage® card I am calling "The Extinction of Honeybees" and I am unsure what suit to place the card in. Perhaps it should go in the Community suit because I want the honeybees to be part of my everyday life as a symbol of my interconnectedness with everyone, with everything. This was one of four cards I created this week. I was on a roll. 

Artist Winifred Brewer's Bee series caught my attention last weekend at the Brewery Art Walk. On her business card it said, "If honeybees become extinct, human society will follow in four years--Albert Einstein."

The I Am The One Who statements central to SoulCollage® are as follows: 

I am the one who has a long history of bee connection. I was raised on one acre of land in Sunland, CA and my mother raised berries of all sorts to sell in the local grocery store. I was aware that the bees were crucial to the success of her crops. But, the bees built a hive in our chimney and they were forever actually coming into the house. I was often stung, but I was the one who stepped on a live bee inside the house one 4th of July and had a bad reaction. Ever since then, I've had a fear of bees. Once while hiking with young children in Mammoth by the Indian Caves we apparently disturbed a hive and they attacked one child who promptly leaped into Mammoth Creek. I managed to get him out and brought him and the other five kids back to the campground to his mom; fortunately he did not have an allergic reaction though he was stung multiple times. I felt so terribly responsible and, dualistically, grateful that the experience wasn't worse.

Then in 2010, I wrote a post called  "The Secret Life of Bees" on Sacred Ordinary as I had a hive in my yard that had to ultimately be removed and I was heartbroken that the bee woman had to destroy it. Four years later, I would not have used that alternative. I now know that there are companies in the Inland Empire who will come and get the hive and bring it out there intact. 

I am the one who currently has "Bless the Bees: The Pending Extinction of Our Pollinators and What We Can Do to Stop It" on my Goodreads to read list. 

This particular SoulCollage® card really got me thinking, moreso perhaps than any of the others I've created over a 10 year span. 

 

 

Lovely Family Day: The Brewery Art Walk

Today my son Tony, DIL Gretchen, and grandsons Henry and Fritz and I went on a Grandma Field Trip to downtown Los Angeles and the Brewery Art Walk. We had breakfast at a place I had never heard of before, but is near Tony's former office: Bottega Louie. It's in the former Brooks Brothers historic landmark building called the Brockman Building at 700 S. Grand.

I was really impressed with this restaurant and all of downtown. So much is going on there now and the city is ultra clean. Construction on what is to be the tallest building in L.A. was just a few doors down from the Brockman Building. It will be The Wilshire Grand Tower, a hotel and office tower, 73 stories and 1,100 feet (335 m) in height. Once completed in 2017, it will surpass the U.S. Bank Tower to become the tallest building in the United States, west of Chicago.

My grandson Henry took this photo of me at the entrance to the Brewery Art Walk--a must see, twice yearly open studio show, right past China Town. It's near the San Antonio Winery and the neighborhood of my former husband's grandmother. Tony dropped off the freeway early because of traffic and it was so much fun to see the places I often visited when I worked in downtown L.A. Two different movies were shooting and that was a pain in the butt. 

We visited several studios but here are photos from a few of my favorite ones today. Below is one Andre Miripolsky's paintings. Three years ago Tony and Gretchen bought me a print of Miripolsky's that hangs in my living room. 

 

Another studio I really liked was Winifred Johnson Brewer's. I took a photo of her near a few of her paintings. She was so generous in discussing her mediums and some of the transfer techniques she uses. She has a bee series she is creating and her card says, "If honey bees become extinct, human society will follow in four years.--Albert Einstein" 

This is a photo of my grandson Henry in front of some gears. There were lots of heavy metal sculpture and areas especially appealing to kids like The Steam Carnival.  Check their link for a big event they are hosting at the Port of Los Angeles in October. 

Richard Ankrom's studio was kind of startling with a lot of political art. His website describes the kind of work that he does, but his 198 star American flag really intrigued me. This image is from his website. 

Komy's Artworks Kustom also had a lot of interesting work, but this digital art really jumped out at me. Komy was a real character. Below that is an ancient, weather-worn motorcycle which is an art form unto itself. 

Now, who would have thought that cooking classes and cooking art would have a studio. But HipCooks did and I loved this chandelier made out of colanders. Now why didn't I think of that? 

I am so extremely grateful to live in California and in the L.A. area. I love it here! 

 

Palm Sunday: A SoulCollage® Card

Weeks ago I bought a used program at the library book sale from Oberammergau 1990 and found this image that I meant to make a SoulCollage® card for, but then put it where it belonged so I couldn't find it until today. I had actually put it in the plastic folder of images I want to work with inside my black rolling SoulCollage® case I take to our group. 

While I was at Michael's today I bought some fern stickers to put on the card hoping they look a little like palms. By the way, the monthly used book sales at the Palos Verdes Library District provide me most of my collage materials. Great resource! So are my neighbors who save magazines for me. 

So, yesterday was Palm Sunday and at Christ Episcopal Church Redondo Beach, I was assigned the part of Judas to read during the Passion narrative. Fr. Bob kind of whispered to me, "He may have gotten a bum rap." Christ's part was played by Arnie, my Jewish neighbor, and I had to restrain myself from kissing him on the cheek when I betrayed him; Fr. Bob caught that. 

Four years ago, Mary Lou my dear friend and travel buddy, and I were privileged to take a pilgrimage tour of the Holy Land with Fr. Ray Mallett of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Hermosa Beach. It was a life changing experience for me, as those of you who know me well already know. 

In SoulCollage®, we are encouraged to write what we call "I am the one who" statements. It makes the card personal. I've put this card in the Council suit and I am the one who was deeply moved walking the path Jesus would have taken on Palm Sunday. When I saw this image, I felt like I taking part myself in the original Palm Sunday procession--but I also snapped back to when our group processed ourselves. I am the one who knew that this image would ease me into Holy Week when we reenact Jesus's final week of life. See that little girl in front with blonde hair? I am the one who would have looked like her. I am the one who has constantly questioned everything my entire life, but each year during Holy Week I manage to suspend my judgments and pretend that I am in Jerusalem and that I'm so sure of my faith, I don't question hardly at all.