Lilac Muscles / Smoke Stars

Lilac Muscles / Smoke Stars

various fabrics, puffy stars, beads, fiber fill, piping, ribbon

9' x 4'

______Last week, I took a week and a half off to take a beading workshop in a tiny town in North Carolina. I lived Thoreau-style in a cabin in the woods that possessed absolutely no Internet or cell service, and it was quiet, quiet as could be. The only thing I heard at night was the occasional hoot of an owl and the rushing stream just yards from the cabin. And also this cracking noise the heat made whenever it cranked on that sounded like someone was trying to break in through the glass front doors. But that's just a detail.

______Though there wasn't much around the cabin itself, there was a Walmart some 20 miles off, fully furnished with all a human needs to survive. Even better, there was a creepy man loitering around the drink isles. Upon seeing me place a six-pack of diet root beer in my cart, he floated over to me like a bee to a flower, his yellow mustache wiggling as he spoke. He proceeded to tell me about how he makes the best alcoholic root beer floats ("not your daddy's root beer float" as he said... thanks for that, bro). I kept trying to slowly pull away but he kept following and managing to make eye contact. Strange men, y u gotta be like that?

     

______Upon signing up for these classes, I was afraid it was going to be super hokey, but it was the most relaxing, fun, and immersive experience I had. I don't care how cheesy that sounds. Immersive! Relaxing! Fun! I sound like an advertisement.

______At night, the school always had some kind of event going on in the common area, whether that be story telling from students, local legends with their banjo music plucking up a musical storm, or square-dancing for the more socially-inclined. I'd usually just sit with my laptop in a cozy rocking chair at night in front of the coffee machine, greedily sucking up their wifi and their decaf. Because that's the kind of terrible person I am.



______Anywho, here is my most recent project that I'm sure most of you all have seen on Facebook, Instagram, or some other social media that we're acquainted on. Normal blogging shall resume!