Sheer Simplicity

Valentines day has come and gone.
I wanted to share my sweet dog Goldie's valentine look - she is ready for LOVE. She is singing the blues cos she has nowhere to hang her bag of bones, love is thataway.

and when I think about Love, I think about what is truly essential in life -its all about keeping things simple and focusing on friendships and feeling good.

Organizing your closets - giving away the excess for another person to enjoy.
Good vibrations all around when you shed the weight of all those possessions.
The unbearable LIGHTNESS of being.

Living clutter free and loving it Having space in the closet where nothing hangs, having drawers that are empty.
Space on the bookshelf and room in your garage to park a car.

a space in the garage to use with impunity.
a camping shelf or a ski area.
Perhaps creating a fantasy room within the garage for the family to play in.
an Art center at the ready.
A stage for shows. or a craft center.

Make room for life, and letting go of all those darn things.

When I was young I constantly foraged for items, longing to pack my life full, with the debris of living and shopping and collecting.

Now, now I long for peace. Expanses of empty spaces. Clean living. Bare cupboards.
I am loving that empty feeling now its gone, gone, gone.

Imagine a closet where you use everything at least once. Once a day, once a week once a year.
Buying a few good bold pieces you love.
Buying what you love, loving what you buy, and asking yourself - can I do be do without all this dough bought stuff.
What could I do with my time, if I didn't have to buy, clean, care, for all my things?

I would have time to create living moments. Moving memories.
I could write a song about being free - having nothing left to lose:
the blues that left me cos I went and threw it all out .....
dont need no more magic tools that dices and slices- just a good bed, a candle and a book.
Ok maybe a couple candles and a good light. The sweet luxuries that are fabulous.

If you had to make a list of what you couldn't live without, what would that list contain?

after all this rain is done I will head for the hills in my head.

Beauty without CLUTTER

ceramic box by Corinna Mori

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

William Morris
Father of the arts & crafts movement
24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896

here is a William Morris chair -the true test is the test of time - it is exquisite still.

Gina, my partner and I just did a talk about eliminating clutter from your lives. It was totally fun, with a receptive and engaged audience.
In putting together the talk and slides we used the quote above.

The arts and crafts movement is one of my favorite and I enjoy William Morris' aesthetic.

In fact, when I read the quote, people in the audience gasped -
as if in response to something so profound; suddenly letting go makes sense.

Permission to be tough on what you have in your home.
Real estate is precious, life is hard.
Let go of some of the stuff, and make way for quality.
Quality of life, and quality of objects.

Every object, every moment.

above Pimpernel Wallpaper design of William Morris, still available today, I believe - the beauty of which almost makes me cry.

Funny thing about how when life becomes too complicated, we want to return to a pared down, clutter less existence, as if we are in rebellion from the curlicues of life.
And the simple is so much harder to achieve.

My friend Corinna Mori is a true artist. Every item in her home is simple, and exquisite.
She is a potter.
and her work is sheer poetry.


This container below sings to me:

I want to share some of her pieces because each piece reflects the rule:
Object Beauty

here is another fabulous little pot - they are also so delicate looking, yet rough and bold,
like a skin on the outside, with the soft inner sheen of the interior.
Each piece employing both the natural handmade look as well as a function.

here is a bowl Corinna has in her garden, put to use - as the Arts and Craft philosophy intended - beauty and function at play:

Next Saturday February 21 will be the reception Mainly Clay, at The Main Gallery in Redwood City, California 6-8 pm Show will run February 18- March 22, 2009
if you are around, do yourself a favor and stop by.
Its a group show, so lots of interesting pieces to be seen.


To wrap up
another William Morris paper- simple yet stunning and totally sophisticated
definitely a great foil for Corinna's work.

We use items in our daily lives, to create and do, why not pick the items that please us?
Ordinary is really what is extraordinary about life, after all.

on that note, a spoon -
to leave you with
by carol boyes




Hands, hearts and heads make sense together.