tapestry
I recently shared this on Instagram. It occurred to me that those of you who come here for your daily STILL-ness might enjoy seeing it too.
I am an artist who takes one graphic photo every day of found nature on a white or black background. I have been doing this for 8 years and have never missed a day. What that says about me I am not yet sure. I am 55, have been married to (James Beard Award winning!) food writer @sjrhoffman for 30 years, and we have 2 kids. We live in Minnesota, but spend a lot of time in our adopted second home in Languedoc, southern France. Finally, we have a puggle named Jack who is, like all puggles, insane, anxiety-ridden, and constantly famished.
Just for fun, here are 10 facts about me that I shared several years ago, and that you might not gather just by looking at my feed:
- My favorite expression is “ask forgiveness, not permission”.
- I have always dressed for comfort, not style. It still breaks my mother’s heart—she is 84 years old.
- I have an aeronautical and astronautical engineering masters degree from Stanford—my first generation Romanian immigrant father cried at my graduation ceremony.
- I was an all-state soccer player in high school, before that meant very much.
- My chicken, Glimmer, may she rest in peace, was a social media star who insisted on laying her eggs in my bed.
- I am something of a news-o-phobe.
- I find page-long mathematical proofs beautiful.
- I have a fantasy of living in New York City for a year in a loft with one bed, two side tables, and a completely white room.
- I have an infinite capacity to forgive innocent creatures.
- And here is the 11thfact in my 10-fact list: I don’t believe in “shoulds.”
I’d like to extend a virtual double-cheek kiss to all of you (no more hugs for a while). Your support, encouragement, and presence mean everything. I started this project 8 years ago just hoping to earn a place at the table of fellow online creatives. What I got was the whole table, and all of you sitting around it, acting like family and friends. Thank you for coming here and thank you for staying. 😘😘
delicate
a palm sized composition of tiny bits of found nature. it’s delicacy feels relevant somehow–a collection of fragile pieces all held together by a single crescent moon.
composition of found nature
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How utterly simple and lovely this is, MJ!
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gradients
i have been reading a book on the aesthetics of joy, and according to the author gradients often trigger associations of transcendence and harmony–two, of ten, elements that comprise her aesthetics of joy. it’s an odd challenge, in my opinion, to try and classify joy. i wasn’t at all convinced it was a worthwhile endeavor at the outset. but it was clear the author had done a lot of data gathering, and research, and she had some interesting design chops, and so i stuck with her. then a funny thing happened. the more i read, the more it became evident that she was very nearly perfectly defining the aesthetics of STILL. at first i was surprised, maybe even a little shocked, but as i sat with it a while, it made more and more sense. STILL is about being still. about being present. about seeing (doing) one thing at a time. but it is also very much about joy. about celebrating our natural world. about renewal. and harmony. transcendence. and abundance. STILL is about slowing down…to find joy.
white pine needles
p.s. if you are curious about the book, you can check it out here. because i know you will be wondering, here are the ten elements of the aesthetics of joy that the author suggests:
- abundance
- harmony
- freedom
- transcendence
- renewal
- energy
- play
- surprise
- magic
- celebration
72 and friendly
today we celebrated easter by hunkering down beside the fire as temperatures dropped below freezing, and five inches of snow fell outside. this had us all a little nostalgic for southern france. then, out of the blue, several of our friends from languedoc checked in to make sure we were healthy and happy and social distancing. which made us nostalgic for more than one type of warmth.
brunswick fig leaf detail
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It looks to me like a map of suburban sub-divisions. But more organic.
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the new economy
if this is the new economy i’ll take it. fresh eggs and overwintered parsnip delivered by neighbors who are raising their kids to love nature and animals. i’m guessing we’ll get back to lots of plastic, and videos flashing from websites into my eyes. but i’m not in a hurry.
parsnips (Pastinaca sativa)
…and thank YOU for being here for all of us who’ve had the pleasure of dining at that table with you. Couldn’t start my morning without my serving of STILL (and coffee, of course ).
Amen!
I love your 10 facts, most of which sound like me, except that my degree is in Math and I never get to go to France – or Minnesota. Thank you for being so accessible, along with your profoundly beautiful work.