Maybe It is the Flux

Funny how we can find the threads that connect our work over the years.

Sifting through Life Drawing #09/11
11.25" x 17"
Stabilo aquarelle on paper with gesso
©2012NanciHersh

Looking through my Ranch Camp Series from 20 years ago of Waialua, Hawaii to the Sifting through Life Nets I am working on, I see that it may be the shadows, fluidity, movement - or just trying to capture what really is only a fleeting moment in time.

Maybe it's the flux that I find so interesting.

Note to my blog buddies and anyone else for that matter:  After our Skype talk yesterday about how we lable or talk about our work and the context it frames for others, I am trying on different titles for the nets that I have been making. Sifting through Life Nets- whaddya think? A little long? 


I feel like the search for Cinderella and the perfect fit.  HEY that brings me to find another thread and a not so different title for a series that I have.  Walks thru Life: Shoe Portraits

It's all about the journey... and finding the grace along the way.

The Gift of Space

Sometimes the best gift is one you give yourself. 

Before the holidays I had an idea for a blog post of what to get the artist in your life.  I was thinking of luscious paints, beautiful papers, brushes... you get the idea.  But soon realized that what I really wanted was a break - from commitments, obligations and all the busyness of everyday.

Shadow Drawing
12?26/11
Gesso, charcoal, graphite aquarelle on paper
30" x 22"
©2011NanciHersh

And that is just what I did this past Monday.  My family was out of town.  I cancelled plans. I did not drive anywhere and closed up my laptop.   I meditated, journaled, walked, listened to music, worked in my studio and watched a film.  The day was spacious. And just what I needed.

Artist Patricia Scarborough did post a lovely list on her blog with other worthwhile gift ideas that don't come in a box- and are appreciated any time of year!

What gift have you given or plan on giving yourself this year?

Shadow Drawings of Nets

Watching the process and evolution of an idea is fascinating.  Often we get a glimpse of an idea, we follow it, not sure where it will take us.  We even question the validity of the path, but we continue.

And the path, is rarely a straight line. But the journey is the adventure.

Shadow Nets #10/11
Charcoal, graphite, gesso, Stabilo aquarelle
on paper
30" x 22"
©2011Nanci Hersh

What began as an idea- my cutlery out of wire, pulp, encaustic and collage, then a dream about butterfly nets, then I began to make my own nets, then photograph them, and now the drawings from their shadows.  ah, the shadows. I do love shadows.

Utensils, 2006
form Inherently Found Series
Wire, pulp, encaustic, collage
©2011NanciHersh

Sometimes you know where you are going and you still end up somewhere different.  Sometimes you don't know where you're going- or even where you are- but you still keep going. 

But always, you must follow your heart.