Posted by Susan Bradford on March 8, 2012 under Susan Bradford | 
Last week, I took my annual trip to Chicago, the city where I grew up and where my mother lived until her death over three years ago. While she was alive, I went there more and more frequently. But now I content myself with an annual pilgrimage to see family and friends, and to revisit my roots. My continued visits to the city are somehow really important to me. Yet another circular experience in my life.
How many thousands of times have I walked on Michigan Avenue where this photograph was taken! But not so often with camera in hand, feeling part tourist, part long-time resident. Waiting to be surprised by the city I still know so well.
So as I looked through the lens, I was really pleased to capture these three iconic Chicago landmark buildings in one shot. In the foreground is a part of the original Water Tower, which is one of the only buildings to have survived the devastating Chicago Fire of 1871. In the middle is just a small slice of the “new” Water Tower, a six story shopping center which has become a destination in itself. How perfect that the words were the only things framed by this view. And in the background stands the distinctive Hancock Building, once the tallest building in the world, now not even the tallest building in Chicago. The tiny shape of the tall building in the upper right corner is the Ritz Carleton Hotel, one of Oprah’s many homes.
I was truly delighted to see all this at once. It made the proximity of all these buildings very real to me, and their juxtapositions brought thoughts about architecture, urban planning, and the symbolism attendant on the giants of commerce they house. I gained new insight about the process of seeing and about the so-called happy accidents of photography.
Posted by Anita Bondi on February 28, 2012 under Anita Bondi |
Caroline wrote to say that Mairi would really like to have InterPlay jewelry and The InterPlay Inspiration Decks in Scotland as they are bringing InterPlay to various regions in the next few months. WOW! Yeah for them, and for me. Caroline leaves on Friday and called me to say that she would be happy to carry them “across the pond” for me. That is the coolest expression, isn’t it? Especially given the expanse of the Atlantic ocean and this cool fact that I found…Approximate distance as the crow flies in miles from New York United States to Glasgow, Scotland Great Britain (UK) is 3213 miles or 5169.72 Ki
lometers.
That is quite some pond!
So, thank you Caroline Kisiel and Mairi Campbell for believing in me and for spreading the good news of InterPlay.
Here are some of the pieces that are on the way:
Tags: Anita Bondi, card, cards, circle, deck, inspiration, InterPlay, InterPlay Inspiration Deck, jewelry, mixed metal, round card
Posted by Susan Bradford on February 9, 2012 under Susan Bradford |
I have been thinking and thinking (probably thinking way too much) about what Stillness looks like. Challenging enough to feel into it, even for an instant. But having decided to do a mandala about it, I am determined to figure out what it may look like. So with a tormented muscle in my right knee and the weather once again rainy and gray, I am slowed down enough to concentrate on Stillness. Can I feel into it enough to see it?
Stillness…the Ah of it…the breath of it…being enclosed in the safety of it…the womb…the softness…nothing too bright…nothing too loud. Quiet, stillness, Ah…. A sense of movement, yes! Something so very dynamic about it.
A sketch. A start? A kind of, maybe, beginning of a start?
Posted by Susan Bradford on February 2, 2012 under Susan Bradford |
Iris Shoots, February 2, 2012
I look forward to winter for many reasons. And one of the main things I look forward to is the opportunity to have everything stop for a while. And even though I recognize that this is a total illusion, I pretend anyway. Winter seems to give me more time to still my busy mind, to spend lovely days at home, listening to the rain and the wind, letting the beautiful gray tones of the Northwest sky wash over me. In this stillness, I feel that my creativity and my spirituality are being renewed. And in anticipation of this special time, I decided to make a Stillness mandala as my next project. To commemorate the coming around of this wonderful time of year.
But something is going terribly wrong this year. True we had a little snow two weeks ago. But where are the wonderful winter rain storms? Where is the intensity, the opportunity for cleansing, the chance to stay at home, and to snuggle up inside and be warm. To read books, to make soup, to work on mandalas.
Aside from the huge implications for Global Climate Change, how can I be still when the sun is shining? How can I pretend that things will stop long enough for me to have my winter experience when I go outside my door and see things like the photo I took this morning. On February 2nd, no less.
Posted by Susan Bradford on December 1, 2011 under Susan Bradford |
The holiday season has arrived. It’s official. The frenzy has begun. This year as always, I am caught up with everything that I have to do, complicated by my return trip to PA and all that typically entails.
So painting these little jewels has given me a way to quiet my mind and focus my energy on one single thing. At least while I was working on them. They are magnets by the way. And I had a lot of fun making them. Of course, I thought that I’d be able to whip them out in no time. But I should have known that would never work for me. Instead each one is a little world of its own and each one took me to a different place and taught me different things.
They will be available at the Hope (New Jersey) Craft Market this Saturday, December 3rd, and at the Wellspring Craft show the following weekend, December 10th and 11th.
Last week, I took my annual trip to Chicago, the city where I grew up and where my mother lived until her death over three years ago. While she was alive, I went there more and more frequently. But now I content myself with an annual pilgrimage to see family and friends, and to revisit my roots. My continued visits to the city are somehow really important to me. Yet another circular experience in my life.
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