In January of this year, I went outside after a heavy snow to take pictures, my adult version of "playing in the snow". Remembering what it was like to play in the snow as a child, I amused myself by falling backward off our deck into the snow to make a snow angel, something I hadn't done since I was a kid. Doing it made me giggle like a little girl, and I loved the angel...I took her picture and showed it to everyone, calling it a self-portrait.
At the same time, I was musing over an aspect of my personality that I'm not particularly proud of, and had the thought that I'd invite God into my meditations about this troublesome trait, via a novena. In the Catholic religion, in which I was raised but haven't actively practiced since I was a child, a novena is a series of nine straight days of prayers for a special purpose. I thought that during these same nine days, I would work on a fiber art rendering of my snow angel. She was stitched on white silk, using silk and cashmere threads and embellished with beads. I like that the angel itself is a 'negative space', and the beaded snowflakes surrounding her could also be stars in the heavens, which is also a suitable setting for my angel.
During those nine days working on Novena: A Self-portrait, I conceived of a companion piece, that I began shortly after completing Novena but had set aside until just recently. Using a similar background and materials, I'm stitching a tree in winter. I've always been fascinated with the beauty of the architecture of trees, and how apparent the branching structure is in winter. I love when snow accumulates on the tops of branches after a fresh snow. In conception as a companion piece to Novena, where Novena is a representation of myself, the tree is a representation of family and friends, and of all the people one comes into contact with during a lifetime, and how we are all interconnected.
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