Finally....

Often when people visit our home, they are drawn to the somewhat bizarre women scattered around the place.  My ladies.  The earring holder ladies, the sari ladies, the function free purely ornamental ladies.To be perfectly honest, some of the ones at home here are what I call special needs ladies. They have suffered in their journey to manifestation and may be less than perfect.  So I won't sell them.  But I love them.  They usually represent a voyage of learning that helped me get to make the other ones who have ventured forth into the world.As people look at the "girls" and ask if I have any to sell, I have had to tell the truth that I haven't made one for a long, long time.  Many were made several years ago in the dream like days of our early time in Nepal when hardly anyone knew I existed and I could spend the required time making them.  Others were made during less dream like days of enforced rest recovering from a health hiccup.And then life gets busy and I make to-do lists (that I may or may not look at) and try to be courageous and compassionate and get distracted and procrastinate and it all gets serious and there is no time to build babes who may not work.Until Friday.  I ignored the to-do list.  I didn't mix the clay for the Sydney classes. I didn't write the notes for an upcoming class.  I didn't make necklace #30. I didn't post on the blog.  I didn't clean my table.  I didn't do any paperwork.  I made a lady.I need to get back into the way of it.  I have forgotten some of the hard learned lessons to avoid cracking and furrows.  But look, we all have to live with increasing furrows don't we?This lady was made to go with this...thing I found at the tip.  I don't know what it was - maybe a beaded jug cover?  Anyway, I painted it with liquid polymer and it was obviously a shield waiting for a warrior.  And I have always loved the blue and red fabric (a Tiwi Island screen print) that you glimpse in the back of one of her photos.  (For one of the photos I asked her to put the shield down.)  With those colours and images in mind, she was born.  She has needs.  She will not be for sale.  But the drought has broken.  And I'm onto the to-do list today.