Peace in progress

I finally had time to do 

what I've been wanting to do for a bit...

work on the prayer flags.

Or are they peace flags?

Or simply soul flags?

A start has been made...

Mary Jane and Fiona both offered the inspiration for me to also start my flags for peace (see their posts below). From a broken umbrella I was able to salvage a beautiful circle of 'rainbow' fabric.

©2012 Barry Smith - Rainbow fabric ready for salvaging

©2012 Barry Smith - Fabric rainbow

And with a bit of delicate and slightly tedious cutting I was able to tease a set of pennant flags and strings from the rainbow circle. Because it is a wet day on the mountain Fiona and I rigged the string of 'flags-to-be' across a window area which also doubles as our morning daily word and reflection corner.

©2012 Fiona Dempster - A string of peace 'flags-to-be' 

©2012 Barry Smith - A rainbow covered couch

I now intend to reinforce the flags-to-be and stamp them  with a yet undetermined peace design.

Small steps

It was a bit of a bleak weekend here again so we were inside mostly. I thought I'd make a start on my indoor flags.  Very simple, I am using tracing paper with one letter per flag, with the word peace being spelt out in rainbow colours.

Peace will appear seven times - 35 flags in this set.

I am planning to stitch them together with a ribbon at the top and will then hang them inside somewhere (the ink might run in the rain I think).

Then it will be on to my outdoor peace flags which have a lot more work in them!

3 months -

tam - seed syllable of the taras

associated with compassion

so i do believe i have my central symbol selected - 

i will be carving rubber stamps so as to add color to fiber -

do you have any ideas beginning to come together for int'l peace day in september?

here, there and every where

pearl street bagels, jackson hole, wyoming

my daughter is on her first young adult adventure.

a photographer's assistant, she will be providing support during a summer solstice workshop at yellowstone national park and then grand teton... 

she had breakfast here this morning and shared it with me -

peace, love and living life - 

it does a heart good!

i would love it if you would share images of where you find flags... 

Peace flags and daily life

I took this photo today over at our shed.  The mist was in and the breeze was stirring and I looked up, and there was this little group of peace flags dancing and playing amongst it all. What I loved most as I thought about it, was that there they are, hanging on our old washing line.

The pegs are still there. The line still get used. It sags a bit and doesn't look in the slightest bit glamourous. But in there, amongst the daily chores of life, of washing and cleaning and drying clothes and cloths, is peace. Peace sits alongside our daily life and shares it with us.

A gentle reminder for me that peace isn't else-where or other-where; it can be found within us and in our daily lives.

Impermanence

Some days, when the work has a difficult time coming through while I'm working in the studio, I hook up the old laptop in the studio and stream documentaries to help organize my thoughts and inspire me. Yesterday was such a day. While watching the documentary, Tides and Rivers, I was inspired by the parallels drawn between the work of Andy Goldsworthy and the tradition of flying prayer flags.

Here is a short trailer:




The full documentary can be found on Google in a lower quality and is also available streaming on Netflix.

my own two hands

how things that are so simple

path to nirvana - ancient thai symbol

can become so complex... 


peace and love, at their core, are pure and simple... yet humans seem to corrupt them with their baggage... but i guess that's what makes us human...


coming from center, moving our way out of fears, habits, patterns, desires that can hold us back from those pure states of being


we diligently work


to be set free...