 Healing Hearts #1 to #9 "April hath put a spirit of youth in everything." William Shakespeare I love the smell of spring. The scent of the earth warming up. Green things pushing up through the ground. Birdsong so sweet it uplifts the heaviest of hearts. It's a time of renewal and the birth of creative projects. In January, an artist friend brought #the100dayproject to my attention and I thought it might be a great way to get rid of the doldrums during a very long and isolated covid winter. I had to come up with a creative project, work on something for 100 days and share my process on Instagram (@andrea_artarage) or other social media platform. So I looked at all the porcelain and ceramic sea shards that I collected and piled up in baskets in my studio and decided that it was finally time to use them. I was going to create a simple design on small 5"x5" cradled wood panels and so #100daysofseashardsandhealinghearts was born. I ordered cradled wood panels from Twisted Doorbell in Bridgetown (I highly recommend them), got the appropriate glue and grout and dove right in. Since I did not cut the shards to fit the pattern, it took time to find pieces that fit well together in a heart shape. That was definitely the longest process. These antique shards were carefully glued and left to dry for 24+ hours. The next step was to grout and allow another day or two to dry and then clean with a vinegar solution to take off the grout residue. I quickly realized I couldn't do one a day but probably one a week. These shards hold a lot of mystery. They wash up on our little beach in Whitehead, Nova Scotia. Some say the porcelain and ceramics were used as ballast on ships coming from England and France in the 18th & 19th centuries, maybe they wash up from ancient sunken ships or are simply broken throw aways from long past residents of small fishing communities. Each unique piece holds secrets and stories and I feel good about giving them another purpose. I plan to hold a fundraiser for a good cause (TBA) at the end of 100 days and I hope that my Healing Hearts will find walls to hang upon. Happy Easter, Ostara Blessings, Happy Passover, Ramadan Mubarak.... AXO  Healing Heart #9 |
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