I have some narrative stories from the weekend, but first—an essay I drafted last week for you.

The History of "My Art" - A couple of friends seem to be spending this week telling the history of their Art. I've been really inspired by the stories shared by Ianuk (Jen) and Ari (whose modern name I don't actually know!), and thought maybe I should do the same. Here's my story, as I can remember it.

First: Music - I have a strong connection between music, color, and art in my mind. I tend to remember color more than words, shapes and visual details more than anything else, and strong musical memory. I do *not* have perfect pitch, but I'm often thought that perhaps I had "memorized pitch." I rarely drift off a core note, if I've been given a root (or a key) to memorize.

One of my earliest childhood memories includes walking by myself up the block, either to play on the playground at the elementary school, or possibly just walking to school (Kindergarten? First grade?). As I walked, I was singing and making up little songs. I've been singing almost as long as I've been walking or talking. My sister and I sang along with Broadway musicals on LP. We would "put on a show" for anyone who would stop to watch us, as we skipped and danced around the room, singing along with the album. (I was partial to "Pippin" and "Fiddler on the Roof," but other favorites of ours included "West Side Story," "Sound of Music," "Godspell," and later "Cats.")

There was a piano in our home: An old player piano with the tubing removed, tuned "to itself" but not to true pitch because the strings were so old they would snap if tuned true. [This meant if either my sister or I tried to play clarinet (her) or flute (me) along with piano accompaniment, we had to transpose our instruments to the piano.] I took piano lessons starting in 2nd grade, flute in 5th grade, received a piccolo in 7th, started xylophone (and all other mallets and percussion) in 9th grade, marched with a drum and bugle corps in '86 (Velvet Knights, the James Bond Tour, we finished 12th in Finals), marched in the Rose Parade, picked up some guitar in college, spent my first year at college as a Percussion major, sang on tour with the Continentals '90, started singing with my band in '98, performed at Baja Prog 2004 (making me an "international rock star," dontcha know?!), started singing in my Shire in the SCA in the mid 90's, started singing solo work in the SCA about 6-7 years ago, served as the Baronial Bard in Lyondemere 05-06 and Kingdom Bard 08-09... so I suppose I've been composing in the SCA for over five years now?

Next: Calligraphy and Illumination - Spooling my brain back again to childhood, I seem to remember having good grades in third grade in everything =EXCEPT= handwriting. Some time around then, my Mom enrolled in a calligraphy course at the local college (Mom, is that right?). I was just *facinated* by the calligraphy, and started copying anything and everything I could from her practice sheets. I seem to remember that there were always some of those felt-tip chisel (fake) calligraphy pens around the house. As a teen, I would doodle while talking on the phone for hours—lots of circles and straight lines, repetitive patterns, cross-hatching—anything to fill the page. I still find myself doodling at business meetings.

I always enjoyed art classes throughout my school years, although I always assumed I had a childish, almost comic drawing style (without actually being good enough to draw comic strips). In college, I found heraldry through the SCA, and knew instantly that my drawing style would easily fit the heraldic style. Even during my college years when I *wasn't* active in the SCA, I doodled pages and pages of Heraldic charges and rules, lovingly copied from a gigantic copy "A Complete Guide to Heraldry" by Fox-Davies (the 656 pp version!).

Finally: Textiles - Growing up, Mom kept a stack of shelves stocked wtih artistic supplies and kits, to keep us busy. We had embroidery, macrame, paint-by-number, cross-stitch, those "wrap thread around the pins" kits (which I cannot find *ANYWHERE* on the internet, in a quick 5-min search), and stacks of pens, colored paper, glitter, glue, yarn, you name it. [Of course, we grew up in Ohio, so sometimes it was too snowy and cold for the stand-by "go outside and play!"]

Throughout childhood, we were sewing clothing for our dollies, fixing our own missing buttons, hemming pants, and a variety of other projects. When I had "home economics: sewing" in junior high, I already knew how to use a sewing machine, so I took to embroidering my apron assignment, sewing a ridiculously difficult stuffed animal pattern, etc. (Hmm, I still have that cat somewhere.)

But with all these textile arts, I didn't really become addicted to one craft until I was introduced to drop spindle sometime around 97-98. My then-husband was doing metal-work at a "Hammer Inn" at Oso's house, and Mistress Therese was teaching non-metal classes in the shade. I learned "underwater basket-weaving" first, and then took her drop-spindle class. There was a magical moment spinning when it was if the universe froze in place and a voice loudly announced, "Hello. I am Spinning. I will be your Addiction For Life. Please go dig coins out of your car, to buy a spindle TODAY, RIGHT NOW." So I've been spinning on a drop-spindle for the past 14 years now.

My Art is Always Plural - When I spent time with Tonwen talking about my artistic interests, I never could narrow it down to just one focus. I've always been drawn to doing more than one project at a time. I immediately said my "one favorite" form included three things: Music, Spinning, and Scribal. When I was looking at college, I went in as a Percussion major because "Percussion is Plural." If you look around my home, there are shelves and shelves of supplies and projects in various states of production. I just cannot limit myself to one thing.

And looking at my pursuits now versus my childhood favorites, I really have found my three artistic loves. Bardic (singing, composing, and storytelling), Scribal (both calligraphy and illumnination, newly blossoming in ways I had only previously dreamed of pursuing), and Textiles (primarily spinning, but with healthy doses of natural dyeing, embroidery, and sewing). And I feel good about it.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Mom, for inspiring me to plural art forms, and always believing in me