Wild Earth Integration

What do you get when you mix fire and ice?

A whole lot of awesome, that’s what.

Seeing how we’re starting to enter into ‘Winter Temperatures: The Extreme Edition’ around here, I thought it would be a great time to put all of the cold to some creative use. Plus, all of this gray outside can make people squirrelly. Enter the Icy Candle Holder. I swear, it’s going to be the next Snuggie.

All you’ll need is an empty can – big, small, whatever you have – (although tuna sized cans would make for particularly cute holders), some water, food coloring and a chunk of plasticine. And if you know me at all, you know I’ve got plenty of plasticine lying about. *Grin*

Start off by cleaning out your can and giving it a quick dry with a tea towel. Next, use your hands (or feet, if you’re really talented) to form it into a tea light shape. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be Bernini to pull this off. Starting off with a bit of clay the size of a rum ball should do the trick. Stick your chunk of clay into the bottom of the can – this will serve as where the candle will be set when your masterpiece is done.

Next, fill ‘er up! Add water to the top and a dash of food coloring and head on outside to find a good spot for it to freeze. Letting the water freeze for awhile before adding color will give you some cool streaky designs, while adding it right away will give you a nice blended look. When the whole lot is frozen, a quick run under warm water will loosen the ice and voila! – a wintery candle holder to add a bit of color to your winter world!

I’d love to see some of your creations, so send some my way (pictures, please no ice in the mail) if you try it out!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go and shovel purple snow.

Field notes:

-Hat on wet hair does not a warm girl make.

-Adding bird seed to the water will gain you some feathered friends.

-If attempting while windy, be prepared for lovely food colored-splash on pristine white snow. (see above) This might result in neighbors thinking your dog is terribly ill. Oh my.

Just a quick update to look forward to — Last week, I was fortunate enough to speak at a workshop focused on creating positive change in the world. I chatted with 3 groups of Grade 7s-8s about sustainability, social justice, environmentalism and (of course) clay. The kids were awesome, and they definitely have some world changing ideas.

Just wait ’til you see what they made. Stay tuned for more details and pictures of their masterpieces!

In the meantime, I hope you’re feelin good.

Artists and writers, listen up. Scientists, you too. We all play nice here and this post is for both of you.

Looking for something to really help you open up and create a masterpiece? What about a clever trick that just might lead you to stunning scientific epiphanies? Are you ready?

Sfumato. Kind of sounds like a weird sort of tomato-fungus hybrid, doesn’t it? But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Sfumato can change your life.

Literally, sfumato means ‘to go up in smoke’. It is normally used to describe an Italian painting technique, most notably demonstrated by our pal Da Vinci and his Mona Lisa. The wispy thin layers of paint endlessly applied over each other created one of the most ambiguously beautiful images in our history. Sfumato is why this painting has become one of the most talked about icons of all time. Is she smiling? Smirking? Pregnant? Happy? Innocent? Seductive? What is her deal? The Mona Lisa personifies sfumato because we really have no idea what is going on with her.

But sfumato is more than just a paint technique.

In life, sfumato is the principle of accepting and embracing the unknown. It is seeing the paradoxes and contradictions – the gray areas, the smoky hazes and the veils between ideas. Da Vinci once said that the things in life that make us the most happy will also make us the most sad. That’s a paradox if I’ve ever heard one. To me, this is a lot like what Achilles says in Troy: “Everything is more beautiful because we are doomed.” Life is full of contradictory ideas like this. Joy/sorrow, journey/destination, good/evil, incubation/output, change/permanence, logic/imagination; we live with the tension between these ideas everyday, but we don’t really think about it. The principle of sfumato allows you to contemplate these ideas simultaneously, while accepting the fact that you just don’t know.

The Big, Bad Unknown

Typically, when faced with the unknown we get anxious. We freak out. We enter denial. We become control freaks, desperately trying to align our world in clean, right angles and tidy, colour coded boxes. But this is no way to view the world – at least not if you want to do something extraordinary. You must be willing to not know, which inherently means you are willing to absolutely fall on your arse and fail remarkably. When you start a new project, admit it – you have no idea where it may lead. You may create the next bestseller or the world’s heaviest paperweight – who knows? You might seek the cure for cancer and find it, or you might lead the way to something else or (just as remarkably) add to the pile of ten thousand ideas that don’t work. You just don’t know. Embrace that.

Why Sfumato Is Where It’s At

If you’re okay with the concept of uncertainty, you are open to more. More sights, more sounds, more tastes, more experiences, more ideas. If something comes at you when you’re hell bent on forcing certainty, the chances are good that you will miss it, because it wasn’t part of your plan. It might even bug you. If you are open to doubt, you are open to all sides – the yesses and the nos, the rights and the wrongs. Most importantly, if you are open to the unknown, you won’t miss your hunches. And hunches, my friend, are quite possibly your best opportunity for success, in work and life.

Say it with me. Sfumato.

Allow yourself the possibility of seeing things differently.

Yes, this post is ambiguous. See my point?