the bare bones (white) talisman detail Mo 14 scale app 3:1
raw linen string and waxed linen thread, vintage button, dead coral washed up on the beach at Ocean Isle back in August, shells, bone, wood, glass & pearl beads
true scale below
this is a talisman for stripping back the excess down to the bare bones
I was hoping the wishbone would fit in but it was excess to requirements, am enjoying starting to write out what each of the talismans is invoking, naming the stones, bones, claws, feathers and colours and why they are good for calling in &/or protecting. Defining is giving me a deeper insight into the magic as I don’t really know what they are or what they do ’til they’re done. There’s no plan, each one takes me on a journey of “just going”with the materials as Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth has named the creative process.
the bare bones (white) talisman
Posted: October 17, 2014 by Mo Crow in It's Crow TimeTags: string, talismans
Comments
It's Crow Time 
A snow white beauty Mo,
Love to see the working table ❤
These sweet delicate petal-like forms (right hand side of the "work"picture)
are those shells too??
yes they are tiny shells found in the shore break here in Sydney & are surprisingly hard to drill even with a diamond bit!
Bare bones…..perfect! A guide to the essentials.
thanks Dana, you have such a way with words!
This whole idea is magic. How amazing they would be as one exhibit…
have just started on no 9 with a deep forest feel in mind but so far I am trying to set a moss agate into a quail wishbone which may well become something else altogether!
i agree with Julie…it would be great to see the Vast Array. Do they go as fast as you make
them or are you holding them together for an exhibit?
Hi Grace, there will be 9 talismans (this one is no 8) for the xmas show at Artsite Gallery, Madeleine is very supportive of my work and her gallery is just a two minute walk away. x fingers they will sell to help pay for the printing of The illustrated lyrics of Old Man Crow. It feels strange to have all the crow drawings finished & cooling off waiting for me to do the final edit once this flurry of talismans is out of the way and the annual xmas card print run of 150 cards is done, I love this time of the year!
Being all together will add to each. I hope you can take photographs at the Gallery….
all 9 are hanging on a huge embroidery hoop on the book case (have tried taking a photo but it doesn’t want to work) & they do talk to each other, will take some proper photos soon
Each talisman Mo has a sense of the mystery of the deep knowing; they are beautiful in their variety. Your process of letting the naming come as you fully engage in the making is such an organic way of creating because you and the materials used, work side by side. AND I also would love to see them all together. Your next talisman, the one you call your forest one has me holding my breath…moss agate…my favorite stone of all is jade, my favorite color is green.
Hi Marti, it’s changing already, each one needs certain pieces that are here, the first moss agate I chose & drilled as well as the wishbone have both been ejected from this “can’t see the forest for the trees”
Perfect, Mo! If I can’t get to this Christmas exhibition to see all your talismans together… then I’m going to be very disappointed. Think I must start planning now. It will be too special to miss.
I hope you can make it, just talked to Madeleine yesterday, the work has to be delivered by Nov 24th, the show will open a week later and run til xmas.
I have always loved shells … ‘though my tastes have changed and I now prefer broken to whole ones. Each is a life’s work … a thing of beauty that remains even after the life that created it has gone.
there is a lovely honouring of the old and weathered by artists and craftsmen working in so many different media happening all around the world but it is still so good to find a whole sand dollar!
So I looked back but couldnt find what the other talismans are invoking. Tell!!
I’m working on it but here’s a rough
1- Sea Dreaming
for edge walking
2- Crow Eye Amulet
cant explain this one any better than my friend Wayne Snowdon said 10 years ago,
“Ahhh…carving….I fully appreciate directing ones art towards the talinistic, who says art has no function! if it must look in, let it protect it’s own illusion…”
3- ‘lighter than air leaning into the light’
Richard named this one “Lighter than air”… the “leaning into the light” happened as I finished it off remembering these words from Barry Lopez
“How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.”
– Barry Lopez, “Arctic Dreams”
4) Path of Heart (handle with care)
the title is self explanatory but will go into the significance of the rainbow lorikeet and quartz crystal to the young hippie chick that still dwells within the heart of this very close to 60 year old body
5) Out of the Blue for honouring the things that come out of the blue
6) Rolling in the Deep (Blue)
for when you feel like breaking plates
7) Turquoise talisman
an ode to the beauty of turquoise, it’s like holding a piece of the sky, good for traveling
8) the bare bones (white)
stripping back the excess to the bare bones of the matter
thanks for the prompt!
gotta go! a friend is taking me out to the edge of the city to draw en plein air
This one strikes me, raw, comforting & cleansing.
I hope you’ll share photos of them all together when you’re done.
thanks for the good words Cindy, I like how this one is so pared back, my friend Bronwyn has offered to help do a studio shoot with a digital SLR in her big well lit studio space as soon as I get no 9 finished so we will get them all together in one photo for sure!
oh the gathering… I imagine the sounds these beautiful strung works might make knocking into each other… I love the pale subtlety of this one. Also, I am trying to imagine how it feels to have completed all those drawings!
will get back to you on that it’s been a roller coaster of a week!
PS OK this morning I have recovered from the Barrel of Fun not being selected for the 6x6x6 Minumental show at Defiance Gallery which opened on Wednesday night, the crow drawings are settling til the end of the year when the editing will begin, tried to get the last one scanned over at Tillys Art Supplies in Rozelle on a big plan scanning machine but the resolution of detail wasn’t good enough so will scan the best sections of each drawing here on my A4 scanner and stitch them together virtually, looking forward to the process in 2015.
PPS just delivered Rod’s Crow Book 3 (The Smoking Man) for the annual Australian Bookbinders Exhibition at the Research Library of the AGNSW which opens in late November & x fingers the “7 Talismans, 1 Amulet & a Barrel of Fun” will all be selected for the Collector’s Choice at Artsite Gallery also in late November.