Embrace the Unlovable!

Thy Friend, close-up

My garden, as you may have guessed, is a constant source of creative inspiration for me. However, it's time for a little honesty on my part. It is not all healthy beautiful flowers nor a limitless source of sweetness and light! There are weeds, many varieties, poor soil, a crumbling garden rock wall (a post for another time), a fence that needs repair, a crooked trellis, and aggressive perennials that I PLANTED, that have slowly taken over areas, squeezing out the more timid plants. Oh, and more weeds!

A few years back, feeling overwhelmed by this "garden gone wrong" I asked myself, "What if I embrace the things in the garden that make me unhappy. Surrender to the crazy. Embrace the negative, the unloveable, and make it positive instead?" So I pulled out my sketchbook, wandered the garden to make note of the miscreants, and to see if this experiment of viewing the things that were making me crazy, could truly be represented in a different light.

At that time, I was designing a rug to commemorate my youngest child graduating from high school. I wanted it to be used by the front door, and to say something about "coming and going". Bob Dylan lyrics were swimming in my head as well as a particular poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson. "Go often to the house of thy friend for weeds choke the unused path."

Thy Friend

There was that word again, "weeds"! Remembering my vow to make creative peace with the weeds, I thumbed through my sketch book and was inspired by the shape and tenacious nature of the bindweed that was threatening to take over my yard. It has beautiful heart-shaped leaves and cool scrolling, vining tendrils. This weed, became the inspiration for the leaf motifs in my rug, Thy Friend.

bindweed, morning glory

Thy Friend, close-up

I have a new respect and affection for this misguided morning glory type plant. Though I still wish it wasn't so determined to be in my garden.