Guest Post - Wendy Wetherbee

I was flattered to be invited to write a guest post. I love to write but honestly, I’ve been sort of blocked about where to go with this. I didn't want to write a lot of empty biographic crud that waxes poetic about me.  I thought about lots of subjects but couldn't really narrow anything down. I decided that whatever I wrote I wanted it to mean something to someone else. I wanted to write something that would resonate with someone, or inspire them in some way. Lofty goals for a first time guest blogger, especially when everyone is inspired by different things. But after giving it some thought I realized that sometimes my favorite blog posts are about what gets another artist going, feeds their fires and propels them to "make art".

So I decided to share a bit about what makes me tick, I hope that my words will draw a picture for you about what inspires me most.

----------------------------------------------------------

Maybe its because I grew up in New Hampshire, but I love walking in the woods. Since I can remember the forests have been around me and I have been around them.

The landscape of the "Granite State" is in my blood, I breathe it in and keep it in my heart. I love the trees that grow here. I love the musky perfume of the balsams and evergreens that fill our forests. I love the damp smell of the earth and decaying leaf litter. I love the way a well worn path gives slightly to cushion my steps.  I love the earthy red-brown softness of a pine needle carpet and the way the twisted root cobbles rise on the path every spring with the freeze and thaw of the earth.

On a cloudy day the woods are soft and dark and quiet and meditative. On a sunny day the dappled sunshine streams in through the tree limbs and turns the scene into a natural cathedral. Bird songs pepper the air, woodpecker knocks echo cavernously, great horned owls hoot to tell me I might be getting too close.

For me this piney environment is a calming place to be. I can go there, camera or sketchbook in hand and l can leave behind the morning rush of backpacks and lunch money, my looming deadlines and upcoming expenses. Everything fades away into the mossy green darkness. When I am particularly lucky I can travel even further north, to places where moose out number people. Where loons cry their mournful call and mist rises like spirits over lakes and ponds.

It is in those places where I am completely at home. There is a feeling of timelessness that I can't explain. Senses that I didn't even know that I had are opened. I am most inspired and awed when I can feel the pulse of the woods and know that I am not the most powerful thing there. I want to know that other eyes are watching, twitching ears are listening, and flaring nostrils have scented me a mile before I stepped foot on the trail.

On my luckiest days, I am graced with the presence of another creature. Among the many I’ve crossed paths with are deer, moose, bear, ravens, crows, the occasional porcupine, coyotes and like winning the lottery - even a bobcat. If  I’m quiet and still enough, they will stay and eye me with the same curiosity that I eye them. For as long as they allow me to, I study their fur or feathers, I notice how the sun glints in their eyes, or shines off their coat. I amaze at the way an ink black feather can with a glint of the sun become a rainbow of prismatic colors. How in an instant a bull moose, larger than my truck can disappear like a ghost into invisibility. And how a flutter of wings can sound so loud when a bird flies so close you can feel it like a whisper against your cheek.

For as long as I remain there, breathing it all in, I belong to no one but the woods. It envelops me in its comforting familiarity of sight, sound, and smell, and long for it again as soon as I leave.

Whether I am sitting at my easel or at my jewelry bench, those are the kinds of experiences that I hope to share with others through my work. Nature is a powerful, transformative thing, and I hope to do her justice in everything I do.


Wendy Wetherbee
Pure Dichotomy

Wendy's amazing jewelry, photography and art can be found here. Please go take a look at her shop, all her items are incredible.