The white rabbit saga pt 2

                     Mila

As I get older I am drawn towards people, events and ways of living which are not fast or immediate but which show passionate involvement and concentration on the job in hand; with more concern for quality of product than money.

And below is a lovely reaction to my Mila the angora rabbit blog from a linkedin friend Warren A Reilly.

'I am with you there Michael...
Perhaps there is a sentimentality that comes at a certain time of life, however I (like you :-) am also no luddite to modern technology or community, and yet as I get older the 'value' of those older traditions are being raised within my own eyes.

Yes, I am aware that there may be more efficient materials than angora rabbit fur...
Yes, I am aware that I could probably buy a garment for a third of the cost - made in a sweat shop in Indo-china..
Yes, I am aware that this is labour intensive and you could not possibly expect to compete in a global market with a garment made in this way....(blah, blah, blah..)

But that is the point - I wouldn't value a culturally neutral & optimised product made under duress by a stranger..
I want the jumper that took 4 weeks from start to finish. The one that lasts at least 10 years if looked after lovingly.
I want the one made a person who made it for me - as an individual.

I know it is more expensive, I don't care - I really don't care.
If I don't have the money to pay for it, then just have to work a bit harder for a bit longer and save up for it. The anticipation only adds to the value... :-)

Those days back then

Yesterday we went to a festa of local artisans at the Fattoria San Liberato nearby. Now, I'm not exactly a Luddite by nature as I love the beauty of a lot of modern design, but I was deeply moved by the quality and sensibility of the old ways and crafts presented at the festa by a host of quite lovely folks; weavers, shoemakers, bag makers, hatmakers, watchmakers and many more. I got into conversation with many a kind person and was struck by their intensity of purpose and the presence they exhibited in particular the deep levels of concentration they portrayed.
Here's but one example which warmed my heart.

 

This is Mila (and her owner Stefano.) Mila is an angora rabbit and Stefano told me stories of how he used to go up to Treviso in the 50's with his father to fetch Angora rabbits. They would keep them and cut their fur with scissors and sell it to local weavers. This trade has long since died out but he has this one rabbit whose name is Mila. He has tried breeding them but they are so delicate that those he gives to people as pets seldom live long as folks do not realise how special they are and how much attention they need. He takes Mila with him everywhere and she sits beside him on the passenger seat of his car with a special seat belt. She is shy of strangers and buries her head under his elbow when feeling timid and sucks his thumb for comfort.

This is Camilla. She is a weaver but does less weaving nowadays as her fingers have gotten stiff.
Here she is weaving angora fur which she makes the occasional jumper with. She visits schools and talks to children about the times past and she says that they are always completely enchanted. And she tells them all about life the old days and questions them and allows all their questions too.
This made me laugh.. One of the questions she asked recently at a school was 'Where does yogurt come from?' And a little girl answered 'From the fridge' And then she went on to show them how to make it.

                  This is an angora fur neck warmer modelled by Liliana

                                  (photo Nicki on a One2One, May 2014, Pedaso, Italy)

Back to now. I love this photo, I think because it symbolises creativity as a singular pursuit;
a private voyage with the soul merging with nature. And there is no separateness. There is just timeless time, concentration which dissolves into pure presence. It is the same parallel existence which runs beside us like a daemon who cares for us. It is the same gift which we contain within us still, and which existed abundantly in those old days. But it only re-emerges in present times when we choose to prise ourselves loose from this modern world which herds us into ever diminishing corridors of constraint.

Michael
starstone one2ones

Photographer Michael Eldridge discusses 'Awareness' an Exhibition of Pho...

Three workshops in Tolentino

La Rancia is a Twelth Century castle near Tolentino in Le Marche. These are images from my workshops where adults were seven year olds and children their fellow artists. Art attacks and jungles (yet to come)

She is meditating on her image, or dozing, so we just left her alone

Group paintings in Art Attack game

Age group five to sixty

More on starstone.org

For more info on our exciting workshops write to Michael michael@starstone.org

Men in White Gloves

Beware of them, my mum always told me...but I jest.
Colin Tracy, Steve Bray (the author of Photography and Zen) and I, shared an exhibition in Marmaris, Turkey. It was great to be fussed over and welcomed in such a heart felt way and we wish we could have stayed longer. The gallery is superb as you can see and I think it was the nicest opening I've ever experienced. In fact it was.

Stephen and Irem the most perfect hosts and the Turkish guests so sincere and charming.
I have this idea of buying a boat and living there ;O)
You can see us on TV tonight (Wed) at 630pm UK time
Wearing white gloves

Michael

BIG PAINTING

       BIG PAINTING, SEPTEMBER 11-14
   

            ..rediscovering your unique creativity

                                      With Michelle Rumney and Michael Eldridge


Can you remember your childhood days when every minute was a wondrous realm of imagination and you were totally absorbed in the depth of each moment? Imagine, once again, finding within yourself a colourful creative garden of spontaneity and intuition . . .

Art makes art; creativity feeds creativity. Want to get all that amazing stuff out of your head and into the world? To share with the world? StarStone will show you how. And we do it with a lot of fun and laughter!

Our BIG PAINTING workshops provide simple ways to help you rediscover the original source of your creativity and to know that is it possible to live from a secure place within yourself that permits you to act from your own uniqueness. You paint BIG and thus become BIG in your imagination and love of creativity

You'll experience new ways of self expression and rediscover the precious core of your creativeness, which has always been there waiting to be re-awakened.


Ryanair flights to Ancona and Pescara are low low this week. But be quick!



'Ideas which stay in the head, die in the head'
                                                   ...Delacroix
        
                    What better way to welcome Springtime?

                                        Your creativity matters.

Michael at Starstone

Coaching and the creative mind

                       the Sibillini mountains, our summer playground in Le Marche

I'm a guest speaker at the ICF Global Conference in Malmo Sept 18-20 on the subject of creativity, and how it is what everybody is talking about and yet few know how to do; how to enter this enchanting parallel world.

And here in Italy I am running a seminar (May 29 to June 1) where, if you are already a Creativity Coach, or aspire to be one, this will prove to be a fascinating voyage into the inner world of the creative artist. An opportunity to experience for yourselves the wondrously contradictory labyrinths of the creative mind, our working territory, where you will paint, you will write, you will get lost down the rabbit hole of creativity and be rescued.

read on ....

Michael at STARSTONE

info@starstone.org