Tiptoe Through the Tulips

For the past few days, I've been making some curtains for Josh and Lori's nursery. I finished them and sent them off today. The colors in the baby's room are lime green, pink, brown and white, so those are the colors I used.

Here's a photo of the pair, and a detail shot of the appliqued tulips.

















Today, I was filled with energy and got so much done, it surprised even me. I think maybe because I don't have any pressing obligations at the moment, I feel more relaxed and energetic.

Lately, I've been doing a lot of thinking about generosity. Sometimes I'm blown away by how generous other artists are with their techniques, hints, cautionary voices of experience, and willingness to give honest critique and helpful suggestions. To me, that kind of generosity is the most meaningful by far. Not that I don't like goodies and presents and stuff, but it's more the intangible generosities that I most appreciate.

Nancy Crow is someone who I find to be incredibly generous in sharing her years and years of experience. I never sense that she's guarding her trade secrets or giving misleading critique in order to protect her standing as a top artist.

Intangible generosity is the most difficult for me. I tend to keep my thoughts to myself for fear of stepping on someone's ego or giving advice that is unwanted. I even find myself keeping ideas close to my chest to make sure no one steals them before I've had a chance to be the first to do them.

Hmmm. Seems like if I like being offered wisdom from others, others must like it too. But how do we determine what seems generous and what seems intrusive? I guess this is just another something for me to mull over some more.