Fives

Fives meme from Sarah, over at The Beaded Lily:

What are your 5 favorite art works? Have you seen them in person? Do you have plans to?

• One of Monet's big Waterlily paintings was at the museum where I went to school for awhile. I would get out of class and sit in front of it by the hour, rapt. Rewarding both close inspection and distant gazing, it remains one of the most true utterances of the paintbrush that I have ever seen.
  
• American Beauty by the Grateful Dead. I have loved it from the moment I first heard it when it was new. I played it every single day of my pregnancy so that there would be music in utero for Owen (who also perforce loves it). I never heard them play, but was at Jerry Garcia's wake in Golden Gate Park which was the absolute center of the universe that day.
  
• The Bridge to Middle-Earth, more prosaically known as the St. Johns Bridge. Yes, I go out of my way to drive over it whenever possible.
  
• Athanor by Anselm Kiefer. Yes, it caught me unawares and made me weep.
  
• Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea. I have had the privilege of meeting Ms. Le Guin a number of times, and one of my dearest possessions is an autographed copy of the book.

What are 5 crafts you couldn't live without? Have you done them? Any good?

• Cooking. Yes. Yes.
  
• Beading. Yes. Getting there.
  
• Lampworking. Yes. Not yet.
  
• Drawing. Yes. Not so good as I'd like to be.
  
• Embroidery. Yes. I was, but I haven't picked up a needle without beads on it in years.

What are 5 crafts you'd like to learn? Have you ever tried them? Will you?

• Polymer clay. No. Maybe.
  
• Shoemaking. No. Probably not.
  
• Marzipan animals & vegetables. No. Maybe.
  
• Macramé. No. Not unless I start smoking weed.
  
• Celtic knotwork done with pen & ink. No. See above.

What are 5 arts and crafts you've tried that weren't for you?

• Sewing with a machine. OMG I am so bad at this! I would sew for about an inch and then everything would stop and there'd be this huge tangled ball of thread and then there were bobbins off the track and it was awful.
  
• Crocheting. I did make a single chain about a million yards long when I was in junior high. I vaguely recall some lumpy scarves, too.
  
• Knitting. Totally beyond me. I stabbed myself in the eye. Okay, not really, but it was close.
  
• Scrapbooking.
  
• Anything that involves ribbon.

What are 5 things you aim for with your art/craft?

• Artistry
  
• Truth
  
• Organic feel
  
• Integrity
  
• Craftsmanship