Cracked Stone: An Artist Works with her Muse by Sara Wright

I open the door to step on fieldstones that I have carefully placed, stone by stone to create a ‘patio’ of sorts out of what used to be an eyesore.  First flooded waters sat there in mud, then on thin layers of gravel. Just outside my door. This one area roughly 12x 24 is the only flat piece of ground on this property. Water and ice just sit there forever. Winters have been hell.

About six years ago I put in a side door to escape the mountains of snow that slid off the roof burying the front door  for 7- 8 months of the year. I shoveled the roof and path to this door for all the years I have lived here until recently. I gave up this practice at 75 for safety reasons after breaking my foot but was stuck with mucky ground.  Worst for me was that the space was so ugly – the rest of this property with its winding brook, field and forested hills is astonishingly beautiful.

Even when I could use the front door I dragged in old leaves, mud,  gravel and made myself crazy with housework which I despise. I could not keep the floors clean.

This year something snapped. I tried to get someone to help me lay the stones. No takers, so the Little Red hen at 81 said ‘I’ll do it myself’. I had no idea how to do this project, so I just ordered stones and started to lay them. Each stone I had to bring down the hill individually. Carrying more than one was too heavy.

The artist in me took over – oh, I was creating the most unusual outdoor mosaic I thought. To say I was pleased is an understatement!

This summer’s project has been evolving on days when good – air accompanies my work. I only do a little at a time because i am mindful of my aging body, and also immersed in other projects including a bee study and the ever- present writing commitments…

 When I climb the steep hill for the irregular stones, I have no idea where they will go until I walk back down the hill. I began this endeavor in late May and am just finishing laying the stones in late August. Meanwhile wild violets, oxalis, plaintain, columbine and tufts of grass have sprung up in between the stones along with some lichens and fern moss.

 First, I decided to stabilize one short path for little Coalie. To do that I just kept walking over that one area until the stones ceased to wobble. Next, I stabilized a path for me to climb the hill. I didn’t do this myself. Nature brought down sheets of rain that helped settle the stones, and then she brought the wildflowers in. In fact, it seemed obvious right from the beginning that Nature was going to be my partner in this endeavor.

And so, she has been filling the cracks with bits of needles old leaves – detritus – whatever blows in. I laid one more path to round the cabin so I could water thirsty plants. Once these paths were completed and walked on, I laid the rest of the stones around them. The latter are not stable yet, but my dog and I don’t walk on wobbly ground.

I have just begun the process of filling the rest in after ordering crushed nubbly granite to fill in the cracks between the stones. I love the contrast between white granite and darker rock slabs.

Each of these  gravel chunks I carry down in a one – quart pitcher. A multitude of  trips up the hill haven’t dampened my enthusiasm though this project has gone on for months.

I love what I am doing – giving the artist free reign – and am in no hurry for it to end. I will probably not finish my walkway/ patio until next spring. I will wait until the granite pieces settle in and to see what the fall rains and icy winters will do to help or hinder the stability of the stones.

Either way I am prepared and wonder how this artist’s mosaic will turn out. This project has been so process oriented that a goal was never in sight. The joy is in the doing. Especially when in late summer I am surrounded by  humming bees, crickets, cicada cacophony, fragrant white phlox, rudbeckias, purple basil and a thousand shades of scarlet bee balm.

I periodically muse over what I might be doing on an inner level while laying stone and filling in cracks. It has been my experience that any art project always embodies a secret message that doesn’t become overt until afterwards…Inside and outside are intimately connected.

Despite poor air quality, outrageous humidity, murky days and remaining  present to, and compassionately/helplessly witnessing an Earth on Fire I have also managed to find some measure of personal peace by creating an unknown story made from stones.