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Tempe, AZ  One of my Facebook friends posted what you might call a “message picture”  yesterday and it said “Life is about using the whole box of crayons”.  I immediately thought of Bessie Littleben’s weaving.  Bessie’s using the all the crayons in a lot more ways than one, which of course is the point of the quotation.  There are, according to Bessie, 64 colors in the weaving above.  There are always more than 50 colors in her work.  OK, I’ve never counted them, but I sure wouldn’t argue with her on the numbers because I think I’d lose.  

Bessie’s getting a lot more out of that box than colors, though.  The designs have perfect symmetry and although they are all recognizably Bessie’s style, they are all different in intricate and amazing ways.  They vary in the way that the borders are put together, the way that the central panels are composed and in the play of the colors themselves.  Stylistically, artistically and skillfully woven, they have that special sense of graceful satisfaction that comes from using all the crayons in the box.   I really like people who are using the whole box of crayons.  

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker