It is wonderful to have an artist living on the farm,  Maria is a feminist and she has redefined the very notion of the farm wife. Sometimes, she wears her wedding dress out to do the farm chores, otherwise, she could be  wearing anything. I am especially fond of the vest she showed up wearing in the pasture this morning, the animals seemed to love it as well. When I met Maria, she told me that she did not own and had never bought a piece of clothing that was retail, or purchased news.  I bought her a new shirt in New York City as a present, that didn’t go over well. She loves putting together her own look, her own identity.

Everything she owns and wears is from a thrift shop, or might come in one of the amazing boxes of fabric that people send her from different parts of the country.

You don’t see a lot of brightly-colored skirts or vests out in too many pastures around her, but it makes sense. She does wear boots (thirft-shops) and has never ruined a piece of clothing that I have seen. Maria brings her art to every single thing she does in her life, and it always lifts me up to see her out there. I am a fashion setter as well, I call it the blue look. Once or twice a week, I change my blue Chambray shift for another blue Chambray shirt, and then change my blue Levi jeans for another pair of blue Levi Jeans and tie it all together with my blue suspenders. It’s a look.