Art and Fear

Have you been wondering where I was??  Me too.  I have fallen into a black hole and have been trying to dig my way out.  Good grief, what is wrong with me?????

I have had my next piece of work sitting staring at me for some time now and that little, no, BIG voice in my head kept telling me that there was no way I could complete it, that I would totally wreck it, that it couldn't possibly be a success.  Well, I haven't completed it yet, and I might totally wreck it, but one thing is for sure.....if I do nothing, it will never be a success.   Or anything else.  And I won't have learned a thing.  

At the same time, I started reading a little book called "Art and Fear" and it is incredible.  It seems to address all those questions I was throwing at myself, and all the doubts as well.  And I felt encouraged to just get up and get at it.  So I did.  And I might not complete it the way I want to....it is way out of my comfort zone.  But at least I will know that I can venture into my dis-comfort zone and still breathe!!

So I am off to do a bit more stitching, and a bit more breathing.

I'll be back.....

Starting again.

I am starting a new piece and as usual have run flat into a brick wall...felled by all the usual excuses as to why I cannot begin, including the library books that I only had a limited amount of time to read before they were due!!  Not because I should be vacuuming (which I should), because I couldn't go quite THAT far, but there were all those books that needed reading.  And I did.  So I started on the piece today....but now I have run out of WonderUnder...so I shall have to read some more, until the shops open tomorrow.  Sigh.

In the meantime, here is a snippet of the one I just finished.

And I have another one I want to get started on, but I need to dye some more fabric and I am waiting for the right colour of black (#39) from Dharma, (en route, but won't be here for a couple of weeks) so I shall have to read some more.  A girl's gotta do......

I'll be back, well, after just a few more chapters.....

Painting with thickened Procion MX dyes

I am working on another piece using procion MX dyes, thickened with dye paste (from ProChem).  I am trying to decide if  I want to create certain images using just fabrics and thread or using 'paint' on fabric.

I am not displeased with the results but I am wanting to do quite a bit more sampling before I decide.  LOTS more sampling to be done.  But it is fun to mix up the various colours and to play around with different intensities and values.
More work to be done.
I'll be back.....

Such a week!

I am working through some of the exercises in the class I am taking with Dionne Swift.  This one is about creating sketchbooks and is another of the on-line classes that Dionne offers. So far I would say that each class is totally excellent and well worth taking.  Maybe even twice!!!  So far I have only done the first two lessons for this class and so I'm a bit behind but am hoping to make some headway this weekend.  Here is where I am at so far.

  

Another huge bonus of the classes with Dionne is all the fabulous people that one gets to meet in class (and so a huge welcome to my new followers from Dionne's classes!!  Such fun!).  It seems that quite a few of these wonderful artists have blogs that I have already been following, some for a few years.  It's so great to meet them 'in person' as it were.  Now if I could just get over that big ocean once in a while to really meet up in classes it would be perfect...but this is a fine substitute.  Do check out Dionne's classes
www.dionneswift.co.uk

So I can't decide if I've had a busy week or not.  I didn't get done nearly what I had set out to do, but I wasn't totally idle either.  I have dyed some new fabrics for the next picture I am working on.

My goal is to create the pictures using one blue, one red and one yellow.  So far it seems to be working out all right.  I ordered some new threads (oh, the indulgence...and honestly, who needs to eat???) and am looking forward to playing about with these new and totally delicious colours.

And I stitched onto one of the screen prints that I created in the class with Dionne on screen-printing.  It wasn't the best of the prints I got of these little pears but provided a fun surface to practice on.  I am going to cut this down to postcard size and send it off to Jane Davies.  Jane is trying to save her little post office in Rupert, Vermont and is encouraging people to send mail there to see if that will help.  Check out her site for a fun story around this project.
www.janedaviesstudios.com
 and also at
www.janedavies-collagejourneys.blogspot.com
for a great little video of her post office and her 'girls', her chickens.  Sweet!
Here is my pear piece before cutting it down to mail

As I mentioned, this wasn't the best screen print I got from this screen, but it was perfect for practising.
OK, that's it for me for today.
I want to get at the next lesson for the class with Dionne and I am wanting to work a bit more on some of the stitched picture I am busy with.  And I have sick kids and grandkids to get some things done for....sigh....
Note to self: take vitamin C and echinacea!!!  Too much to do to get sick...
I'll be back.....