Neighbors

I’ve been working on another fabric house, which actually turned into two houses. I call it “Neighbors.”

I used a rather eclectic combination of fabrics because I tend to pick bold colorful patterns when I look at fabric. It was an interesting process trying to figure out how to work them together.

I especially love the fabric I used on the roof of the green house—it reminds me of Gustav Klimt, and so I had to find a place to use it.

There is something about pattern that is so rich—I don’t even know how to describe it—it’s like I want to eat it, in some metaphorical way. I know you fabric lovers know what I mean. It makes my brain happy. How lucky we are to be able to fall in love with something as simple as fabric! The small things.

Out of the Ether

ether: n. intangible fluid formerly supposed to fill all space; the clear sky region above clouds

I found myself inspired by this word. eeetherrr It’s interesting that it has a double meaning—it’s also the word for the liquid used as an anesthetic. Just the sound of it has a dreamy quality, like spirits escaping into the sky, like a breath.

Here’s what came from a bike ride thinking about the word:

“Out of the Ether,” 8 x 10 inches, prints available in my shop. Please ask me if you’re interested in the original.

Conversation

“Conversation,” 5 x 7 inches, pen and ink, available in my shop

I’ve been interested in drawing human forms lately, wanting to do some more drawings using the profile outline I used in works below. So, I put down these two opposing figures that looked to me like they were in conversation, and then this idea of the things we never say, popped into my head.

I have often wished I would meet up with certain people that have had an impact on me, and have the courage to tell them what they meant to me. One specifically shocking thing that I discovered last year, is that my high school crush, a boy I was in love with for about three years, died of cancer a couple years ago. I had always imagined meeting him again and telling him how I had felt about him, something I was never able to do back then.

I know it’s a cliche, and indeed there are probably some things better left unsaid, but imagine how nice it would feel to be told that you had an impact on someone’s life—wouldn’t it be nice to give that feeling to the people who have impacted yours?

Interior Photography

Something I’ve been working on/struggling with/learning about lately is representing my artwork well through photographs. It is a challenge, I have to say. One of my recent goals has been to start showing my work in a setting so that people can see what it might look like as part of a home. Here are some recent attempts.

One of the hardest things is getting good lighting without any color casts. I’m trying to make friends with Photoshop, but we have differences of opinions on many things—such as “why do there have to be so many different ways to manipulate a photo!!??” This is a case of too many options for the novice, although I know, perhaps, one day I will be thankful for the million and one tools that the program offers.

Anyway, I’d love to hear your opinions and suggestions on these photos or what other types of photos might be helpful to show art collectors what they might do with my work.

Possibilities

I just finished reading a book called The Art of Possibility by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander. The book develops various practices to think of life as a place of possibilities instead of limitations and measurements of success. This is a very creative book with lots of good stories of the ideas in practice—I especially enjoyed hearing stories from Benjamin who has traveled around the world as a conductor and teacher.

My favorite idea in the book takes Michelangelo’s famous comment that “inside every block of stone or marble dwells a beautiful statue; one need only remove the excess material to reveal the work of art within,” and applies it to people. Basically, that we each have a unique gift and potential inside of us, and we just need to chip off the excess to access that gift.

I like to think of the Michelangelo idea as a sort of coming home to yourself—uncovering the truth that’s always been there. It’s hard to find that place and accept it—it can seem difficult to honor because of money or time or so many other excuses. Often this world does not seem set up for us to live our most true and passionate interests. But as I have said before, I think our greatest contribution comes from honoring this gift. When we’re being our truest selves, we are happiest and we’re giving our best back to the world.

This concept is even more revolutionary when you start applying it to other people. If you look at people from the standpoint of the Michelangelo idea, then you have a place from which you can respect them as contributors to this world. Even if they aren’t being their best selves in this moment, you can know that somewhere inside of them there is this true gift.

If this sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend checking out the book—it has lots of great ideas about transforming your life and yourself into a framework of possibilities. As always, these ideas are easier to think about than put into practice, but it seems to me, that thinking is the first step.

Respect

Looking through some old drawings and sketches last week, I flipped through the original mini sketchbook for my Saving the World drawings, and I just couldn’t help myself, I had to do one more large one. I thought I had finished with them, but I couldn’t quite understand why I never did an 8 x 10 version of this one about respect, and so got out a bigger sheet of paper and went to work. Here is the final product, and I have a print version available in my shop.

8 x 10 inches, pen and ink

This print is a reminder to me how important it is to respect yourself—I think respecting yourself is perhaps even more important than respecting others. It seems that most of the time, we treat other people better than we treat ourselves—constantly berating ourselves for every mistake or mishap.

Imagine if we all treated ourselves with complete respect—we never beat ourselves up, we supported ourselves completely, let ourselves off the hook even when we wanted to spend the day lounging around eating ice cream. If we treated ourselves with this much care, how would we treat other people? Probably with the same care. If we could see ourselves for the good people we are, how would we view other people? Probably with the same consideration and love.

The bottom line is that everything starts really small and close to home—our internal universe works like a test lab for the rest of our lives. Frustrations with yourself often spiral into frustrations with your friends and family. We could all benefit from testing some of the good stuff on ourselves instead of all of the reprimanding and berating. Respect yourself.

Interconnected

“Web,” 4.5 x 4 inches, pen and ink, available in my shop

This is perhaps a fitting drawing today, since I’m currently trying to teach myself/learn how to network better.

Isn’t it funny how things come up in multiple places in your life at the same time? Especially art—sometimes art can subtly or not so subtly reinforce what you would like to create in your life.

For me, it was much easier to weave the squares together on paper than it is to weave myself into the networks of other creative people. But paper is an old friend, we’ve known each other a very long time.

Perhaps the real lesson is in the process—I had to draw each line on the page. Creating networks in real life probably involves the same process: drawing out each strand and continuing to build and maintain the overall structure over time.

Does anybody out there have any tried and true networking advice? I guess I mean the more abstract concept of developing a network of like-minded people, not necessarily business networking, but hints or advice about either would be appreciated!

Into Existence

I often talk about creativity on this blog because creating is an activity that’s essential to my life. In fact, I think it’s essential to everyone’s lives. There is something quite miraculous about making something yourself, taking materials from nothing to something, whether it’s ingredients for a meal or pieces of fabric or yarn.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, to create means to “bring into existence.” This is a very powerful definition, and perhaps scary to some people, but in truth it was not too long ago that if we didn’t create or make something, it didn’t exist.

Think about hunters and gatherers inventing new tools to better feed themselves, or pioneers sewing their own clothes. We have come a far way from that—practically everything we own (and even things we eat) was made in some far-off land by a whole fleet of laborers we don’t know. Maybe things have gotten too easy—so easy that we take it for granted that we’ll be able to acquire everything without any effort. But despite this, even if just for ornamental reasons or pure fun, many of us keep coming back to making things by hand.

I am constantly inspired by all of the crafters and artists that continue to create new and beautiful things by hand. I am also continually inspired by the process of making things and how it uses a whole different part of me. Making things is a cycle of fulfillment—you get to choose inspiring ingredients or materials, experience the process of making, and then appreciate the product—either by using it, looking at it, or sharing it with someone else.

If you’re not already experiencing this cycle, I highly recommend jumping in—you can start with anything! Make a handmade card, decorate a pot, bake cookies, make a collage, create a scrapbook, cook dinner from scratch, plant a garden . . . the list goes on to infinity.

In fact, let’s inspire each other with our creativity—what are you making/have you made recently/would you love to make?

We’d all love to hear about it! Post a comment here, add a link to a picture of your project, if you’d like!

I’ll start:
I am currently making some new greeting cards and another sewn house drawing.
I would love to make a dress for myself and handmade tortellini.

Crafting

Today’s craft show was a lot of fun—here’s a peek at my table:

I am absolutely horrible at smiling in pictures, so sadly, the pictures with me in the booth just didn’t turn out too great. But the show was fun—I sold some art and even more exciting, I sewed.

Yes, you read that right—sewed. Sitting at a craft show is absolutely the best time to get some stitching in, although it is admittedly hard to draw.

I haven’t done any sewing in quite a while, in fact, you probably haven’t really seen any sewing if you’ve been following this blog. But, I love fabric, have always loved fabric, and have often collected too much fabric for the little sewing I do.

Last Tuesday, I felt an itch to do something with my hands, something a little different—so I launched into a kind of sewn fabric drawing. With my time at the craft show today, I was able to finish this project, and here it is:

I am not a tremendously precise person, so to be honest, I can’t and probably never will be able to sew a straight line (with a machine or without), but I’m happy with how this turned out. You can’t see it very well here, but the white fabric has a lovely leaf pattern on it.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with this piece—frame it and hang it as 2-d artwork? Sew it into a bag? Put it in a drawer for some later purpose? Anyone got any ideas?

It was pretty fun, and it gives me a good excuse to go buy more fat quarters, so I think I might make another. We’ll just have to see what tomorrow brings! Happy crafting!

This will be somewhat of a hodgepodge post of several things running through my head right now.

First, another geometric wandering:

And now, three more expansive thoughts; one plain-speak, one poetic, and one musical:

1) Life has unlimited possibilities

2) “the best gesture of my brain is less than your eyelids’ flutter” (the great e.e.)

3) This song, sung by Cat Power is always wandering into my brain, not necessarily because of romantic reasons, but because the sound is gorgeous . . . and expansive . . . like liquid poetry. You may recognize this song because it’s an oldie, originally recorded in the ’50s. You can hear a more original version of it here.

Phew, that was a lot of links, the wonder of the internet! Enjoy!

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