Balance

It is my goal and desire to have balance in my life.  Not too much of one thing, not too much of another.  Sometimes its hard to keep that balance - life throws something at me that has to be attended to or that absorbs my every waking moment and the balance is thrown off.

I've been working back and forth between art doll creation and punchneedle creation.  I have noticed that the difference between the two tends to bring a balance to my art life that it didn't have before.

Art dolls are a very 'active' enterprise.  Beginning with just an idea - making a pattern (or two or three or four) - figuring out fabric and threads and attachments and stitches can take a lot of energy.  And then the doll is begun and throughout the whole process, down to the last stitch my mind is going and my hands are doing many different things. I may be painting fabric or stitching fabric, I may be attaching trim or finding just the right button but my mind and hands are always on the move. 

Punchneedle seems to be just the opposite.  Once the design is settled on and drawn onto the fabric it is time to fill it in.  In and out goes the punchneedle - the only thing that stops the process is the rethreading of the needle.  I usually work with music in the background.  The other day I was working on punchneedle and there was a particular piece of classical music -- it came to the forefront of my attention because all I had to do was punch in and out.  I even got going 'with' the rhythm of the music.  I realized then that punchneedle is my 'quiet' art while doll making is my 'active' art.

How nice it is to have that balance, to be able to go back and forth between art forms that I love - feeling energized by one and mellowed by the other.  I think, for right now, that the scales are even for me.

"Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate". - Chuang Tzu