Possibilities

Looking ahead to exploring new loop-pile embroidery pieces, I've created yet another workbook in which to collect my thoughts and ideas.

I have a workbook three-quarters of the way full of ideas, design, color and texture.  Not one picture in this little book is a loop-pile embroidery piece.  Its my goal to take bits and pieces of these ideas and make them into something of my own. 

Some of the designs, such as this one, came from a very old book on wall hangings.  I love the texture of this design - and would love to bring this type of texture into my work. 

Others, such as this one, are made of clay - no fiber involved at all.  And yet the colors, design and feeling of the piece appeal to me.  I see something like this in my mind's eye using punchneedle, fiber, found objects.

Just opening this book - gazing at each design - thinking of the possibilities before me - makes me want to put needle to hand and get to work.

"Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed". - Joseph Addison

Time to Reflect

After non-stop 'production' work for most of this year -- after creating for self-imposed deadlines over the past three years -- I take a pause to reflect.

Is it because my whole life has been a series of 'due dates' that my mind thinks this pattern must continue.  Am I addicted to creating something that will be shown, exhibited or sold?  Is it possible for my can-do personality to create for art's sake alone?

These are the questions I've been asking myself.  As I finish up what has been fun, but demanding, thoughts of purely 'me' designs that I could develop fill my head with possibility. 

Is it possible for a person such as myself to be working on several totally different designs at the same time?  Is it possible for me not to say 'I want to finish this in a week, or a day or a month' but to let the work flow at its own speed?  Is it possible for me to turn the whole thing over to the inner me, instead of the outer me (since that outer shell seems to demand a 'schedule')?  Will I be able to relax and 'go with the flow' - no destination, no time line - lots of exploration, relaxed creativity, starting and stopping with no clock nor calendar to guide me? 

Stay tuned - and to anyone who has overcome this 'compulsion' thing I welcome any and all support and suggestions *smile*.

"Art for art's sake...it is the best evidence we can have of our dignity." - E. M. Forster

More Fiber Fun

Once the threads/floss were all sorted it was time to move on to the many fibers that I have 'hanging' around here.  I hang them over dowling -- so just taking them off the dowel can make a mess which has to be straightened. 

Piles of fiber lay before me, stubbornly clinging together as I tried to put them in order.

My goal was to sort into color families and to hang them back neatly back on the rods.

This small wire box holds some yarn fibers that I hope to incorporate into future pieces.  Now, I think I'm ready for whatever ideas come my way.

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble". - Helen Keller

"My" Colors

Recently I hit the paint chip section at the local building supply company.  By the time I left, I'm sure they must have thought that I either have no idea what colors I want my walls, therefore had to take a sample of everything -- or I have a VERY large house with lots of rooms waiting for paint.  Of course neither is true *smile*. 

Once home I went through the colors, laying them out in ways that pleased me.  In the coming months I will be leaning toward those warm, desert colors that so appeal to me.  Soft greens and deep rust - terra cotta and gold - some aqua blue and desert sand beige -in lots of shade and hues.  Just playing with the colors got my creative juices going.

Next step was to go through all my Wildflower threads and embroidery floss.  A daunting project I assure you.  I keep my threads in glass jars - by color - but when doing as much 'punching' as I've been doing lately, colors didn't always stay in their proper place.  And so the sorting began.  I discovered as I went that it could get a bit confusing when you have greens of every shade/hue/tint -- so I went through sorting out the greens that had yellow in them vs. the greens that had grey tints.  As I sorted I laid skeins against the colors on my table, comparing them and using the paint chips as my guidelines.

I know that a lot of you are much more organized than I am - carefully putting each skein, by number or color into their own little cubbie - for some reason I'm just drawn to putting each color selection into a jar. I like feeling the threads in my hands as I sort through them -- it might lose its magic for me if I could just reach in and find a neatly numbered skein.  So you see, I'm not alway as organized as I pretend to be. 

Such satisfaction to see everything lined up and ready to be placed into brand new stitcheries.

"In nature, light creates the color.  In the picture, color creates the light". - Hans Hoffmann

Earth's Gifts

As I make my way through life, each day coming one after the other, I gather within all the parts of the earth that support and sustain me. 

I can learn from a tree which has stood here for many, many years.  Learn of patience and fortitude, strength and determination.

I can learn from the rocks -- those that tower above me, giving me a true perspective of where I fit into this wonderful universe.  And those that I hold in my hand - warm from the sun.

I can learn from the water which often makes its boisterous way - quickly and loudly.  At other times it is a trickle - barely dampening the earth beneath it.

I can learn from the sky - so very high above me.  Covering my existence with a beautiful shade of blue.  Showing me the vastness of the universe and my small place within it.

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.

"Sometimes I need

only to stand

wherever I am

to be blessed". -

Mary Oliver