Freedom

Once I gave myself permission to let go of the ideas I was trying to force on myself and the fabric, I felt free again... here are some (bad) photos of what I played with last night...    I was so gung-ho to stick that gold colored fabric in the blocks with the black + because it would make them all "go" together.  I think it was wrong.  Too light in value, no contrast with the tan.  As soon as I saw it, I heard: "Make visual decisions visually!"  I didn't try it on the wall first, just rushed to get something done.  Do I rip it out, or just move on?
[noontime light bulb moment: cut a skinny line into it??]

Gotta work on the photography. That blue line of tape should be vertical.   Too much stuff between me and the wall.  Gotta work on the design wall, too, for that matter.  Lots more space to be covered.  Wonder if I should use batting or flannel?

Getting Off Topic

After making the little lantern block for the raffle basket, I started thinking I might like paper piecing after all. I quickly googled up a pattern that appeared to be of moderate difficulty as my second project.  I didn't spend a lot of time researching patterns or selecting fabrics.

This one was designed as a poinesettia so I pulled out the random Christmas fabrics and tried it out.  There were a couple minor mistakes, like sewing the piece on in the wrong direction or accidentally cutting it off along with the seam allowance. The dark and light reds should probably have been switched, but oh well.  It took an hour and a quarter.   Three more and I'll have a little table topper or something.

Not sure why I was screwing around with this instead of working on what I "want" to work on..  But I guess the next step wasn't clear.  After finishing the star, I went back to the ribbons.  I knew that regardless of what "everybody" else is doing and regardless of what I'd resolved to do, I couldn't bring myself to put the different random fabrics into one piece.  I couldn't put the purple and coral with the neutrals.  And I was getting really bored with the ribbon concept.  So I gave myself permission to do just neutrals and to make some non-ribbon units.  Suddenly all was good again.  I made some repeated units out of the boring green/black strip:     Now I'm eager to get back to it.  

My motivation has been studying a series the Ellin Larimer did, called Pajama Party.  I really like the way she used strip piecing, and especially like the way that the four work together but each have an independent personality.  My favorite is IV: 

It looks like she will be at Indianola next year.  I'm looking forward to seeing what she's working on now.

  

Working in a Series

Earlier this week I signed up for an online course called Working in a Series taught by Lisa Call.  I am wary of on-line classes and in general have resolved to stop taking workshops that only result in starting another project that is not what I love and want to do.  But this is different.  For many reasons:

Lisa Call, Structures #113,  ©2010 Lisa Call    39 x 86 inches
Award of Excellence – Quilt National 2011

1. Since I first saw her piece  at Quilt National '11  (above) I have followed and loved her work.  The shapes you see floating on the surface area created by quilting threads of different colors.  The entire piece is very heavily and beautifully quilted.  After seeing all the quilts in the exhibit I went back and spent time with several that I liked most.  I stood and stared at this one for a very long time.  Her other work is equally inspiring to me.
2. Once I started noticing Lisa's work, I also noticed her very organized and disciplined approach to the business of art.  I respect that she works hard at making it her business as well as her passion.  I also noticed that she was very generous with her time and knowledge, sharing what she does and why on her blog.
3. In discussions on the SAQA list this course was highly recommended by two other very good artists.
4.  I think it will give me the discipline I need to take some good well thought out pieces to Nancy Crow's workshops next spring.  She will follow a pretty disciplined curriculum, including weekly lectures by phone, discussions and assignments.  I look forward to critique and discussion with hopefully 8-9 classmates as well as Lisa.
The only question still in my mind is what idea or starting point I'm going to work from to develop a series... I had planned/assumed/expected to continue with the strip piecing style... but Jillian was strongly suggested working on the map quilts, especially given that Sheila Frampton Cooper's show is in November, it would give me a chance to produce something for that, or to develop the start of a series that could lead to something by November....  Sigh.  I just don't know now.

Reading List

Ever since my the Crow workshop, maybe before, I've been asking myself, what makes art art?  What makes good art good?  How can meaning be conveyed through non-objective abstract art?
In my usual semi-obsessive way, I've gone about looking for answers in books.  Despite all the information out there on the internet, I still find sinking into a book the best way to really research something. Call me old-school - you'd be right - and proud of it.

So I bought a number of modern art books, like this one and am browsing all, digging deeper into most.  I found a couple volumes at the used bookstore (You can call me cheap, too.) that looked at the first 50 years of modern art, 1900-1950, essentially.  I really liked this approach because it allowed me to try to understand how art moved into abstraction from a generally representational basis, without trying to absorb 100 years all at once.   My formal art education ended in 1987, and what a surprise - things have changed in 25 years!

Then I stumbled on an amazing book that I am totally devouring, it is the catalog from the Color Chart Exhibit at MoMA 2008.  What an exhibit. It's okay to love paint swatches.  I guess I was not the only one hording them as "art parts."

Then I decided I needed to figure out what had been going on in those last 25 years.. and decided to start with But Is It Art? Which is a short relatively easy read on the evolution of art theory.  More than I ever wanted to know about bodily fluids as art material, but helpful nonetheless!

Finding Your Way

Art has been neglected in favor of sunlight lately.  We had a record breaking 85 degrees yesterday which did drive me to the basement, but only to finish the raffle block, and do some organizing and cleaning.

This morning while procrastinating and reading old blog entries from 2010, I discovered this gem, in a comment from Terry Jarrard-Dimond on a blog entry by Kathy Loomis:

"I'm not especially attracted to grab bags but I do think working with them might spur some ideas and then it is the responsibility of the person doing the making to carry the ideas forward. Besides, if she is just starting out, and she can work in a series, I applaud her but how will she ever figure out what she really wants to make. If I laid out my learning work you might think I had a personality disorder..."

I always feel so much better about myself when I realize I'm not that different from all the other artists I so admire and look up to.  As I was giving friends a tour of the new studio Friday, I looked around at the various pieces I've tacked up everywhere, and thought, what a ridiculous mish-mash.  Now I feel better, knowing that everyone goes through the process, rather than just sitting down one day and knowing.

A few hours after reading Terry's comment, I read a sequence of comments on the SAQA yahoo group about small works versus large, and the benefits of grouping works that "talk to each other," i.e. works in a series.  Then I read, again, about Lisa Call's Working in a Series workshop.   I think I need to do it.

Here's a little visual about my "journey" so far.

This piece is the very first art quilt I ever made.  It was completely intuitively pieced and assembled.
Amazing how similar it is to the direction I am now wanting to go.  I just wandered down a few
other dead ends before getting back on the right road.

...

FFFC pushed me to produce "stuff" but I soon tired of doing an assignment
when there were so  many other things I wanted to do myself.

...

I discovered all on my own the joys of fusing vs. piecing and the process of photo-transfer.
I like this piece, although I imagine the juxtaposition of the mini-artworks and the photo
probably makes little sense to anyone other than me.

...

I still remember the excitement of creating this on the design wall at the APWQ  Symposium,
just a few months  after I'd "discovered" art quilts.  Design Wall!  What a concept!  I'ts probably one of my favorite UFO's I need to get "unstuck" on it.  Add the slashes, or don't add the slashes?