Paint By Number

The main rooms in my home are painted lime green, turquoise, golden yellow, deep blue, medium blue, and olive. The kitchen cabinets are a deep purple. The art work is large, bold, and brilliant. It hasn't always been so. At one time, my home was beige. There were beige carpets, beige walls, and beige couches. The cabinets were white; the artwork nonexistent.

From beige to bold took many years and many life experiences to develop. In particular, the artwork shown yesterday took twenty years to move from traditional quilting to artistic one-of-a-kind pieces. They were not, by any stretch of the imagination, an overnight success. Much work - personally and artistically - was needed to emerge with a strong and identifiable voice. While I was doing that...

... I was dressed in a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and a cardigan. It's as if one area of my life experienced tremendous growth while another was stunted. It has been ONLY eighteen months since my last exhibit after which I returned to fashion sewing. I started by reacquainting myself with the technical skills and by learning new ones. I had - and still have - many holes in my wardrobe to fill especially as I've lost a considerable amount of weight and have a difficult time purchasing ready to wear never mind ready to wear I enjoy and/or can afford. This is...




... what I wore to work yesterday. It's a leopard print t-shirt with black trim at the neckline and sleeves, a short denim skirt, spotted nylons, pink shoes, and a leather zebra necklace. Sorry you can't see the front - LOL - because I took this picture after work and wasn't looking my very best by then. My point is that dressing like this is a bit out there for where I live and NO ONE batted an eye at work. They have totally come to expect garment combinations like this and even so, these feel like baby steps.

Thank you for your comments yesterday. I didn't think they were harsh or critical. I appreciated them and will respond to three in particular.

Mardel wrote - Now this is a very interesting post and I see a clear and vibrant style in the art you've posted, but what intrigues me here, is that the clear voice I see in your art does not seem to match the image I see of you in most of your photos of you in the clothes you have made. I'm not saying that you should wear "art to wear" quilted garments, I am just saying that to my eye I wouldn't peg the you I see in your photos to the art you posted. Now I see a strong connection between your artwork and the version of yourself present in your writing, as well as through your jewelry choices, and even your pattern choices, but not in your finished clothes and outfits? Why is that? So what creates this dichotomy? Or am I missing something? Because I also think you said you loved the outfit worn by Beatrix Ost in a photograph on Ari Seth Cohen's blog and I see the link between that outfit and your artist output. I'm not trying to sound harsh or critical. I hope I don't sound that way. Now I'm just curious, and not the least because I think I sometimes fall into that same rut.

As illustrated by the postings in the last few weeks, I am more than ready to move beyond the paint by number feeling of following a pattern into creating garments that feel and look more me BUT... I have to figure out exactly what works while maintaining some kind of balance between the practical garments I do need and the more expressive garments I want to create. Perhaps, the two will eventually merge if given enough time to mature.

Since returning to the traditional work force in January, I've noticed I'm getting bolder faster. That said, there is a huge difference between what you can hang on your walls and what you can hang on your body. And just because you like bold art doesn't mean you can wear bold clothing. Walls and rooms are different than facial features and figure types PLUS...

... it has been an adjustment to move from black t-shirts to color and from jeans to skirts and dresses. That's one of the reasons why I went snoop shopping a few weeks ago - to see what worked - and that's what I meant when I talked about The Gemini Effect - the difference between what my features and figure look best wearing and how to express my personality which is far more outgoing. I'm ever so slowly getting there. I know that a huge part of the answer is in how I accessorize. My jewelry may end up being my most exciting moments.

ParisGrrl wrote - Your art textiles are lovely, which leads me to wonder why you don't incorporate more of that style into your wardrobe. I totally understand the need for practical and classic clothes, and clean lines and such, but why not include details like those in your art pieces as say a pocket or feature patch on a garment, or go further and use a small art piece to inspire all the other colors in your jacket? I'd love to see you set yourself a challenge to create something Outrageous.

LOL - besides the fact that my time is limited, it's not a conscious choice not to. It's that "catching up" phase after not sewing fashions for twenty years. The pieces above and below were created for wearable art competitions. They involve hours and hours of work and are not the type of garment you'd wear on a daily basis. Creating classic, practical clothes is not difficult for me - neither is being tremendously outrageous. I can be outrageous only I don't want to. What I want is to find the balance between the two where I'm wearing daily outfits that are a creative combination of clothing and accessories that express me. While it won't look like my art looks, I want it to feel like my art feels. Comfortable, colorful, me.

I talked last week about creating more of my own fabrics and about exploring details. That would be a challenge along the lines of the one you're referring to with using an art piece. Mostly I want to transfer how I used to work when creating an art piece to how I'd like to work when creating a garment - more spontaneous and less planned. I'm still figuring out the how-to because, once again, it's all about balance as too much of anything overpowers my features and figure.

spottedroo wrote - I love seeing your artwork. Thanks so much for sharing it! Do you think there are any themes in common to your artwork and your clothing? I've found that I incorporate more elements from my artwork the more I sew. Some I've noticed for me are proportions; juxtaposing a long loose tunic with a shorter more textured or colorful skirt for example, or long plain wide-leg pants with a short, more detailed jacket. And color combinations; in both art and sewing I love mixes of warm and cool neutrals, with small highlights of saturated color. The difference is that while I want my artwork to sing and draw attention to itself, I want my clothing to "pass" as (relatively) non-descript scientist wear. Traditionally, I loved simple uncluttered clothing. And I want my clothes to be interchangeable and versatile. But writing this is making me think about adding more details to the things I sew. What sorts of commonalities do you see between your art and fashion sewing?

I haven't compared the two that much but what immediately comes to mind are clean, well defined lines, flow, balance, medium to dark colors, complimentary and split complimentary color schemes, texture, the use of dark and the need for light, and an identifiable focal point.

My pieces typically have a strong focal point. With my outfits, that focal point is almost always the jewelry while the garments themselves are usually understated "background" units. My pieces have strong visual and tactile texture. Many of my favourite garments do as well. They are often tone on tone. That said... I think texture is an area in which I could make considerable progress. It's the one that I've thought about the most since my shopping trip.

I understand what you mean about loving simple uncluttered clothing that is interchangeable and versatile. Me too. It's the clean, well defined lines thing as well as I'm not one for large wardrobes nor for too many single use or one-of-a-kind type garments. As I've already noted, the jewelry tends to be the "sing" in my presentation. And that's the goal - bringing all these bits and pieces together into a whole that is fun to create and creative to wear. It's also the struggle and the journey that I'm on. I just hope that...

... it doesn't take twenty years and many life experiences, especially the negative ones, for this "voice" to emerge. I hope to build on what I already know by shifting that awareness from one area of my life to another. Often when I don't know what to do I will ask myself when was the last time _____ worked and what did that look like. I can think back to when I sewed everything from lingerie to outwear and wore extremely fashionable styles only I'm not that person any more. I'm a blend of her, a maturer version of her, and the artist I've become.

To allow that maturity and that blend to be visible in my clothing, I've begun applying some of the lessons learned and lessons taught with textile art to my discovery of fashion. I'm excited about the possibilities. I know what I want and I will find the path to getting there - just as I did when I transitioned from traditional quilt making to textile art - by producing piece after piece after piece because we learn to do by doing.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - a sewing day, a project started