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Friday 18 February 2022

Direction Or Distraction

The last time I was at the Fabricland in Vernon, I found this soft grey knit with a floral design in the bargain section. There was only 1.20 meters left which was enough for a simple t-shirt so I bought it because...




... I'd previously been looking at it at the regular price and couldn't decide if the print worked for me or not. At bargain prices, in a size I'm shrinking out of, it seemed a good time to try something different. The 1" gridded pressing surface helps to see the scale of the print.





I used a striped fabric for the neck binding to tone down any potential prissy-ness as well as denim blue top stitching. I'd like to pair it with...





... a skirt using Burda 6506 in the longer length. I haven't worn a pencil skirt since I fell down the stairs and permanently altered the shape of my right hip but I'm ready to try again and I think the diagonal line of this skirt will help draw attention away from the hip. I won't be wearing a top tucked in either.

What isn't helpful is that the pattern only goes up to a finished hip size of 45 1/4" which is my hip size and I'm smaller than the average North American woman. SO FRUSTRATING especially in such a relatively simple design that would be excellent for a beginner. Since I have to re-size the pattern, I'll make a muslin to see if it does or does not flatter my figure before using the fabric I have in mind, bought years ago, and distinctive, with only enough for one skirt. 




In terms of keeping things contained, I organized the painting area even more. On the shelf underneath are three containers. The far left is for the finished pieces, the middle is for the deli paper palettes, and the far right is for collage bits. Since pattern tissue has such lovely lines on it, there are some pieces in there already. And this is it. These are my 100 day project containers and I'm not collecting beyond them. I am avoiding overwhelm which looks and feels different for everyone but for me, a huge trigger is too much stuff whether it's supplies or finished product.  





This is the 4th of 100 abstract paintings. I am working with heavy cardstock, cheap brushes from the dollar store, folk art paints in only white, black, red, blue, and yellow as well as easily available collage materials like junk mail, old magazines, or pattern tissue. I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos and re-reading the painting books in my library. Thankfully, I didn't give those away. 


 


Last weekend, I did some more work on the piece for over my fireplace. The image on left is how you saw it last and it has now evolved to the one on the right. It's still not finished and the only thing I know about...





... where it is headed is that I want that smaller circle on the lower left, just on the edge of the white area, to be the focal point. That will mean balancing everything else against it which will be a lot of fun. The textile piece below is called Transference and was made over ten years ago. In it, you can see the larger focal point and the tension created by the secondary focal point of the small dots. I really enjoyed putting this piece together.

It was sold through the Aspha Naira Gallery in Vernon, the same one that took the jewelry pieces recently. When I had lunch last week with Carolina, the gallery owner, we talked about the workshop I'm going to and about my creative growth as a result of attending it numerous times over the past ten years. She wondered how that growth would affect my composition skills with textile pieces since she thought they were excellent before. It's an interesting question. 





On Wednesday, the curator from the art gallery came to see the pieces I made for the upcoming exhibit. We also talked about my work in general and I explained that I'd put the jewelry making supplies away for now. She asked if I'd ever considered making sculptures because she thought the beads would be an intriguing element and that I had the composition skills to do sculpture well. WHAT a lovely compliment and an interesting coincidence - two comments about my composition skills in two weeks.

No, I have never considered making sculptures. I am giving it some thought now but I'm not jumping at it for several reasons. The first is the question of direction or distraction. I have been praying for sign posts along the path I am meant to follow, for doors to close that I am not meant to go through, and for others to open where I am meant to explore. This does not feel like an open door. If I were to add sculpture to the creative mix, it would mean less time for what I'm already doing, another learning curve, more supplies, and a body of work with pieces even larger than a necklace that would need to go somewhere. Right now, I do not want making art to require selling art on any level nor do I want to stockpile a (physically) large body of work or within a short time, I could easily be back in overwhelm. 

Second, the guest instructor at the workshop is a textile artist. When I first signed up, my assumption was that textile art was in my past and I intended to very politely ignore her for the most part and incorporate what I could into clothing. And I still will incorporate but it's a really short move from abstracts on paper to abstracts with fabric and I have to wonder if I may actually feel drawn toward making textile wall art again. If so, what a coming full circle moment that would be! We'll see what happens. Sewing clothes is the constant I always come back to but other mediums come and go. 

I only signed up a few months ago and look at the shifts that have happened in such a short time. Another prayer is that before I turn sixty at the beginning of June, I would like to feel settled and focused with a clear sense of direction that I can lean into over the next decade. There have been so many ideas and mediums come and go over the past ten years that it's enough to make my head spin never mind anyone following along. It would be fabulous to let that go too. I like the concept of painting on paper, painting on fabric, and sewing with the fabric. It feels connected and contained yet with enough variety and potential for growth and could work well... and it feels like I'm changing my mind, back, again, and that's the frustrating part. Is it direction or distraction?  

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - composition compliments

2 comments:

  1. Have you tried the drafted-to-measure pdf patterns from lekala or similar sources? I love that hip and other measurements there are whatever we happen to be, not someone's chart of what they think they should be. The instructions for lekala patterns are bare-bones at best, but the patterns are well-drafted--the only adjustments I've had to make are fba or swayback, and I'd have to do those to most paper patterns too. I'm currently making their cocoon coat 4639 and I thought as I read your recent comments about tapered garments that this might be up your alley too. The sister company, Sewist, is rapidly expanding as well and allows custom building of patterns by elements (!), but I still find myself drawn to the more interesting style lines of the original company.

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    1. I spent a lot of time studying fit and pattern altering and especially using Lynda Maynard's technique of a block so it's really easy for me to alter any pattern to any size and I like the freedom of being able to do that. I'm going to check into the coat pattern as it does sound like what I'd like... and the rest of their patterns as I prefer more interesting style lines too. THANK YOU for this information.

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