My daughter and grandsons went home Saturday morning and my grand puppy came Saturday evening. In-between, I got less done than I hoped and more than an energy-less lump on the couch usually accomplishes. This is good.
Originally, I'd intended to start working in the yard this week only I've decided to wait until May when the weather is warmer and spend another month in the studio instead. The opening for the exhibit is at the end of April and I want to make a new outfit for that. The workshop projects are in various stages of done and calling to be finished. And new ideas are dancing in my head. Right now, I want to work on these and that too is good.
Last week, I worked with the stitched sample I'd made for Paula's part of the workshop cutting it into 1" squares and using three different colours of perle cotton to finish the edges. It was busy work to keep my hands occupied while sitting with the boys, especially at the playground. I was no good at that as a mother and I'm no better at it as a grandmother. Busy helps.
The three thread colours and the different values of denim fabric created a nice mix of squares each with a colourful print on the back. Although the edges in the detail above look plain, they were actually...
... sealed with silver metallic paint before the hand stitching was added. After stitching, I applied a fabric stiffener to the center of each square to stabilize the fabric for threading with beading wire but not to the edges because I wanted those to stay softer. The thread ends were tied in a knot at one corner.
The squares are threaded in groups of two with wrong sides together and a thin bead in-between. When I bought the beads, the label said they were wood but I think they are some type of plastic. They don't feel like any wood I am familiar with. The round ones between each group actually are wood.
I tried not to use any metal in this piece and to make it adjustable and I - sort of - accomplished that goal. The sliding knot and cording work for adjustability however, the beading wire is secured with a copper crimp that is hidden inside one of the larger beads where it won't touch anyone's skin. There are a surprising number of women who are unable to wear metal and especially nickle finishes. I know my skin starts eating it off on the first wear which is one reason why I use a lot of copper. This option resolves that issue. There are only fifty-four squares in the necklace and enough left for two more.
Recently, I discovered the YouTube channel SBSInsight out of Australia. What I like about it is the wide variety of topics, well presented, with input from people living the topic as well as specialists on it. It gives me things to think and talk about. An older episode that I watched recently was about Women On The Edge and the growing number of women aging into homelessness and/or poverty.
For each woman interviewed, it was because life took a significant shift they hadn't expected even when they'd planned for retirement, although most of them hadn't even thought about retirement and were naively surprised that it was happening. The topic hit close to home. I could relate with the shifts in both my personal life and my career that have happened in the past ten years - unexpected and unwanted. I'd already been pondering finances and aging and the show highlighted how important it is for me to keep working on these ideas.
Next week, I'm meeting with one of the organizers of a nearby artist's market with the idea of putting work for sale in the shop. There are several things about this particular market that appeal to me. The first is their goal to connect artists to each other and to the community as I want more connection in my life. The second is that there is a monthly fee but no commission and that fee is manageable between now and the end of the year while I figure out if this is something that could work for me. And the third reason is that it's in a good location along a major highway in a tourist area so the potential for sales is there. Each artist works in the shop one to three days a month which would be an excellent way to see what sells at what price and how that compares to the kinds of products I would like to make.
Since returning from the retreat, I've been thinking a lot about the sweet spot between using what I have and making the things I enjoy making along with what to do with those things once they are made. What a lovely triangle it would be if those things were also saleable and would allow me to begin generating income.
Different but somewhat connected, I signed up for a workshop with collage artist Donna Watson at the end of June. While painting the abstract starts, I've also been making collage papers and have been finding them more interesting than the starts so I've begun to explore collage art to see if there's something there for me. Making the collage papers remind me of surface design on fabric and collaging has similarities to the piecing in textile art. Both paper and fabric collage would use the remnants and recycled bits that I already have which is both creatively challenging and financially responsible.
One thing I prefer about paper collage over fabric collage (that is then layered and stitched) is that the paper version is less labour intensive. If both are equally enjoyable, and if I was creating the pieces for sale, then less labour intensive is a plus. That said, I have my name on a wait list for a fabric collage class with Shelley Rhodes because although I know I don't want to go back to the kind of textile art I used to do, I am interested to see if there is a different way of working that would appeal to me - perhaps fabric collage with slow stitch or painted elements.
Meanwhile, I've also signed up for a collage workshop with Jane Davies that starts on Wednesday. It came up suddenly. I only found out about it yesterday but the timing is great and she is someone I'd like to study with. Her book Abstract Painting: The Elements of Visual Language is fabulous. From the class outline, it sounds like we'll be doing some of the same exercises that are in the book plus the workshop includes critique from Jane which I think will be valuable now and far more valuable at some point in the future if I took the workshop again when I'm more experienced. Right now, I'm an utter beginner. I've made collage papers, not collages.
For each woman interviewed, it was because life took a significant shift they hadn't expected even when they'd planned for retirement, although most of them hadn't even thought about retirement and were naively surprised that it was happening. The topic hit close to home. I could relate with the shifts in both my personal life and my career that have happened in the past ten years - unexpected and unwanted. I'd already been pondering finances and aging and the show highlighted how important it is for me to keep working on these ideas.
Next week, I'm meeting with one of the organizers of a nearby artist's market with the idea of putting work for sale in the shop. There are several things about this particular market that appeal to me. The first is their goal to connect artists to each other and to the community as I want more connection in my life. The second is that there is a monthly fee but no commission and that fee is manageable between now and the end of the year while I figure out if this is something that could work for me. And the third reason is that it's in a good location along a major highway in a tourist area so the potential for sales is there. Each artist works in the shop one to three days a month which would be an excellent way to see what sells at what price and how that compares to the kinds of products I would like to make.
Since returning from the retreat, I've been thinking a lot about the sweet spot between using what I have and making the things I enjoy making along with what to do with those things once they are made. What a lovely triangle it would be if those things were also saleable and would allow me to begin generating income.
Different but somewhat connected, I signed up for a workshop with collage artist Donna Watson at the end of June. While painting the abstract starts, I've also been making collage papers and have been finding them more interesting than the starts so I've begun to explore collage art to see if there's something there for me. Making the collage papers remind me of surface design on fabric and collaging has similarities to the piecing in textile art. Both paper and fabric collage would use the remnants and recycled bits that I already have which is both creatively challenging and financially responsible.
One thing I prefer about paper collage over fabric collage (that is then layered and stitched) is that the paper version is less labour intensive. If both are equally enjoyable, and if I was creating the pieces for sale, then less labour intensive is a plus. That said, I have my name on a wait list for a fabric collage class with Shelley Rhodes because although I know I don't want to go back to the kind of textile art I used to do, I am interested to see if there is a different way of working that would appeal to me - perhaps fabric collage with slow stitch or painted elements.
Meanwhile, I've also signed up for a collage workshop with Jane Davies that starts on Wednesday. It came up suddenly. I only found out about it yesterday but the timing is great and she is someone I'd like to study with. Her book Abstract Painting: The Elements of Visual Language is fabulous. From the class outline, it sounds like we'll be doing some of the same exercises that are in the book plus the workshop includes critique from Jane which I think will be valuable now and far more valuable at some point in the future if I took the workshop again when I'm more experienced. Right now, I'm an utter beginner. I've made collage papers, not collages.
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - quiet
Grateful - quiet
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