A Year by the Sea and Other Musings

I recently checked out a book at the local library. A Year by the Sea, by Joan Anderson. Quoting the inside cover, "An entrancing story of how one woman emerged from a stagnant period, finding the energy to renew her marriage and the courage to persevere in the living of an unfettered life." The post title of the book is, Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman.  There are many pearls of wisdon and insights that hit home.

When I came home with my stash of new reading material I decided I would do nothing that evening but stretch out and read. I had nothing that had to be done; nothing urgent tugging at me to be fixed, cleaned, or managed. As I relaxed on the sofa with A Year by the Sea I began to feel very uneasy, feeling guilty for taking time for myself. After reading one page I went upstairs, cleaned up my closet then scrubbed and cleaned the bathroom. Now, that didn't have to be done but I felt I had to "earn" the right to indulge myself. Suddenly the anxiety was gone as I had "paid" for my priviledge.

Where does that "stinking thinking" come from? Chances are from many years of putting everything and everyone elses needs and wishes before our own. I dare say Im not alone in this situation, but, I had thought I had out grown it. I had to laugh at myself.

Joan Anderson touches on these feelings in "A Year by the Sea". In describing her feelings of guilt for leaving her old life for a year on Cape Cod she says, "There's a price to pay for such self-indulgence. I stand here holding freedom in one hand and guilt in the other---." She talks a lot about taking risks and making changes in our lives stating, "Doesn't change occur only when we stop living the expected life?"

I doubt that I will ever totally eliminate those feelings of guilt or not being worthy enough when I indulge myself, whether it be time for myself or buying something unnecessary and outrageous. But, being aware of this behavior is a step in the right direction. I can say now, when I catch myself feeling those pangs of guilt I stop and think how inappropriate they are and laugh a little.

A few years ago I tore a page from a magazine and still have it tacked up by my computer. It is an anonymous quote. "When you die God and the angels will hold you accountable for all the pleasures you were allowed in life that you denied yourself." I read it daily.

The Softer Side of Art

It has been a while since I created a post for my blog. What can I say? Life has been busy. I do want to post some pictures from the invitational fiber art show at the Kerrville Arts and Cultural Center that was from July 1-25. It was a great show with many talented fiber artist participating.

This  is Mary Lee Tennant who does wonders with fiber. Here she is demonstrating basket weaving.

Debbie Geistweidt stands beside one of her beautiful landscapes. She thread sketches/ paints traditional Texas scenes with a unique eye for detail.

Lisa Kerpoe stands between long pieces of her hand dyed, monoprinted and many other fiber manipulations I can't even begin to explain other than it draws you in to the design and colors.

If you ever get to Kerrville stop by the Kerrville Arts and Cultural Center. There is always a great art show going on and it is a lovely venue.

Fly Me To The Moon

I look at this piece and think, "How fun would that be?" Wouldn't it be great to hop on a big soaring bird and fly to the moon? I could dream about that. The background was made from handmade painted paper cloth. The picture uses commerical fabrics, hand dyed and rust dyed fabrics. Machine and hand stitched.

                   Below is a close up of a happy girl riding her mythical bird to the moon.

Flower Dreams

This 8x10 piece was a fun little project. I drew her face on cotton fabric. Then it was enhanced with watercolors and gel pens and machine quilted. I put it aside for a few days thinking it would be one of those pieces that would end up at the bottom of one of my bins, never to be seen again. While looking at other possibilities for making another piece I pulled it out again and she survived, mostly from frustration, but she made it.

Now that I have her put together I like her a lot. She has grown on me. The flowers and leaves are raw edge applique made from hand dyed fabrics on a commercial fabric.

Where Have All The Soldiers Gone?

This piece was made with handmade paper cloth, photo transfer on organza, acrylic and watercolor paints, gel pens, machine stitched. The red "drips" that simulate blood were made with acrylic paint.

I wanted to do a piece that expressed my feelings about the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. My heart goes out to the many families who have lost a loved one there.The title of this piece is from a line in the song, "Where Have All The Flowers Gone", by Peter, Paul and Mary.

Paper Cloth Piece

I titled this Paper Cloth Piece because I haven't given it an official name yet. I just finished it yesterday and was really pleased with the results. I count this as my first "successful" paper cloth art. I had tried doing paper cloth before but it always came out stiff and not to my liking at all. This time I used a different glue / water mixture which made the paper cloth soft and pliable. I used tissue paper, napkins and painted coffee filters glued to muslin then machine stitched. I love working with tissue paper and napkins because there are so many colors and designs to choose from. It is soft enough that it left a interesting texture when applied with the glue mixture to the cloth.

Above is a close up. The door and windows are copyright free images that I manipulated in photo shop and printed on cloth. I then used watercolor pencils and gel pens to enhance the colors. To add some depth I cut the paper cloth the size of the door and windows and glued the fabric behind that.
Now that I feel I have mastered the paper cloth construction I want to make more. It was really fun.

Chrysalis

The idea of a chrysalis has been on my mind for a while so I decided to try that idea with some mixed media fiber art. I had a general plan and knew I wanted it to be different from anything I had done before. I wanted to try some different techniques that would be out of my comfort zone. Below is a wire armature with a paper / celluclay molded face.

   

  I molded the celluclay face over a light wire armature then waited for it to dry. This was the first time I worked with celluclay but I can see it is a great medium I will use to add depth to future pieces.   Below is the finished piece.              

    

I covered the wire armature with batting the used my hand dyed gauze to cover and mold around that. I wanted to keep with organic, natural colors of nature so there are different shades of greens, browns and golds. To add some color punch I wrapped pipe cleaners with brighter colors and attached those.   Below is a close up of the face.

   I covered the celluclay with many layers of tissue paper using a matte gel medium. The hair is moss, root and lichen I found on my property. I wove some pieces of the dyed gauze in also.  Below is a side view that shows the wrapped pipe cleaners and green dyed gauze. You can click on the photos to enlarge.