100 Days of Doodling

Last year about this time I, like everyone else, was beginning the pandemic lifestyle changes. Like many artists I was not really feeling a call to create. The need to turn my brain to something other than pandemic news was there, but there was no creative fire being lit in any direction.

In order to keep muddling through I decided to just do a little doodle each day. I dug out some index cards, cut them in half, along with a variety of black markers and pens and set off.


In this way I doodled my way through spring and into early summer. These little drawings kept me going until I found my way into on-line workshops that sparked a bit of creative electricity.

I knew that something small could lead to something big, something to just keep a toe in the pond.

The collection of cards hangs in a prominent space, but it is wild to lay them all out and see where my mind went and how many marks could be conjured out of thin air.

As the year progressed I happily found inspiration in things big and small.

I'd love to see something that kept your creative energy flowing during our crazy time.

Grey Day Stitching

Hi All,

This winter the weather has been a bit different than the years previously. Since it is only my 5th winter here in Paducah I can barely call it strange but the temps have been up and down, and down and up since November. No snow...for it seems these have been our dry days. But there has been weeks of rain.

Today the day is gray. It has been gray, wet and cool for quite a week and we are looking at another week of the same. With the gloom settling in I decided it was time to finish up some projects that have been put aside for quite awhile for one reason or another.

I was totally surprised when I opened this first one. I was just hours away from completion.

This second one was another story. I loved using these amazing Cherrywood fabric to stitched together this HOME piece. The rich solids begging for thread play - and playful mark making. I pulled the stitching kit out and soon had a big pile of thread bits. The piece is still underway, but there are a few more gloomy days ahead -- time to get it done and enjoy the process. I do love hand stitching!

Then the projects swimming around in my head  will have a clear go ahead. Til then....

hope you are finding a bit of time to be creative.
Would love to hear what you are up to!

Mark-Making Opportunities in the Works

Lots of creating going on -- though not a lot of quilt works happening.
This past summer I wanted to start playing with paper mache --
Building 3 dimensionally
Getting dirty
and basically having fun.

these 3D playthings have turned into a new place to try out some of my mark-making ideas. It all begins with balloons - newspaper - cardboard - masking tape - and homemade paper-mache glue....

 

 Then they can turn into things like these.

 

FUN... right?!?

Mark-Making

Several weeks ago I found a book on Amazon called-
Mark-Making on Textiles

It sounded intriguing, and on arrival I found it just the type of book I like. Examples galore and small exercises to get your creative juices flowing.

This book has opened up some conscious exploration into mark-making in general for me. I say conscious, for I have been making my mark on textiles for a while without being aware of personal choices and where they come from, and without really being aware of what other artist's mark-making may say about them no matter the media. A personal story-telling tool.

As prompted by one of the exercises in the book I have started collecting and creating marks.Then a couple of weeks ago David and I took a fused glass workshop and had a great time. We are both a bit addicted to the process for the moment, and I began to see how we created our initial pieces - mark-making with the glass. (the ones below are my 1st attempts after they were fired)

While visiting Cedarhurst Art Center yesterday to get in some more 'glass time' we came across an exhibit of Jun Kaneko's work entitled 'sense of spirit: mark-making & space in the art of kaneko'.
I found his work pretty exciting in its extremes, and then while looking over several books he had about his other projects I was drawn to one which documented his work with the San Fransisco Opera House's production of the Magic Flute. Again... for me it was about how he took his mark-making to extreme from everything to background projections on the stage to the costuming he created for all the characters.

All of this makes me have a stronger understanding of how important mark-making... and how much it is an expression of energy, focus, and textural story telling.

The pieces below are ones David and I made on Saturday and are now awaiting firing. You can definitely tell how different our mark-making styles are.