Art Journals Days

Rilke....

"Allow your judgments their own undisturbed development, which, like any unfolding, 

must come from within and can by nothing be forced or hastened. 

Everything is gestation and then birth. 

To allow each impression and each embryo of a feeling to complete itself in the dark, 

in the unsayable, the not-knowing, beyond the reach of one's own understanding, 

and humbly and patiently to await the dawning of a new clarity: 

that alone is the way of the artist -

in understanding as in creating."

There are days when I've had enough of sewing exact quarter inches, carefully cutting strips, pinning so that points match, etc. Sometimes I need the mess, the scribble, the colored pencils without the eraser. Sometimes I simply crave another medium. This is when I plunge into my art journals.

It is here where I record wonderful quotes that I have read, things that I cannot bear to forget....and I draw. I sit in a patch of sun with a ruler, a compass, and a big inspiring box of colored pencils and gel pens.

I fade from that sense of time. I get sucked into these moments as I watch color rise from the empty page. I am lost without these days.

Life is wonderful and full of blessings but not always kind. It is in these pages that I find courage, peace, and renewed energy.

Perseverance...

Rilke wrote....

"If we imagine our being as a room of any size, it seems that most of us know only a single corner of that room, a spot by the window, a narrow strip on which we keep walking back and forth. That gives a kind of security. But isn't insecurity with all its dangers so much more human?

We are not prisoners of that room."

I read this over a week ago, and it keeps pulling me back to it. I have reread this many times thinking about the room of my soul, especially how this idea relates to my art. I know the truth of this concerning my soul, only knowing a portion, a safe portion. I also know this is certain concerning my art, keeping in a safe corner, feeling insecurities that prevent me from branching out, experimenting, and pushing the boundaries. I don't want to be a prisoner. The first steps of freedom are difficult. Often we run back to what we have known.

I have finished all the squares for the brown star quilt. The block for July was the most difficult for me. My first attempt was a mess. I ripped part of it out four times before I gave up and decided to simply start from scratch.

I am not totally pleased with my second attempt, but I'm going to let it be.

Here is the final block for August. This class will be a celebration. Four women who have stuck through this for a year. Amazing!

The final quilt will be a replica of the "What Star Are You From?" quilt. I might play around with a different border.

So, next I will make six of those tiny stars, put together the sashings, and assemble the top. I can barely wait to get it done!

Rilke and Art

On January 1st, I began reading A Year with Rilke: Daily Readings. Without exception, every reading is thought provoking. Some hit a chord. Some strike very deeply. Here is the reading for February 6th:

Unsayable

"Things are not nearly so comprehensible and sayable as we are generally made to believe. Most experiences are unsayable; they come to fullness in a realm that words do not inhabit. And most unsayable of all are works of art, which- alongside our transient lives- mysteriously endure."

Yesterday, I finished binding my quilt, "Temple Garden," and the weather today granted me permission to photograph it. Last summer, one of my sons was kind enough to install a bar across the top frame of my garage and install quilt hangers on it. This allows me to hang most quilts and photograph in daylight.

This quilt began in a PaintStik class. This was new for me. The teacher had available for my use this rubbing plate. The students were permitted to use her Stiks. I chose metallic gold, silver, and bronze. During those few hours in class, I had completed six of these on black and six more on three shades of grey. One became a pillow, and one became this quilt. All of the rest have been added to my long list of unfinished projects.

Inspiration comes from so many different places. When I had finished the large center square and was contemplating where to go from there, I remembered a book that I had, pulled it off the shelf, and there on the cover was that spark...

This image is found throughout many Native American and Eastern spiritual traditions. There is something about it that promotes centeredness and stability. There are counter dynamic forces: One coaxes you into the center, and another entices you to expand. 

Whenever I ask an artist to create anything for me, I tend to give little or no instructions. I believe in artistic license. I have rarely been disappointed. When I take quilts to Carol (http://www.loracdesignsclh.com/), I let her do her thing...longarm quilting is not my thing. 

Here is the back I chose...

I continue to play around with my "Retro Razzle" quilt. I took one of the twelve completed squares, cut it diagonally in quarters, and placed them on the sides of a foundation pieced flower that reminded me of the "flower power" imagery of the sixties. It seems fitting. So, I think I'm happy with this and now only have to make eleven more...

...to commence

The verb...to commence: to start or begin; come or cause to come into being

The poet, Rilke, wrote that "...to commence is ever in itself a beautiful thing."

For me, those very first steps of the creative process are so incredibly charged with energy and emotion. The initial idea, the planning, the gathering....I absolutely love it. I love the first sketch on the canvas and the first piece of paper applied. Those moments are so full of wonder and mystery. I am challenged and motivated. I love the simple task of washing and folding the fabrics I have chosen for a quilt, the measuring, cutting, and constructing. I love looking at the cut fabrics neatly stacked by my machine ready to sew. So often, somewhere between these charming moments and the completion of a piece, I seem to get thrown back to the very beginnings again by a new idea that has burst into my head. I feel drawn involuntarily into the cycle again, mulling over the new idea, dreaming about it, planning and gathering again...and again...and again.

Endings...completions...can be beautiful as well. For me, they are certainly not as charged, nor are they as fulfilling. There is a sense of emptiness, a letting go, the curtain falls. It's done. It's over. It leaves a little void that sends me rushing to another beginning.

I purchased the fabric for a pillowcase for my daughter last summer. She loves owls. I wanted to surprise her. She was ridiculously excited when I brought it home. It has been sitting on my sewing table. Three days ago, I put it together. Wow...I waited months for something that literally takes minutes, but she is very happy.

Cloth and Bobbin (clothandbobbin.com/)(http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cloth-Bobbin/58537381401) just got in some of the Marcia Derse collection called "Line 5." Of course, I had a really strong reaction the moment I saw it. The colors are a tad desaturated and the designs are simple and soft geometrics. I have those first ideas, but they may change as I go along.

Here is my "Star and Stripes" quilt. I was in the store showing the quilt to Johanna, and fiber artist, Cindy Friedman (http://www.cindyfriedman.com/dev/) happened to be there. As we were talking about the quilt, my thoughts and ideas about it, I mentioned that I might add some stripes here or there, and she simply said, "You have to know when a piece is done."

Like most of my days, February will be filled with beginnings and ending. I want to find a passion for concluding. I want to unearth the artistry and value of it. I want to watch the boxes get emptied and the piles diminish. Somehow, in this endeavor, I hope to bring each project to a new beginning that is recharged with fresh potential.