Boy, having no goals last week was a mistake - I drifted and got very little done, when I definitely could have been more productive. While a few Christmas things still lurk unfinished, I want to make some real progress in the studio this week. We'll see how it goes.
I'm feeling energized and a little more focused after a chat with a developing friend at church. All last week I kept thinking, I still haven't gotten my feet under me yet, I'm still feeling like I don't know where I'm going with all this. I'm supposed to be experimenting, exploring, making work, developing a style so that I can present myself to a gallery eventually and produce pieces more likely to make the jury cut. Instead, I find myself letting little things stand in the way of putting in the kind of time I'd intended, and tempted to work on old projects which I know are a kind of safe haven. You know - I feel more at ease and confident working on the more traditional work, and uneasy and unsure with the more experimental work. This gal at church keeps asking how my art is going and saying that she can't wait to see some of it, which of course makes me a little uncomfortable in my current unsure state. What if she looks at it and says, "oh," meaning, this isn't what I expected, this isn't art. It's the old art and fear thing.
Yet these people at church have really taken me in, are active in each other's lives, and strike me as a safe audience to open myself up to. I got to thinking I should have an open house, or at least invite a few of them over, and make it a studio tour of sorts. Step one of making the transformation from quilter to art quilter, and something that would boost the confidence and give me practice for when I dip my toe into the art community here. Well, there's nothing like sharing an idea to give you the incentive to actually go through with it. So this Sunday when she approached me again, I told her my plan and she was not only excited but offering to make appetizers! I immediately realized that this was the bit of direction I needed to get me moving. I thought having no deadlines or definitive plans would be a good thing, but apparently not. Now I have a reason to finish the last bit of unpacking and move ahead on a few ideas. I'm already envisioning how I can display work, set up the studio, talk about my work and vision. Not everyone needs something like that to be motivated to work, but I seem to at the moment.
So with a tentative date in mind, that is why I'm anxious to get more seriously to work. I've been setting a goal of a minimum of three days in the studio, but have managed four without much trouble, so I should go ahead and up the ante. Along with that, I should specify the minimum time allotted to a "day in the studio." My current average of 2-3 hours really should be more like 4-5. That will take a rearranging of my daily schedule as well as my mind set.
Here is one of my project goals for this week - this block for my nephew. While it has nothing to do with my art quilting, it IS a yearly commitment that got waylaid in the move. Said nephew's birthday is in September, and when he was born, I had the bright idea of making a block a year for him, blocks that would reflect events in his life and which would eventually be put together into a "freedom" quilt when he turned 21. For an explanation of "freedom" quilts, go here. I may have quite a task ahead of me making the disparate blocks work together, even though I've kept track of the fabrics that have gone into them. This is the 10th block, and my skills and tastes have grown and changed right along with my nephew. In a way, each block has been a reflection of my quilting journey. And since my move to Idaho derailed my making the block on time, I decided why not play on that and make him my signature Idaho Beauty block using some of the fabrics in my current quilt. I think it came out quite well.
I think my other emphasis needs to be on completing the pinwheel quilt top. It shouldn't take much - I just have to stop worrying about the placement of the trunks and JUST DO IT, then attach the borders. Still no thoughts on how I'll quilt it, but I'll JUST DO THAT too, I guess. Must move on.
I may have found the solution to a background fabric to go under one of my leaf printed sheers, so time permitting, it would be great to make that little piece which may or may not just be a journal quilt.
So here it is spelled out:
I'm feeling energized and a little more focused after a chat with a developing friend at church. All last week I kept thinking, I still haven't gotten my feet under me yet, I'm still feeling like I don't know where I'm going with all this. I'm supposed to be experimenting, exploring, making work, developing a style so that I can present myself to a gallery eventually and produce pieces more likely to make the jury cut. Instead, I find myself letting little things stand in the way of putting in the kind of time I'd intended, and tempted to work on old projects which I know are a kind of safe haven. You know - I feel more at ease and confident working on the more traditional work, and uneasy and unsure with the more experimental work. This gal at church keeps asking how my art is going and saying that she can't wait to see some of it, which of course makes me a little uncomfortable in my current unsure state. What if she looks at it and says, "oh," meaning, this isn't what I expected, this isn't art. It's the old art and fear thing.
Yet these people at church have really taken me in, are active in each other's lives, and strike me as a safe audience to open myself up to. I got to thinking I should have an open house, or at least invite a few of them over, and make it a studio tour of sorts. Step one of making the transformation from quilter to art quilter, and something that would boost the confidence and give me practice for when I dip my toe into the art community here. Well, there's nothing like sharing an idea to give you the incentive to actually go through with it. So this Sunday when she approached me again, I told her my plan and she was not only excited but offering to make appetizers! I immediately realized that this was the bit of direction I needed to get me moving. I thought having no deadlines or definitive plans would be a good thing, but apparently not. Now I have a reason to finish the last bit of unpacking and move ahead on a few ideas. I'm already envisioning how I can display work, set up the studio, talk about my work and vision. Not everyone needs something like that to be motivated to work, but I seem to at the moment.
So with a tentative date in mind, that is why I'm anxious to get more seriously to work. I've been setting a goal of a minimum of three days in the studio, but have managed four without much trouble, so I should go ahead and up the ante. Along with that, I should specify the minimum time allotted to a "day in the studio." My current average of 2-3 hours really should be more like 4-5. That will take a rearranging of my daily schedule as well as my mind set.
Here is one of my project goals for this week - this block for my nephew. While it has nothing to do with my art quilting, it IS a yearly commitment that got waylaid in the move. Said nephew's birthday is in September, and when he was born, I had the bright idea of making a block a year for him, blocks that would reflect events in his life and which would eventually be put together into a "freedom" quilt when he turned 21. For an explanation of "freedom" quilts, go here. I may have quite a task ahead of me making the disparate blocks work together, even though I've kept track of the fabrics that have gone into them. This is the 10th block, and my skills and tastes have grown and changed right along with my nephew. In a way, each block has been a reflection of my quilting journey. And since my move to Idaho derailed my making the block on time, I decided why not play on that and make him my signature Idaho Beauty block using some of the fabrics in my current quilt. I think it came out quite well.I think my other emphasis needs to be on completing the pinwheel quilt top. It shouldn't take much - I just have to stop worrying about the placement of the trunks and JUST DO IT, then attach the borders. Still no thoughts on how I'll quilt it, but I'll JUST DO THAT too, I guess. Must move on.
I may have found the solution to a background fabric to go under one of my leaf printed sheers, so time permitting, it would be great to make that little piece which may or may not just be a journal quilt.
So here it is spelled out:
- Spend minimum of four 3-hour days in studio working on the following:
- Make nephew's birthday block (done!)
- Arrange and sew down trunks and attached borders to pinwheel quilt
- Make small quilt with leaf print sheer
1 comment:
Big congrats for scheduling the open house kind-of studio event. Just do it - very good phrase.
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