The good thing about forced idleness? Time to think.
Here’s what I came up with:
I know that everything is temporary. Including broken wrists.
I don’t need to be famous, just inspired. Read more.
The garden reminds me that life is short—
and I am closer to the compost bin than the seed bed.I want more un-interrupted studio time.
Speaking of temporary
I made this red quilt while at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. It was an exercise in being messy, less focused on refinement. Part of the challenge to myself was to offer other artists at the residency to choose scraps that I had to incorporate into the piece. Those pieces are the ones at the bottom of the quilt.
Though I found the work liberating I knew that it wasn’t going to be a serious piece. It was tossed into the scrap bin when I returned to my studio.
It has a great textural back.
That garden thing
Last week I was able to do some work with my weakened wrist. So I started looking around for a new project. This wonderful elephant ear plant inspired me to think about folds as a way to form a 3D shape. I pulled out that red quilt and started cinching the edges. It started to look like the leaf, but then it looked like a head, and then transformed into a tunnel, and now it looks like chrysalis.
Here it is in its temporary configuration. I need to stabilize the folds and play with the top part a bit more but I think it is coming into its own. No expectations. All exploration. Then discovery.
I don’t need much more than that to stay engaged.
I’m back.