filipendulous

On Monday my daily word from Wordsmith was

filipendulous
an adjective meaning Hanging by a thread

A great word for the feeling I often have when doing these stream of consciousness doodles. What direction will they take me? Is it a maze or a path? What does it mean? Does it really have to mean something? What can I do with it? Where do I go next?

And, since I was taught to use each new word I learn in a sentence ...

These filipendulous drawings scatter a network of breadcrumbs for the journey ahead.

filipendulous, Paula Kovarik, 2013

Invitational exhibit

Two of my pieces will be part of a Gallery 56 invitational exhibit beginnning Friday. Other artists include Greg Bowden, Mike Coulson, Terry Kenney, Bien Howard, Juan Rojo, Shamek Weddle, John Sadowski, Evan Lebaroff, Katie Dan, Cedar Lorca Nordbye, and Gary Parisi.

If you are in the area, please stop by the opening.

Gallery 56 • 2256 Central Ave. • Memphis • Opening February 1, 5 - 8 pm.

©2012, Paula Kovarik, Looking for love in all the wrong places.

studies in direction

aging cracks, 2013, Paula Kovarik

I was working on a piece last night that I had always imagined in a horizontal format. In other words, I wanted the eye to read left to right across the surface in horizontal layers. But then I looked at the surface more obliquely (out of the corner of my eye and squinting) and I realized that doing that with the stitching added an element of calm, not dynamism, as I wanted.I may twist the piece 90 degrees to accomplish that and boy what a difference that makes!

So this morning I studied this photo from my walk yesterday to analyze how direction of line affects the interpretation of the elements. I twisted it around a bit to see what differences I could percieve. I think the image on the left looks hopeful and indicates growth (progressing left to right from dark to light) while the image on the right seems to portray deterioration and collapse.

Am I imagining this?

Here is another image of the same photo. This time I mirrored it (flipped it horizontally) So now what do I see? I see an effort of growth from chaos on the left. And on the right, growth that becomes complicated or corrupt. Is either side positive or completely negative? Not sure. It may be all in the eye of the beholder.

hand work

Vine napkin, ©2013, Paula KovarikHere's a piece that I have been working on while relaxing at the end of the day. It is stitched onto a linen napkin that my friend Leigh Ann gave me. I love these scalloped napkins as practice sheets. Since I haven't had much time in the studio to work on my machine these hand work pieces give me a sense of accomplishment without risk. No big committment, intimate and easy to finish.

more delay

One of the delights of reorganizing my studio was rediscovering my rocks-with-holes collection. For as long as I can remember I have been a rock collector and one of my favorite varieties are those with holes. It just seems so amazing that something so hard can have naturally occuring holes. It's like a missing piece, or a peephole into the unknown, just a little weakness.

I spent the last part of Sunday afternoon tying some of them to a piece of grape vine from the garden and hanging it in the studio window. Now they twirl and dance too. Proving that even the hardest of us can learn to frolic.

I'm not fooling myself. This little project was just one more way to avoid the big one on the design wall. I am at a frozen spot with it. Looking for a little sunshine before stitching.