P is for procrastination

I have been busy.

Busy procrastinating.

I don't understand what I let get in my way of actually working on big projects.

I know my studio space is untidy and I don't have clear and designated space to work big.

So I play with small.    This diversion is fun but now I seem to have made a mountain out of my big projects which I am having difficulty scaling.   OK now I have said it!   It is out!  

How do you cope with procrastination?   Can you give me hints about what you do?

Small cloth doll made for a challenge based on the theme story time.   She now lives on the window of my sisters  workspace at the school where she teaches.  :-)

eyes - scribbles in my journal

Play time in my journal.   Punning, drawing and painting for a little while.

MORE EYES :-)

A post card -  inspired by a visit to a touring exhibition of embroidered works called the Scottish Diaspora Tapestries.   I was surprised and delighted that this exhibition of some 300 panels was touring the world and stopped off at my regional town :-).   An amazing story of community endevour resulted in works which record the effect of Scottish migration around the globe.

I was intrigued by how the human face was rendered in crewel wool on heavy linen and gave expression and character to the individual faces.    The faces were variously completely stitched or just an outline.   The textures in pieces made me want to reach out and touch.  

Here are a couple of my favs.    You can see them all at the site  which is linked above :-)

Eyes and Eyelets

Stitching for no other reason than the enjoyment and to see what happens.  In this small sample have used cotton, perle and linen threads drawn from the fabric I am stitching into.  I will continue to add over time until I have a 10cm square to contribute to a challenge.

I have continued exploring eyes in art.   Browsing in cheap book store I came across a book about Indian love stories and some ancient and modern art.  It was a great source of images for eyes and I did some quick sketches.

Rajasthani Miniature Painting

mixed media and themes

Well, I have procrastinated enough about making/stitching/writing.   It is February and I have no more excuses. House sold. Moved to new house. Unpacked just about everything.   Still sorting fabric threads etc. but I know what I have.

My resolution this year (which I started to visit in December last) was to allow myself to play in any medium, explore and have fun.

I have also tried to theme it – and this year will try to build my exploration around “eyes”.  I have had heaps of fun punning - e.g.  the ayes have it, green eyed monster, almond eyes.  And letting explorarion take me where ever.

So far I have

•     sketched and doodled

•     stitched eyelets.  Visit Sharon Boggins on line stitch dictionary for the low down on how to.   She is a fantastic on line resource.

•     and explored on the web looking at how eyes are portrayed.  I came across a blog page featuring sculptor Alfred Parades and this image of his work Side by Side Cylcops.  Just love it :-).                                                       Take time to read the full article here.  

Of course already I have gone off theme already as I have been playing with clay a bit

but I keep returning to it with doodles.  

In between playing with eyes I will work on my pieces for a collaborative exhibition next year with five other textiles artists .   Our group name is temporarily “ Six Running Feet”   - a play on the wall space we each need to fill.  

Contemporary Clay Retreat

Just about recovered from  4 fabulous days at spent at the Contemporary Clay Retreat, Canberra last week.  I am all fired up for next years retreat in October 2016.

I learnt how to make a cane face ( polymer clay) with Janice Laurent, sculpted a dragon in air dry clay with Lex Sorrintino and started a mixed media monkey gargoyle with Bobbi Oliver.

Photos of the works made by participants over the entire weekend can be found here - enjoy.

The dragon came back to Sydney and is about to relocate back in Canberra  this weekend.  Then we are heading off for 2 weeks in southern NSW/northern Victoria to house hunt after making the decision to leave Sydney.

On the passing of a good friend and making blue birds

Life has been just too busy - I find it hard to really believe it has been so long since I posted - though I know that it is three months since I met with the groups I belong to.

I have been making and stitching sporadically. Short trips to the studio have left me with a number of birds like the ones above. They seem to grow in my hands and I love making them. Bandaged birds I call them – they are made by wrapping Paverpol soaked strips of fabric around a polystyrene ball which is shaped with alfoil. Some of them are covered with gauze bandage as well which gives a lovely surface texture.
But, mostly I have been caught up worrying and trying to help an unwell friend who lived quite a distance away - my divided time between her, paid work and family.

Grace passed away on the 18th August and her service was last Friday. I will miss her. She was a great champion and encouraged me in all my art endeveours.
This poem is for Grace:

What the Living Do

Marie Howe

Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil probably fell down there.
And the Drano won’t work but smells dangerous, and the crusty dishes have piled up
 
waiting for the plumber I still haven’t called. This is the everyday we spoke of.
It’s winter again: the sky’s a deep, headstrong blue, and the sunlight pours through
 
the open living-room windows because the heat’s on too high in here and I can’t turn it off.
For weeks now, driving, or dropping a bag of groceries in the street, the bag breaking,
 
I’ve been thinking: This is what the living do. And yesterday, hurrying along those
wobbly bricks in the Cambridge sidewalk, spilling my coffee down my wrist and sleeve,
 
I thought it again, and again later, when buying a hairbrush: This is it.
Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold. What you called that yearning.
 
What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and the winter to pass. We want
whoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss—we want more and more and then more of it.
 
But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass,
say, the window of the corner video store, and I’m gripped by a cherishing so deep
 
for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I’m speechless:
I am living. I remember you.

From What the Living Do, copyright © 1998 by Marie Howe.