Electricity

We take it for granted, but it is a modern convenience that we depend on. Since about midnight on Saturday there has been no power at my home. Our well has an electric pump, so when the power goes, so does the water. Happily there is power at the school, and here at my shoppe. ( Exciting to be able to brush my teeth!) We even brought the dog with us, who is very confused by all this.

My poor hubby is trying to set up a painting studio in the classroom here. He is on a very tight deadline, and trying to make the best of a situation that seems to be spinning out of his control. Who knew that we would have this kind of snowfall and power outages at Halloween. Boy did this change the nature of this day.

Even though we are in a place with power, I am still glad that my work is not so power dependant.

inclement weather stitching

I have a minute or two, so I want to let you all know that I have been doing tons of hand embroidery lately. Beautiful Valley is coming along pretty well, and I am almost done with the block for the Red Hook Quilt. I also finished the sample for the Annual Red work Ornament. I like this one alot. With whatever kind of precipitation it is, coming down I will likely get lots more done on one of these projects tonight. It would stink if this is snow, Hubby is driving home from the city tonight, and it's a long dark drive to make at the end of the day by ones self - and worse if it is inclement weather. I'll just pour myself into my stitching and hope he gets home asap.

Quality, not Quantity

So I have been thinking alot lately about my artistic past. I cannot live there though. That crazy busy active part of my life really defined my sense of color and design. That will come with me no matter where this creative journey takes me. Having looked in detail at those old paintings of mine, some going as far back as High School, I can see the beginnings of my fascination with texture, threads, and low level relief ( can you say quilted surface? ) I can see evidence of the color pallette that I love emerge. What we have done, and what we have attached significance to will always be there in our hearts, memories, and sometimes even deeper in our unconscious.

I have also realized that even though I was so productive then, what now do I have? - a handful of paintings in a storage area. When you consider that I made 3-4 paintings a week in those days, what I have saved as worthy or important is a very tiny percent. Even then much hit the trash as soon as the paint was dry, or the critique at school was over.

Now, with a slower and more deliberate medium, I do very little that lacks significance. So, Quality is higher, the quantities are smaller, but actually, the output of significant work ends up being a bit higher now. And, even better perhaps, much of what I do is displayed and/or used. That beats being in a storage area any time.

What to hold on to??

After this strange weekend, with the water, the potential loss of the last remaining paintings from my past, and my beloved dog undergoing emergency surgery as I type, I am left wondering about what things, memories, or beings I should really be holding on to.

This morning I was still feeeling what I guess was nostalgia for those crazy days of being a bohemian type artist, riding the NYC subway with wet canvasses at rush hour, wearing paint smudges even on my underwear, slightly high from turpentine and linseed oil almost all the time and totally buzzed on coffee at all hours of the day or night. There was a focussed and frenetic energy to life then. My responsibilites were few, my energy was really high, I was about 50 pounds lighter, and I painted all the time. I went through a sketchbook a week.

I learned then what is was to work really hard. I learned what it is like to feel so compelled to create artwork that sleep and food no longer matter. I learned how to put my deepest emotion and darkest feelings into the paint, so that even now decades later, I look at the paintings and am immediately transported back to the moment brush met canvas. Happliy the joys still speak louder than the negative emotions.

My life now is very involved with raising a family, keeping a store running in a terrible economy, and tyring to keep my house from showing up on the "Hoarders" TV show. Creative pursuits are relegated to evenings when the kitchen has been cleaned and the laundry folded, if I have the energy- which I frequently don't. Like any muscle, the creative ones will atrophy if they are not exercised. I think I should have fought harder to keep that energy alive. After I get photos of all that art, I hope I am able to let it go. I made it, learned from it, and maybe it's not the actual art I should hold on to.

Leaking in from the past.

We had some water leakage in our basement over the weekend. Not that much, and the repair bill to the plumber was under a thousand, but some of the things that got wet were my few remaining paintings that I had done when that was my go to medium. Good sized canvasses, mostly oils. We moved them from the basement to the garage, spread out, leaning on every surface we could put them up against. Moved my car out and used the sawhorses. I think they are all ok enough to keep.

Now I was prolific in those days, so the ones I have kept all these years are only the most significant ones. As we moved them out of the water, I faced the possibility of losing the material proof that an important part of my life actually did happen. The person who painted those pieces doesn't exist anymore, I have changed much, but that artwork still stirred deep feelings. When the current set of crisis calm down I will have to photograph them - at least a few of them have never been officially done, and several others are only documented in slides, or 4 x 5 transparencies.

The saddest thing is that I am not sure that my art has actually progressed since then. That stupid leaky valve opened a floodgate of difficult thoughts. If anything cohesive surfaces I promise to post it.

thoughts about the show.

The Show this weekend was really a good one. An art quilt won the Best in Show ribbon, and as it turns out the maker is new to the art form and lives only one town away from here. I did get myself some lovely hand dyes from the booth next to me, and a few toys to play with that I will tell you more about after I have had the time to play with them.

This was the first time the Guild made a CD of all the quilt images, so of course I bought one. Now I will be able to really look. When you are vending, getting a fair look at all the quilts can be tricky. The ones that catch my eye are much more likely for me to see, and the few that I can see clearly from the booth, but there is always a bunch of great stuff I miss when I vend.

I am feeling inspired, but tired. A new floor was put down in my classroom on Thursday, so not only do I have to finish the accounting and unpacking from the show, I have to get the classroom set up for a class tonight. My hubby is supposed to be coming in to help move stuff, I hope he hurries up and gets here.

Oh yes, I did have two quilt entries, they got only positive comments but no ribbons. I didn't expect any, and my apron entry was popular too.

New Quilt to make its face known!!

This weekend at the Dutchess Heritage Quilt Show, in the Village Fabric Shoppe booth, see the exclusive designs for Beautiful Valley. This quilt will the be Block of the Month in 2012. It has 12 of my original drawings as the twelve block designs that center on flora and fauna that is significant to the Hudson Valley. You may embroider them, color them with Inktense pencils, tsukineko inks, or acrylic textile paints, photo transfer, use TAP transfers, or any combination of the above. I have not yet finished the embroidery, but I have gotten them all colored with the Inktense Pencils and the top is together. The monthly meetings will develop you skills with Inktense pencils and embroidery. The instructions for the string pieced alternate blocks and borders from your own stash will also be included as we progress through the year. We will work with color in a very hands on manner. If you want to use the same fabrics as I did the sample in graded blue and green, you can purchase a kit while supplies last. I love this quilt and the first place you will be able to see it is at the show this weekend.

I will be in the booth with demonstrations of embroidery and working with the pencils ongoing as time and manpower allows.