I said to myself, when I started blogging or whenever I blog, that this was only going to reflect what I was doing, that I couldn't just blog about wanting to do things or talk it up. This was supposed to be a reflection of my productivity, not in place of. But ideas have been swarming around in my head so much lately that I need a place, besides sketch books and notepads and just talking to others, to spill them! I am this excited, that I want to start blabbing before I have even made anything yet!
My crafts and styles are always evolving which I think is pretty cool. But it's also because I get bored so very quick and cannot focus on one craft for too long. This prevents me from really ever mastering one particular thing. Getting a degree in photography was probably the closest I ever came to focusing (literally, haha) on that.
But there comes a time artistically, that all paths lead home. Whatever new idea I get, or new hobby I evoke, I start to notice little details that link me to projects of my past. My bags, for example, from last winter, that I became obsessed with designing, knitting and felting, all mocked the colors used in my senior thesis project, which involved photography, text, cutting, sewing, layering and assemblage.
This winter, I have become been inspired to use similar skills: cutting, assembling and sewing a quilt! I have been admiring Denyse Schmidt's gorgeous quilts that have quirky patterns and use lots of contract stitching as subject matter. The idea to do something different, yet familiar, surfaces and I am liking the thought of using patterns with words I choose and abstract text (like in my senior project) to create my own originally patterned fabric.
In the past I have printed these images and words onto material with a simple photocopier and stitched right over then with my sewing machine, but I may introduce myself to something fancier like silkscreen and work with some kind of paint. The idea of the screen being like a film negative is exciting to me and makes the two projects feel very connected. In the end I will have a very memorable piece of work, both in its process and result. I like the idea of tying together the threads of my many different crafts and taking on something big with new things to learn. This may not be completed this winter, the text I want to use and colors and fabrics are not all decided on yet. But inspiration and ideas don't seem to hard to get. Now I won't say another word until I know.
